Uh, to re-iterate: yes, this is my online diary, but it's really only here to relate my gig-going, adventures with the record label, etc (music stuff!); it's not the diary of my bloody work, or my love-life, or anything else... Rest easy, people, I don't even keep a private pen & paper diary of that stuff. It's here to remember things like the other night: last minute realisation that I was missing Glass Eye down at Smugglers. Popped my head into the Music Exchange and said hello to Dean, Rufus, Bill and Marcus (preparing to record/rehearse the Rumiko band), and Dean gave me swigs of wine: he was already pretty merry. Then next door to Smugglers: Pete O'Mant (who was there) is no longer organising Glass Eye - he's passed that responsibility on to Mr Colin Bailey, composer of humourous songs. By the time I got down there Sunday evening, I was at least in time to see Tim Hoyte starting up. He seems to be on an entirely new set of material, post-The Nothing Machine, of charming and rather lengthy songs, so it'll be good to hear the studio versions of some of them, eventually. I was sitting with Helen and Reuben, and was suprised to see Rooth and her sister Laura there, 'cos I don't see them much at all any more (Rooth moved to Wales), so that was quite a pleasant event. Zoe Koney (now organising the Listen events, over at The Rooms in St Leonards) played next: I'd not seen her before (as far as I could recall), and she was fine and fun: probably a bit emo if I'd been listening more closely, but I liked her. Jonathan turned up to play, but seemed to miss his slot, and didn't get onstage while I was there. Richard ended up with quite a lengthy set in the end, though by this point he was battling against fairly indifferent drinkers. Jamie made it down and joined us all after a while. Then Trenchfoot UK started up: two-frontpersonnned (male & female) old-school (older than me...) punk-rock, in the street-political style, proper shouting, laughing, pogo-fun. They covered Special AKA's Gangsters at the end too, nice one. Christa got down with friends, checked I was having a Satanic birthday party later in the year (Yes! I will). Nelson King followed on, with an accompanying musician (though I can't remember what the other guy was playing): kinda-bluesy guitar work, decent enough songs, no problem. But it was getting late, and that means bedtime for lightweights, so off I stumbled.

It'd only been a few weeks since their last gig there, but for a while on Tuesday evening it looked like Deano & Jim were gonna be playing for only me, and Emma at the Revolver bar. They put off playing for a while, and I even went on Myspace to send a bulletin to get any of the local slackers away from their screens and down the pub. Eventually Del appeared with a couple of friends, and Rufus and Bonj made it along, and then Reuben, Wookie, Kim and one of his friends wandered in. 'Cos they started late, Deano & Jim didn't play for a particularly long time, but amongst the songs it was good to hear New Found Lonely Friend again at last, and the one or two untitled new songs (well, they've probably got titles, but I don't know them) sounded wonderful. After one set, it was nearing closing, so they didn't bother with a second bunch of songs. I got into the "Did Courtney Love kill Kurt Cobain?" argument with Bonj (to which the answer is "Of course she fuckin' didn't!"); Sally & Ian showed up in different states of drunkeness; and eventually it looked like most people were heading back to Anna's place after; and out of politeness (as I don't know her too well) I knocked the evening on the head and headed home. Their next fortnightly gig there should be Tuesday 31st Jan, put it in your diaries you tools.

Smugglers chaos on Friday: Carrie & I went along to see some of the bands, and when we arrived, a new young group called Blind Image were playing. They seemed to be a bit of an enthusiastic rock band, but it was difficult to tell, 'cos the pub was full of all their friends (there must've been hundreds of them!), snaking out the door and spilling onto the street. We battled our way towards the bar, where Smugglers-hazard #2 was in evidence - barflys! This was a bit of a potentially volatile situation: younger people more used to bargin around The Crypt behaving in exactly the same manner in a serious-drinkers' pub. All it would've taken was one pair of heads-down teenagers spilling the slower, drunker soaks' pints, and it would've been blood and black hair-dye all over the place. Fortunately, the boozers were more interested in arguing amongst themselves, treading on the unfortunate dogs that had been dragged along etc, than in paying attention to the emo-kids scurrying about beneath their eye-level. Once Blind Image had played, their fans all headed off too, leaving a bit more space for Regular John to play. I think they were on borrowed gear, 'cos they were a little more subdued than usual, but still built to a standing-on-chairs racket of a finale. Finally it was The Heaters turn to banish memories of their blues gig last Monday, which they pulled-off with one of the best performances I've seen them do, tight as their trousers! Difficult to tell during the melee, but at least half of Regular John got up and joined them onstage for their last songs, a decent gesture of solidarity, and an unholy cacophany to boot. I spent most of the evening hanging out with Helen and Sally, chatting about the forthcoming ATP, but it was good to see Ros out with her friends for a change too, along with Michael and Caroline (getting the chance to see a proper Heaters gig at last), Reuben, Liam, Wookie, Jamie, Rufus, Tara & Cara, and loads more. I took myself off at a decent time, and had actually got up for work the following morning before the first late-night strays came knocking at my front door...
That Saturday evening brought another Regular John gig, this time at The Tubman (an under-used venue musically, though it hosted the launch of The Candys debut single, and the first Donkey Kong Jr gig, in the past). Those low ceilings play havoc with the bar staff's mohicans! Unfortunately, in clearing the stage area, the staff had piled up all the tables and chairs in the only corner of the pub where you'd have been able to see the bands, so things were pretty cramped. There wasn't a huge number of people out though: Rufus, Dean & Helen, Johnny Russell and jis friends, Wooike, Reuben and Liam: not a lot more. So I couldn't see the band play, but they sounded good; and were followed by Noxious, who were a lot less metal, and a lot more early 90's Seattle, than I'd feared. Nothing enormously special, but the songs were pretty good, and thay played them loudly and well. Hung out with everyone for a while, though they gradually drifted off to toher bars, leaving me, Dean & Helen, and Tara & Bev (who showed up too late for the bands) as last figures standing. I was skint, so when they all went to the Brass Monkey, I headed home. A nice night though.

Two contrasting evenings in the Old Town, both ending up at the Dragon.
Monday - Took Nick Verlaine and Melinda (visiting from Toronto) along to the Hastings Arms for The Heaters gig. Carrie came too, Michael and Caroline joined us, as did Kim. Unfortunately, the Hastings Arms books blues gigs on the Monday (that's why they call it Blue Monday there, duh), which The Heaters acquiesed to by generally letting their new guitarist take charge and lead the group through some generic twelve-bar blues stuff. Jack did take lead on a few songs, and they managed to get a few of their own songs played in a stripped-down way, but it was a real disappointment, especially as I think only Carrie and I had seen The Heaters play a full gig before, and I wanted them to be more fun for the benefit of our guests. Tom, Rufus and Bonj all arrived at different points, but when the group took a mid-set break for a breather, we decided to cross George Street and go to the Dragon (George and the Dragon, I've only just got that, is it deliberate do you think?) so we could chat more freely. Still, there's a proper Heaters/Regular John gig at Smugglers this Friday coming, so there's another chance to see them in a fairer context.
Tuesday - Rebecca had very kindly invited me along to the premiere of Chris Petit's new film Unrequited Love (in which she features) at the Electric Palace, so I dressed as smartly as I could manage in the circumstances (not because I expected it to be formal, but because I didn't want to take the piss on what could be quite an special evening for everyone there) and headed up. Said hi to Rebecca and some of the other people there, including Step, grabbed a drink and settled myself discretely in a wall-seat. Petit introduced the film, which was another interesting experiment in digital camera and editing (in the vein of his recent work that I've seen: The Falconer, Negative Space, London Orbital). I'm not gonna get into discussing the actual film here, as I kind-of feel it's not my place to, though it is very good, and Rebecca performs well throughout (if it makes it back publicly to the Electric Palace, or onto television, I'll flag it up on my boards so everyone can get a chance to see it). Afterwards, I passed Vanessa from the college on the stairs, and she invited me along to the Dragon with some of the others for a drink. In fact, the majority of those at the Electric Palace made it along, and so I got a better chance to chat to Rebecca, Nicola and Chris Petit, as well as Vanessa and some of her friends. So I had a great evening, and left the Dragon in a much better mood than my hyper-sensitivity of the previous night.
Smart.

No days off. Let's try and get this straight.
Monday - out late (FILO, and eventually back of a restaurant). Agreed to write a pantomime. Of course!
Tuesday - Jonathan Martin's band Katjam (I just don't like that name, sorry) at Revolver. Again, I preferred the early part of the evening, when Jonathan accompanied himself on the out-of-tune Revolver upright piano, but some of the stuff he did with the other two musicians (visiting, dunno who they were, on guitar and bass, also both performed a few of their own songs) was fine too. Who was out? Kim, Wookie, Jamie, Richard, Reuben, Liam, Helen, Christa and Paul. I had to let them go into town afterwards without me, having spent the previous night trawling round pubs and bars after hours with Tara, Richard, Jamie and Wookie, trying to get served. Two nights of that in a row would be undignified! But a fun night, a lot of chatting more than listening I reckon though.
Wednesday - Just popped out briefly to get some stuff off Tara to make Other Words flyers with.
Thursday - Other Words at Bar Blue. 'Cos I like her a lot, and 'cos I thought it would be good if she carried out her plan to get Other Words up and running again, I've been helping Tara get the evening organised. I did the flyers, some online and phone stuff, and grabbed a mic and amp off Michael, and a mic stand off Duncan. It went well! Bit of patchy traditional folksongs earlier (some went a lot better than others), a few other poets and musicians I didn't know, but also Kim did Chicken In A Box and made some poems up on the spot, Jonathan and Step came along and did a few songs each, Claire Hamill turned up and payed a few too, Justin Rhyme (from Word About Town etc) came over from Brighton (especially for the event, I thin, which was good of him) and recited a bit, and Richard (who'd done a great job of compering the evening) played a few songs too. Even some of the bar staff were inspired enough to dig out some old poems and read them out. Bit of a problem with Kim and Wookie getting quite drunk and michevious: I kept trying to shut them up a bit, but later they were taking photos of Reuben and his mate in the back of the bar (some kind of spontaneous Circus Toe photo op) and Kim was making such a noise of it that the bar told them off, oops. Reuben, Liam and a lot of that bunch went down The Crypt after a while, but the rest of us happily stayed late. After we dropped the gear off at Tara's later, a load of us cabbed it down to Smugglers for another drink, though by popular opinion this was a step too far, and I certainly got completely trolleyed as a result, and it showed (a lot of hugs and kissed, I think).
Friday - popped out down the pub late, causing my third oversleep and missing of breakfast in a row.
Saturday - Rufus & Marcus' joint birthday celebrations down Smugglers, so you know it's gonna be a heavy one. Rufus played first, with Steve Hope and Billy Gorilla, doing a bunch of his own songs, and the odd Jackie Wilson and Sly Stone number. My reservations about Hastings lads playing funk went out the window years ago, once I understood the genuine love of the genre they have, and also 'cos they don't take the piss or ham it up or anything, so that's cool. Rumiko Jr had a stint next, really pounding away, though with a lot less gear than the New Year's Day gig, which meant some interesting attempts by Michael to fill the gap (a rolled-up piece of paper pressed into use as a trumpet/kazoo at one point being the most inspired shortcut). Fairly similar, but shorter (the evening started late) to the other night: Totally Confused, The Monkey Songs and Get Up Jake got aired again, along with a mix of both albums (I can remeber Rome, and Some Days, but not a great deal more specifics). Regular John finished the bill, with more guesting from Rufus (piano), Marcus (guitar for their Roadrunner/Hospital cover, I did a bit of the "Radio on" shouts at the end too, 'cos the connection between that, and chatting to Rebecca about the Chris Petit film of the same name earlier in the evening, was too appealing for me to pass-up), and, well, me again (aided by Murray from The Heaters, seizing the opportunity at last) hammering out of time and pitch at the piano for a spontaneous conlcluding trawl through I Wanna Ba Your Dog. I think people enjoyed it, we all had fun at any rate. I took several more photos of the gig for the John, so hopefully these will turn up on their site evenutally. I think a lot of other people who were around that night were up for playing too, but Ewen had to knock the live music on the head after Regular John 'cos it was getting so late (so no Gorilla, for one), but all the revellers (also including , at different points, Lisa & Caroline; Christa & Paul; Ria - a typically brief appearance, Maya, Wookie, Karen, Jonny Russell, Anna White, Matt Jukes, Liam, Richard, Jamie; Tara & Jackie; Colin Gibson, Andy Warren, Claire Hamill, and Simon Bush - unable to stay away from the bar even when he's not working, but then why would you want to be anywhere else?) were well-pleased with the evening. I said just now that all this socialising has been taking it's toll on me this week, but in the end it was Reuben who passed-out on the sofa at the back (as have so many before him: Alfie even wrote a song about it on his album) and had to call Helen out to drive him home when he briefly re-entered conciousness again.
And I've got Nick and Melinda coming to stay later today. Don't think we're gonna be resting yet.

All is quiet, on New Year's Day - well not round these parts. Of course, we'd all had a late night on New Year's Eve (most of us either at Deano & Helen's place, or out at the Gritti Palace - to which rounds of applause, bouquets and general hosannas should be raised for putting on an excellent and generous New Year's party). But you can't keep a good scene down, and the afternoon at Smugglers saw the gradual arrival of Rumiko Jr, Regular John, and a supporting cast of fans and barflys, for the nearly traditional New Year's Day knees-up of noise. Simon at the bar - how was he still standing? Ewen too - histories eternal landlord (we could imagine him fitting right in in Tombstone 1881, 1930's Chicago, 50's Soho etc: one man in control of the neighbourhood's drinking patterns, however rowdy they might be). Of course, being just after Christmas, both groups had several new toys (pedals etc) to try out live: in Rumiko's case this also included Michael's eventual debuting of his Kaoss pad (to the slight envy of the John), and Marcus' double feedbacked effects, all promising signifiers for the evening. It's been one whole year since I attempted to put out a Donkey Kong Jr - Live at Smugglers tape as a New Year's present: a move that was nixed by the group then, due to what they saw as substandard performance on the tape (and definite substandard recording quality of the Fisher Price tape recorder): this year, however, I'd used the same tape recorder to prepare a tape called Sacrifice (an audio snapshot/documentary of the Jack In The Green and Bonfire events), which I was able to start handing out at this gig instead. Last year's New Year's Day gig was not only the first that Rumiko jr played under their new name, but also the last that Alfie Bernardi played with them: fortunately his leaving was amicable enough for him to be present this evening, and for him to give me a copy of his fine solo album Stranger (which happens to feature Rumiko's Dean and Rufus amongst it's supporting cast of musicians). I was making notes throughout the evening for a forthcoming short review to be included in Regular John's new Makin' Bones zine, though looking back on them today those notes are a total drunken scrawl, with genuine beer stains over them, yay! Anyhow, the two bands took it in turns with their sets: Rumiko up first with enhanced tunes from Broken Down Whiskey Sound, a few from the next lp, and a raucous White Stripes cover (obviously the raison d'etre of The White Stripes is creating a full sound from limited means, so if you're gonna get a 5-piece band to cover them, there's no point trying to strip it back to sound like there's only two of you. You gotta play up the maximised elements, hence the piling-on of instruments, breaks and solos that Rumiko bring to We Are Going To Be Friends). On the way to the gig I'd passed (in quick succession) our friends Lou and James, then Julian Wallinger, Harry O'Sullivan and their freinds, then Del and his partner, all of whom made attempts to get to the gig during the evening (not all successfully, mind, Del apparantly passed-out at home again); but Lou and James had made in in briefly before the bands started. Fortunately, the various friends who happen to be going out with Rumiko (ie Caroline, Lisa and Helen) soon made it along, so I wasn't sitting there on my own. Karen turned up for a while as well, though had to leave before the bands really started, but the place gradually filled up after then. Regular John took the front of the pub stage for a set drawing largely on their two ep's so far; ever louder, and more prone than before to heading out into freeform Sonic Youth/The Pink Floyd/Led Zep instrumental workouts between songs, though all done with feedback and energy. I've mentally coined the phrase Interstellar Overdraft for these moments. Billy Gorilla exemplified the spirit of support and co-operation by sitting on the floor in front of Pete's drumkit for the second half-of this set, smiling and grinning at the band. That nice bloke fromThe Heaters (Mus, is it?) also valiantly took the front of stage position to view the bands for the evening: he's a proper fan, you know. Reuben and his crew didn't make it down 'til after regular John's set, but fortunately both groups had arranged to play second sets, so any other late arrivals still got their evening's-worth of entertainment. Rumiko Jr's next set kicked off with some kaoss/vocoder augmented random jamming warm-up covers: Walk This Way (the Run DMC version) anyone? And was that Block Rockin' Beats they were attempting (I wanted to show the fact that I know my post-punk onions by shouting "Fuck You GI!" at them afterwards, but realised that, as usual, no-one would know what I was going on about, and since I'd already been hecking them earlier in the evening, I shut-up). Anyway, the second set drew more heavily on the unreleased second Rumiko album songs, with a few more covers chucked in to please the kids (Draggin', Totally Confused, Get Up Jake and, to spontaneously clumsy mass dancing, The Monkey Song, of course), every track ending in a hail of feedbacking guitars and reprocessed Kaoss pad sampling. Roar! The crowd were getting drunk, even Jonathan Martin, possibly against his own judgement, though the most trolleyed had to be the woman from the Kollege Kantina (Hazel) who was bravely going at it barefoot. Liam supplied the rockabilly presence, and all the peolpe who'd helped Regular John out in the studio (Andy Warren, Colin Gibson) were arriving too: it all seemed to be coming together. Matt handed me a camera for Regular John's next set, again mostly drawing on the unreleased songs they're preparing for their album. Bravely, and unexpectedly, Regular John took a spur-of-the-moment decision to unveil their cover of Rumiko's Rome (from the forthcoming split single, no less), and once they'd found their feet they really let fly at it, good move. Things got pretty intense, and at one point only Rufus' swift action prevented a serious accident when one of the PA stacks came crashing down on Bonj's head (protected by Billy's knackered straw hat, and all his hair) and Matt's face (which wasn't protected at all), ouch. We put the PA back together, though the other stack had expired by this point in sympathy. Caught up in the moment, the band played on, joined for The Diplomat by Deano on guitar and Michael on his Kaosspad and synths: full-on electric feedbacking choas. A great philosopher once wrote: All Rock 'n' Roll Is Homosexual, and the Regular/Rumiko love-in certainly added weight to his prouncement. The final song played out in even more mayhem, Rufus adding a bit of maraca from the floor before standing back as both groups collapsed in a storm of amp-abuse, cymbals, sticks and gangly bodies. My ears were fucked, but as far as injuries go, I reckon I got off lightly. The evening just spiralled merrily downhill even further from there, with that feeling that it may be only New Year's Day, but we'd just had one of the gigs of the year, and 2006 really is looking promising for noisy rock action. If nothing else, both Rumiko Jr and Regular John are gonna be dropping fuckin' great new albums this year: both usefully recorded and mixed in the tiny basement by the mighty Rufus - there's gonna be a solid base for a healthy scene to follow through from that. To do this whole thing justice, it'd be handy if we could all jack-in the day-jobs and dedicate ourselves to rehearsing, recording, writing and promoting: not just yet, but it's getting there. Next step along the way: Makin' Bones. Everything else to follow. Have fun!