Paul Theroux

I read this a while back in the book "The Old Patagonian Express" which has been an amazing read so far.

"It was mainly, my other fear: the distortion of companionship. I did not want to see things with anyone else's eyes. I knew this experience. If they point out something you have seen already you realize that your own perception was rather obvious; if they indicate something you missed you feel cheated, and it is a greater cheat to offer it later as your own."

I doubt a lot of people would understand that.

23/05/10 - Alkaline Trio

So fucking hot today.

You think that but then you get down to the gig and the band is walking around wrapped up in their winter best, the U.K has no real idea of what heat is.

Our contact kind of fucked this one up, we were all set for our interview, but the promoter bitch, not being sexist she was actually a dick, wasn't having any of it.

Even if we weren't down on the list, there is no need to be a wanker about it, if that was my job I would of tried my best to set at least something up.

Luckily, a girl I've known for a good few years now has just started her own production company and was trying for a video interview and Alkaline Trio's drummer Derek, was cool for doing a quick 5 minute piece after the sound check.

http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/2995

I didn't see the support bands, I've seen or heard both of them before, and they're really not my kind of thing. Maybe if I was a 14 year old school girl, I might be into them. I'm not.

Alkaline Trio played really well, they get slated a bit for their lives shows, but this was by far, the best I've seen them play.

After the encore, the band changed roles with Matt Skiba on drums, Dan on guitar and Derek on Bass for a cover of the Misfits song, Angel Fuck.

It was so insanely fucking awesome.

Our contact apologised for fucking it up, and has arranged a phone interview with the band for the 3rd of June.

18/05/10 - A Wilhelm Scream

Not much to say about the day.

Set up the interview, it wasn't a full band just with vocalist Nuno Pereira, who was a real fucking dude. Made our lives easier by making the interview hilarious and really relaxed.

http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/2992

The gig itself was fucking insane, the support bands were okay, but none of them really did anything for me, it was all kind of, same old same old, straight up hardcore punk, there's nothing wrong with the bands, just nothing special, pretty generic.

A Wilhelm Scream absolutely torn the place up though, I've never seen a band play that hard ever.

One of the few bands I've ever watched who were genuinely loving what they do and having a riot doing it.

10/05/10 - Austin Lucas - Leeds

Good old Leeds hey?
Austin Lucas is playing tonight, and even though Darren Johns has pulled out, Lucas is more than enough reason to get on the train and watch a show.
We have an interview arrange with Lucas for around 4/5, nothing set in stone so we have a bit of wiggle room to have a look around.
Almost, didn't make it to Leeds, there must have been a platform change, or maybe I'm just a fucking moron, but somehow we ended up on the wrong train, getting off with just seconds before departure to Crewe.
I really enjoy this place, I don't know why, there's a university here and it makes me wish I'd have gone to study here instead of my one day stint in Staffordshire.
Found a really fucking awesome C.D shop in Leeds, with more Fugazi records than I knew existed. If we had enough time I would of spent a good couple of hours in there, I'll have to come back down sometime just for this place.
We decide to find the bar "Santiago's" where we went drinking last time we were in this city, after a while it's found, but closed, so no mid-afternoon drinks for us.
There is a really nice looking vegetarian restaurant here, but the prices are a bit much so I decide to leave that one for today.
A few texts and our duo becomes a trio. A friend of a friend kind of deal, but this girls pretty cool so it isn't an annoyance having her around.
The gigs at somewhere called "Royal Park Cellars" sounds nice right? It was in fact, the cellars of a pub called Royal Park, just outside of the town centre. We eventually find it, find the lovely Mr. Lucas and get down to the interview, which you can read here.

http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/2961

It went really well, unfortunately, after the interview, which was weird seeing as it's usually beforehand, that mother fucker called anxiety kicks in, today it's more of a blurry head/vision anxiety which is annoying, but the fear isn't there, which is a massive relief.
I think that finally, I'm starting to get used to these interviews, even if it is only a little.
With a couple of hours to kill before the gig starts, the University gets a looking at. None of us are students at this particular university, not even our quote on quote guide for the evening.
It's weird, I don't hate Leeds, it's okay, even the university is looking alright, our cover is blown when it takes us about 5 minutes to work out how to open one of the doors in the building, time to leave anyway.
The gig was incredible, had a little chat with Austin again and he seemed really grateful for us taking an interest in him. The guy is such a talented artist.
Everyone who we saw play that night played really well, especially El Morgan, who seemed totally fucking stoked at my comparison between her and Ani Difranco.
We didn't get to see the final act, which for some reason wasn't Austin Lucas, as we had to get the train home.
It's such a fucking shame that people like El Morgan and Austin Lucas have to play pub basements for probably little to no money, while no talent pricks make millions by barely singing their songs.
Fuck that.
The trains delayed slightly but it's here soon enough.

An open letter to David Cameron

Dear Davey,

I was just wondering if we could arrange an interview, talk about your love of the Arctic Monkeys maybe, I'm not a fan personally, but that doesn't mean we can't have a polite chat.

Then maybe go for a drink after, I see you like Guinness, I'm vegetarian so I can't really drink it, it'd have to be a Jameson for me, maybe we could do a bit of karaoke, have a real good time.

If we're too skint after all our fun, we could share a cab, I'm not sure how close 10 Downing Street is to Kearsley, but we could arrange something I'm sure.

Even better, you could come to mine, we could have a sleep over.

Tell ghost stories and rate all the girls we've ever been with, just like the good old days.

In the morning, I could bring you breakfast in bed, egg and soldiers!

When you're all wakey wakey'd I'll walk you to the bus stop, hell, I'll even wait until the bus turns up, and just before you get on, I'll kick you in fucking dick.

New Ink.

Well not so much new, more added to an old tattoo.

It was a fucking shamble to start with but this guys has really made it look semi-presentable, so kudos to that mother fucker!