I've never been to Islington Mill before, some people moan that it's too far to go for a gig but it's 'only a ten minute walk from the town centre'. I suggest that people claiming such should actually heel and toe it themselves before saying such. Not that I did, I drove it and got lost, hence the bitterness ... yes??
So Islington Mill is a dump, but a lovable one at that. What at first is an intimidating atmosphere of sweat and sweaty bodies, with sweat soacked air and sweaty heathens to push through the venue is really cool. The bar is essentially a pile of shit with a bit of wood on the top. The booze was cheap (I wasn't driving back!) but unfortunately it wasn't as cool as the venue.
Gnod are tonights opening band. It's obvious why they've been chosen for the gig and I'm always disappointed when looking for a local support act some promoters just go for bands that sound identical to headline act. It seems a bit like going out for a steak and having a bigmac for a starter..sort of the same, but shitter!! Gnod were better than your usual BigMac though in fact they were really good, their sound is a mix of all things, a little bit Mark E Smith a little bit trance a little bit (well a lot prog rock). The band themselves were equally a mixed bag indies kids, dredheads and a few metallers..all good. Worth checking out again.
Wooden Shjips..like Gang gang dance a year before them are close to my album of the year choice (obviously that means a lot to them). The San Diegans (San Diego-ins, San Diegoites...???) second album 'Dos' capturing the rawness of early sonic Youth and adding flavours of trance and freakout not matched by many psych contempories. And before anyone starts, Yes I know all their songs sound the same, it's how they roll, deal with it, maaaan.
So yeah, they were ace...except for two things; neither had anything to do with the band. First up was the guy behind me obviously there at some friends behest who had to, and I mean had to describe everysong to his buddys. It wasn't just the volume and the appaling similies he was gushing but the obviousness that he was just looking around theroom and saying stuff out loud "Oh wow that one was like Ozric Tentacles on acid in a sweaty ship yard", "Yowsers that one was like a cosmic bus driver on a couch of doom in a room full of people..." I was waiting for "That one was like a closet peodophile who doesn't know the volume of his own voice giving opinions nobody asks for in order to impress a girl that's probably already married" but...
... we moved into the crowd a bit to get away from Jonathan King and friends and ended up stood behind two guys dancing. Nowt wrong woth that (you'd think), entitled to have a boogie aren't you?? Well yeah but these two were propa off their tits. Soft drinks at Islington Mill are served in tiny plastic cups and these two would take it turns to go get two lemonades struggle back to where the other was, after slopping half the drink on his way over, then they'd both do the "pop" like a shot and thirty seconds later the other was off to the bar. It amused me a lot I can tell you, just that their inability to keep within their own space got a bit annoying. You know the bit in Dirty Dancing when he goes "this is my space, this is yours" yeah well that's what was going on, he was looking at his phone and kept walking backwards...onto my feet. Nice lad did apoligise a few thousand times before he had to go off to the bar for a quick shot of "pop". Then I bought a T-shirt and we went home, had an early start the next day.
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