THAT missed/ing gig...

Ah, the Ravonettes. See, I went to see Supergrass with Nathan - and Christian I think. Sweet gig. Supergrass were amazing. The last time I saw them. Life on other planets tour I guess. I never got into that album. Just never clicked. Which is a shame after the majesty that was In it for the money. Poor album aside, they were ace live. Really regret not going to the fair-well tour. Seems I only ever really regret missed gigs more than anything...

Anyways, that aside. They were supported by this new Danish band called The Ravonettes.

Damn. The first single had just come out, Attack of the ghost rider. What a sound. Garagy/sleazy/grungy/surf rock. They went on to release a lot of albums (still do) and I stuck with the band for a long time. In truth, the last few have sounded like more of the same. 

Live they remain amazing tho. I caught them, hmm, I wanna say not too long ago but it was when I lived with Dave and that was a LONG time ago. His band, Nine Black Alps (a critically under-rated band. Not the first in this blog. And I do not say it cause they are mates. I really did love them. First album, Everything Is - if you like rock - or grunge especially - you MUST own it anyways...), were playing at Leeds Festival so I got a backstage pass for a day. i.e. nice toilets and Juliette and the Licks  were, ahem, watch from behind. Still, that was the last time I saw them. I watched them with Anna and thought they would have lost something. But live they were still just fantastic. Really commanded your attention. I would happily go see them again now, dull albums aside.

But anyways, that first EP, whip it on, was really something. But that was not quite released so we knew little by them (in the glory days pre-youtube!!!). So just one single, some buzz and supporting Supergrass. I guess NME or whatever the kids read then were all over them after ace reviews. The crowd was full of, what would now be called hipsters now but back then were just the NME drones. Either way, they got a great reception. And they deserved it - they were ace.

So yer, I got back. Grabbed the EP released the following week. But, more importantly, me n Nath grabbed tickets to see them play the Roadhouse a few weeks later. And the buzz, added to sterling reviews, meant that it sold out pretty darn sharpish.so I was pretty chuffed with that.

The Roadhouse. Such a small venue in Manchester but held some of my favourite gigs ever. Compulsion (I met Garratt Lee before the show and hung for a while. He came on stage, saw me and said "Hi" to me in front of me mates. THAT was AWESOME. It may have only been the Roadhouse but I bloody loved that band and their albums so size does not matter at all to me (head, gutter, out) - I was star-struck!) 

The Evil Superstars supported them. Also ace, if sorta insane - the lyrics "I want to paint the refrigerator, but it's already done" and the most songs on the first album, possibly excluding Satan is in my ass, are silly works of genius. The second album with sad, sad planet was ace. Both albums are well worth searching down for a piece of insane rock history of the most minor kind. Worth noting, I spoke with Mauro their singer. Really nice guy and is now the guitarist for my fav. ever band dEUS. I was stood next to him at a dEUS gig at Rote Fabrik in Zurich (during the support act), an ace venue btw! I was going to remind him of our chat many years earlier but I couldn't hear bugger all cause the decidedly average support act were too loud :)

 

I also saw 5,6,7,8's tho I didn't see much as the stage was about 10 mm high and the band were so damn short so I ended up catching up with Suzanne the entire time. I saw many mates bands there, Cable, Feeder (the later before they became popular, dull and just plane rubbish).

And my favourite Roadhouse show that will ever be - Baby Chaos. I love this band so much. So powerful, deep, heart wrenching and really amazingly crafted songs. Just so well constructed. I am sure I will wax on about them again. But this is of particular note as I loved it so much and it was their only proper headline tour as Baby Chaos. That they never hit it big is one of rocks biggest cock-ups. So damn unlucky. If I hit it rich I will beg them to play a show for me. Happily beg. (And pay any price. So yer, I need to be mid-rich...)

To reiterate - I love Baby Chaos.

Where was I? Oh yes - the Ravonettes. So they were playing the Roadhouse and were generating a shed load of buzz. Me and Nath grabbed tickets and it soon sold out. The night of the show, the EP well digested, I was really pretty excited. We met, drank some drinks. 

Then it got fuzzy...

...and I woke up with a stinker of a headache the next day. 

I rang Nath, of course, and asked what the hell happened and why we didn't go to the gig - seeing as I was so excited about it. I was pretty annoyed we missed it. Figured something weird happened. But, with the head haze, I could not quite figure it out.

Turns out we did go.

I usually remember everything from night out (which is weird cause my usual recall is poor to say the least. If I had been the main protagonist in Total Recall, the movie would have been rubbish as I would never have remembered any past life. Just domestic bliss with Sharon Stone - could be worse for me but not really movie worthy). Still, there are two nights I have no recollection of. One caused an ex to throw a bottle of booze at my head the next time I saw her (and no-one would ever tell me why - although to be fair to me, she did was pretty mental anyways). 

And this one. I have no idea how the Ravonettes were that night, tho I expect they were awesome.

On the plus side, it seems I did manage to liberate Nathans chicken burger - before it was captured in his stomach, letting it know the power of flight - at some guys stood at the crack bus stop on Oldham Road and whom we then had to beat a hasty retreat from. 

Ah, the idiocy of youth.

Whilst writing this entry I was listening to The Beautiful People, The Beautiful People EP, and Fred Woods, Documenta, Clinic Kills -Free Reign. Enjoy :)