Thursday 19 February 2009

This Band Has Eaten All Our Money and We Don't Mind.

I have the world’s loveliest hangover today. It’s just humming away gently inside my head, more of a lullaby than a headache. It’s there just to remind me that I had a lovely night last night out with friends I hardly ever see. Zoe, Chad, Clare, Jo, Darren,Cat, Dom, Vera, Ally, Chris, Tony, Toria, Jo, Andy (who I just met), Ballyclare Paul, Kathy, Karin, Bob, Charlotte and some others who I don’t know. It was so good. Hooray for all them. And there was booze. Not loads, but enough. And my hangover is a gentle, throbbing reminder that keeping in touch with your friends (actually real, face to face, not Twittering) is something I should be doing more of.
I was invited along to an evening in Kings Cross themed “F*** The Brits”. Now, although I saw the asterisks as cowardly I definitely loved the sentiment behind the title. Imagine my disappointment when I got there and discovered it was just a load of starving indie bands and not some IRA uprising like I hoped. I ironed my balaclava for nothing. I say nothing, I still looked fabulous in it and I certainly turned a few heads. Ha ha ha! Only joking! I was actually really there to see my favourite band in the entire world, 28 Costumes.

You know the way your friend has a band and its shit? Well, I don’t have that problem. My friends’ band is genuinely my favourite band and they are a never ending fountain of great pop hooks, uplifting tunes and plainly exciting, danceable, guitar-driven, feel-good songs. Not in a fucking Wombats way. In a good way. In a 28 Costumes way. Plus, they can break your heart when they feel like it, too. To put it simply; I adore them. It was such a good gig last night and I was over the moon that they had drawn a great crowd to the legendary Water Rats. Normally London venues like this are lucky if half a man and a third of his dog turn up and it was good to see that they did. So did lots of other complete people. You will be doing yourself a big favour if you go to iTunes now and download one of 28 Costumes songs. It will cost you 79p. Imagine that? 79p for happiness? That is a bargain. I recommend one of the tunes from their Electrical Fever EP but all their stuff is excellent really. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than that band your friend is in. www.itunes.com/28costumes

After the band it was back to boozing and two beautiful discoveries. Firstly, although by being at the Water Rats I was therefore f***ing the Brits, I did manage to see one bit of the pointless, middle-of-the-road pop trophy event. It was for best live act. Best live act in 2009. Coldplay? White Lies? Lady Gaga? NO! The winner was Iron Maiden. I’m so proud of them. I was a member of their fan club in 1981, don’t you know? (Don’t let that put you off my love of 28 Costumes, my taste is much more refined since 1981) Secondly, did you know that when the Pixies split up their drummer became a professional magician? It’s true and it’s fantastic. There is a documentary called loudQUIETloud and in it David Lovering appears at several magic shows under the name The Scientific Phenomenalist. Personally, I think he should have called himself The Magic Lovering although that might have given him a totally different audience.

Yeah, it was a simple night of drinking and seeing friends but, really, you can’t get much better than that. Well, you can. Later that night I was asked to leave a waiting room in London Bridge’s train station because it was a women only waiting room. I told the attendant that I was a woman and we both left it at that. She obviously didn’t want to question it and I didn’t want to budge from her incredibly sexist waiting room. For all she knew I was a woman. After all, I still had the balaclava on.

I’m glad this blog is cheerier than yesterdays.

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