Classics of Love: May 10th-14th

May 10th - The Croft, Bristol

Took a shower before we headed off for the train. Kat is a really sweet girl, but it seems like she has some problems maintaining friends, which always makes me sad to see. There are certain people who I think just need to reign in a bit of their personality at times for the sake of keeping up good relationships with others. I'm not sure if this is the case with her or if things really are just as tough and cruel as she says, but I couldn't help but be reminded of similar situations I've seen people in. Either way its a shame. She walked us to the train station, with a short stop at the grocery store, and then we were off. Even though I don't feel like I personally spoke with her all that much she seemed very sincere when she said that she didn't want us to leave. Swansea is a great place and I hope it starts to treat her a bit better.

Had to take another rail replacement bus from Newport to Bristol Parkway (the same bus we caught out last time, only going the other way), then a short, very packed train ride to Bristol central. From what I saw of Bristol right off the bat, it reminded me a good deal of Portland--fairly spread out, very clean feeling in certain areas (much less so in others). Had a good 20-30 minute walk to the Croft, which is a cool little pub/restaurant/record shop/venue with a gig room in the back. When we got there, The Zatopeks, the other band, was already there and all seemed like cool, easy going guys. Something about the walk really took it out of me so I ended up taking a pretty weak nap on one of the sofas inside. When I woke up (again, feeling a bit strange) I could hear the Zatopeks sound checking, sounding really good. Someone told me that Larry Livermore said they were the best band in England, which is pretty high praise.

I was considering not eating but when I woke everyone else was being fed Sunday pork roast, so partially as something to keep myself busy with I went to a little takeaway place down the road and got a truly insane portion of fish and chips. Every place I've gone to has been slightly more ludicrous than the last, but this time the inmates had just taken over the asylum. Barely ate half of the inch and a half thick cod fillet and still couldn't finish the chips after sharing them with everyone and then trying for a second round with them. It was Pacquiao/Hatton all over again. By the time I threw in the towel on that one, I could hear Mike Scott playing his last song and I groggily cleaned up after myself and went to catch the Zatopeks. When they started playing it was immediately like a revelation. They're just a simple pop-punk band but somehow they just do everything right. I've heard people say that about the Ergs, but the Ergs bore me to death. Something about the Zatopeks just did it, though. They blew through their set with such elan and ease, and no matter how simple the singer's antics were he just looked so fucking cool doing them. I could see why Larry Livermore liked them so much. Max and I were both just flabbergasted. If I had known the songs when they played it probably would have been totally exhilarating.


Insane portions of fish and chips!

Mike played a good set afterwards, sort of fumbled a bit on a song he hadn't played in a long time but it overall went well. We played what I thought was a pretty good set. Jesse's voice was starting to go a bit but I felt like we really went for it. Afterwards I talked jazz for a while with the drummer of the Zatopeks who ended up knowing a good amount of really cool stuff. He also plays drums in a trio that he said was pretty Bill Evans-y. We chatted about Rasheed Ali and John Zorn while loading out and then we had to get running to Dave, the promoter's, house. Before we left Max bought a Tortoise, Bonnie Prince Billy collaboration album.

Almost everyone we had been staying with had been tremendously gracious, but also happened to live about 30 minutes up a hill from where we played, then up about 3 flights of stairs, and Dave was anything but an exception. This one was absolutely grueling, but it made lying down all the better when we finally got to his place. Mike had spoken very highly of the Bouncing Souls documentary, and Dave owned it, so we ended up sitting around and watching that before bed. It was pretty endearing, even though I've never listened to them, but I didn't find it quite as effective as Mike did. After that it was lights out on our respective mattress cushions.

May 11th - Victoria Inn, Derby

Jesse's voice was pretty shot in the morning. We're definitely going to need to do at least one day off here and there next time we tour.

We were set to take the 2 o'clock train to Derby but everyone needed to do laundry so we decided to leave earlier and try to find a place there. We piled into Dave's van and he graciously drove us back down to the Bristol Temple Meads station where we caught the 12.30 train off. Hit up a little corner store first and got some food (peanuts, granola bar, apple, water) and ate on the train. I was still really stuffed up. I think whatever allergens are in the air got me all stuffy, instead of sneezy like I get at home.

As Mike had told us previously, the venue was literally across the street from the train station, so there was very little work involved in getting there. The Victoria Inn is a real nice place. Lots of bands have played there, as can be seen when looking at their walls adorned with photos. Chas' band played there. So did the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Lots of bands! Once we dropped off our stuff, Max and I looked around the city center (stopping first to argue about the nature of slight rights and slight lefts), checking for a thrift store, and bumping into Jesse along the way. At an Oxfam I bought Darkness at Noon for £2 since I was almost done with the Machado and Mike had my copy of A Scanner Darkly. Jesse picked up the Anthony Kietis autobiography since he thought it would probably be an interesting read (not necessarily because he was the biggest RHCP fan). Realistically, the guy does seem to have some pretty interesting things happen to him. We found a Primak afterwards where Jesse bought 2 more jumpers (he'd lost 4 now), and Max and I looked for beanies (he'd lost 2, I'd lost 1). In the end Max picked up a new jacket (had lost 2 of those, too) and I got a 3 pack of t-shirts for £5! Pretty cheap. I picked up a salad at an M&S on the way back which ended up being way too peppery then we got some food at a kebab place around the corner.


The Vic

Ate back at the Inn and hung out for a bit. Chatted with the opening band. A Lars Fredrickson album was playing on the house stereo which had some undeniably horrible songs, including one with maybe the worst lyric I've ever heard ("I'm mainlining murder, baby"). Instead of drinking, which I would inevitably have done if I hung around the pub, I went out on a walk, ostensibly to get some toothpaste, but mostly just to get some exercise and get out of the pub for a while. Everything closes so damn early in England though. After 6pm the only things open are the chip shops and the pubs. Even grocery stores are closed. Its so strange seeing how abandoned it all becomes at the drop of a hat. So, since it was past 6, I didn't end up getting any toothpaste. Did get some exercise, though. Back at the club the first group started playing and were very Sublime--the band, not the state of being. Could have been from So Cal, brah.

Some nights, even though I enjoy his sets quite a bit, I just don't want to stand so I end up just hanging out when Mike plays. Early in there was some talking but he dealt with them handily. Surprisingly so, even. Afterwards he didn't even use the microphone and everyone was listening, some singing along too. Our set was pretty good, I felt. Jesse's voice came through fine and he was really happy with it all in the end. On 'the Crowd' I climbed up on Park's back, despite the ceiling being about 5 inches above his head. Another very small room so the modest attendance seemed to fill it up a bit better than had it been at a place like White Rabbit. Second night that a girl clearly with a boyfriend seemed to be making eyes at me (happened in Swansea, too). Mike managed to secure us a place to stay with two girls and their roommate (another girl!) who were very hospitable and didn't mind us drinking their tea and talking about different ways to die while we filled their tiny living room. Took a refreshing shower then settled down on the saggy air mattress with Morgan. Cool.

May 12th: Cafe Drummonds, Aberdeen, Scotland

Early morning. Caught a cab from the girls' place at about five after 9, then caught the 9.40 to Edinburgh, where we had a connecting train to Aberdeen, way up on the east coast of Scotland. Loaned Mike £5 for the taxi.

Slept for a bit on the way to Edinburgh and finished reading Epitaph of a Small Winner. Significantly more striking of a read this time. My mind was, obviously, entirely elsewhere when reading it before. The similarities between it and Vonnegut (particularly Cat's Cradle) are remarkable, and stylistically it seems just about the only clear precursor to him that I can think of. This goes for both syntactical and structural elements, as well as the hopefully-hopeless voice which straddles the line between flippancy and misery so concretely that it really feels like a sort of nostalgia for life itself. Machado definitely deserves more attention. Behind me on the train a little girl was whistling "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" incredibly loudly.

Unfortunately we weren't able to really see any of Edinburgh because the next train we had to catch left minutes after we got there. But I've been hearing that its one of the most beautiful cities in the world. So it was nice to not see it.

Started reading Darkness at Noon on the next train. Very 20th century in its wake-up-get-arrested-ness. Still need to write about that one on the other thing. Slept a bit more on this train and woke up twice to find two different girls sitting right across the row from me as I drooled on myself in my sleep.

When we got to Aberdeen Sye and Pepe, two sweet Scottish girls, were there to pick us up. Pepe put us up for the night and ended up having a huge living room that fit us all comfortably. Though it may not be as much so as Edinburgh (I don't know), Aberdeen itself a beautiful city. Everything is made out of granite and there are spires from old buildings always on the horizon. The sea, again, sat right in the near distance. From the balcony at Pepe's we could see the building which Hitler had planned to use as his UK stronghold, as it was his favorite building in the UK. A strange bit of local history. We also had our first encounter with Neds, which Jesse had been warning us about for weeks. They seemed a bit less intimidating than Jesse had been trumping them up to be, but it was interesting meeting people who actually knew what the term meant, since no one in England or Wales had ever heard it before.


Simian Morgan and Human Sye

At the venue I played a couple rounds of billiards with Jesse (each won one) then ended up having a couple photos taken in front of an old church by two freelance photographer guys, which was something I never really expected to have happen. Openers were pretty good (can't remember the first band's name but they let me use their guitar). The Hijacks were pretty good and were incredibly nice. Mike has played with them before and likes them. Another sort of so-so set for us, I thought. Couldn't really hear anything from the stage, broke an A string (my third since being on tour, despite using a higher string gauge and a lighter pick), etc. Sye offered to take us to an absinthe bar down by the docks but we didn't have enough time (bars close at midnight). I really wish we could have gone. But we ended up going back to Pepe's and just screwing around all night, which was very fun itself. Jesse made us some more strong fuzzy navels, had some Schnapps, then slept on the couch in the living room.

May 13th: 13th Note, Glasgow

Hung out for a bit, checking email and having cereal. Mike went for a brief walk then put Iron Man on when he got back, and we talked about various superhero movies. Stopped at a music store on the way to the station to get more strings and got fleeced (£13 for two packs!!!) then went to an M&S with Pepe and Morgan to get food for the trip to Glasgow. Pepe and Sye came with us. Sye is sort of like Jonah Hill's character was like as a kid in Superbad, in that she compulsively draws dicks in every conceivable way. There was a guy sitting next to her on the train that looked like he was trying to not continually stare (and also trying to not laugh too obviously) at many of the pictures she and Jesse made.

The 13th Note is in a pretty sketchy part of Glasgow--down the street there was an alleyway filled with broken bottles, human plog, and empty record sleeves. Right next to the club, in a huge car park area, one of Sye's friends told us that that very corner had the highest traffic for heroin peddlers of anywhere in the UK. Then he also told us about how his ex-girlfriend broke up with him after he got thrown out of a 2nd story window in his underwear. Before going back to the club we all went to get candy at a store and I had the most satisfying candy I have ever tasted. Kit Kat Senses. If it ever comes to America I'm going to give myself diabetes via them.


I'm going to eat so many of these

We came back to the 13th Note and hung out for a bit. Someone put on the song 'The Rhinohead' from the Von Sudenfed album, which is the last song I ever expected to hear on a jukebox but was incredibly satisfying to hear. That's the best VS song, as far as I'm concerned. The gig room of the 13th Note is a tiny little basement which, with around 70 people, seemed filled to bursting. We were told that the Plimptons (for whom this blog is named, and who played with us) had played there the night before as well, which sounded to us like "no one is coming," but it ended up being great. The Plimptons are fucking fantastic. My favorite band we played with all tour. BTMI! meets I Need Sleep, or somewhere thereabouts. Great show, great energy, really good songs...just super good. Mike did his "I'm just going to play unplugged" thing again and then we did a somewhat haphazard, very fun show. Both Morgan and I broke strings at terribly inopportune times, so there was a bit of a lull when he had to replace his and I had to grab Jesse's guitar. I asked if the person who put that Von Sundenfed song on was there so I could shake his/her hand, but the person in question didn't seem to be around. This did end up being a point of conversation with Adam from the Plimptons, though. We ended up talking about the Country Teasers for quite a while afterwards. That was a conversation I have never been able to have with anyone up until now, so it was awesome to talk to another fan. He told me about the Yummy Fur and Male Nurse, who are two other really good Glasgow bands (Male Nurse basically being Country Teasers with a different singer).

Another event of considerable significance was a phone call Mike received early in the day, while we were still at Pepe's house. It was from Kristianne, in Southampton. In a fit of sleuthing normally reserved only for Angela Lansbury, having still found something fishy about the missing guitar situation, she returned to the Talking Heads and had a look around. One of the staff there was willing to help her a bit and, lo and behold, within the manager's office she found Jesse's missing guitar. That girl is a fucking firecracker if there ever was one, and I think we were all suitably surprised both with her cavalier spirit in returning and, even more so, with the results she achieved. Totally incredible!

The night finally ended after a long time carousing with the Plimptons and others at the pub with a taxi ride with Jen and Scott, who were putting us up at Jen's parents' house. Her mom had already graciously prepared some blow up mattresses and a few couches for our usage. I absorbed the Plimptons album delightedly, listening to it a few times before going to bed, then had another small couch to sleep on. This was one of the best days of tour.


Genius