As mentioned so many times before
I am never too keen on reviewing events that I have promoted.
Anything said that is favourable
can very easily be misconstrued as a trumpet blowing exercise.
So instead of considering this as
a review it is probably best if the Eureka Machines Scottish dates were to be thought
of as akin to a tour diary rather than a review.
Friday 07/03/14 – Audio – Glasgow.
Arrived in Glasgow in a timely fashion and hit some
shops as a time killer before load in at 4pm.
Felt pretty proud of myself as
we, Kelly and I, spent half an hour in Missing records, and I managed to leave
empty handed.
That is rocking horse shit rare,
and maybe, just maybe, I’m finally getting a handle on my vinyl addiction.
With about an hour still to fill
we popped into the Crystal
Palace that is next door
to Audio.
It’s one of those Wetherspoon
behemoths.
Kelly had a hot chocolate that
allegedly had chocolate in it but tasted of dishwater, and I had a cola that
was possibly just water from a muddy puddle.
It had the colour, but that was
all.
Never let it be said that a crap
hot chocolate and cola can ruin our day though, as instead of complaining we
just got on with it.
First world problems neatly
banished we popped around to Audio to find the Eureka Machines and their mate
Matt, had just arrived as well as Butler
(Sound engineer for the evening).
So after a quick hello and a nice
to see you all again, we loaded all the gear in (yep, a promoter that helps
load the gear in. The rocking horse shit is building up) and Kelly went to Ticket Scotland to
pick up the presales.
Sound check slipped by with no
issues at all, and then the really important stuff was dealt with as I went out
and picked up the rider that consisted of lager, some lager and some more
lager.
I’d like to say there were no
prima-donna requests from the band, but Pete let them down by asking for a
“fruity cider, but not pear, maybe summer fruits”.
You can just tell that if the
band hit the giddy heights of playing stadiums he will have an entourage and a
list of demands that features midgets in thongs whose sole job is to
separate the red Skittles from the rest of the colours.
Back stage will look like a scene
from Caligula filmed in Willy Wonka’s factory.
Anyway Lidl didn’t have any so he
had to do with a white wine spritzer in a can that seemed equally girly and
probably isn’t much different from a summer fruit cider.
Jason of debrasco had arrived by
then, closely followed by two thirds of Party Asylum and a singular Rank Berry.
(Calling Brian a singular Rank Berry sounds worse than it really is.)
With the rest of the members of
the support bands arriving in dribs and drabs we left them in the capable hands
of Butler as we returned to the Crystal Palace to grab something to eat.
We all avoided the hot chocolate
and cola this time.
Once bitten, twice shy as Ian
Hunter would say.
Instead we had what turned out to
be a lovely meal, and a conversation that if anyone listened into it must have
sounded like a self help meeting of music nuts.
Me - Hi. My name is Mainy and I
am a music addict.
Eureka Machines and Matt – Hello Mainy.
With the time creeping ever
onwards everything fell neatly into place with us all finishing up our meals
and drinks and arriving back at the venue ten minutes before doors.
Everyone there was ready, and with
a last minute whirl of activity so were we.
Biggest surprise of the evening
was opening up, and people coming in.
Not that people coming to a gig
is a surprise, but arriving in time for the supports often is.
This time the crowd was already
swelling nicely (behave) as Party Asylum took to the stage.
This is the third time that I’ve
had them on a bill and with each outing they are incrementally getting better
and better.
A grungier garage rock sound is
coming to the fore and it’s great to see them growing up in public like this.
Even better was that random
people kept coming over to tell me how much they had enjoyed the set from them
as the comments were all framed in seeing a positive progression.
As a band they are certainly refusing
to let any grass grow under their feet and it shows.
Debrasco don’t mess about.
Hard rocking seems to come easy
to them as they powered through a set of modern rock songs that sound as if
they are influenced by punk, grunge and even little hints of the dreaded
nu-metal of the late nineties – although that’s not to be taken as a negative
as it’s lightly layered on and adds more than it takes to the material.
It was heartening to see the guys
do some brisk business in merch to what would have been an audience who were
seeing them for the first time.
They should take some pride from
that as not many support acts can pull that off.
This was to be the last show for
Rank Berry guitarist Sean, as he is relocating to London, and it would be fair to say that he
left the band in style.
Being self confessed Eureka
Machines fans the band were excited about sharing a stage with them, and intent
on enjoying themselves as much as possible.
It was this enthusiasm that made
their set such and infectiously fun proposition.
Blistering guitar solos, manic
rhythm work, pounding drums and bass all sugared with the soulful rock vocals
of Jamie.
Throwing in a Wildhearts cover to
finish the set could have been a bit hit and miss, but ended up all hit.
Nicely done, and as with Debrasco
and Party Asylum they finished their set to the second as arranged.
This is one of those little
things that people maybe don’t consider that much, but set times, running
orders and such, are all done prior to the gig, and everyone should know exactly
what they are doing, and yet very often when managing an event of any size you
have to push to the side of the stage and motion to an act that they have one
more song as if you don’t then they will just play on and on and on.
So it’s a pleasure to work with
people who have an eye on making the night run as smoothly as possible, and in
this case all the supports did just that.
So thank you.
It’s this self policing that
allows me top relax a bit and crack open another can instead of running about
putting out fires.
Much appreciated.
I could say similar about the
professionalism of Chris, Pete, Davros, Wayne and Matt.
This is the second Eureka
Machines gig that I have booked and they are old hands at this.
There is no drama, and they
simply turn up and do everything that they promise they will, and that’s mainly
attempting to take the roof off the venue they are in.
As a unit it is rare to see a
band so tight and attuned to each other.
There are the known choreographed
moves in specific songs, but nothing comes across as stale, or even contrived.
It’s all just one big ball of
fun, and the audience who know what they are going to get are quick to pick up
on the energy, while those who are new to the band were barely a step behind.
It seemed to be one of those gigs
were the band and audience fed of each other, and with each song it just got
better and better.
Plenty of people have been asking
that age old question of “why aren’t they massive” often enough over the years,
but with gigs like this, and news coming in on the night that they had won three
“Pure Rawk” awards, it is maybe getting closer to them grabbing some quality
time in the spotlight, and if they do manage to get into that position I can’t
think of anyone else who deserves it more as they work hard at this.
A quick encore and it was that
part of the night when the lightweights were spent and looking to head home.
(I'm looking at you Mark Hickey)
Meanwhile Eureka Machines scored
some drink from Audio who kindly bent over backwards to accommodate us all, and
Kelly and me slipped around to the Classic Grand who had offered free entry to
their rock night for anyone with a Eureka’s
ticket.
Accompanied by Jen and Androo of
Party Asylum, their mate Ryan, and Christie Connor-Vernal, we arrived to find
the DJ playing some grunty industrial death metal to a horde of long haired,
denim clad extras from some post apocalyptic b-movie.
With our usual disregard for
convention it only took us twenty minutes to persuade the DJ to play some Pat
Benatar and Bonnie Tyler, and yes the combination of both did manage to clear the
floor.
It was a bit surreal doing an
impression of Bonnie in the middle of a circle of growling rock fans, but
sometimes you just have to reach down deep and grab that inner Bonnie and go
with it.
Top night, top bands, top people,
and I am seriously thinking about buying a top hat.
Okay that last bit doesn't fit,
but I thought I’d slip it in and pre-warn people.
Saturday – 08/02/14 – Bannermans
(Edinburgh)
Well last night ended with a
promise to do it all again today, but Kelly’s car didn’t want to play and
failed its MOT in grand style in the morning.
Never say never though.
With Kelly making a few calls she
managed to secure a car, and with a flurry of messages online we arranged to
pick up Brian of Rank Berry, his partner Gillian, and Euan, who is Jamie of Rank
Berry’s brother, and then head on through to the east coast.
The journey was uneventful,
although we did talk about how if I won the lottery I wanted to buy a couple of
dwarves with tourettes, dress them in tiny gimp suits, and strut about my home
town with the snapping at people on the end of leads.
Apparently this is beyond the
pale as dwarves are according to the others real humans.
That can’t be true.
Of course they look human, but
they must be closer to an animal species.
Am I right, or am I right?
It doesn’t matter anyway because
if I won a silly amount of money I am sure I could pick up a couple online.
You can’t get anything online.
Euan and I also decided that
bananas are not a fruit.
Think about it.
Fruit is pretty much always round
or oval.
We have oranges, apples, pears to
an extent, melons, berries, grapes etc.
Then you have this banana thing.
It doesn’t look like any other
fruit, has a different texture and less in common with other fruits than I have
with a dwarf.
So, our conclusion is that a
banana is just a banana.
It sits alone as a food group.
There’s meat, vegetables, nuts,
dairy, fruit and bananas.
They are like the duck billed
platypus of the food world.
No one told us the rugby was on.
Scotland
was playing France
and the traffic was suitable chaotic.
It wasn’t helped by some limo
with flags on it getting escorted out of the city.
Apparently putting a couple of
flags on the bonnet of your car gives you the right of way in any situation and
cops on motorbikes flanking you to make sure no one rips the piss.
While that was slightly annoying
(‘mon the proletariat) it was less entertaining than seeing a guy dressed as
Obelisk.
There was no sign of Asterix
though.
Shame that.
The two of them strutting down a
road with a wild boar on Obelisks shoulder would have made my day.
I’d never been in Bannermans
before, but it’s a pretty cool little rock and roll boozer with an impressive
line up of bands coming in the next few months so I expect I’ll be back sooner
than later.
It was very nice to coincidently
meet up with Wildhearts/NY Dolls fans Mo and her husband again.
It’s always good to bump into
people as part of the gig going experience.
First act of the night was
Shatterhand who deal in the harder side of pop punk, although the pop element
shouldn’t be focussed too heavily on as it’s really just being used to
highlight that they have a good grip of melody that they graft onto the
brutality and use to shade what they do to good effect.
I’ve seen the band loads of times
over the years and I never get tired of them.
They are stalwarts in the Edinburgh punk scene and
it’s a well deserved position they hold.
Some people felt the set was a
bit short, but it’s a clean blast that never overstayed its welcome and I was
once again entertained so I’m not complaining.
Buzzbomb are another act that has
been earning their stripes for a very long time, and it’s great to see that an
elusive break in the music business has never dampened their enthusiasm for
what they do.
It’s all a blur of a nuanced take
on the harder, more metallic, side of the punk rock road.
Motorhead, Misfits, The Ramones
for a bit of shading, and more all jostle with each other to rise to the top as
a main influence, but the guys keep them all corralled in together and keep it
interesting.
By the time they raced through
their setlist the sweat was running off them and it’s admirable to see them put
so much energy into it all.
Eureka Machines don’t mess about
though, and with the crowd growing to a nice level they weren’t slow in rising
to the challenge and entertaining everyone present.
This time without having to worry
about anything and just assuming the more comfortable role of punter I managed
to dance about a bit, sing a lot and enjoy a drink or two.
At my age two nights out should
be considered rather reckless, but fatigue and hangovers have not been an issue
over the weekend.
After the show we talked some
more nonsense with the guys from Eureka Machine, Chris showed us the tattoo of
Jon Poole he has on his right buttock twice and then we said our goodbyes and
looked for a chip shop that provided vinegar with the salt.
It’s a strange place is Edinburgh.
When did “do you want salt and
vinegar with that become salt and sauce”.
Philistines.
Going home was even less eventful
than heading there.
It all ended with Gillian having
a pee behind a skip and Brian leaving his phone in the car prior to them
heading to a party that allegedly had moved to accident and emergency as
someone managed to get their penis bit.
I’m only mentioning that last bit
in case at any point in the future Brian asks anyone to go to a party with him.
It’s on you if you say yes.
And with that all I can do is
raise a glass and say “here’s to the next time”.
Also, and this is just a thought,
but if everyone who attended both shows could bring a friend next time we could
really push the Eureka Machine lads forward a bit.
They deserve it, and let’s be honest,
so do we.
