Finally!

Hey All,

I finally pulled it together to make the call for an appointment yesterday afternoon, only to be told that I should call at half eight in the in the morning. Which I did (alond with half of East London it seems), eventually getting through and scoring an appointment for 1110.

I still managed to be ten minutes late for the appointment (aided and abetted by the inconsistent nature of the 257 bus), getting there when I did by running from bus stop to bus stop, waiting for a second to see if the 257 was behind me and then repeating the process. Considering that I have been laying off the exercise since I realised that this cough wasn't going away, I felt surprisingly good.

In any case, the doc agreed to see me, tapped my chest and listened to my lungs etc. Result:

Temperature fine, throat fine, heart sounds fine, lungs sound a little creaky. Here's a prescription, come back in three weeks if you start coughing up blood, writing poetry, drinking absinthe or living in La Quartier Latin of Paris (okay, I added the last three myself).

I got the prescription filled down at boots in Leytonstone then headed back here to take care of some general housekeeping.

My last three days:

Saturday was lazy because I got home really late from the club night I had covered. Still managed to get some writing done.

Went out clubbing Saturday night, got separated from friends in the morning so I went to Camden to look at drainpipe jeans and belt buckles. Came to the conclusion that the word 'Tasteful' does not seem to exist in the vocabulary of large belt buckle makers, and that the shop in the stables that sells levi drainpipes might actually be taking ordinary levi 501s and re-engineering them into having skinnier legs. Still cheaper than buying a pair of 513's or 511's though.

While still in Camden friends called me to ask where I had got to, and gave me directions to the after thing in Shepherds Bush. I wound up staying there way longer than I meant to.

Yesterday: writing and housekeeping. Finally got to see the Transformers Movie last night. Good and bad. Brilliant CGI, silly scripting, plot holes etc.

Enough from me. Let's hope these antibiotics kick in soon.

Over and out.

-j

Hey all,

Hey All,

Seeing Transformers didn't go to plan, as I was just about to leave and I got a message from The Ed asking if I was available to cover a club night in Camden. Since I never turn down a writing assignment if I can help it, I agreed to it and jumped on the tube.

Of course, I didn't actually get into the club until half midnight, because the door staff didn't know me (they knew the photog, but he didn't turn up 'til half midnight).

The rest of the night was good enough: hideously unfashionable music but a good crowd of people; familiar faces mixed in with friendly newcomers.

Eventually I made it home and got some sleep.

Enough from me. Let's see if I can make it to Transformers tonight! (or at least early tomorrow)

Over and out.

-J

Hey All,

News update:

Went to see the Beasts of Bourbon last night (AKA one of ex-Brisbane boy Tex Perkins' more notorious bands) play in Camden last night.

They put on a pretty good show, though guitarist Spencer P Jones' guitar was such a relentless treble attach that my left ear is still ringing on a new frequency.

There was way too many Australians in the audience, but what are you going to do?

Apparently the Beasts are playing in France in September with SixFtHick. I might see if I can make that one as well.

In other news, this cough is still bothering me. But at least coughing all the time is proving to be great exercise.

Seriously, I have rock-hard abs and I'm not putting on any weight!

Other news: I need to cut my finger nails because typing is getting a bit haphazard.

And Tonight I plan to go see the new Transformers movie (the one that has already been out for a month in Australia and America). And I fully expect to walk out at the end with a roiling hatred of Michael Bay (even more than I felt after I saw Pearl Harbour).

Enough from me.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Yesterday someone online was posting a list of punk and otherwise experimental bands from China.

Interestingly, in the list the earliest punk bands dated back to the mid 90s. Punk fans would know that in Australia, the earliest punk and proto-punk bands date back to the early-to-mid 70s.

Anyways, this chap had published a bunch of myspace links for bands, and the ones that interested me got checked out.

On one of the Myspace pages was a link to some distro/band thing in Singapore. Turns out that there are some pretty serious grindcore and hardcore bands in SIngapore. I had heard stuff to that effect before, but had never been properly blown away before. Seriously, these kids play with a viciousness and intensity that seems to have been lost but pretty much all of us in the West.

Just for fun I checked out a link to a band based in DC called Magrudergrind, who turned out to be on tour in Europe.

Take a wild guess where they were scheduled to play last night?

Bingo.

Someone had organised a crusty-grindcore show at Madame JoJo's, a gay hipster bar right in the middle of Soho that usually specialises in Electro acts and other hipster-loved things. (For those that have seen it, Madame Jojo's was where Stanley Kubrick shot the nightclub scene in Eyes Wide Shut).

All in all it turned out to be a pretty good show, and I ran into a few random ex-Brisbane people.

All interesting.

Anyways, stuff to do today.

Among other things, I need to make an appointment to get a doctor to look at this cough.

Over and out.

-J

I was hanging out with friends at an after thing, and I kept having to step outside because my coughing was reaching the noise level of a small gunfight.

I'm really going to make an appointment to see a doctor this week. This is getting silly.

Weekend Rundown:

Friday Night: Went to see an American goth violinist/singer named Emily Autumn. God's honest truth, she looked great but as she was singing to a backing track for the most part her set lurched between good cabaret and bad kareoke. I left just before the end of the set to meet a friend who is over from Berlin who was going to play some kind of mashup set in Shoreditch. Chilling in Hoxton Square, then seeing the show in the basement of a Shoreditch club. Interesting.

Also: while still at the Emily show, I finally met the editor of the magazine that I write for. He's a good chap.

Saturday: Go out mid afternoon to buy new Harry Potter Book (alert to all: post spoilers and I will hunt you down). Wind up looking through bookshops/music shops/guitar shops in Soho, having a quiet drink at the Marlborough Head and then the Dev in Camden and then onto serious clubbing,

Sunday: After with friends. Learn a lot of things about Ireland. Here bad stories about stuff that has happened to people in Leytonstone. Head home on the late tubes. See five other people reading the new Harry Potter. Most two or three chapters in, one had nearly finished it.

Hey All

Hey All,

My Bank Balances are back at what they should be. And not a minute before time.

The Online Transaction Record still shows the account being in Debit, but I expect that is a case of waiting for the banks computers to catch up to each other.

Seriously, how can such an organisation exist with such ridiculous lags? I'm sure the gnomish banks in Harry Potter wouldn't suffer from such muppetry.

Speaking of Harry Potter, the next one comes out tomorrow, so I should probably hit a bookshop and grab a copy.

And then try to read it as fast as I can so that I can get it finished before I accidently read any online spoilers (like I did last time)

>: I

Anyways, back to writing.

Over and out.

-J

Hmmph!

Currently the Bank haven't emailed me the forms to claim back the cash, nor have they corrected the amount in my account.

I'm going to wait another couple of hours then I'm going to call them to make sure that they got my details right.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

I was just checking my Commonwealth Bank account online, and I just noticed some serious irregularities regarding withdrawals.

Looks like I'm going to HSBC at Stratford to pour them a tall glass of WHAT THE FUCK!

Before or after that I might be making some calls to Australia to the Commonwealth Bank What The Fuck Division.

More news as it comes.

Over and out and rather pissed off.

-J

Update: After printing out the relevant statements at the net caff, I headed up to Stratford, where a managerial type in a grey suit told me to call the CBA in Australia. And he damn near got away with letting me do it using their phones before his superior sent me home. I guess there are nice bankers and otherwise in this town

: p

Back at home I called up CBA in Sydney, got a friendly sounding operator and when she pulled up my account on screen she mentioned that there have been some anomalies occurring with international withdrawals, so they were going to email me some forms so that I could claim the money back.

I'm still waiting on those.

More news as it comes.

over and out.

-J

Blah!

Still feeling blah.

My glib retort about maybe seeing the GP is getting to be more of a solid plan.

Other news: woke up early today and made good on my housekeeping threat. Towels in wash, jeans ironed. Yep, I'm so rock'n'roll.

In the afternoon I headed to a bank to set up an account specifically for running a standing order for paying my rent, since paying it into my landlady's account in cash is problematic because of all the post 9/11 banking laws. It turned out to be much easier than I anticipated. Once the account is confirmed, I can carve the standing order into stone. Should be sorted by Friday.

Feeling mildly triumphant. I dodged all the vagrants drinking in the street in Stratford and headed into Soho to peruse comic shops and into Camden to chill at the Devonshire Arms before heading back home.

Yay.

Feeling sleepy now.

Over and out.

-J

Gus kicks ass...

But I think that he would appreciate this comic.

In other news: caught up with pals for drinks in Soho, eventually made it to the Gabba thing, which was a little bit of a damp squib, headed to Angel the after that took a walk through the West Side of Islington until I found myself on Holloway Road, took the bus back to point of origin and watched the new Harry Potter at the Cinema in the Angel shopping mall thing.

Now I'm back in Leytonstone.

Over and out.

-J

Update:

Hey All,

Letting you all know:

Converge are possibly the tightest hardcore/noisecore band I have ever seen. Though both Nate and Kurt are a tad heavier than I expected (I did think they would still be as skinny as they were in the Concubine promo clip, though admittedly that was shot four or five years ago):



Also: I still feel kinda bleurg. I think being stuck in a field in Hampshire last weekend might have taken more out of me than I thought. If this cough doesn't improve I am definitely going to go see my GP.

As well: I haven't seen the new Harry Potter movie yet. It's on my to do list. I'm a little bit miffed that Daniel Radcliffe is just seventeen and he can already grow a better beard than me. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'm taller than him, and I won't spend the rest of my life having kids yelling pseudo curses at me, so I'd call it swings and roundabouts.

A friend has told me about a Gabba Party happening down in Brixton tonight, which oughta shake some of the cobwebs out (even if I do find the idea of venturing down to Brixton a matter of some trepidation).

Other than that, various layers of housekeeping need to be done. Food buying, clothes washing, room tidying, notes writing etc.

And so it begins.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All,

The show last night was quiet but okay for the most part.

The headlineres Mnemic were worth seeing anyway.

It turned out that the Photog that scored me the pass to the Festival was sick all weekend, thus her abscence from the actual event.

Tonight I'm having a pretty quiet one, just shopping (out of food!), washing (nearly out of clean jeans) and writing up some notes.

Tomorrow Converge are playing at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, and that should be a blast. A friend was telling me all about the members of Converge and what they are like offstage. Last Wednesday I discovered that Converge are playing at the Kingston Peel the day after, which would be even more insane again (the Peel being a much smaller room that the Ballroom). Tempted to see if there are any tickets left (unlikely).

Update: just checked the website and there will be fifty tickets available on the door. Which will probably mean queues around the block, but it might be worth thinking about if I just don't feel I've been Converged enough, and I feel like a journey diagonally across Greater London.

Other News:

I've been investigating budget airline ticket prices to Berlin, since SixFtHick are playing there in late October. Some of the prices are so brutally low that I'm almost tempted to start taking weekend trips there. Put simply, if I time it right, I could get there and back for less than it cost me to get to Hampshire last weekend.

Speaking of which, a Big Thank You to Alan on the Island for his advice re: girding myself for an overnight stay in a field.

Anyways, time to get food.

Over and out.

-J

Festival Recovery

Spent today Recovering from the festival and typing up my notes.

So far I'm emailed a couple of people about the experience, and they seem to be universally aghast.

Woke up at five AM after collapsing into bed at half nine last night.

Did barbells while watching the Team America DVD I bought at Tescos a few weeks back.

Tonight I'm running out to see Mnemic, the Tech-Metal band from Holland (I think it's holland).

That should turn out at about half eleven or something.

Should be fun.

But it means I've gotta hustle now.

Over and out.

-J

Back from the Festival...

... and it was a fucking trainwreck.

I'm not even going to begin explaining it all now, I'm going to transcribe my notes to send to my editor so that he can presumeably fall off his chair laughing at how bad this event was, and then tell me what he wants me to do with the story. Because trainwrecks make great copy.

In the meantime, I'm going to get some much needed rest.

Over and out.

-J

Before anyone asks...

...I'm fine.

I wasn't on the tube when any of this crap happened. Although it did mean that it took me twice as long to get to Camden to review the Obituary show tonight, meaning that I missed the opening act, the increasingly respected Dead Beyond Buried (dudes, if you're reading this, that is still a crap name, you should change it before you get any more good press).

Also news:

The one of the photogs that I get teamed with all the time just got confirmation of passes for the pys-trance taking place in Hampshire. Guess I really do have to buy a tent now. And maybe book train tickets online, down Saturday, up Sunday.

I wonder how much food I can smuggle in?

-J

Obituary tonight.

Hey All,

Today I've been writing and reading the magazines that I bought last night (it seems to be that week when all the magazines come out).

Tonight I'm covering Obituary, a Floridian Death Metal band of the old school. More notable will probably be the opening act, Dead Beyond Buried, some Essex kids who are getting some pretty favourable press right now.

I wonder what a proper death metal show in a tiny little room is going to feel like without any smoke?

I was at the Dev last night with some friends who were happy about the smoking ban (cigarette smoke gives them migraines), but they noted that now they would be able to smell people more clearly. Sure enough, friends of theirs turned up not long after, having just got off a long international flight withouth the benefit of a shower in between, ergo they were smelling strongly of something like cheese...

Oh dear.

Gotta get ready for Death Metal!

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Last night I headed along to Isis at Koko. Just as I had left the flat I had thought of a great angle for the Static-X review I am writing, and I composed the review in my head as I walked down Leytonstone High Road (it's a little out there, so I might write a straighter version of the same thing and pitch both to The Ed).

Back to Isis: The show had already sold out by the time that I decided that I wanted to go (up until a week ago I was convinced that it clashed with Converge, but Converge is actually on the 11th). As a result I was ticketless when I arrived in Camden.

Fortunately I managed to buy a ticket from a tout for less than the face value (something that occasionally happens when people overestimate the popularity of a show - too many people buy too many tickets and they offload them at the door for whatever people will give them).

The show itself was pretty damn good. Isis were amazing, and the front of house sound was done by a Australian engineer that had previously worked with Gazoonga Attack and Front End Loader. JBR, the engineer, had called up Renae, the old Gazoonga drummer (now living in London) and put her on the guest list. So I got to chat to Renae for a bit.

Also in attendance were a couple of local press types (I'm deliberately getting out of the habit of name-dropping, so I won't say who or what magazines they worked for).

I also hung out with a couple of Canadians who were pretty cool, even though the bands were kinda lost on them.

After that I managed to catch the tube home and did some much needed shopping.

All in all pretty good.

I'm still feeling a little blah, health wise. Not sure about this cough, because it seems to come with some kind of bacterial after-cough, that sickly-sweet type. If it doesn't clear up, I'll bit the bullet and make an appointment with the GP.

I blame all the rain here in London. In contrast to the scorching summers of the past two years, this is more like and Brisbane Winter.

With tropical thunderstorms. In London. What the fuck?

Enough from me.

Over and out.

-J

Newz

Hey All,

I just paid the council tax.

It's weird how I always feel like such a flake but I'm always the person who sorts stuff out in this flat. Since I moved in here, I've hassled the landlady to fix our boiler, near-consistently been the one to initiate collecting cash to pay for Gas/Electricity, been charged with getting the council tax paid, fixed the shower head and a couple of other bits and pieces I can't recall at this moment.

One of the other flatmates put a small curtain on the kitchen window and the other one put a throw rug on the couch and got annoyed the first time I used his iron without asking. And some days my anxieties still get the better of me and I can't face the world. Still a flake, just a hard working flake.

Speaking of work-ish things, I just found out from a photographer that I will be covering two more metal shows this week and the next.

Also: at Neurosis on Saturday, I got to meet the editor of a popular Indie Rock oriented magazine, and managed to impress her by telling her that I was eagerly awaiting a piece that a writer for that magazine had talked about on his workblog.

Tonight I'm going to run out and try to catch a band that Elea said was brilliant when she saw them at South by SouthWest.

I just remembered that the smoking ban is now in place. I remember on Saturday night/Sunday morning security guards walking around Electrowerks at 0600 saying 'Put that out! Put that out!'.

It will be interesting going to venues now and not finding them full of cigarette smoke.

Anyways, enough gabbing from me.

Over and out.

-J