I've received a number of emails over the past few weeks asking about EY and the main question is why don't NK get mentioned anymore. I've discussed this with a few people but after the latest email I thought I would finally write this post.
It was down to EY that many of you reading this found NK and for that I am grateful. We had a glowing review from Rob Windle (Orac) when 53 D N came out and we began to chat regularly and meet-up to discuss electro things.
As we were putting the finishing touches to WIRED: I spoke to Rob about advertising on his site and we agreed upon a fee of £130 per month for an ad to appear on the EY site, these were to run over three months. Previously we had spent a similar amount with Google adwords and Facebook advertising which really helped push the sales of our first album. At that point Rob wasn't selling any kind of advertising on his site and all of the various banners and links were there for free.
When Rob heard WIRED: for the first time he asked if it could be the first EY release. Rob suggested that instead of paying for the ads he would get a split of sales originating from his site in return for promotion, I was happy with this. He asked for the money to be paid upfront as an advance, I paid him in a couple of instalments even though at that point we hadn't actually sold any copies.
The advert went live on the site in April and there were a few mentions of WIRED: within the blog. As soon as we started to sell copies of WIRED: Rob was emailing regularly asking for an update on sales and did I have an estimate of how much he would be getting. I did say to him that I had already paid him in advance but still he kept asking the question.
In June following an EY site update I noticed our ad had disappeared from the site, I was about to head off on holiday so didn't really have a chance to question this. Rob had said that the ad could run all the way up until the Kajagoogoo tour so I was a little confused about this.
Returning back from holiday I had a few more emails from him asking when he'd be getting more money from me. At that point I asked the question about why the ad had disappeared. I started to question the relationship and asked what had EY done to help promote WIRED? Apart from a few mentions there had not been a review of the album and very few mentions. Little Boots, La Roux & Marsheaux all had fairly prominent exposure on the site at this point but of course none of these artists paid for that.
A label is supposed to support an artist by promoting it at every opportunity, this didn't really happen. At the album launch which was an EY event, all Rob really did was book the venue. I did all of the promotion and even ended up paying the other artists, I also gave Rob a split of ticket sales and our merchandise.
It became apparent that Rob was only interested in getting money from me, as a last ditch attempt from him he promised a glowing review of WIRED: and after that would I send him some money? Of course the review never came and within a week, all mentions of Northern Kind disappeared from the site as if we had never existed.
It's a shame because I thought of Rob as a mate, obviously we shared a love of the same music and both felt an EY label was a good idea. I'm not sure what changed his opinion of me and NK, I feel pretty stupid now though especially as I have the EY logo plastered on the WIRED: sleeve and CD.
We learn and move on...
Matt
PS Snippets of the demos with Sarah's vocals will be on the Forum this week, been having some Mac problems but a new shiny machine is heading my way.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Thursday, 12 November 2009
NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME
OMG - I have never been so busy in my entire life. I suppose I can't complain with the state of our economy and with so many people being out of work. Nonetheless I have been busy, and that has meant the music has suffered. SInce our great weekend three weeks putting vocals to the first tracks of #3 I literally haven't been anywhere near the studio. I would have hoped to have at least a track finished by now.
Meeting Limahl tomorrow for a catch-up. Then as of this weekend normal routine will resume and I will be cracking on with the music.
I also have a pressing remix to complete and we might even stick a freebie track out before Christmas, perhaps a cover of something?!?!
Turrah for now.
Matt
P.S WIRED: is now out on Spotify, so time to kiss those iTunes royalties and CD's sales goodbye.
Meeting Limahl tomorrow for a catch-up. Then as of this weekend normal routine will resume and I will be cracking on with the music.
I also have a pressing remix to complete and we might even stick a freebie track out before Christmas, perhaps a cover of something?!?!
Turrah for now.
Matt
P.S WIRED: is now out on Spotify, so time to kiss those iTunes royalties and CD's sales goodbye.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
THE LAST THREE
Swansea.
First we had the morning after, urgh! The breakfast at the Premier Inn just about hit the blood stream as I started to drive back but I didn't get that much sleep. Fortunately the drive to Leicester is less than 30 minutes.
My mum had stayed over to look after our daughter and for some strange reason I had said that I would cook Sunday lunch. Once home I had about 2 1/2 hours to do the lunch and get ready for the drive to Swansea. I think the food did the trick as I started to feel much better.
The drive to Swansea was hideously long but we arrived on time, the venue, Sin City was a real dump and a vert apt name, The first thing I noticed was the smell and how sticky the floors were. The Goo sound guys had set my gear up so we had a quick sound check. Paul and Andy the promoters were there and were quite apologetic about how few people were going to be there.
We went on at 8pm and I actually got a few boos only because they thought we were Kajagoogoo as we walked on. They soon warmed to us though, especially after Sarah announced it's quality not quantity that counts, that got a few laughs.
We shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys so had a few laughs at the shapes Steve was throwing, obviously his tartan trousers were giving him punk legs. Brian the manager is quite a serious guy but the guys were managing to get him smiling as they were pretending to be Diva's. Nick asked him to take the set list down but as he reached for it Nick said "oh dear I've dropped it" when he bent down Nick lifted his kilt so poor old Brian got to witness the same as me from the previous night.
We left pretty early after the show and decided to get some food, we drove around Swansea centre for half an hour looking for somewhere suitable. We had both imagined eating nice fish 'n' chips at the seaside but it appears Swansea isn't really that sort of place.
Music kept me awake on the drive back, Sarah discovered some new music Rex The Dogs album - 'The Rex the Dog Show' so this was blasted through my cars system.
London
As already well hinted at, this was a skin of your teeth moment.
I'm pretty good with check lists and I was already to go, I'd texted Sarah and said pick you up at 3pm, she replied make it 3.30. So I'd got myself ready to go for 3pm and sat on the sofa and decided to check my emails with a bit of time to spare. At 3.20 I set off to get Sarah. An hour and twenty minutes later we were at Watford when for some reason it dawned on me my laptop was still at home. Looking at the clock it was 4.50pm, I did a quick turn around at the next junction and started to head back to Leicester. We called Brian the manager to tell him our dilemma, he didn't sound too pleased but that was because all of the the Goo gear was stuck in a broken down van on the other side of London. I called Zoë to see if she could grab my laptop and meet us on route, we managed to meet her at junction 20, only one junction away from Leicester but it still saved us a precious 30 minutes.
The drive back to London was frantic and we made it to the venue at 7.45pm (we were on at 8.00pm) The Kajagoogoo guys gave us a cheers and we were helped in Wout / Ben and the promoter Paul. The stage set-up was even more buttock clenching as my Apex keyboard stand decided to jam so that meant stick a few bits on the floor. I don't think a pre-gig drive and set-up has ever gone so badly.
Sarah's first glimpse of the stage and venue was when she walked on, but still the set went OK and we got a good reception. A big thanks to Ben for selling the merchandise, we did quite well.
There was a small party afterwards for guests and we met a couple of friends of Limahl who really liked the set, they worked for Gaydar radio and will be playing some of our tracks.
Southampton
Everything was checked at least ten times before we set off today, never making that mistake again.
We arrived on time for 5pm and had a quick look around the venue. We decided to stay and get ready at the venue rather than heading back to the hotel. Again we shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys which was good being the last night.
Tonight had to be the night that my remote starting of the set didn't work, it had worked perfectly for every other show but decided to fail on the last night, in-fact it was actually the master volume that had been turned down which was odd. Sarah put this down to a spooky experience as her mobile had also lost it's charge!
Sarah was pretty nervous as her dad was in attendance tonight, the first time he'd ever seen her perform. But the set went well and as always it was over far too soon.
After the Goo set we had a good old drink and chat with the guys and they invited us to play with them in December. We've also had offers from Nick and Steve to play guitar and bass on our next album so you never know we may have those guys on stage with us in the future.
I had been quite sceptical as to how much I would enjoy the tour but I have to say I had a great time. What was also good was meeting lots of new people that gave us some great feedback and comments and more importantly bought out CDs.
Roll on Bedsitland.
First we had the morning after, urgh! The breakfast at the Premier Inn just about hit the blood stream as I started to drive back but I didn't get that much sleep. Fortunately the drive to Leicester is less than 30 minutes.
My mum had stayed over to look after our daughter and for some strange reason I had said that I would cook Sunday lunch. Once home I had about 2 1/2 hours to do the lunch and get ready for the drive to Swansea. I think the food did the trick as I started to feel much better.
The drive to Swansea was hideously long but we arrived on time, the venue, Sin City was a real dump and a vert apt name, The first thing I noticed was the smell and how sticky the floors were. The Goo sound guys had set my gear up so we had a quick sound check. Paul and Andy the promoters were there and were quite apologetic about how few people were going to be there.
We went on at 8pm and I actually got a few boos only because they thought we were Kajagoogoo as we walked on. They soon warmed to us though, especially after Sarah announced it's quality not quantity that counts, that got a few laughs.
We shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys so had a few laughs at the shapes Steve was throwing, obviously his tartan trousers were giving him punk legs. Brian the manager is quite a serious guy but the guys were managing to get him smiling as they were pretending to be Diva's. Nick asked him to take the set list down but as he reached for it Nick said "oh dear I've dropped it" when he bent down Nick lifted his kilt so poor old Brian got to witness the same as me from the previous night.
We left pretty early after the show and decided to get some food, we drove around Swansea centre for half an hour looking for somewhere suitable. We had both imagined eating nice fish 'n' chips at the seaside but it appears Swansea isn't really that sort of place.
Music kept me awake on the drive back, Sarah discovered some new music Rex The Dogs album - 'The Rex the Dog Show' so this was blasted through my cars system.
London
As already well hinted at, this was a skin of your teeth moment.
I'm pretty good with check lists and I was already to go, I'd texted Sarah and said pick you up at 3pm, she replied make it 3.30. So I'd got myself ready to go for 3pm and sat on the sofa and decided to check my emails with a bit of time to spare. At 3.20 I set off to get Sarah. An hour and twenty minutes later we were at Watford when for some reason it dawned on me my laptop was still at home. Looking at the clock it was 4.50pm, I did a quick turn around at the next junction and started to head back to Leicester. We called Brian the manager to tell him our dilemma, he didn't sound too pleased but that was because all of the the Goo gear was stuck in a broken down van on the other side of London. I called Zoë to see if she could grab my laptop and meet us on route, we managed to meet her at junction 20, only one junction away from Leicester but it still saved us a precious 30 minutes.
The drive back to London was frantic and we made it to the venue at 7.45pm (we were on at 8.00pm) The Kajagoogoo guys gave us a cheers and we were helped in Wout / Ben and the promoter Paul. The stage set-up was even more buttock clenching as my Apex keyboard stand decided to jam so that meant stick a few bits on the floor. I don't think a pre-gig drive and set-up has ever gone so badly.
Sarah's first glimpse of the stage and venue was when she walked on, but still the set went OK and we got a good reception. A big thanks to Ben for selling the merchandise, we did quite well.
There was a small party afterwards for guests and we met a couple of friends of Limahl who really liked the set, they worked for Gaydar radio and will be playing some of our tracks.
Southampton
Everything was checked at least ten times before we set off today, never making that mistake again.
We arrived on time for 5pm and had a quick look around the venue. We decided to stay and get ready at the venue rather than heading back to the hotel. Again we shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys which was good being the last night.
Tonight had to be the night that my remote starting of the set didn't work, it had worked perfectly for every other show but decided to fail on the last night, in-fact it was actually the master volume that had been turned down which was odd. Sarah put this down to a spooky experience as her mobile had also lost it's charge!
Sarah was pretty nervous as her dad was in attendance tonight, the first time he'd ever seen her perform. But the set went well and as always it was over far too soon.
After the Goo set we had a good old drink and chat with the guys and they invited us to play with them in December. We've also had offers from Nick and Steve to play guitar and bass on our next album so you never know we may have those guys on stage with us in the future.
I had been quite sceptical as to how much I would enjoy the tour but I have to say I had a great time. What was also good was meeting lots of new people that gave us some great feedback and comments and more importantly bought out CDs.
Roll on Bedsitland.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
THE LAST TWO
London There's one golden rule, when you rely on your laptop for the whole, entire gig and that is 'don't forget your laptop'. So guess what happened...? The laptop was left snuggling up on Matt's sofa at home, thinking it had got the night off, while we merrily drove all the way to London...sans laptop. OH DEAR! Wonderful, slow-motion moment of realisation when this 'slight hiccup' dawned on Matt. His hand went to his head, and an animal-like groan came rumbling over to the passenger seat....and so we turned around and drove all the way back home. Luckily, Matt's wife Zoe came to our rescue meeting us on route with the laptop. This saved us precious minutes so that we made it back to O2 Academy by the skin of our teeth (I had to get ready in the car!!) Such a bizarre experience for me - I literally got to our dressing room, changed into my costume and walked out on stage. I had no idea where my mic was, what the venue was like, how it would sound or how many people were there! Just walked out, to be met by hundreds of people looking at me and hoped for the best! Hahaha...good job I've got nerves of steel (!) There must have been something in the air, because the Kaj had also had a bit of a 'mare, with their equipment being stuck in Hackney and Jez having taxi-traumas. Anyway the gig was great, although a bit of a haze. We sold loads of merch (thanks Ben!) and had some amazing feedback, media interest and suggestions for future gigs. Thank GAWD we made it. Southampton The Brook was a nice venue - friendly staff and (thankfully) a straight-forward and relaxed get-in. Again, a bit of a family affair for me with Daddy coming to watch! He hadn't seen me sing in public since I was about 9 years old, Think he was impressed ;) This was my favourite performance of the tour, nice sound, great crowd and Spider-Dan shooting video...oh I do love poncing around in front of cameras! Chatting to the owner's girlfriend after the show, and this venue is apparently haunted :) Some interesting spookiness did happen; The battery on my phone completely drained whilst at the The Brook, and this never happens. The battery on Dan's camera also mysteriously drained, and we had the only occurrence of Matt's remote iphone starting system not working. In actual fact, this DID work but somehow the volume on the laptop, which was set up on stage, had been turned right down?! Spooooooooky. Send in Most Haunted (pleeease!) We partied with the Kaj after the show, to celebrate a successful end to our tour, We all got a bit squiffy etc. I'm sure at one point Stewart walked in looking a bit smashed and smoking a cheroot (!) I had a really interesting conversation with Nick, about dysfunctional families, meditation, addiction - all light-hearted stuff haha, but very cool. Meanwhile Jez was doing a brilliant human-fruitbowl impression and I enjoyed sipping beer and nibbling on his succulent grapes. Think we got back to the hotel at about 3am - I got the big bed HURRAY! Really chuffed as we've been invited to play with them again at their Xmas show at "The Stables' near Milton Keynes on December 16. Looks like a great theatre venue, owned by Cleo Laine. I will finally get to perform Tears and Tinsel which we've performed live only once before. The boys have suggested me dressing as Santa's helper - but I'm opting for the Dame Edna Christmas tree outfit with extra-shiny baubles. A big thank you to NKers (old and new), Kajagoogoo, Brian Coles, all the crew and friends and family who came to cheer us on. Sarah X |
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
ROUND THREE, PART TWO
The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham - Saturday 25th
So on to Nottingham and a date I'd been looking forward to for ages. Our friends from Wales had decided to make a night of it as it also coincided with a Birthday. Before that however Zoë, Mai, Robin, Jenny (birthday girl) & Paul decided to have a day at Eden spa in Staffordshire. I had an email from Brian the manager saying the times at the venue had changed and were much earlier which ruled me out from spending the day with them.
As Nottingham is relatively close Sarah decided to make her own way to the venue. I got there for 3.30pm and found the crew were waiting for The Goo to come and sound check. Sarah had said that she would get there just before we were due on so we would skip our run through, the sound guys pretty much know our set-up by now and we are fairly easy to mix. I went for a walk around the centre and got something to eat at Wagamamas, Chili Squid Mmmm.
I checked into the Premier Inn which is a short walk from The Rescue Rooms and returned to the venue, the guys had arrived and were finishing their sound check. I had time to set my gear up and do a quick check, I'm really glad I did as the audio was glitching from my laptop, after rebooting the problem was still apparent so at that point I started to sweat. The only option was to reload all of the audio tracks from my external drive and start again. This would also mean recreating some of the instrument tracks that I play as I'd been changing the sounds to give them a little more presence as they were getting lost in the mix. Most sounds on the album are EQ'd and treated using my SSL Duende, unfortunately however this causes a thing called latency that Logic normally compensates for. It's never an issue whilst mixing but when you play a sound live using this kind of processing you get a very noticeable delay. Therefore I have to tweak the sounds to help them cut through the mix. You can't really tell until you listen to the whole track at volume so I've been making changes as we've been going along.
I got a call from Sarah and Zoë who were both on route to the venue but abruptly said sorry I can't talk and put the phone down, fortunately the back-up fixed the problem. I don't know what caused it so it's something I've been keeping an eye on since.
The backstage area at The Rescue Rooms was literally a corridor with a few chairs in, this was to be shared by us and The Goo. We chatted for a bit and I was showing the guys how I remote started our set. 7.30 soon came and we went on stage. I could see Limahl and a few of the other guys watching our set but as always it was over far too soon.
The night for me really began then and I have to say I was a little worse for wear by the end of it. Limahl didn't fancy going out to meet people but he said to bring a few people back stage to say hello. As always the other Kaja guys came out to meet people. Mai was doing a great job selling merchandise for us so I decided to go back stage and sit down for a while. On entering I witnessed something that will haunt me for a long time. Nick Beggs grinning, sitting with kilt lifted up and his cock and balls inside a see through plastic cup, a small one at that! Nice!
The sound guys were taking my gear to Swansea so that left me trying to sober up and gather my wife and friends so we could head back to the hotel. This took a while and after a few drunken messages from Zoë we finally met them all. Walking into the hotel bar a couple pointed and said you're the keyboard player from Northern Kind, we then had a nice chat with Steve and Madison before heading upstairs to carry on celebrating Jenny's birthday in our room. At 5am we finally went to bed and the rest is just horrible :-(
So on to Nottingham and a date I'd been looking forward to for ages. Our friends from Wales had decided to make a night of it as it also coincided with a Birthday. Before that however Zoë, Mai, Robin, Jenny (birthday girl) & Paul decided to have a day at Eden spa in Staffordshire. I had an email from Brian the manager saying the times at the venue had changed and were much earlier which ruled me out from spending the day with them.
As Nottingham is relatively close Sarah decided to make her own way to the venue. I got there for 3.30pm and found the crew were waiting for The Goo to come and sound check. Sarah had said that she would get there just before we were due on so we would skip our run through, the sound guys pretty much know our set-up by now and we are fairly easy to mix. I went for a walk around the centre and got something to eat at Wagamamas, Chili Squid Mmmm.
I checked into the Premier Inn which is a short walk from The Rescue Rooms and returned to the venue, the guys had arrived and were finishing their sound check. I had time to set my gear up and do a quick check, I'm really glad I did as the audio was glitching from my laptop, after rebooting the problem was still apparent so at that point I started to sweat. The only option was to reload all of the audio tracks from my external drive and start again. This would also mean recreating some of the instrument tracks that I play as I'd been changing the sounds to give them a little more presence as they were getting lost in the mix. Most sounds on the album are EQ'd and treated using my SSL Duende, unfortunately however this causes a thing called latency that Logic normally compensates for. It's never an issue whilst mixing but when you play a sound live using this kind of processing you get a very noticeable delay. Therefore I have to tweak the sounds to help them cut through the mix. You can't really tell until you listen to the whole track at volume so I've been making changes as we've been going along.
I got a call from Sarah and Zoë who were both on route to the venue but abruptly said sorry I can't talk and put the phone down, fortunately the back-up fixed the problem. I don't know what caused it so it's something I've been keeping an eye on since.
The backstage area at The Rescue Rooms was literally a corridor with a few chairs in, this was to be shared by us and The Goo. We chatted for a bit and I was showing the guys how I remote started our set. 7.30 soon came and we went on stage. I could see Limahl and a few of the other guys watching our set but as always it was over far too soon.
The night for me really began then and I have to say I was a little worse for wear by the end of it. Limahl didn't fancy going out to meet people but he said to bring a few people back stage to say hello. As always the other Kaja guys came out to meet people. Mai was doing a great job selling merchandise for us so I decided to go back stage and sit down for a while. On entering I witnessed something that will haunt me for a long time. Nick Beggs grinning, sitting with kilt lifted up and his cock and balls inside a see through plastic cup, a small one at that! Nice!
The sound guys were taking my gear to Swansea so that left me trying to sober up and gather my wife and friends so we could head back to the hotel. This took a while and after a few drunken messages from Zoë we finally met them all. Walking into the hotel bar a couple pointed and said you're the keyboard player from Northern Kind, we then had a nice chat with Steve and Madison before heading upstairs to carry on celebrating Jenny's birthday in our room. At 5am we finally went to bed and the rest is just horrible :-(
Monday, 28 September 2009
TOUR SO FAR
Norwich ..gets the prize for best dressing room, free booze, water, tea and coffee (although no kettle?!) Luckily Kaja Steve came to my rescue and lent me a kettle AND extra milk from their dressing room. This was the last place that we had our own dressing room, all the other nights we've been sharing with the Kaj. A few more funny tales to tell as a result ;) This was a cool gig, as my family were there. It was also a trip down memory lane, as I performed at The Waterfront when I was 18 years old in my first band 'Red Ink'. I lived in Cromer at the time, studying A-levels in North Walsham. I was feeling a bit under-the-weather at Norwich (and Wolverhampton) so it was especially nice to see some friendly faces including Paul, Tony and Wout. Enjoyed it, and Wout took some wicked photos - have a look on our forum if you haven't already. Wolverhampton Vertigo alert!! This was the highest stage I've ever seen. As we walked on Kaj were sound-checking, and they looked like the band from the Muppets (although I'm not sure why, as I don't think the Muppets had a particularly high stage?) Funny the things that come to mind... A bit of a negative vibe about this one. Grumpy staff, and they also put us on much earlier than advertised. Subsequently, people missed a lot of our set. Quite a few people commented that they only caught the last two tracks, and wanted to see more. Loads of people have been surprised at how good we are - for a 'support act', brilliant feedback and collecting new fans along the way. Nottingham This was brilliant - and nice and close to home as well. The 'Rescue Rooms' was a significant venue for me, as it was seeing Sam Brown perform here a few years back that inspired me to start singing and making music again after a 3 year break. Matt's family and friends were here, as well as more loyal NKers cheering us on and modelling our iconic custard yellow t-shirts :) Makes our fans easy to spot! There was a lot of whooping and cheering, so much FUN! I have some weird things happen during our sets. This night my bra strap pinged off during 'Automatic' (last night in Swansea I got cramp in my leg, was tempted to take my shoes off). Still the show must go on, haaha. Had a nice chat with Mooger, Wout, Rob and co - was nice to catch up and we discussed going to the upcoming Marsheaux gig. Again, lots of amazing compliments and plenty of merch sold (Nice one Mai!) Lots of dressing room antics as we were all in together for this one - a bizarre but not unpleasant request from Nick as he laid on the floor and asked me to walk on his bare back in my five inch heels!! I was too worried about puncturing him, so I ducked out. Can you imagine the headlines? 'Nick Beggs in Nott's stiletto horror!' Was funny tho. Had a near disaster when my costume bag split and my belongings fell out all over the place. Jez saved the day, by lending me his Morrissons carrier bag...Rock n Roll. Made my way home early-ish, on my way to the car park a lady was asking me where Limahl was. She thought I was his make-up artist. Swansea Prize for the stickiest floor. EW! Not really much else to say about this one - a small but enthusiastic audience. LONG journey, but enjoyed dipping into some great music on the way back. Rexx the Dog, The Smiths, Benny Benassi, LCD Soundsystem M.I.A and Kings of Leon made the 120 mph drive home even more exciting. Next stop London O2 Academy....Sarah x |
ROUND THREE, PART ONE
To summarize the last three gigs I would say.
Shit, Brilliant, OK
Obviously we're a support act so the crowd is never gaurenteed to be on your side, they've come to see Kajagoogoo so why should they be subjected to a poxy warm-up act? That's what I normally think and I'm guilty of skipping many support bands over the years. In general however we've gone down really well and the evidence has been in CD sales and the great feedback.
Wolverhampton Friday 25th September - The Robin 2, don't know what The Robin 1 must have been like if MK2 is an improvement.
So Wolverhampton on Friday, we arrived on time at 5pm so catch the guys in the middle of their sound check. The venue (Robin 2) was an odd looking place on the outskirts of town. Although not a club it reminded me of the place from Phoenix Nights, just because of the people working there seemed to revolve their lives around the venue.
The Kaja guys said they had missed us the previous night as the support in Sheffield were quite a rocky outfit so thought they didn't really fit with their audience. It's a shame about Sheffield and to make things worse Steve the Kaja merchandise guy said they had done really well that night. :-(
The humper/sound monkey (I hope he reads this, if he can read) at the venue who can only be described as a C**T, with a thick black country accent he must typify why people from that region are unfortunately considered to be thick just from the sound of their voices. He was sitting at the front of house sound desk with Steve the Kaja sound engineer and I simply asked him which door I could bring my gear through. "Yowl hav ta wait 'til these fuckers r finished before yow cun dow that", I think my reply was "Pardon" in my poshest voice just to make him sound even more thick.
At all of the other venues we have played at, the in-house guys have been great and couldn't be more helpful. As I was unloading my gear Sarah was talking to this cock and he said to her "we owwnly iver git haz beens heerya", well that's what she thought he said.
We were on at 8pm so I had about an hour to kill, I decided I wanted a curry and I headed off to a small balti house over the road. It only had two tables and essentially a take-away but the food was really nice. Walking back into the venue I was greeted by Dan who we had met in Liverpool. He's a big Kajagoogoo fan and he said he'd looked at our site and obviously listened to the tracks.
Our dressing room that night was literally at the back of the stage and basically just a corridor. Limahl said he wanted to catch our set tonight as they weren't going back to the hotel. In the end I think a few of the Kaja guys watched us from the side of the stage, fortunately I didn't see them as it would have put me off slightly. For us and Kajagoogoo probably the largest crowd yet.
I've really enjoyed watching Kajagoogoo and love the sound they get. However The Robin 2 had a peaked ceiling which does something weird to the sound and the stage is pretty high and almost a self contained box. I think the best sound so far was in Norwich.
I captured video of the guys from the side of the stage whilst Sarah was eating her pack-lunch to demonstrate the contrast of the so called "Rock n roll" life. I really hope the video footage comes together, not really had a chance yet to see it all.
We had an average night with merchandise but then a further encounter with "the cock" happened. As I was unloading Brian the Kaja tour manager stopped for a quick passing chat. Just as he did we hear "are yow cunts gowing t hurrey up, ive gotta a howm to gow to", which I actually suspect is a dingy grotty bedsit for him to go and self harm in.
Part two coming soon...
Shit, Brilliant, OK
Obviously we're a support act so the crowd is never gaurenteed to be on your side, they've come to see Kajagoogoo so why should they be subjected to a poxy warm-up act? That's what I normally think and I'm guilty of skipping many support bands over the years. In general however we've gone down really well and the evidence has been in CD sales and the great feedback.
Wolverhampton Friday 25th September - The Robin 2, don't know what The Robin 1 must have been like if MK2 is an improvement.
So Wolverhampton on Friday, we arrived on time at 5pm so catch the guys in the middle of their sound check. The venue (Robin 2) was an odd looking place on the outskirts of town. Although not a club it reminded me of the place from Phoenix Nights, just because of the people working there seemed to revolve their lives around the venue.
The Kaja guys said they had missed us the previous night as the support in Sheffield were quite a rocky outfit so thought they didn't really fit with their audience. It's a shame about Sheffield and to make things worse Steve the Kaja merchandise guy said they had done really well that night. :-(
The humper/sound monkey (I hope he reads this, if he can read) at the venue who can only be described as a C**T, with a thick black country accent he must typify why people from that region are unfortunately considered to be thick just from the sound of their voices. He was sitting at the front of house sound desk with Steve the Kaja sound engineer and I simply asked him which door I could bring my gear through. "Yowl hav ta wait 'til these fuckers r finished before yow cun dow that", I think my reply was "Pardon" in my poshest voice just to make him sound even more thick.
At all of the other venues we have played at, the in-house guys have been great and couldn't be more helpful. As I was unloading my gear Sarah was talking to this cock and he said to her "we owwnly iver git haz beens heerya", well that's what she thought he said.
We were on at 8pm so I had about an hour to kill, I decided I wanted a curry and I headed off to a small balti house over the road. It only had two tables and essentially a take-away but the food was really nice. Walking back into the venue I was greeted by Dan who we had met in Liverpool. He's a big Kajagoogoo fan and he said he'd looked at our site and obviously listened to the tracks.
Our dressing room that night was literally at the back of the stage and basically just a corridor. Limahl said he wanted to catch our set tonight as they weren't going back to the hotel. In the end I think a few of the Kaja guys watched us from the side of the stage, fortunately I didn't see them as it would have put me off slightly. For us and Kajagoogoo probably the largest crowd yet.
I've really enjoyed watching Kajagoogoo and love the sound they get. However The Robin 2 had a peaked ceiling which does something weird to the sound and the stage is pretty high and almost a self contained box. I think the best sound so far was in Norwich.
I captured video of the guys from the side of the stage whilst Sarah was eating her pack-lunch to demonstrate the contrast of the so called "Rock n roll" life. I really hope the video footage comes together, not really had a chance yet to see it all.
We had an average night with merchandise but then a further encounter with "the cock" happened. As I was unloading Brian the Kaja tour manager stopped for a quick passing chat. Just as he did we hear "are yow cunts gowing t hurrey up, ive gotta a howm to gow to", which I actually suspect is a dingy grotty bedsit for him to go and self harm in.
Part two coming soon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
