Love, Anger, and The Underground

I’m sat in the car with The Yalla Yallas on our way to Hersham to play the Sports and Social Club. We’ve just loaded up and made a quick visit to Morrisons for snacks for the journey. We all offer our snacks up to share except for Joel. He wants all the samosas for himself. Nobody is interested in my snacks. Coconut water, some flatbread and a selection of seeds and nuts. I’m in a lot of pain after last nights gig at The Underground in Bradford. I think the ligament in my left knee have popped again. I also spent an hour this morning removing glass from my feet. I haven’t had time to think or notice my hangover which is hovering as I type this. Every bit of pain is worth it after last nights show. I felt like I was in Guns n Roses. The gig had it all. Rock n Roll. Shades of violence. Beautiful sexual women. Boobs were out in force. It had danger written all over it.

I arrived at the venue a little later than planned with Will. Our friends The Accused were the first up and they were great. They played a selection of obscure punk covers mixed with one or two originals. I was largely distracted as a few friends had started to arrive. Andrew Brown is one of them. He is a great Rock DJ who works largely in the Bradford area at places like Trash. We’re having a lengthy discussion about an exciting new project that he’s trying to get off the ground. I happily bounce ideas and share some tips with him. My friend Jennie arrives with her friends. She is wearing a great anti-body shaming t-shirt which inadvertently highlight her breasts tonight. We have a little chuckle and she points out that her group of friends all have theirs out on display. I take a shine to one of her friends and we have a little flirt. 

There’s a band called Partisans on before us. I must admit they are not anyone in our bands cup of tea but they are very good at what they do. I reckon if you’re into bands like Muse, Arcade Fire then you’d probably really like them. I spend most of their set preparing for our set. 

The setlist for this gig is a behemoth. I wanted to play for at least an hour so I could test my stage fitness and vocal stamina. We set up the stage and we’re pretty ready to go then one or two of the lads need a wee. I’m ready to go so I start by doing a solo version of a song from the new album ‘Mentira’ and by the time the song is done that band are back and ready to go. We start with a trio of new songs ‘Mi Corazon’, ‘Venus and the Horse’, and ‘Asylum’ the crowd are lively with one guy in particular looking over enthusiastic as he charged around the room in borderline crowdkill fashion. During ‘Medusa’ Jennie’s friend who I had been talking to early came up to me and gave me one of the sweetest kisses. Vince Cayo joined us for a rare UK rendition of ‘Kaassouffle’. Things got a little heated during ‘Credit Card Crunch’ the crowdkiller was charging around the venue again this time though he managed to punch me in the face and in retailation I grabbed him by the throat and threw him across the room. There was a bit of pushing and shoving and the situation quickly sorted itself out. Which leads nicely onto our next song ‘Retaliation’. I don’t know why but I sang something different over the slowed down intro of the song. I found myself singing ‘Million Dollar Love’ by Dub War. It seemed to work. I might revisit that again sometime. Our regular finisher ‘Rock n Roll Kid’ was as primal as ever tonight during the outro I switch to Screaming Jay Hawkins ‘I Put A Spell on You’ I’m crawling on broken glass as I sing the words. I notice the girl who had kissed me earlier singing along I find her and share the mic. Seconds I’m laid on the floor in my pants making out with some girl whose name I don’t even know whilst most of the room are watching on. It was so spontaneous and so fitting. A great end to the set. 

After the set I learn the girls name and we sit at the bar and get to know each other a bit. The other lads are all itching to get off but I try steal a bit of extra time by telling them we haven’t been paid yet. I manage to drag it out another hour. Eventually I get home after 2am. I can barely walk. My feet are full of glass. I think that it’s been a long while since I’d hurt myself. I wash my feet in the bath before getting into bed.


19 comments