I’ve no voice, I’m exhausted, and I’m a little worried. Not to worry. I’m resting up on the sofa after a long days work and last nights show in Bradford. I’m trying to make sense of it all. It was reckless. I know that. I arrived into Bradford about 5.30pm after finishing work. I head to the City Vaults for a Beer and a Panini for £4.99. Well worth it. I then notice that my friend Kate has tagged me in a post on Facebook. She’s waiting for me at tonight’s venue Al’s Dime Bar. I best go and meet her. I was hoping to meet her elsewhere. If I’m meeting a friend before a show I usually arrange to meet somewhere else close by. We have a little chat and a catch up. We get disturbed when Will arrives in the Yalla-Mobile. It’s our first outing in the behemoth of a vehicle. All of us are impressed with it. So much easier for us to unload and transport the band gear. Not so easy to drive and park though. We load in and set up. Tonight there is no Dempsey. Vince Cayo is standing in for the tour. So we give him the gig as a warm up.
There’s quite a few people in for a Tuesday night. Vince is doubling up as the support act and so he kicks off the show. He’s using my acoustic guitar. There’s something not quite right with the P.A. the vocals are distorting. It works pretty well for Vince. It adds a little rawness to his voice. I’m impressed with his cover of Tim Barry’s Wait at Milano. He is getting better and better. Tonight he invites The Yalla Yallas onstage to back him up for his final song. I take up the bass guitar. We do a cover of Social Distortion’s Ball and Chain. It’s quite nice just to play bass guitar from time to time and let someone else do the singing. I try and throw some shapes.
We take a break and enter the stage at 10pm. I’m concerned about the Vocal P.A. and the lack of monitors. There is nothing I can do about it now. We kick off with the first three tracks from our debut album Act of Defiance. The band are rocking but I’m not hearing any vocals. Will is also struggling to hear me. I battle through and do my best. The crowd seem to be enjoying it though. It took until Love, Anger, and the Credit Card Crunch for me to feel comfortable.
I notice that my friend Jennie is in the crowd. Jennie used to play in a popular Bradford punk band called The Drastics. We ask her to join us for our penultimate song Retaliation. Vince took up the mic to play some harmonica and sing the chorus with me. I’m grateful for that as by this time my voice is getting weaker and weaker. During the middle 8 another friend of mine Chris Dover asks me if I’m at work in the morning. I tell him yeah and question why. He said “how fucked up do you fancy getting tonight?” and passed me a bottle of Old J Tiki-Fire. That shit is 151 proof, so with the whole room looking at me I had no choice but to accept the challenge and neck about 4-5 shots worth. It felt like my eyes were popping out of my head. Though it does soothe my throat a little
Our scheduled last song was our usual finisher Rock n Roll Kid. I manage to get some guy in the crowd to strip off to his pants. The room loves it. Somehow I end up behind the bar in my underwear, where all the bar staff were in their pants. A barmaid melts some ice on my chest. A barman puts some ice in my undies. Another barman pours more rum down my throat. This shit is crazy … but I like it. We finish the song and conclude the set. The crowd are demanding more. My voice is shot but I’m having so much fun. It’s Tuesday night. It feels more like a Saturday. Smiles on everyone’s faces. We end up doing two more songs.
Afterwards we pack up our gear and load up our camper. I’d love to stay but it’s getting late. I sneak out a pint of beer and take it on the van. Me and Joel are sitting in the back admiring the comfort. Normally there’s four of us with our instruments squashed into a Nissan Micra. To be in a massive American Hymer is just a luxury. Will drops us all home. I try to sleep. My ears are ringing. I put on the TV as usual. The American election results are coming through. Clinton is in the lead. I fall asleep.
I woke up this morning to the news of Donald Trump being declared president. I’ve no voice. I’m Hungover. I’ve got to go to work. But last night was fucking brilliant. Worth all the pain of today. Thank you to everyone at Al's Dime Bar. Gail, Steve, Josh, and all the staff. Especially the cleaners.
SETLIST
Intro
Big Idea
Stand Up
Under Attack
Ik van hou Kaassouffle
The Sound of the Kraken
Medusa
County Court
Love, Anger, and the Credit Card Crunch
Retaliation
Rock n Roll Kid
***Encore***
Get Down and Get With It
S.B.H.C.
