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THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Call it whatever you want - Cinema, Movies, Flicks - I love going to the Pictures

 

!I’ll gladly be that solo movie goer sat on his own, I don’t care. At nearly 40 years old I still get that buzz - walking into the foyer - walking through the corridors with all the upcoming films and the tingle I get when the lights go down. Even over the last few years when things seem to have got, I guess a little rough around the edges with slightly rowdy punters, messy cinemas - I always manage to put that aside and become a kid again, much like when I would go to the Hippodrome in Ripley every weekend without fail to catch the Saturday Afternoon Matinee. It really does hold some magic.

 

But here’s my problem.

 

Whilst I would LOVE to still be able to go and see a film EVERY week the ever soaring ticket price just doesn’t make that possible! I’ve just got back from seeing ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ with the current wife. I’m not gonna comment on the film as it’s not relevant to this mumbling, but I was kinda shocked when I punched the ticket machine for just two tickets and find I’m charged a swift £20.40. Okay, this is a 3D film but I’ve got my glasses already, did I make a mistake and press the wrong selection? Turns out not! So £10.20 a ticket it is!! You’re shitting my right? That’s just pure insanity. How on earth can you just go and see a film on spec? What if it’s a steaming turd and you just end up blowing a small fortune?Okay, there’s gonna be those who say get one of those Unlimited Cards. Been there, done that. Sure they’re great value and I had one for a couple of years but every now and again you become busy and can’t get as often as you like.But that’s irrelevant - £10.20 FOR ONE TICKET???!! Give me a break! On top of that you’ve got your parking, some food, maybe a drink! With two of you you’re pushing £50 for maybe 2 hours entertainment. Is this really were things are heading - is my weekly income that shit that I see this as a problem? They say the Movie Industry is suffering from piracy, maybe it’s more like daylight robbery of their own audience!How on earth do young kids do it? Let’s take the single late teen guy who’s out to impress a girl on a first date? Maybe a meal, couple of drinks and then head out to catch a film? He’s gonna want to foot the bill to be the gentleman so the poor guy better get a loan to cover what’ll probably be a £100 Night Out! 

 

Here’s a suggestion. If the movie industry really wants to attract more people how about having a monthly promotion every now and again - MAD MARCH or something - where they slash all ticket prices by 50%, not some 2 for 1 thing, that doesn’t help us solo cinema goers, just cut your prices in two for one month and see how many people they get through the doors. Just for one month - give it a shot. Damn, you could even sneakily add 10p to your already crazy food and drink prices and no one would notice or care if the ticket price was so low. It’s a proven fact that when it’s one of those Orange Wednesdays the queue almost runs into Thursday they’re that popular! This afternoon there were maybe a half dozen people at the screening! Surely that’s gotta be a loss, the film only just opened! That’s probably a reason why a lot of films are been and gone within a couple of weeks.I’ve no idea where things are going. A trip to the cinema was something that you could do on a wim, maybe catch an afternoon film whilst you’re in town. For me and I’m sure a lot of others, that isn’t the case any more.Love to know what others think or maybe if you’ve got an insight on how all these big chain Cinemas are making (or losing) their money. Shit, you have to wade through almost a half hour of commercials before the Trailers start!I’m always gonna go to the Pictures, just not as often these days!

 

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THIS IS HOW WE ROLLED - BULLETBOYS EUROPEAN TOUR 2008

Monday 29th September - The Underworld, London
It’s almost a year and a half since I was last on the road with THE BULLETBOYS but it doesn’t take long for deja-vu to kick in. An early 5.30am start finds me at the local bus stop down to Nottingham, lugging my suitcase and bass guitar through the empty streets to the National Express station and then off to Heathrow to meet the rest of the band as they arrive from the USA. The coach runs late and takes a detour through the countryside eventually arriving at the Terminal about half an hour late. The band were due to land at 10am so I was hoping that by the time they’d made it through customs and immigration I’d time it just about right but there no one was to be seen and no record of the flight arrival on the boards! I checked with airport information who informed me that the plane arrived over an hour ago - shit!! After a brief panic I was relived to see guitarist Michael Thomas followed by Marq Torien and Ryche Green - It was really great to see everyone. This is a whole new line-up to the one that toured the UK last year but I’ve known Michael for a few years through TrashPit and Ryche is immediately welcoming and friendly. Marq, as usual, is all smiles and hugs and it’s cool to hook up again after so long. For the last couple shows in the USA the band have seen the return of original bassist Lonnie Vencent back on board which has been great news but unfortunately he wasn’t able to make this trip which opens the spot for me to jump in and keep his seat warm!

We sit down for a bite to eat and joined by my good friend Craig Lamont who was also ended up on this tour too as driver for support band FATAL SMILE
from Sweden - talk about small world! Already it seems that there’s some misunderstanding as no-one seems to know what the plan is to get everyone over to the hotel and first show. BRITNY FOX have arrived and are somewhere in the terminal but it’s about two hours before the PRETTY BOY FLOYD guys are due to land. Marq makes the decision to commandeer the Patchwork Grace Van which Craig is driving and get him to run us to the hotel. We run into the Britny guys at the elevator and tell them what’s happening and Marq gets in trouble with airport security for leaving his bag unattended! Now, last year I was treated to a huge twelve bed tour bus.... this time I’m finding myself in the PWG Van which I know far too well and which is now decorated in vintage porn! Quite a contrast .... this tour may be a little different to last time! We navigate the streets of London fairly painlessly other than the odd idiot trying to cut us up and arrive at the hotel on King’s Cross Road. After a while the rest of the bands arrive. The Fatal Smile guys had got a van from Stanstead and squeezed everyone in and brought them over... not sure if this was the original plan but it worked out. One of the first things I see is PBF Drummer Kari Kane sporting the identical Total Skull Hoodie which I’m wearing, a man of good taste obviously! My friend JK Famous is handling bass duties on this tour with Floyd and it’s great to see him too after a couple of years - familiar faces are always good. After tonight’s show we have a day off and it seems that the logic was to book the entire band into one room for two nights rather than getting two separate rooms for just one stay…. there is ‘some’ logic in that until we realise that a single room only sleeps three people so we’re missing a bed and the rooms are tiny by normal Travelodge standards. Oh well, we roll on….

The Underworld is a pretty cool place to kick start the tour. I guess it would have been nice to do it later ... we’d ironed out the quirks of the set and cause it’s 'London’ but it’s a good venue and there’s a bunch of people we know coming along so I ain’t complaining. I hang around at the venue until the doors open. I’m not one to be rushing back and forth from hotels and I like to grab as much of the free rider as I can! ;) It turns into a good gig too, particularly for a Monday night and with competition from The Hellacopters last ever show. The Love/Hate and LA Guns tour had also rolled through town recently too so considering the credit crunch the crowd did us all proud. Ryche dragged me out to catch Fatal Smile as they’d toured with them before in the USA which was one of the starting blocks that got this whole trek up and running. They rock in kind of a Skid Row meets Iron Maiden mould and are total larger then life characters. I catch a couple of tunes by Britny and PBF before I get set for our show. So, no soundcheck, no run through and to top things off, the bass amp is cutting out! Hey, it’s rock and roll… let’s get the job done! The set goes pretty well with only a few hitches and I’m happy with how it went and the crowd enjoy it too. We crank out a few songs we didn’t do last year including 'THC Groove’ which has always been one of my favourite BB tunes. Whilst last years line up served up a cool, laid back, slick vibe the 2008 Bulletboys is more in your face and energetic due to Michael Thomas being a very explosive performer so it’s a neat contrast to what people saw back in 2007.

 

After the show everyone is once again kicked out rudely by the over the top security and we hang around by the bus deciding what to do. Craig is landed with running everyone back and forth from the hotel so whilst we wait for him to return we stop by Bar Monsta for a half hour to hang out. After a few beers and Jagers we cram in the PWG bus and head back to the hotel. A good start to what is looking set to be a cool tour.

Tuesday 30th September - Day Off, London
I wake up with a thick head, surely I’d not had that much to drink? This is not helped by a frickin Fire Alarm that decides to go off shortly afterwards. I wasn’t sure if it was just in our room or not but later find out it’s the whole hotel. No one knows the reason behind it and we all ignore it! Perhaps not a wise move in most cases but luckily it’s just a false alarm. I have a walk out in the morning rain and find a great café where they serve up an awesome breakfast which is very much needed. Call me a loner if you like but I do like these occasional, daily half hours on my own to go through stuff in my head and this is a good one. On the way back to the hotel I run into Steve Summers grabbing some food and apparently everyone else is still sleeping.

I get a call from Craig who is zombiefied at the moment after running everyone around till about 4.30am and then not allowed back into the Fatal Smile hotel by the security! I send him to our room to catch some much needed sleep and later we head over to The Underworld to collect the backline. It turns out to be just myself, Craig and Fatal Smile bassist Alx who show up to load out and it takes us quite a while. Too long unfortunately as a Traffic Warden decides to give us a ticket for being parked in a loading bay at 4.03pm which became illegal at 4.00pm!! Give me a break… this guy had obviously been watching us load in the last of the stuff and just needed his daily quota for tickets - what an arse!! Craig is NOT IMPRESSED!!

I meet back up with the rest of the band in Camden where we check out the shops in The Stables and some of the guys grab some cool bargains. Later that night after an early tour meltdown we head out into town. The Underground tube system sends us all over the place and by the time we reach any bars they’re all shutting up. After a wander down Denmark Street to check out all the vintage guitar shops we decide to call it a night. We chat for a while in the hotel bar then head back to our rooms. Not the most rock and roll day off in London you’d expect but it was good to hang out. Seems the Britny Fox guys had the best idea by making an early start and doing the full on UK Tourist Trip all over the capital, nice one.

Wednesday 1st October - The Pop Factory, Wales
Craig managed to blag an solid night’s sleep over at Drugdealer Cheerleader drummer Ringo’s house over in Canary Wharf so he’s all set to go when we meet up for the trip over to Wales. We distribute everyone and our gear into two vans and make a start over to Wales. Myself and Britny Fox drummer Hank are pinned in the back seats between mountain of luggage as we start the three hour trek. Ryche has managed to get himself a cell phone delivered to the hotel which will work in the UK so we begin our tour van texts from front to back… we keep it simple… 'Wanker’… 'Tosser’… you get the idea! We arrive in Wales later than expected and after dropping stuff over at the hotel we get to the venue too late to soundcheck. Tonight’s show is a last minute addition to the tour and is a blessing that it saves us another costly day in London. My good friend Dave Prince is the one who came to the rescue and he found us a great venue which is, as it says on the tin, an old pop (or soda) factory so it has a great look and feel. Unfortunately as the show was only confirmed a week prior it means that we suffer from a smaller crowd than normal with maybe only fifty or so people through the door but they all head down the front and make themselves heard!

The running order is all over the place tonight with Pretty Boy Floyd taking a really early slot on the bill and I notice a few people in PBF shirts turning up as they finish their last song at something like 8pm! Now, I’m not gonna stand around and say any of the bands should have gone .. or after each other but I do know that Pretty Boy Floyd, much like bands such as Enuff Z'Nuff, have built up a loyal following over here in the last ten years through constant touring so I think a lot of people in the UK expected them to be going on last each night. During Britny Fox’s set both myself and Craig agree they’ve already hit their stride and are a total contrast to the band that performed in London the night before and they sound awesome! The harmonies and vocals in particular are huge tonight and singer Jamie Fletcher earns himself the new nickname of 'Pipes’. For our set we drop in 'Rock Candy’ with an extended jam which works out pretty well. Afterwards we give two local takeaways a whole days earnings in a few short hours as we all take in a late night 'Beaks & Knees’ feast of Kebabs and Pizzas which is well overdue.

Thursday 2nd October - The Corporation, Sheffield
The Travelodge which we’re staying at is opposite a huge Aldi store so everyone runs back and forth to stock up on road food… I grab the essential… Two packets of Fig Rolls which means I’m set for all of… ten minutes. Our bus now sports some stellar new 'Gay Bus’ artwork courtesy of either Craig or the Fatal Smile guys… I’m edging bets at Mr Barfly. At a roadside stop Billy Childs asks if we’ve met before this tour and he’s right. We bumped into each other back in 2006 when Teenage Casket Company were on an East Coast Metal Sludge Tour of the USA. I thought that it was cool he remembered. Billy is a really down to earth character who’s immediately likeable and I look forward to hanging out more with him on these shows.

Once again by the time we arrive in Sheffield, hit the hotel to drop off bags things are too late for soundcheck which is becoming something of a running theme. Not that I mind… for the most part soundchecks can become pretty futile and the sound always changes when you come to play anyway. The Corporation is totally stocked out rider wise and we all get a great cooked dinner whilst JK and I find the most incredible Chocolate Cookies which have

somehow remained untouched until we get hold of them!

The venue fills up really well and it’s a great vibe in there as Fatal Smile open things up followed by PBF who are unfortunately dogged with a bunch of sound and drum problems which puts things behind schedule. By the time we hit the stage we’re already running about twenty minutes late and we seem to be up there for ages with each song going into a trademark Bulletboys jam. The crowd seem to really enjoy it though and it’s cool to see some familiar faces out at the show including my good TCC brutha Jamie D and his lady Gemma. Our set is a total rock fest tonight, I bang my head way too hard against the wall and we realise afterwards that the bottom of the snare has split meaning more delays in getting Britny Fox ready for their headline slot. The promoters are clock watching but it doesn’t stop the Britny guys pulling in a great show and even squeezing in an encore. A great night indeed with awesome feedback from everyone and the Fatal Smile guys getting totally battered! Back at the hotel Marq and I head into Michael and Ryche’s room for errrr… evening tea! It was cool though and we followed it with some Red Wine which led to MT giving Marq a great positivity lecture before he totally passed out on the bed!

Friday 3rd October - JB’s, Dudley
I wake up early and go grab Ryche for breakfast downstairs. We’re staying at a good ol’ fashioned B&B which means a great cooked breakfast and Ryche tells me some great Bulletboys road stories from the USA which I could listen to forever… 'Fuck You Baby! Let’s Ride!’ I see a best seller at some point in the future! We manage to get everyone else together and 'cause they’re too late for breakfast we find them a killer café down the road which I think was called 'Charley’s Parlour’ which needs to become an essential rock stop on any tour - trust me.

JB’s is a strange venue for me… Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the place, the hospitality is second to none and it’s a great stage but I never seem to have a good gig there. Tonight is the same, we play well but I fail to enjoy it as much as I should, other than the point where I run over to Kari at side stage during 'Smooth Up’ and he rattles the bass for me! Legend! Good to see more friends out front though and the crowd, though small, was pretty responsive and it turns out well. All the bands put on great sets too and we seem to be on a roll. Note to American Rock Singers though… when deciding to use the dressing room toilet always make sure there is toilet roll in there! It’s a bad scene otherwise! ;)

Back at the hotel, MT uses his great negotiating skills to get the bar to open for a few more hours and we all head down for some beers. The night ends with Hank from BF telling Marq and me some great stories about his experiences in the deep south of America. He apologises for being long winded with his story telling but doesn’t need to cause the guy tells a great tale. It’s always cool on tours to see people open up after a few days on tour once you all get to know each other better. Not sure if I do or not but it’s cool to see others do it.

Saturday 4th October - Rock City, Nottingham
Last UK Show - Hometown. Quality! We arrive in Nottingham and I head out with Kari, Kristy and JK to grab them some clothes. Compared to LA I’m sure Nottingham ain’t exactly the rock fashion capital of the world but everyone seems happy and finds some cool stuff in Void and Ice Nine. I break for fifteen minutes to locate an internet café to catch up on a few days emails before returning to Rock City to see how things are setting up. We get a quick soundcheck for a change, a few more drum problems and then head back to the hotel to get ready. It’s a real shame as tonight is probably the first venue we won’t be kicked out of once we’ve played and we’re also booked in an incredibly plush hotel. Only problem is that we’ve got to drive down to Stanstead for the European trek at about 1.30am. Rubbish indeed!

Tonight is an awesome crowd though and The Basement is packed - again more friends and a great atmosphere. We hang around after the show for as long as
we can. Current Hot Emo Popsters Enter Shikari are playing in the upstairs room too so Rock City is buzzing. A few of the guys from ES and their support band Flood of Red come down and hang out with Marq for a while and seem to hit things off really well. Seems they were expecting the lead singer of The Bulletboys to come upstairs and stage dive during their set - now that would’ve been cool!! Marq manages to blag a whole new Enter Shikari wardrobe from their merch stand as well!

We pack up in the rain and I head back to the hotel to hang with friends for a while before the van returns from a brief trip to Wildside up the road and we say goodbyes and head to the airport. Once again, Hank and I secure ourselves between the luggage at the back and off we go. Within twenty minutes I’m out cold…..

Sunday 5th October - Ke Me Meo Club, Italy
I wake up just as we’re pulling into Stanstead Airport and it’s a mass load out of the van which is not good when you’re still half asleep. It’s raining, cold and miserable too which doesn’t help. We get everything and everyone inside the airport and say our goodbyes to Craig who’s had to go above and beyond on this run. He was only really supposed to be driving Fatal Smile to and from each show but he ended up taking on something of a Tour Manager role! His plan for the rest of the day was simple… sleep! Then he’d worry about getting the gear back to The Underworld and home later. This was also were we said goodbye to the guys in Fatal Smile, at least for a few days. They were flying back to Sweden and hooking back up with us in Norway.

Now last year on this very similar run we ended up missing a show in Germany 'cause Ryan Air charge big money for any excess baggage that goes on their flights. We’d turned up late and were potentially lumbered with a huge luggage bill which we were all unprepared for. This led to us trying to get in touch with the European Promoter to see if they’d cover the costs but it eventually led to a night in a hotel instead of flying out. So…. you’d think this year things would be a little more prepared but once again we find ourselves checking in at the Ryan Air desk and Pretty Boy Floyd have got tonnes of merch which lumbers them with, you guessed it… a frickin HUGE excess baggage bill! Ourselves and Britny Fox get lucky and get through okay. On the plane I crash next to Billy Childs and this is pretty much the first time we’ve had chance to have a proper talk and the guy rules. He tells me all about how he prefers to travel to shows in the US by car or train. One thing it’s cheaper and whilst it takes much longer he loves all the sites he sees whilst out travelling that way and he has some great stories. Very cool guy!

We arrive in Italy and are met by a couple of vans who take us to our hotel. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere but it’s really plush in a olde world kinda way and very European feeling. It seems the owners don’t speak a single word of English which we find very strange. Sure, we’re in their country and I always feel a bit ignorant not really knowing the language but as hotel staff you’d think they’d know the very basic? The hotel has a restaurant area and we get as far as understanding that pizzas will be available for us in about thirty minutes. We dump our bags and go wait…. andwait… and wait some more! It looks like the pizzas aren’t coming. Problem is we don’t have any foreign currency and we’re all starving. Greg from Britny comes to save the day and we all order pasta which he puts on his Credit Card. A few hours later we head over to the show. Wow! This is awesome. The venue, Ke Me Meo Club, which seems to be on kind of industrial estate is hosting something called GlamFest. The place has a huge, very modern looking hall with a massive stage and most importantly tonnes of people! A band is playing when we get there who I believe to be Snakez. It’s total TwistedSister / early Motley throw back stuff as is a lot of the crowd. I’ve no idea where everyone has come from 'cause this place seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Backstage there’s loads of drinks laid on and pizza too so I’m happy… I become a real pig when there’s free stuff in abundance like this!

Britny Fox hit the stage before us, then we’re up. Awesome show, totally loved it and loads of room to move around. The crowd seemed to enjoy it too but once Pretty Boy Floyd hit the stage you could see who everyone had come to see - the place went nuts! Proper old school Glam crowd for sure! Steve Summers asked me to video tape some of it which I hope to see at some point 'cause it looked great. We hung around for ages afterwards, everyone getting more and more drunk…. particularly Pipes and Ryche who took it on themselves to go on a mission to photograph themselves with every girl in the building regardless of whether they had a boyfriend or not! Outside, whilst loading up, the fresh air hit Pipes like a sledgehammer and he was all over the place!

He’s a very happy drunk though which is good and very funny to be around. He began to speak in what can only be described as 'Pipes-Italino’… nothing made sense or it was total English except everything ended with 'Alvita!!’. When we made it back to the hotel he fell from the van and crumpled all on the floor as Ryche described like a deck chair. Unscathed, he and everyone, including a bunch of other people who were either staying at the hotel or managed to smuggle themselves in the van, crashed in Greg and Pipes’ room. Once he got in there Pipes took another nose dive, this time with a bottle of Red Wine in hand which covered the floor! Wine was also all over the bed and the room was a disaster. An hour or so later the hotel manager was complaining about the noise and eventually Greg, in the most polite way possible asked us all to leave. It went something like… “Hey guys, I’m getting kinda tired now so it’d be really nice if I could get some sleep. You know, you don’t have to go to your rooms if you don’t want but it’d be pretty cool of you to do so.” Most other people would have thrown us out ages ago with something like “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM, YOU FUCKIN ASSHOLES!!!”

Monday 6th October - Day Off
The sun was out in force when we all woke up. I went and sat outside for while and made a fuss of the hotel dog, Dino, until everyone else surfaced. We were still no closer to communicating with the hotel staff so just about all we could order were Coffees. We had the whole day off to do some tourist stuff but as none of us had a clue where we were and the promoter was nowhere to be seen we felt kinda stuck!

We decided to head off and try and find a town 'somewhere’. We figured there must be something around so we just started walking. It must have looked like a weird sight… it was myself, JK, Marq, Michael, Ryche, Pipes, Greg and Hank all walking along this baron roadside without a clue where we were going. Eventually we found some shops which seemed almost like a ghost town, nothing was open. We did find a bank though and got some money changed and I think we made their day. I couldn’t see much ever happening around here so when a bunch of guys like us come walking in it must have been something of an event. We posed for photos afterwards too which was funny. There was a bar down the road which we all invaded and got some great food and beer then headed back to the hotel. We were hoping to meet up with the promoter later that night for dinner but he didn’t come through and we all ended up with ,pasta in the hotel and Marq and I crashing in front of MTV for several hours talking. Not totally rock n roll but it was cool nonetheless.

Tuesday 7th October - Rock City, Uster, Switzerland
Time to get back on the road and I’m over joyed when we’re met by my old friend Alvisé from Venice who’s driving us to the next show in Switzerland. Alvisé was part of the team that brought TEENAGE CASKET COMPANY over to Italy back in 2006 to play in Venice and he was promoting the other two Italian shows on this run. He’d kindly agreed to drive us to Switzerland and back and it was very cool to see him again. We loaded up into two vans and headed out on what we thought was gonna be a four, maybe five, hour drive. That never happens I’m afraid… especially when you have about twelve band members who take about an hour at a time at every service station. The ride took forever and ended up being about seven or eight hours, I forget now. It was fuckin’ long though! That said it was cool to see a bit of the country side as we headed into Switzerland. Last year we flew in, straight to the venue and out again the next morning… all I remember from that was highways. Apparently, according to Michael Thomas, myself and Greg, who I was sitting next to, are so quiet in the van that MT was considering putting a mirror under our noses to check we were still breathing!

It was really late by the time we made it to the venue and the show had already started as we made our way through the crowd - the place was packed out. Rock City, again somewhere we played on the last run, is a very tiny room so it fills up big time. The sound is really shitty but the crowds are great and it was very cool to meet up with a bunch of friends from last year including Alex and Bobby (check out their awesome photos HERE) along with the mighty Johnny Chadwick who’s become a big supporter of the band. The show was cool… full on rock and roll and the crowd really enjoyed it. Marq, Michael and Ryche were intense at this gig! The amp set up was really weird though with Marq’s cab to the side of the stage blasting in my ear and my Bass Rig sounding really rough. I had to keep putting my head up to it to make sure sound was coming out okay. Last year I loved this show 'cause I was able to watch Faster Pussycat’s Bret Bradshaw from the side of the stage literally tearing the drum kit apart and this year was much the same watching Kari from Pretty Boy Floyd. These two guys are absolute monsters behind the kit and make it look so easy!

Afterwards I got the impression everyone on the tour had hit their first wall! There were free drinks and spirits for everyone but none of us seemed interested, even MT who is always up for a party, seemed beat. We hung around for a while then head to the hotel. I was sat next to Steve in the van he was both pissed and pissed off! He was shouting at Alvisé for not getting to the hotel fast enough and not in a good mood at all. Chill dude!! We made it to the hotel which was kind of a mix between hostel and hotel… if it was a hostel it was very modern. Marq and I grabbed our room and what would be just a few hours sleep. We had bunks and I can tell you trying to navigate one of those things after maybe three hours sleep and no lights is not an easy thing to do!

Wednesday 8th October - Borderline Club, Italy
It’s an early lobby call… something crazy like 7am but I drag my ass downstairs where breakfast is being served, followed shortly afterwards by Marq, Greg and Billy. For those of you that don’t know, Marq LOVES Tea! He’ll take a warm cup over a shot of Jager any day and I think it’s from the last time he toured the UK and from hanging out with Chip Z'Nuff so much! The breakfast area in the hotel has a huge selection of different ones so Marq is happy! There’s a mix up with the call times everyone was told and an hour or so later everyone else lumbers into the lobby and it seems Steve remembers nothing of the night before and all his drunken mumbling. We stop off at a bank and then head off on another marathon trip back down into Italy. Again, though the countryside is fantastic, the hills and scenery is incredibly beautiful as we drive through the mountains. We pass nearby Lake Maggiore which I find out is Kristy Majors’ real name and where it originates from. I think he wanted to go Ozzy style and take a leak in there!

I’m getting something of a reputation as some kind of Pizza Monster and eating it every time we stop off somewhere. I do find this kinda amusing though as we’re in Italy and the only other option seems to be ham and cheese sandwiches - errrr, kinda the same thing right?! We drive for about six hours and arrive back in Italy. We head over to the hotel first and this ,place is truly incredible. It’s down an old dirt track and is more of a house / ranch than an hotel. Each band has their own apartment and they’re really nice. JK, who’s been having it tough over the last few days with travel sickness and isn’t too great in vans, crashes with us and becomes the honorary, fifth BulletBoy for the night.

The venue for the show is a really neat club. It has a bit of a western feel to it and again, sorry for going on about food all the time, but the promoter has laid on a great spread with homemade lasagne which is to die for! I shouldn’t eat this stuff before a show but I’m getting some before it’s gone baby!! Awesome, awesome crowd tonight - everyone down the front and probably one of the best reactions The BulletBoys have got on this tour. People are throwing themselves around from the start and going nuts. We pose for a bunch of photos afterwards, hang out for a while and then head back to the hotel. We grab a lift with Dee, a friend of mine who I’ve stayed in touch with since the last shows in Italy last year. It’s always cool to meet up again with people like this who you maybe only briefly met at a show but manage to stay in contact with over the beauty of Social Media.

Thursday 9th October - Zoe Club, Italy
Sightseeing! We never seem to get much of this done on these runs but today we head on out to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa for an hour or so which I really enjoyed. I’m not a massive history buff but to be somewhere like this is pretty darn cool and at times a little surreal. We all pose for some photos and a bunch of folk grab some souvenirs before we hit the road once more. I text a few photos back home and get the response of 'Are you sure that’s not a postcard?!’

We get to the venue pretty early and I’m met by another good friend, the legend that is photographer Alex Ruffini. Alex did some great photos of the Bulletboys on the last tour and prior to that some TCC Shots. Visit his WEBSITE to check out just who he 'hasn’t’ photographed and you’ll be hard pushed not to find your favourites on there! Also, at the gig is Pacino who brought TCC over and it’s a great surprise to see him too. Also on the bill tonight were HOLLYWOOD TEASZE who played at the GlamFest show a few days earlier but we’d missed their set. I discovered that one of their members, Andi, is from London! Great guy! Everybody hangs out in the huge dressing room backstage and catches up for a while before we head into town for something to eat. This was really cool to go grab… you guessed it - Pizza and Pasta, at a proper Italian Restaurant and there was about twenty of us all together having a good time. I ended up sampling just about everyone’s food before we left!

Alex set us up and delivered yet another incredible photo shoot for the band. How this guy does it and manages to pull the coolest looking shots from the most unlikely of settings blows my mind. The room and stage for the night was really good and we had a good time playing with a cool response. Made some great new friends afterwards and hung out for a while. There was a lot of tension that seemed to come to a head that night which for the most part I try and stay out it. Hell, I’m just a scab… here to play the tunes with my teenage heroes and if I earn a bit dough it’s a bonus. Man, I’m used to getting changed for gigs in toilets and tiptoe-ing in urine so you give me a proper dressing room with a mirror and I’m happy!! I guess for others though it can be kinda tough and tonight it comes to a head between the BulletBoys and Britny camp against the whole booking agency side of things. There’s talk of us ending the tour right here and now and the two bands going home in the morning leaving Pretty Boy Floyd to complete the tour on their own! Dude, I wanna go to Denmark and Norway - not back to Nottingham just yet!!

We load up and head back to the hotel which takes forever as the streets are a maze and this doesn’t help moral! Once there we say our goodbyes to Alvisé, Alex and Pacino and things continue to bubble over about what will happen next. I tell Marq that for us to go home now and have to book new flights rather than just ride it out and play a few more, potentially cool shows, would be a lot more hassle than it’s worth. He understands and the Britny guys seem to think the same way when I go looking for their room at 4am in the morning after knocking on numerous wrong doors and waking bemused sleepers up! So we’re staying! Mint!

Friday 10th October - Stengade 30, Denmark
The next morning all seems good. Maybe the awesome power shower in the hotel rooms washed away some bad vibes - who knows? We head to the airport all in good time, grab some coffees, then off to Denmark. The flight was pretty awesome, flying over mountains with little villages tucked away in them along with ripping the piss with Michael and Ryche - a fair bit of it headed in my direction!

It’s raining in Denmark when we arrive. We find a smoking booth in the Baggage Claim rather amusing and then we head out in a cab to our hotel. We notice that just about EVERYBODY is on bicycles which may account for everyone looking in great shape. Our hotel turns out to be a flat / apartment which is actually really cool. The venue is only maybe ten minutes walk away and I end up almost getting run down by bicycles on several occasions. We miss Britny Fox’s set tonight which is a shame 'cause they apparently played a blinder. Each gig on this tour they killed and got better each show and I never got bored with watching them. Pretty Boy Floyd are up next and the crowd are just mental. The stage is pretty low and people are falling over themselves at the front - it’s crazy. I’m itching to get on and rock but when it’s our shot everything seems to go wrong. Marq has a bunch of problems with his amp and isn’t happy with the sound so bails for while leaving Michael up there on his own all ready to go. He’s pissed at this and apparently smashed a beer bottle on the cymbals. Then when we do eventually hit the stage, Marq snaps a string first song! From then on we manage to salvage things but it makes it hard to work the crowd who are probably by now pretty tired from the first few bands. There is a plus side though and that’s when a bunch of girls get up onstage during 'Smooth Up’ so at the very least any photos from this show will look cool!!

Saturday 11th October - Glassheim, Jevnaker, Norway
We have a pretty early flight so after the show most of us end up either with just an hours sleep or none at all before we get the cab to the airport. I’m the victim of massive banter and abuse from Michael who is in top form for the entire cab ride! I think we’re all feeling worse for wear at the airport and on auto-pilot as we wait for the flight. I’m split up from everyone on the plane as we make the trip to Norway and I think I sleep a good part of it. At the airport Kari is missing a bunch of drum stuff that doesn’t seem to have made it through which is a nightmare (it eventually arrives at the hotel). Norway was cool to us last year and this time looks to be no different as we’re met by a great driver who takes us to the most incredible hotel. The place is right in a countryside village by a massive lake. The hotel itself is extended from an old house and is a maze of corridors and really modern. We arrive just after noon yet Marq still manages to grab us a late breakfast / lunch in the dining room before we go crash for fours hours straight in our plush beds! This felt damn good - add to that free internet access and I’m happy!

We head over to the venue which is only across the street and it’s a weird, yet cool looking place. Considering this is a very picturesque village it’s kinda strange to find a Rock Venue here in the middle of it. It reminds me of a social club type place but it’s decked out in Metal Posters and Memorabilia. The guys from Fatal Smile are there and it’s great to see them again. I blag me a t-shirt for the gig and we dive back to the hotel to get ready. Before we return to the show Marq and I find out the place has a huge pool which apparently the Britny guys are in so we go join them. This is fun… the place has a steam room and everything and it feels like real hospitality. Things are good and a million miles from some of the bad vibes of the past few days.

There’s not a massive crowd, maybe fifty people in there, and Michael admits that you know it’s a weird show when you’re up on stage and have to ask 'Are we on?!’ We had to follow yet another blistering Britny Fox set but I think we put on a good show which had a cool, laid back feel. We break out the new BulletBoys song 'Road To Nowhere’ for the first time along with 'Crank Me Up’ which we’d not played yet on this run. After us, Floyd rock the house pretty good. JK admits to having a weird show but it’s interesting and kinda fun to see Kristy Majors up there after a few beers and letting loose more than usual. Like I said, I think moral was on the up a little more and people were relaxed despite the poor turnout. Afterwards Marq is nowhere to be seen. The last anyone saw of him was walking into the woods with some guys for a smoke! I give up on finding him and I later find out he blagged a lift back to the hotel with these dudes along with Hank and they ended up doing donut spins across the hotel grounds! I miss frickin everything cool!!

Sunday 12th October - Smuget, Oslo, Norway
One last show and it’s a return visit to the Smuget Club in Oslo. We arrive to a very cold and empty looking capital of Norway. It’s Sunday and like it used to be back home, everywhere is closed. After checking into the hotel which was the same as last year, another sweet place, we take a walk into town. Eventually most of give up hope of finding anywhere cool that is open and head back. Michael on the other hand is on a mission and he later returns to our room with some killer bargains including a real 'pimpy’ white coat with fur collar! We have some familiar faces coming along to the show tonight. There’s another photo shoot with PER OLAV HEIMSTAD who did some amazing shots last year and he delivers once again with the new line-up! Great to see him again along with my friend Lizzy who’s been in touch since the shows from 2007. For a final show we couldn’t have asked for anything better. I think we played wayyyy too long but Marq was up for it and we hit things hard. It was so cool to have all the Britny guys, JK and Fatal down the front with the crowd and what ruled big time was having Kari get up on the drums for 'Rock Candy’! He apparently later told Ryche that it was one of the highlights of the whole tour for him! Everyone was up on backing vocals for 'Smooth Up’ too! Pretty Boy Floyd put on a storming set and JK exorcised any bad demons from the previous night with a killer show. It really was a great night to end on in front of a receptive crowd.

It bummed me out afterwards that our flight was so early and we were leaving before the Floyd guys so I didn’t get chance to say goodbye properly to everyone. Marq and I pulled an all nighter cause of the early flight and just stayed up talking. Marq is great for this, he can just churn stuff out.Very cool to hear all stuff about Van Halen and the him growing up. He’s totally different when in this environment rather than on stage - still the rock star but on a much more level ground.

At the airport I get stung on instrument tax which sucks balls whilst everyone else is ahead of the game. Greg even tells them that in his case is furniture parts and the lady buys it! I don’t think I even see the plane take off and I’m out cold until we’re three quarters of the way there. After pulling the all nighter we’re all pretty burnt so it doesn’t help that we’ve been booked to fly back into Stanstead and then everyone is flying home from Heathrow with no real plans of how to get there. We end up getting a bus at our own cost which seems to take forever. At the terminal I say an all too brief goodbye to Michael, Ryche and Marq but it’s cool to know I’ll be seeing them all again in a few weeks in San Diego (that’s a whole other story!).

After they’ve gone I go into deja vu mode once again and find myself at the same Bus Terminal as 2007 with a coffee and chocolate muffin! It’s cool to see everyone from Britny Fox again though as they caught a later coach and I get to wish them all a safe trip. It just leaves me with the four hour hell ride that is the National Express back to Nottingham!

Summing up these trips is hard. I didn’t write a diary last year 'cause I didn’t feel I had that much to say at the time. Looking back several months later I did but it was too late to kick out the cobwebs and remember things. I guess until you come down from the high you’re on, whether you realise it or not, it’s hard to appreciate everything you see and do on a trip like this. Most importantly everyone I meet on these things are some of the most incredible people you can hope for and I really mean that whether they’re the bands themselves or the fans at the shows. Everyone rules! So for me, basically a scab and hired hand, I feel very fortunate to share in something like this at whatever level it’s deemed to be. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to everyone on the tour for making me feel so welcome…

Till the next time we ride and roll……..
xx

For those that are interested here’s the usual Set List each night.

RIFF RAFF
HARD AS A ROCK
TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER
HELL ON MY HEELS
THC GROOVE
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY
KISSIN KITTY
SMOOTH UP IN YA
Other songs that were put in and out of the set were:
CRANK ME UP
ROCK CANDY
ROAD TO NOWHERE

 

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I REMEMBER WHEN THIS WAS ALL FIELDS!

 

7.29pm

I live in a village called Loscoe, kinda smack bang in between Nottingham and Derby - quiet, small and away from Everything! I’ve lived here for pretty much the best part of thirty years - scary I know. Same street, same house - I did things the opposite way around… my Mum moved away from me! I often go through it in my head about moving away but right now I don’t see the logic of giving myself some scary new bills which I wouldn’t be able to afford just to go live in the city. I don’t do stress… at least you don’t think I do!

 

I’ve just got back from walking Dylan. This is something you wouldn’t normally catch me doing, but Jayne is away on holiday in Spain with her family and the sun was out so I dragged my lazy arse away from MySpace and out the door. I did the same walk I used to do almost twenty years ago when I occasionally walked home from school. This was when I didn’t have some massive, almost stalker like crush on some girl with the slimmest bit of hope that maybe the only spare seat on the school bus would be next to her! Never happened and I never dated her.

 

I’ve done this walk a few times with Jayne and everytime I’m sent right back to 1987. Things have changed though and it makes the title of this Blog hold true making me feel like a right old fart. Although the majority of the walk is still the same farmer’s fields, a lot of the area near to my old Secondary School (or should that be High School these days?) has been built over with rows and rows of identikit houses where every street and turn looks the same - most with two cars parked outside and incredibly neat lawns - England’s very own version of suburbia I guess?

 

Walking along I hardly passed anyone on the street, kinda lucky I suppose, as being armed with my tiny black poo bag courtesy of Dylan, I was trying hard to rub my hayfever tinged nose with the correct hand rather than getting a nasty surprise! Very ‘Rock Star’!! On the way back, I passed the field where my Mum used to keep her horses. The run down old stable has long since vanished but yet it only seems like yesterday I was photographing it for my A Level Photography course.

 

I walked past my old Infant School which is just down the road from where I live. This has changed dramatically over the years, growing in size and taking over the playing fields where I first decided to support Nottingham Forest, fell from a tree into the biggest pile of netals ever seen and played endless hours of Technique (Headers & Volleys). My Primary School which I’ll be passing later on this evening has long since closed. It still stands but will be soon demolished to make way for more houses like which I spoke of earlier which guts me. My Mum went to this school and before her my Great Aunt who went on to marry a soldier and move to the USA after the Second World War. Bushes and weeds are beginning to grow over the fence and I keep wondering whether or not I should go take a look? Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I should just remember it how it was?

 

I don’t know the reason for this Blog, I guess I just wanted to write something, I guess I was feeling a little nostalgic or maybe I want to find something out about myself. Should I be somewhere else right now? Will I in years to come be thinking of Jaret’s lyrics 'I’m so glad I got the fuck out of my hometown’ and kicking myself? I sometimes wish I could be one of those people who moved away and occasionally visit their old home simply as a trip down memory lane or a family visit. Me, I guess I’m one for holding my memories very close, perhaps too close - I think it runs in the family. On the other hand maybe I’m lucky, loyal or perhaps just sad - I’d like to opt for one of the first two. Lucky because I’m happy, lucky because I’ve found a partner for the last fourteen years who is the best thing to ever happen to me, a job for almost ten years and 'one’ of my bands who I’ve been with for eight years, the other for almost five - that’s a lot of years baby!!

 

So I guess what I’m trying to put across is that memories (for the most part) are wonderful things, be greatful for what you’ve got and the cards you’re dealt and try and be honest with yourself - I hope this doesn’t come across as patronising or self pitying - I just wanted to write something. If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading. Why not have a ride back to your old neighbourhood this weekend, it’s kinda wierd but also kinda nice when all those old thoughts come back.

 

x

 

8.06pm

 

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GHOSTWATCH REVISITED - 15 YEARS ON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We don’t want to give anybody sleepless nights”

 

Whilst at work last week we got onto the subject of old TV programmes and I asked if anyone had seen the show ‘Ghostwatch’ from back in the early nineties. I have very fond memories of this show from when it was first broadcast and remember being scared witless alongside some friends, literally shouting at the TV screen and then running like hell on the way home! Luckily, my work mate had a copy of this on video and I was thrilled to be able to sit down and watch this again last night - fifteen years on! Would it stand the test of time?

 

For those of you who never saw it or where too young, the premise of 'Ghostwatch’ was very simple. Basically, imagine an episode 'Most Haunted Live’ but where something actually happens!! Originally broadcast on Hallowe'en 1992, this BBC TV Show, written by Stephen Volk, worked on the same premise that the infamous Orson Welles’ 'War Of The Worlds’ radio show did back in the 1930’s. We, the viewer, were led to believe that what we were watching was an actual 'real’ TV investigation. We had well known presenters such as Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles all investigating supposed paranormal behaviour at a regular house, in a regular town, where a family were apparently being terrorised by a ghost called 'Pipes’ and the BCC were hoping to capture some of this on tape. I’d heard someting about this in the newspapers prior to the broadcast but even watching it at the time I felt myself not quite sure if what I was seeing was fake or not!

 

Remember, this was back in the day when horror films had gone down the pan. Many years before 'Scream’ came along and redefined the entire genre and seven years before 'The Blair Witch Project’. Horror films were, at the time, something of a bad joke, Reality TV shows were unheard of and there was no internet to shoot down the myth.

 

Watching it today, knowing good and well that it was fake, does little to dampen the chills. Sure the acting from the family is a little wooden and very scripted (my girlfriend Jayne who’d not seen this before said it was like a bad episode of Grange Hill) but if you detach yourself from that and buy into it, then 'Ghostwatch’ is simply brilliant. The presenters are awesome throughout and totally convincing. Other than the ropey ending which lets it down somewhat, it stands up brilliantly as an essential bit of Horror & Ghost televison viewing. Even last night, the brief glimpses of the ghost Pipes in the patio window and in front of the curtains sent familiar goosebumps through my body - serious!

 

I’m sure many people who see this today may find it funny and ridiculous, much in the same way people did of The Blair Witch, but if you’re a fan of this genre and you’ve not seen it before PLEASE try and check it out.

 

Totally essential!