I’m having some vision issues at the moment which are making typing up long blog posts difficult, so in the meantime, here is a quick roundup of some of the music I’m mainlining at the moment. This really is a pretty exciting time for new tunes. Continue reading “The Soundtrack To Now: Little Boots, Gaz Coombes, Kylie Minogue, Manic Street Preachers, Let’s Eat Grandma”
All the gigs of my life: Gig 13 – Placebo, Thursday, May 22, 1997, Brixton Academy
In May 1997, I had epic plans for the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend: travelling up to Manchester for the mega Manics/Mansun gig at the Nynex Arena on the 24th of May. I decided to make an even longer weekend of it, travelling up on Friday the 23rd, returning to London on the Tuesday. And then, I decided nothing could be better than to start it all off on the Thursday night by seeing this new intriguing band Placebo.
All the gigs of my Life: Gig 12 – My Life Story, Thursday, May 01, 1997, Astoria
Election Day 1997. A new dawn for Britain was approaching. And I celebrated the best way I knew how: by going to a gig.
Continue reading “All the gigs of my Life: Gig 12 – My Life Story, Thursday, May 01, 1997, Astoria”
Rae Morris at Heaven, Wednesday, 28th of March, 2018
This brilliant night of joyful, idiosyncratic pop was the 150th gig of my life – but it felt less like a full stop, and more like a new beginning.
Continue reading “Rae Morris at Heaven, Wednesday, 28th of March, 2018”
All the gigs of my life: Gig 11 – Mansun, Friday, April 25, 1997, Kilburn National
My first ever Mansun gig. If I were pressed to name one gig and one gig only as the greatest of my life, it would be this one.
All the gigs of my life: Gig 10 – Manic Street Preachers, Saturday, April 12, 1997, Royal Albert Hall
“So here I sit in the middle of The Day. The reason I’m still here and not swirling aimlessly around Perth again.”
Songs by Scruffy: Capacity to Deceive
I originally planned for the name Scruffy Storms to be my nom de tune before it became my nom de blog, but now it is both. Here is a song with lyrics I wrote at age 24 and music I wrote at age 42, which is pleasingly symmetrical.
All the gigs of my life: Gig 9 – Suede, Saturday, April 05, 1997, Kentish Town Forum
What an introduction to the world of Suede live: a fan club only, B-sides only gig.
Paul Draper at the Manchester Ritz and Electric Brixton, 1st and 8th March 2018
In a few weeks’ time on this blog, I will reach gig no.11 of All The Gigs Of My Life, a truly astonishing night that completely turned my little music-obsessed world around: my first ever Mansun gig in April 1997. But for now, I have my 148th and 149th gigs to talk about, and they were seeing Mansun’s singer Paul Draper playing one of the most important albums of my life, the album that led me to go and see them on that amazing night in 1997: “Attack of the Grey Lantern”.
Continue reading “Paul Draper at the Manchester Ritz and Electric Brixton, 1st and 8th March 2018”
All the gigs of my life: Gig 8 – My Life Story / Orlando, Friday, February 14, 1997, ULU
My first gig as a Proper Londoner, living and working in the city I’d dreamed of for years, was to see the flamboyantly orchestral My Life Story. But it was the support band I really wanted to see that might, a band I thought, for a few glorious weeks, were going to become my New Fave Band Ever: Orlando.
