THE ADRENALINE IT BURNS A HOLE

If I wrote a linear narrative (thanks punk cinema!) of my trip to London, this post would be a novel, so I'll give you bullet points of things I learned.

#1. THERE ARE NICE PEOPLE OUT THERE.
I flew off to London by the seat of my pants. I didnt really have a place to stay, but help came in the form of two lovely people sent from above. The first was Lee Laborde who is a promoter for LiveNation and helped Chief book a couple of their gigs. One of the nicest guys I've ever met and kindly offered the spare room of his house in Clapham to me and the rest of the band. He is the dashing chap on the right.

However London is very large and some people don't like to take night buses by themselves for fear of being stabbed(wow I sure am glad my Mom didnt read the world news), so luckily I met a friend of Paul's named Alicia who let me crash with her a few nights at her flat in Kentish Town. Here is one of the 10,000 pics i have of her. Elle mag online picked this outfit out of the crowd @ wireless for a festival style article.

She actually became probably the best friend I had in London! So fate worked out nicely in that way.

#2. TRY NOT TO GET DRUNK ON TWO HOURS OF SLEEP AND GO SEE THE NATIONAL
Otherwise, you will end up getting overexcited about a band you don't really care that much about and end up taking approx. ONE MILLION blurry pictures of the stage and make a general fool out of yourself. Exhibit A:


#3.ALL OF THE MAJOR RECORD COMPANIES ARE ON THE SAME STREET.
High Street Kensington to be exact. Well, Sony BMG wasnt there when I was but it will be by now. And I got to go visit all of them as Paul (my favorite Englishman as you all know....well of the ones I know personally) let me tag along to all of his business meetings. Thank you so much Paul!

#4. LAUGHING GAS IS REALLY FUN
Can we get it in the US? This is what you look like shortly after you take it. The other girl in the pic is the gorgeous Tijan who is very cool and hopefully visiting me in NYC!


#5. DOING GUESTLIST AT DURAN DURAN's BIGGEST SHOW IS VERY STRESSFULL
Seriously. It was fun, but NO ONE knows what list they are on and there are like 35 lists and six girls working at the same time, and people show up like 5 mins before the band are due on and expect you to find their tickets for them and then get upset that they don't have aftershow passes. On the plus side, I did get to hang out backstage, meet most of the band, and roam around basically wherever I wanted. Since guestlist took so long, I only got to catch the last 2/3rds of the band's show. I was specifically impressed at the band's cover of The Normal's "Warm Leatherette" which is an awesome sort of new/no wave/post punk hidden gem. Good job guys. Here is me @ the show, obviously stoked



#5 I REALLY FUCKING LOVE CHIEF.
This band is so developed and tight for a new band its scary. They nailed almost all of their shows. Their sound is not something I'd usually go for, but the style they have which is kind of Verve meets like Americana type Neil Young, is done flawlessly. They all sing vocals so there is that really full harmony element. Plus their lyrics are amazing. My current fav is "You Tell Me", which Danny wrote. Basically if you see them live, you become a fan of the band and thats pretty much it. The amount of industry people who showed up to their Hoxton gig was shocking, esp considering that it was raining and the place was damn near impossible to find. Drew and Adam from Babyshambles (!) and Joe Lean was also there with his Jing Jang Jong (Or as Paul would refer to them later in the night as the Jing Fooking Faggots. They got in a bit of a tiff.) Here is a photo that I love that Paul took of all of us outside the 100 Club, where they did their first London gig.


I was also especially proud of them when they played @ wireless on Sunday in front of like, 800 people, which is a huge amount considering their stage and time slot. Ben Harper was scheduled to do a secret early set right before them, so I think a part of the crowd turned up for that. But there was a miscommunication and Ben ended up not playing, and Chief took advantage of the gathered crowd. But then NOBODY left. It was so amazing. I was in front of the barricade filming the whole thing and I just got this overwhelming feeling of happiness for them. They sounded amazing. After they finished the crowd totally dissipated (sad for the next band coming on though). Keeping a festival crowd is a tough job, considering they are not captive, they (probably) didnt pay just to see you, and they could just as easily walk over and get a drink or a bite. This is an really cool pic that Paul or took over Evan's shoulder. Note the Denmark Loves You sign. They've already conquered Europe. Clearly.


I also must share this totally amazing random pic that Paul took. Its fate really.


SO if you havent checked them out yet GO DO IT RIGHT NOW.

#6. A LOT OF SEMI-FAMOUS PEOPLE HANG OUT/STAY AT THE K WEST
We went there on a night the band had off after we had seen Band of Horses at Shepard's Bush Empire. The people that I remember being there were Liam Fray and the rest of the Courteeners (i think, I only really know what Liam looks like), Basshunter, Damon Marley, and Paolo Nutini (I talked to him outside for like 5 minutes before I realized who he was). And this was just like, a random Tuesday night. The drinks were super expensive though. The trick was to get someone to buy them for you :). We took many photo here but these are my favorites.





#7. THE BEDS AT K WEST ARE VERY COMFORTABLE.
Hee hee. Just sayin.

#8. WHEN ON TOUR, BRING A SHITLOAD OF STUFF WITH YOU, OR GET USED TO WEARING THE SAME CLOTHES FOR DAYS.
UGH, this was a very valuable lesson I learned, for my clothes never seemed to be residing in the same place as me when I woke up in the mornings, and I guess I thought it a waste of time to go back to wherever they were. One thing that made it better though, was on Sunday of wireless I got an artist pass, which let me go backstage and have access to pretty much everything the artists did. Including the free Bed Head Salon, where you could book a haircut and style fo freeee. I got one, and it felt so good, I can;t even describe it to you. I felt 100% better. Then I thought I was a hair model. Decidedly untrue, but one can dream.


#9. I FOUND TWO NEW FAVORITE DRINKS.
The first was Gaymer's Pear Cider. It is delicious. Its like apple cider, but with alcohol. Like the original mike's hard. So you don't feel like such a pussy drinking it. The second was Jameson's on the rocks. It may sound a bit...alcoholic, but after waaaaay too much free beer/cider, sometimes all you want is a little concentrated liquid courage. And this was the perfect remedy.

#10. MINGE MEANS LADYBERRY AREA.
You learn something new everyday.


#11 I CAME THISCLOSE TO GETTING TO MEET PETE DOHERTY. THEN CRUEL FATE SHAT ON MY HEAD.
In the cab over to Wireless on Friday me, Paul, and some of Chief shared a cab with Matt Bates from Primark, a booking agency. After impressing everyone with my encyclopedic knowledge of The LIbertines, Matt told me that he was Pete's agent. Keeping my cool, I asked, "so when can I meet him?", Matt said I could accompany him to Pete's Royal Albert Hall gig, complete with box seats. This filled me with boundless joy, but unfortunately I was due to leave on the tenth and his gig was on the twelfth. whyyyyy oh whyyyyyy. its ok. it will happen someday. im sure of it. I told Matt I was coming back to London in January and maybe there would be some gigs then, to which Matt responded with a lighthearted laugh, "Oh, he'll be dead by then". Some people have no faith.

#12. I LOVE LONDON AND CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK.
That needs no explanation.