The Chapman Zone Dave’s Blog

(I think you can hear me singing in this one!)

And finally…..quite possibly the greatest guitar solo ever (although you need to hear the original to really feel the might of this one…)

Youtube vids are very thin on the ground from the two gigs last weekend, but heres a couple I found from the It Bites gig:

Look for the nob in the middle headbanging at about 55 seconds in…….I get a santa hat on and I can’t control myself!

I didn’t think I’d make it through the weekend actually, as Friday night was a video night with the Scouts, and they only got off to sleep at 4am (after numerous bollockings, threats, etc, etc). So four hours sleep is not the best way to start a weekend that consisted of two gigs in London on the two nights, with a skating lesson in between at 7am. I think the excitement of the two gigs in question carried me through though.

Saturday night was Frost*, one of my two current fave bands at The Peel in Kingston. An amazingly small venue - even smaller than the Joiners arms I’d say. But packed solid with progheads of all sizes. Our contingent consisted of:

Me
John
Tiffy
Mark
Rob (brother)
Mia
Kyle
Helen
Rob
Adam
Tom
Aaron
Sam

We had fourteen tickets in total, but Limpet bailed.

Fantastic show! Jem got a magician in as support, and he was really funny. The band were amazing. I won’t go into details and start trying to describe it, as words do not do it justice. Suffice to say it was utterly prog-tastic. They even treated us to a rendition of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in one of the encores. The song, not the whole album. And they finished with “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” with a guest vocalist they pulled out of the crowd. I suspect they knew the guy, and he was very good!

Poor old John Mitchell was having a nightmare with guitar feedback, and most of his solos were affected - either by the feedback, or by the lack of volume, which I assume was done on purpose to avoid the feedback. The guy is still a total f****** legend though!

Jem threw a ton of christmas hats out into the crowd halfway through - enough for everyone. And I caught Dec’s pick!!!

….well, “caught” is not entirely accurate. Actually, it ricocheted off someone’s grasping hand and landed slap on my forehead, before falling down into my folded arm. How utterly awesome! I may try playing something with it later, to see if any of his magic is still on it. John is the lead guitarist, but Dec (who is lead singer) plays a mean guitar too, and chucked out a few face-melters!

And I met the man outside after the gig! I thanked him for an awesome night, and asked when the new Darwin’s Radio album is coming out (that’s Dec’s main band, and very good they are too). End of January apparently. I always struggle to know what to say in those situations, so I hope I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself. I almost certainly would have if I had met either Jem or John M - they are heroes of mine. John told me that they came out later to meet and greet, but I missed them. Balls.

On the way home I was informed by Natasha that skating lessons were off this weekend, due to the ice dance show that was on. Phew! Much as I look forward to the lessons, I was worried that I may not make it there this time round.

Oooh yeah - I got some excellent news about that earlier in the week - because of all the photography and calendar work I am doing for them, all my future skating courses are half price!!!

Nice!

….because I’m definitely going to need more!

But anyway. On to Sunday.

I slept in till about half past nine, and spent the day pottering around with my room (it’s more of a bomb site than usual at the mo, what with all the christmas presents added to the usual carnage), and on the PC.

Twenty past five rolls around and John comes to get me - he volunteered to drive today (Hurrah!).

Oh yeah, one of the reasons he was happy to drive was because we spent a good few hours on Saturday round at Max’s, changing over the two front tyres off my old car onto Johns car - John’s were as bald as a freshly shaved Captain Picard. Actually, we changed the wheels not the tyres. Duuuur!

While we were at it, we changed the drivers seat over, as Johns was knackered on one side. We finally got it swapped, but then I realised that the other one is actually knackered too, but on the other side! Oh well, maybe it will help correct the problems Johns been having with his back!

Max slaved away and did most of the work, bless him. The guy is a legend - he used to be one of my Scouts years ago, but left when he was about twelve. I was gutted when he did, as he was a really great kid. He’s hinted in the past that he regrets leaving now. Oh well, I’m just glad that I’m getting to see more of him nowadays - his whole family is awesome!

But back to Sunday. It was It Bites this time round, and the roll call was:

Me
John
Rob (not brother)
Mark
Mia
Kyle
Helen

Adam was dying to come, but was not able to, for reasons I won’t go into on here. He actually prefers It Bites to Frost* I think, so it must have been doubly gutting for him. The last four on the list were already up in London, having stayed there overnight, so it was just John, Rob and I on the way up.

Oh, and it was at the same venue as the Frost* gig. Or did I already mention that? I really can’t be arsed to read back through the post to check!

So how was the gig?

It was the best.

The best gig possibly that I have ever been to in my life.

It was just that good.

It Bites rule.

…and John Mitchell is a God.

…..and that is all I am going to say on this matter, as words cannot do it justice - you had to be there to know how good it was. If you weren’t there, you must come next time. I’m gonna be keeping my eyes peeled for the next gig in travelling distance, and will no doubt let everyone know when it happens!

…Alter Bridge on Saturday, with me, Tom and Jen - there is space in Toms car for this elusive fourth person too - bonus!

That’s this Saturday, 8th November. The gig is at the famous Brixton Academy.

Jazzman had to drop out, so his ticket is up for grabs. £20 is the face value, and I’m sure he would be willing to wait a little while for the money. Tough shit if he can’t!!!

Anyway, if you wants it, let me know - you have my number. If you don’t, I don’t know you!!

…but I had a great time last night anyway.

Went to see Level 42 for the second time. Last year was at the Portsmouth Guildhall, and it sounded infinitely better. Oh well, it didn’t spoil the night really.

The support act were amazing. They are called ‘The Mercurymen’, and you can get some of their stuff for free here.

If you like acoustic stuff (Del Amitri, The Eagles, James Taylor) give them a listen. I’ve got this thing about well-amplified acoustic guitars - they just sound amazing to my ears, and when it is a twelve string guitar….well that is almost as good as it gets to me. And their voices were superb - not one bum note the whole set.

As soon as their set had finished, I rushed out to the merch stall to buy a copy of their album - I’m listening to it right now as I type this as it happens…excellent stuff.

The only thing that bugs me about gigs is the amount of people who carry on conversations while the support act is playing. I can understand if they are complete crap, but these guys were excellent, yet people were talking away like they were at a pub and a jukebox was playing. Philistines!

Level 42 were great as always, they just didn’t sound as good as they did last year. And they knew it too - Mark kept apologising for the sound, and once even said ‘I don’t know why we’re even playing here to be honest!’. So hopefully they will be at a better venue next year (or 2010, I think he said). Because I am definitely going to see them again, and again, and again…….!

Another great band discovered last night then - I am going through an incredibly purple patch musically these past couple of years - think I’ll write an entry about it….in January probably, the rate at which I use this place!

Reinforced another stereotype last night as well - white people really do have no rhythm! Well, Level 42 fans don’t anyway!

Not another painfully long review of the last gig I went to, but an announcement.

Frost* are playing the Peel, Kingston-Upon-Thames on the 20th December (that’s a Saturday people, so no excuses!), and tickets are only £10 advance!!!!

Who are you to resist?!?!?!?!?!?

Let me know if you want to come, and I will get tickets…..

Aaahhh…..back from camp. Another good one, lovely weather to begin with, then it decided to change its mind every five minutes - sun, spitting, sun, cloud, wind, sun, rain, etc, etc. All the way through the second half of the week. Didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits though, and a good time was had by all. It was nearly ruined (for the leaders) on Friday evening, but that’s not a story for a public forum….nothing untoward, just a clash of personalities.

Anyway, I wanted to start catching up this blog on the events of my life, as I have been very lax for the past….well, the past two years really, from about two months after starting it…

So on July 3rd, Myself, Mark, John, Kyle, Limpet, Rob (not brother Rob, friend Rob), Troggie and Helen (that’s Kyle’s girlfriend for those not in the know) went to see Spocks Beard at the Islington Academy, London. I have been looking forward to seeing the Beard again ever since the last gig last year, so as soon as tickets went on sale, I snapped eight up. Tom was going to go, but he ended up going to Silverstone to see the Grand Prix.

In the torturous months waiting for the gig, I kept on looking at the site, and one day discovered that the Beard had a support act this year (they did not last time out). My first reaction to this was “Nooooooooooooo!!!! this means less Beard time on stage!!!”…..oh, what little did I know….

After I got over this disappointment, I thought I’d better go have a look to see who the support act were. ‘Frost*’ was all I knew, so I had a look around, and someone posted a link to their site on the Beard Forum. On their site is a link to their Myspace page. Mark was down at the time, so I gave him a shout to come up and have a listen with me.

As I am waiting for Mark to come up, I have a read of the bumph on the page. My fears were increased at the mention that the main songwriter, Jem Godfrey, wrote tunes for the likes of Blue and Atomic Kitten………oh god……..

When he finally finished his cigarette, I clicked on the first track - it was called ‘Hyperventilate’……

It was one of those moments, when we both realised that we were about to embark on a truly wonderful musical journey. It was a simple piano line repeated and built upon, layer after layer, till the whole band kicked in.

We both sat, staring awestruck at the screen for a few seconds, then slowly (and perfectly in sync) turned to look at each other, then simultaneously smiled in acknowledgement - we had found something great. Truly great.

That very minute, I had jumped on Amazon and bought a copy of the album ‘Milliontown’, and got hold of it by ‘other means’, as I couldn’t wait for the postal service to deliver it at their ever-increasing leisure. Once it had finished ‘arriving’, my brother and I went on one of our now ritual car drives to sample the album at a respectably loud level (my dad, bless him, has no tolerance for music played at appropriately antisocial levels) - it was an awesome experience….what an album. That night I ordered Mr Kyle to come round and have a listen, as he is also a disciple of the church of Prog. He did the very next day, and we repeated the ritual to the same effect - Mr Kyle was speechless.

This was three months ago now, and the album has blessed my ears nearly every single day since then. I cannot get enough of it. One of the great things about Prog Rock is that it requires mutliple listens to fully appreciate it, since there is so much going on, so many layers to discover. This album is a masterpiece - really synthesiser heavy (Jem, by his own admission is a total keyboard geek), but with great playing from all the members of the band. As with all great prog, it encompasses several different time signatures (the first track alone contains passages in 7/8, 8/8, 10/8….and that’s just from memory - there are probably more), but whereas much prog seems to use it as a gimmick, and forces the music into the time signature with often jarring results, Jem seems to have a real understanding of the musicality of these different beats.

I could go on and on about the orgasmic beauty of this album, but you really have to listen to it to appreciate it - my words cannot do it justice.

If you have listened to the album, and want more, I heartily recommend visiting the Frost site (Click Here) - there is a blog (one of the finest and funniest blogs I have ever read), a forum that is jam packed with free downloads of demos, alternative versions, etc etc (look in the ‘Toys’ category) and links to the Myspace and Youtube pages. The You tube stuff is particularly recommended, as Jem has taken video records of the creation of this and the new album, as well as tour footage - he’s a truly funny guy, and the videos are very entertaining.

Planet Frost - the Youtube category.

Definitely worth a visit. But back to the gig. By the time we went, I was probably more looking forawrd to seeing Frost* than the Beard, if the truth be known.

But the gig itself - after an uneventful drive up there (Limpet and Rob fell asleep), we hopped a tube from Richmond up to Islington (with one change), with Troggie keeping us amused with random Shakespearean poetry and other strangeness (my sides were hurting by the time we got off the tube). I had insisted on getting there stupidly early so we could be at the front of the queue, so once we got to Islington we had time for meal and a drink or two. That is, if we could find the venue. The Academy is tucked into a recess of the main street, so we actually managed to walk past it for about half a mile before we decided the dozy cow in Jesops had led us astray. Once we found the place, we popped into the local Wetherspoons (or some other such souless fast drink establishment - ‘McPubs’ I like to call them) for a drink and much mirth and merriment.

Doors opened at seven, so I insisted on getting in the queue at six, and we were only about twenty people from the front, so that worked out ok. The hour went really quickly (for me anyway), mainly because Troggie developed a serious case of ‘Random Newsreader Tourettes’ for the duration (you’ll have to ask him to demonstrate).

Our earliness paid off, because we were able to secure front row standing positions to stage right (and thats even with Mark poncing around putting his jacket in the cloakroom!), and we settled in to await the magic. About two seconds after settling in my position, I realised that the keyboard tech messing about with Jems Synth was not a keyboard tech at all, but the man Jem himself! I got a smile and wave when I screamed his name at him!

Is it just me, or do other people get a buzz when someone famous on stage makes eye contact with them? About five minutes later, Jem popped his head out from backstage and pointed a video camera at us…….it is here that I stop my Frost tale, and hand you over to one of the aforementioned Frost* Reports. This is the gig we went to - look for us at about 3:50 and again (more clearly) at about 5:50……

Now, if I’m to be brutally honest, I would say that the sound wasn’t great for the band, but as it turned out, the sound engineer had not worked with them before, and they had a limited amount of time to set up. They were still brilliant though, and I will definitely be going to see them again if at all humanly possible. They have another gig in London in December apparently - I may have to do some investigating…..

Spocks Beard on the other hand, sounded as awesome as they did last time round - pure sonic perfection. And their set was wonderful too. I had gotten wind of their set list on the forum a few days before (I tried not to look, but I couldn’t help myself). I was gutted not to see ‘At The End Of The Day’ on there (my all time favourite song by anybody, ever), but they did play ‘She Is Everything’, and I was nearly in tears by the end of the guitar solo, and even closer to tears by the time they had reached the climax of ‘The Great Nothing’ (twenty seven minutes long! The whole song, not the climax…). It was superb.

Afterward, I blew a large wad at the concession stand, buying a Frost* T-shirt, a Spock’s Beard T-shirt, their live DVD and the Frost* Tour CD (containing sneak previews of their new album, as well as some excellent exclusive videos), and while I’m trying to wrestle it all into a carrier bag, I think to glance over my shoulder…and there’s Alan Morse standing at the top of the stairs!!! Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alan plays guitar for Spocks Beard by the way, and f*ck me but can he play!!! The guy is one of my idols. So I go running up the stairs, thinking to myself “for christ’s sake, think of something interesting to say!”. In the end, I just shook his magic hands, thanked him for a great gig, and asked him when they are going to start on any new material. I think I didn’t make a total cock of myself at least.

Oooo! Ooooo! and I got my photograph taken with him!

Coooooooooooooool!!!

And, to cap it all, when I got to the tube station, I fished around in my bag to have a look at the stuff I bought, and found out that the guy had somehow given me two extra Spocks Beard T-shirts by mistake! I don’t like to steal, but I wasn’t about to walk all the way back, and possibly miss my train, so I gave one each to Mr Kyle and Rob (they would not have fit Troggie and John, Limpet already bought one, Helen was already wearing my Frost8 T-shirt, and Mark had already left by this time (he missed Alan - gutted!). So that was nice bonus. Plus we had been tipped off about a car park in Richmond that was less than quarter the price of the one we usually use….AND the cars were still there (and in one piece) when we got back.

ANNNNNND…..while we were queuing for the gig, some guy was handing out free CDs of a band called ‘Magenta’, and listeing to it on the way home…..they are seriously good too!!!!!!

Altogether a fantastic night!

The Freaks went back to the studio to record another new song last Friday (2nd May) - they only wrote it a couple of weeks before, but liked it so much that they straight away decided to book into The Old Blacksmiths Studios to record it for their forthcoming album (Aaron just told me).

Having listened to it, I can understand why - it absolutely f***ing rocks!

Seriously, it’s brilliant! Yeah, I’m biased, but I would like this song even if it wasn’t by them….it’s really catchy (if you like the cheerful pop-punk sound).

I keep saying to them that their songs are getting better each time they write a new one, but this one has just raised the bar by about six feet. Their playing has always been tight (well, not always - I have some early footage that I could show you!), but the vocals are miles better than before, and Tom’s guitar solo….well, it is the first of it’s kind on a Pancake Eating Freaks song - overdubs, harmonies and everything!

It’s absolutely top bollocks! I’m really excited about it. I think everyone is agreed that we gotta make a video for this one…

I am currently slaving away doing their artwork (just tidying, they designed it all) for the album, and this has given me renewed impetus to get my arse in gear!