STONEHENGE
Friday, May 13- Due to the superstitious symbolism of today’s date, we decided to take a brief detour on the road from Bath to Manchester and sacrifice some small rodents at the base of STONEHENGE. It’s amazing how a monument routinely circled by yuppie families with babies in-tow can maintain so much heavy-metal integrity—it does so without batting a Druish eyelid. The audio tour has to be the greatest thing to have happened to me since Led Zeppelin. Gaze upon the Stones, emerging like giant teeth from the gums of the Earth… Pure poetry. It becomes apparent about twenty minutes into the tour that no one has actually figured out how the stones got there or what they were used for, but it doesn’t stop the script from forging such Metal gold as this: Have a look at the Sacrificial Stone, forever stained the color of blood. People have long speculated that this stone served as an altar for Druish priests to sacrifice young virgins, forever tainting its surface with the memory of the women’s dying screams… Later, the guide informs the listener that the stone probably just fell over, and its brownish hue can be credited to the iron ore rusting inside it. The tour ends with a quote from Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles, in which the protagonist ruminates over the existence of the stones, proving that STONEHENGE has fascinated Dungeons and Dragons geeks (like myself) long before D&D ever existed.
Our show in Bath yesterday evening was quite D&D as well, taking place in the Moles club, which exists in an underground hole. Throughout the evening, I was routinely accosted by a man claiming to be Pete Doherty. While the gent did bear a resemblance, I couldn’t imagine the Babyshambles frontman threatening to pound me unless I gave him my mobile number, and took to avoiding the stranger. (He found me, shook my hand and apologized at the end of the evening, so I guess he wasn’t all that bad.) Nathaniel was chuffed to exit the venue to a gaggle of women singing, “I like all the girls and all the girls like me,” proving once again how true it is. Zachary is growing a little jealous.
Glasgow, too, showed us a great time. The city has such an excellent feel for music, it always seems as if a dance party could break out at any moment. Between sets, people sing-along and dance to whatever the DJ happens to be spinning, and everyone goes nuts when a band comes on. Flying Matchstick Men were brilliant, the aftershow was brilliant, and with the help of our friends from Los Angeles, Graham from FMM, Rachel from Optimo, Bob from FF and his flatmate Hannah, we managed to keep the party going to the wee hours of the morning in our Travelodge hotel room. Glasgow—or at least the people we’ve met there—reminds me a lot of San Francisco, LA, and New York; everyone seems to have moved there from somewhere else for school, work, fun, or whatever, so the whole of the populous is really happy to be there. And that’s wicked awesome. (Brash generalizations are totally cool as well.)
On a side note, if the person in possession of Nathaniel’s boot—last seen at the May 7 ULU show in London—would kindly return it, he will love him/her forever. We’re offering a band-autographed ‘Say Yes’ single, tour poster, and t-shirt in return, no questions asked. Nathaniel has a strong connection with his footwear, and he claims he can dance better in the pair (which is no longer paired) in question than any he has ever owned before. Please email any relevant information to info@thebloodarm.com and we’ll arrange for a rendezvous.
We’re DJ-ing after the set tonight in Manchester, see you there!
-Ben Lee
P.S. Nottingham friends, we haven't forgotten about you! Well, I forgot to type about the show, but that was more because of our 1AM drive to Leeds immediately following the gig followed by an 8:30AM wake-up call for a radio morning show than anything. I think the band and everyone there--all 22 people--would agree that it was a stellar gig. Plus Ricky Haley (promoter extraordinaire and personal hero of Zachary and myself) resides there, so you have a lot going for you. We'll definitely be back again.
Our show in Bath yesterday evening was quite D&D as well, taking place in the Moles club, which exists in an underground hole. Throughout the evening, I was routinely accosted by a man claiming to be Pete Doherty. While the gent did bear a resemblance, I couldn’t imagine the Babyshambles frontman threatening to pound me unless I gave him my mobile number, and took to avoiding the stranger. (He found me, shook my hand and apologized at the end of the evening, so I guess he wasn’t all that bad.) Nathaniel was chuffed to exit the venue to a gaggle of women singing, “I like all the girls and all the girls like me,” proving once again how true it is. Zachary is growing a little jealous.
Glasgow, too, showed us a great time. The city has such an excellent feel for music, it always seems as if a dance party could break out at any moment. Between sets, people sing-along and dance to whatever the DJ happens to be spinning, and everyone goes nuts when a band comes on. Flying Matchstick Men were brilliant, the aftershow was brilliant, and with the help of our friends from Los Angeles, Graham from FMM, Rachel from Optimo, Bob from FF and his flatmate Hannah, we managed to keep the party going to the wee hours of the morning in our Travelodge hotel room. Glasgow—or at least the people we’ve met there—reminds me a lot of San Francisco, LA, and New York; everyone seems to have moved there from somewhere else for school, work, fun, or whatever, so the whole of the populous is really happy to be there. And that’s wicked awesome. (Brash generalizations are totally cool as well.)
On a side note, if the person in possession of Nathaniel’s boot—last seen at the May 7 ULU show in London—would kindly return it, he will love him/her forever. We’re offering a band-autographed ‘Say Yes’ single, tour poster, and t-shirt in return, no questions asked. Nathaniel has a strong connection with his footwear, and he claims he can dance better in the pair (which is no longer paired) in question than any he has ever owned before. Please email any relevant information to info@thebloodarm.com and we’ll arrange for a rendezvous.
We’re DJ-ing after the set tonight in Manchester, see you there!
-Ben Lee
P.S. Nottingham friends, we haven't forgotten about you! Well, I forgot to type about the show, but that was more because of our 1AM drive to Leeds immediately following the gig followed by an 8:30AM wake-up call for a radio morning show than anything. I think the band and everyone there--all 22 people--would agree that it was a stellar gig. Plus Ricky Haley (promoter extraordinaire and personal hero of Zachary and myself) resides there, so you have a lot going for you. We'll definitely be back again.
posted by BLOOD AMBITION 2008 at 8:05 PM
5 Comments:
Ben-Lee
So far i have bid for TBA's album on six occasions on ebay and lost by a pound at the last second every single time; i am beginning to suspect there is some sort of horrible anti-good-music conspiracy going on around me. Do you have any advice on how i could get a copy without suffering such crippling stress and paranoia? i would be much indebted.
Sam
me too... what Sam said. :-( damn ebayers!
-FP
Okay within 10 minutes i will take what i said back and a copy of bomb romantics will be mine. Plllllleeeeeaaaaassssseeee don't anyone outbid me.
Sam
At last.Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm: the soundtrack to my life now is mine.
As they say seventh time lucky. Fiddlesticks, i hope i get outbid on the other one i bid for, which i now realise was somewhat naive. Damn deceptive ebay.
Ben please tell me about the Friday night show, I got very drunk and I think I slept through it.... or was unconscious... argh! I was the girl who tried to steal a poster, then felt guilty and gave it back, lol! I was gonna buy a t shirt off you at the end of the night but was too drunk to remember!
Post a Comment
<< Home