"He Buzzes like a Fridge"

Mister Yorke doing everything but disappearing completely in a park in London last Wednesday.


The big black cat pushed home
holding half her bloody wardrobe
proceeded to stick it in his aching back
and to all his fellow humans
he said "don't even fucking go there!"
I stood with whom I liked, see
she looked me up and down
but I threw her with my eyes!

And now I don't know how
I feel like a slaughtered cow!

I stood in the middle
and shuffled round in the heat
they were cheering and waving
pointing and smoking and drinking
singing and dancing like with drunken Meerkats
but it got heated, fucked up
colourful, squashed up
used as a stepping stone to York
buried in a burning back in London

And now I don't know how
I feel like a slaughtered cow!

Don’t know why I walked away to find the back of the queue!

My reason was safe and a little needed
I stretched and I hobbled like with those drunken Meerkats
you should put me in a hole or you should put me up a tree
I got drunk
We got drunk, see

No one Loves a retarded arse but we all Love our rock & roll stars
this wasn't her infection, I did it for me
I must have got it from years of being
strangled, beaten up and drowned in the sea
I got drunk
We got drunk, You & Me

And now I don't know how
I feel like a slaughtered cow!




Jason


P.s. Happy Birthday to Manf tomorrow:)xxx








(C) JPT 2008

"Freeze Dried Vagina's"

What do I use to eat it? An old fashioned spoon or just my tongue?


Written on April 3rd 2007 (Sexually explicit)


"Freeze Dried Vagina's"


The low hum of the refrigerator was strangely soothing to me as I stood in front of the giant luminous monstrosity. The kind you might find at the back of a small high street newsagents or petrol station, where the ready made sandwiches, chilled drinks & pork pies are normally found. My feet were pointing directly towards the fridge, which was of the open kind that didn't have any doors, and from my peripheral vision, I could see that the rest of the room, wether selling petrol or not, was in total darkness. From a distance it must have looked as if I was walking straight into the pearly gates of heaven. A silhouetted figure surrounded by a bright light of unimaginable pleasures. They wouldn't be too far off the mark either, as on the very top shelf, inside this giant glowing cool box, just a little higher than my eye line, were a small line of what at first glance looked like pots of yoghurt, all different kinds of fruits & flavours in varying degrees of bright fluorescent colours. They certainly stood out from the rest of the boring, drab looking and totally unappetizing range of products elsewhere inside the fridge. I was intrigued and wanted to get a little closer. I shuffled forwards a little until my toes bumped into the metal strip that surrounded the base of the fridge. As my toes made contact with the metal, the hum that had been steadily thrumming from the machine changed tone and became quieter. My hands were in their pockets, fingering the loose change that had accumulated there over the last few days. As my eyes began to focus on the pots, I was amazed and more than a little excited as to what I thought I could see!
For there before me, in amongst everything else, were a line of clear plastic pots each sealed with a thin tin foil lid. In each of the pots contained a perfectly clear jelly like substance. And in each of which suspended a perfectly sized and perfectly detailed human vagina. Each one slightly different to the one next to it, and each one neatly trimmed or completely hairless. Some were completely naked and others were covered with a tiny strip of brightly coloured fabric that resembled part of a panty. These jelly suspended freeze dried vagina's looked so delicate and perfect in every way. Their pink skin tones varied from pot to pot as my eyes scanned the line. One was rather quite pale and completely shaved, another seemed to be slightly tanned and had a small amount of pubic hair. Some were very little and others showing absolutely everything, with nothing at all left to the imagination. Whichever one I decided to look at, I just could not decide which one that I wanted. If indeed I should take one at all!





Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

"My Cycling for May 2008"

Who's a silly boy eh?



What's this? Another boring "My Cycling" post? You guessed it. As you can see, I cycled about a bit in Richmond Park (where invisible non-bike users keep moving small to medium sized logs around the trail just to piss off the mountain bikers!)...now, if they really want us to stop riding there, they should either set up little land mines everywhere that are only activated when there is a mountain bike in close proximity, or place large to massive sized logs in the way that can't be moved! Silly non-bike people! When will they learn eh?
And also, I have been cycling about a bit up in the Surrey Hills too. Leith, Holmbury & Pitch to be exact. Even here (where all the hills were built especially for us mountain bikers...& horses of course:) have there small to medium sized log placeage problems! There are some non-bike users up there who (when us mountain bikers are at school;) cut down the trees in the woods that our single track winds through and leave all the rubbish bits behind all over the track!! The other day we were there, we couldn't even see where the trail went!! Whats going on? And, the woods smell of diesel oil that has been leaking from the monstrous machines that the non-bike user people use to chop down their precious trees! Could this be the beginning of the end for mountain biking up in the Surrey Hills? At least we didn't come across any dangerous land mines!! I've already had two punctures in a week!!

See you next month my non-walking, non-log putting, non-diesel dripping people...& horses of course:)


Friday 2nd May 2008 @ 19:00, RPx2, Ian, Mike, 30.51 miles, av 11.8, max 28.2 mph, 2hrs 34mins, dry, cool, dusk then dark, spotted one badger, Temp 10, wind 5. Total 1001.95 miles.

Sunday 4th May 2008 @ 20:10, HH, PH, HH, Lee, 11.08 miles, av 7.6, max 22.5 mph, 1hr 26mins, very warm, dry with a bit of rain, dark, temp 18, wind 6. Total 1013.03 miles.

Tuesday 6th May 2008 @ 20:10, SF, Lee, James, Paul, Stef, 9.68 miles, av 7.5, max 24.2 mph, 1hr 17mins, very warm and dry, cut my left shin, temp 17. Total 1022.71 miles.

Friday 9th May 2008 @ 20:09, Lee, HH, PH, LL. 11.32 miles, av 7.9, max 23.3 mph, 1hr 26mins, temp 17, wind 3. Total 1034.03 miles.

Sunday 11th May 2008 @ 13:00, RP, BP, 20.46 miles, av 13.1, max 28.2 mph, 1hr 33mins, very hot and quite breezy, It was Horse Chestnut Parade in BP this afternoon, so I stopped by there during my ride and lay in the sun with my niece Daisy and my Mum, then Tarn, Naif & Millie came along too, my ankles were very painful and hurt like hell all night!!! Temp 26, wind 13. Total 1054.49 miles.

Tuesday 13th May 2008 @ 14:00pm, RP, 14.39 miles, av 14.3, max 30 mph, 1hr, sunny & warm. Total 1068.88 miles.

Friday 16th May 2008 @ 20:00pm, HH, PH, HH, Lee, 11.95 miles, av 8.3, max 28.8 mph, 1hr 26mins, cool, dry, wind 5, temp 13. Total 1080.83 miles.

Monday 19th May 2008 @ 14:00pm, RPx2, 25.52 miles, av 14.3, max 28.2 mph, 1hr 47mins, cool, cloudy, windy. Total 1106.35 miles.

Friday 23rd May 2008 @ 18:00pm, RP, 18.51 miles, av 14, max 28 mph, 1hr 19mins, warm, dusk, dry, temp 18, wind 14. Total 1124.86 miles.

Tuesday 27th May 2008 @ 18:00pm, RPx2, Lee, 30.01 miles, av 12.9, max 27.1 mph, 2hrs 19mins, humid, dusk, mild. Total 1154.87 miles.




Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........1124.86 miles.

"Maggot Vending Machine"

I am just a machine that needs feeding, and my waste becomes bitter at times!


I wrote this back in Feb/March 2007. Not sure what I was thinking really. I never posted it because I thought it might come across a little nasty. It just came out one afternoon. I certainly don't feel like this now as I have moved on from feeling that way. Ok, some things still remain in my head. Although, unfortunately I don't think it would take much for me to feel that way again. There are certain things in place right now that weren't there before. I kind of have those now to prevent me from getting all dark.

Anyway, I had this feeling that I wanted, needed to post this now, otherwise I may never post it. And besides, I need it out there. I need to share this. I want rid of it!!!

Maybe letting you see it will help me get it out of my head. Let go the part of me that thinks this way sometimes. Bad things that are inside me. Letting them go and letting you have a little and together maybe we can put it away...for good!

It is, I must warn you, rather quite nasty in places! But, surely, this kind of stuff is better out than in?

Enjoy:)


"Maggot Vending Machine"

I feel it, like everyone does. I feel it just as much as the next person.
Along it comes, tapping on the thin, fragile glass of my mind, starts to scratch when there is no answer, no reaction. I'm hiding see.
He mustn't be allowed to get away with this farce! We need to bring him down!
Just as he brings me down, to his level, he is one selfish man!
Relentless picking and fingering, trying to get in. They always get in on occasions.
Come along, try and make me feel like shit why don't you! Come on in and give it your best shot. I'm waiting for you.
Why don't you stay a while eh? Why don't you make me your home? Live inside of me?
What are you afraid of? Where do you go when you're not here inside of me?
Where have you been all this time, all my life, all our lives?
I'm not afraid of you! Not anymore! NOT ANY MORE!
Or are you already here, always having been here, waiting with your long, hole-ready fingers?
Pressing in...slowly does it. Easing in right up to the knuckle, like a grub, cosy in it's rotten, hollowed out branch. Eager to fill me up, over flow! Split me wide open for all to see!
Waiting just inside the fragile window of my mind all along. Watching for a gap, a small opening, the tiniest of slits.
Ready all along, to come scraping. Gathering up it's nourishment under the sharpest of nails.
I feel it going on, but I just try and ignore it. Years of practice or years of ignorance?
Years of blindness perhaps, years of total and utter disrespect for life, all life. My life!

I feel it, like I am now. I feel it, just as you are all doing so, right now.
Hiding as a single pathetic rain drop in the vast grey skies of our world, the littlest of ulcers underneath the bottom of my hot, wet, vein streaked, blood filled tongue.
The dullest throb of a toothache, the constant thrum of pain in any given joint, at any given time.
Popping pills left right and center, pushing fake blood into my arms, into my heart, into my soul.
I remember the good old days when it was all 'Real' blood and full of life and sustenance.
Brimming over with promises of running through tall blades of grass, jumping for joy with it all.
But it wasn't like that, not really was it! Just an old stained bucket of rusty coloured water mixed with other things...other not so nice things!
The blood from child killers, rapists and just good old fashioned murderers & maybe the odd thief too. After all, I do feel stolen at times, raped at others and often murdered! Murdered of my childhood, my innocence!
I couldn't care less these days, seriously. But what else did I manage to 'inherit' from these life giving angels?
I got worms moved in for one thing I reckon. Not in my arse, nor in the soil beneath my wreckage, but in my head, my brain.
Filling my skull with years of sweat & froth, from boring into the deepest, darkest abysses of my thoughts.
I can barely feel their squirming, their incestuous wriggling down deep to fall asleep.
Like one giant slushy orgy...warm, pleasant and forever appreciated.
But, do I realize what is happening? Can I feel a god damn thing? Fuck no!
These things are all part of my everyday existence and from these I have been rendered brain dead.
I can't think straight most of the time. I jump to conclusions. I don't listen. I can't think at all some of the time!
I am always right and I am never wrong. I don't care about you! I don't care about your neighbour!
I can barely find the cells anymore to care or think about myself! I'm on auto-pilot. I do what I do in order to out fucking live all of you! Every last one of you pathetic little cunts!!

Part of the truth of the matter is, I am nearly always wrong! My opinions are next to bloody useless!
I don't think before I speak and I never speak directly after a thought. And I almost always invariably speak far too soon, without even thinking! Mental I know! And makes no sense at all!
I seem to care nothing for the pain of others, do nothing to help others who might need it.
They can jolly well get on with it, just as I do! You'll get no help from me my friend! If you can't figure it out for yourself then you're dead already.
What a pathetic carry on, this acting, this front, this cover-up? Is this really me? I don't rightly know.
There isn't a hole shallow enough to keep me from falling into the bottom of.
Or is it just the rain. All rain is grey, no? Or is it just the dull pain of living. All pain is grey, yes?
Life is made of grey matter is it not? Look in between the colours and you will find several shades of grey.
I don't really know how I feel or where I am going. Where I may have just been, or what may be just around the corner. Just how long I have left, or even how long I have had already.
I just know that I do feel and that I am moving, to where, is anyones guess.
I just hope to goodness that it is in more or less the right direction. For otherwise I feel I may end up in the wrong place and forever regret not just living my life with the attitude of thinking Fuck it...just do it!

I feel lost sometimes.

I fear I am loosing something with everyday that I manage to stay alive.

Without certain anchors and beautiful deep sea oceans to drop them into...I'd be dead already!



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

"The Sea Above, The Eye Below"

See how everything looks Lovely? Especially you?




I fell into your eyes baby and what did I see?
You opened your eyes and dove with me
Came held your breath with me and saw
Us swim through the coral, baby, up onto the shore
Through heavens & hells
Baby, come swim with me
Through sunbeams & sea shells, baby
Through fishes and the endless sea
Come dive with me, baby,
Come swim through the wrecks
Come swim down with me, baby
Come swim to new depths
Come swim with me and play in the sand
Come dive with me baby and let's drown hand in hand




Jason


P.s. Ian Kevin Curtis - R.I.P.








(C) JPT 2008

"My Kayaking for April 2008"

All but gone! Kiss me baby!!



Just the three paddles during April. And all over, up, across at Ealing Pool. Ian keeps on at me to get a play boat, and Karol says I have 'Blue Balls'! Hey Karol, My blue balls are all yours dude:) He even tried some self defence techniques on me in the pool and almost broke my neck! I'm just happy to do hundreds of lengths up and down the pool, let Tara steal my goggles and splash her little brother;)
The weather was still pretty shit for outside paddling in April, not that that has stopped me before, but since that incident in the Mole back in March, I don't fancy the cold just yet. This month (May) is a blinder so far!! The temperature has rocketed and paddling in the Thames has become a pleasure again...despite all the midges!! But, you'll have to find out about that, the swan egg & other things next month.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of me kayaking (or anyone else for that matter) so you will have to make do with a pic of my left arm where I had a blood test to see what my HIV status was. They took my blood on April 8th and I was told that my HIV is still undetectable twenty days later on the 28th. Which means I am almost exactly the same as you...sort of;) Good huh!



Thursday 2nd April 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, was in a little pain tonight due to a sore wrist and neck!

Thursday 10th April 2008 @ 21:00. Ealing Pool, tested out my new underwater video camera...it was shit!,

Thursday 17th April 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, Daisy came tonight, Eoin helped her to roll a kayak.




Jason

Happy Birthday to Shelley for the 9th:) xxx








(C) JPT 2008

"My Cycling for April 2008"

My tyre track in Richmond Park on the 6th April.

Not a bad month really (234.21 miles), considering how muddy it still is up in the Surrey Hills. The water from any rain just doesn't drain very well at the moment! Lots of muddy puddles, but everything in between is nice and fast and grippy. And Richmond Parks Tamsin Trail has almost had it's entire 7.3 mile route resurface with brand new gravel. Very gritty and sticky at the moment, hopefully it will get better as the year goes on. I think it needed it though, as some of the trail was just terrible!
This month also saw the best day so far for Lovely weather. 26th April to be precise. And what about the snow on the 6th? Wasn't that a nice surprise:) You had to get up early mind, as it was all melted away by lunchtime!! Bloody typical eh!
Joints are more or less the same as they ever are! Lots of pain...but whats new eh?



Tuesday 1st April 2008 @ 19:30pm, RPx2, Lee, Ian, Mike, Grahame, 22.41 miles, av 11.2, max 27.4 mph, 2hrs, mild, dry, left ankle hurt, Temp 10, wind 13. Total 739.30 miles.

Friday 3rd April 2008 @ 20:16, Lee, HH, PH, HH, 10.77 miles, av 6.8, max 21.7 mph, 1hr 34mins, mils, dry, clear...Lee did a stoppie right at the end of the ride and duly crashed onto the hard gravel surface of the car park!! What a wally;) 750.41 miles.

Sunday 6th April 2008 @ 09:00, RP, 16.39 miles, av 10.1, max 21.2 mph, 1hr 37mins, very cold and it was snowing:) I clipped my right arm on a car door somebody opened as I was riding to the park! Bloody hurt and got a bleed from it!! Temp 2, wind 5, also today, it was my Kona King's 1st birthday:) Total 766.80 miles.

Tuesday 8th April 2008 @ 20:20, RP, 19.69 miles, av12, max 24.2 mph, 1hr 38mins, dark, cold, dry, temp 1, wind 6. Total 786.49 miles.

Wednesday 9th April 2008 @ 21:00, Swinley Forest, Mike, 8.92 miles, av 7, max 22.2 mph, 1hr 16mins, cold, dark, clear, new moon,temp 5, wind 4. Total 795.41 miles.

Saturday 12th April 2008 @ 10:20am, Matt, James, Mike, Toni, Paul, Box Hill, Juniper Hill, Ranmoor Common, Holmbury Hill, Leith Hill, 32.81 miles, av 8.4, max 34.4 mph, 3hrs 54mins, sun, wind, rain, hail, mud!!!temp 9 to 6, wind 11. Total 838.22 miles.

Tuesday 15th April 2008 @ 12pm, 23.01 miles, RP, av 12,8, max 26.1 mph, 1hr 48mins, sunny, cool, breezy, temp 10, wind 9. Total 861.23 miles.

Thursday 17th April 2008 @ 14:00, RP, 16.77 miles, av 11.9, max 27.7 mph, 1hr 24mins, sunny, windy, cool. Total 878 miles.

Friday 18th April 2008 @ 19:45, Swinley Forest, Lee, dusk, mud, cool, windy, dry, av 7.7, max 27.6 mph, 10.59 miles, 1hr 22mins, temp 5, wind 18. Total 888.59 miles.

Sunday 20th April 2008 @ 14:15, 14.53 miles, LH, Lee, av 8.7, max 32.2 mph, 1hr 39mins, mild, sunny, breezy, few puddles, temp 16, wind 11. Total 903.12 miles.

Tuesday 22nd April 2008 @ 20:28, Lee, Mike, HH, LH, HH, 12.02 miles, av 7.1, max 21.5 mph, mild, dry, muddy too, Temp 16, wind 2. Total 915.14 miles.

Wednesday 23rd April 2008 @ 14:30, RP, 14.26 miles, av 12.9, max 25.7 mph, 1hr 6mins, sunny, breezy...right ankle hurt!! Total 929.40 miles.

Saturday 26th April 2008 @ 12:40, Phil, HH, LH, HH, 21.01 miles, av 7.6, max 31.5 mph, 2hrs 45mins, warm & sunny, muddy puddles, temp 20, wind 8, finished at 17:15pm, gorgeous sunny day...best yet this year. Total 950.41 miles.

Tuesday 29th April 2008 @ 20:15, RPx2, 21.03 miles, av 13.2, max 27 mph, 1hr 35mins, wet, cool, dusk, temp 6, wind 8. Total 971.44 miles.




Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........Total 971.44 miles.

"A Special Moment in Time"

Stephen Morris's (of Joy Division & New Order fame) autograph on the front cover of my NME Jan 13th 1979.


Do you know when you hear an old band for the first time properly and you wonder why on earth you hadn't discovered them much earlier? Well, that happened to me with a band called Joy Division. It was very early on in 2005 that I first heard something by them other than the brilliant "Love Will Tear us Apart". I had been listening to another band at the time called Interpol and I liked them enough for me to see who their influences were and the name Joy Division came up, so onto itunes I went and the rest as they say is history.
I was literally blown away by the sound that I heard! Peter Hooks creeping bass on "The Only Mistake", Bernard Sumner's eerily painful guitar work on the truly haunting "New Dawn Fades", Stephen Morris's simple yet highly hypnotic drumming on "Digital" and most of all Ian Curtis's ever so sad, tear soaked voice & lyrics on "Insight".
I have never, not once, looked back since I discovered Joy Division. There is nothing at all that I can fault them with. I must have heard every one of their tracks hundreds of times (some tracks more like a thousand). Even all their live performances and all their mistakes. Their music hasn't aged with time at all. It has been almost 28 years since Ian died at the tender age of 23 and Joy Division's legacy still lives on.

And I should know, as I was fortunate enough to be one of the audience at a recent press screening in London for a brand new documentary about Joy Division. It was a special Q&A screening held at the Curzon cinema, Soho where Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris was also present. He sat through the entire film with us all and directly after the film he and one of the films co-writers Jon Savage took to the front of the auditorium and sat with the chief editor for 'Time Out' and spoke about Joy Division and also took questions from the audience. Jon Savage was a high-profile writer during the glory days of British punk and wrote articles on all the major punk acts.
I didn't ask any questions, as I was busy filming the Q&A with my trusty camera and also mainly in awe of exactly whom I was spending my evening with! But I did manage to meet them both afterwards and got Stephen to sign my 1979 copy of NME (January 13th) that features Kevin Cummins famous photo of a trench coated Ian Curtis casually drawing smoke from a cigarette on the front cover. I waited patiently behind a whole bunch of other autograph hunters, including a young woman who had the CD single of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" ready for ink, and then suddenly it was my turn. I pulled the paper out from it's special protective sleeve that I had brought it in and took the cap off my permanent marker specially brought just in case and presented it before him. He smiled as he saw it and instantly asked if I was sure if I wanted him to deface such a collectible. And straight away, I said "Are you joking?, if anything, this will make it worth more." And he said "Oh, well. Fair enough." Then his wife Gillian whisked him away and that was my meeting with a real life member of Joy Division done and dusted. I still can't quite believe that it happened!
Then on my way out of the almost empty auditorium, I spotted Jon Savage running back in and I turned around and went to see if he would mind also putting his mark on my NME. As soon as I turned around, there he was again running back out with a hat on and in a bit of a hurry. I pushed the paper in front of him and kindly asked. He saw the paper and laughed as I mistakenly said that I know he worked for the NME, but when did he first start writing for them and he said that he didn't write for the NME at all. (don't believe everything you read on the internet!). He took the 29 year old paper and wrote "This Is The Enemy, Jon Savage, 24.04.08". I was very pleased!
Jon Savage wrote for, amongst others publications over the years, Sounds, The Face & Mojo. He is best known for his award winning history of The Sex Pistols and punk music, "England's Dreaming".

On my way back home to Twickenham, I blotted out the sounds of London with the sounds of Joy Division.

So, why do I Love Joy Division so much? Because I have no fucking choice!


Jason


Thanks to Phil for a one in a life time opportunity.







(C) JPT 2008.........

"Farewell to Fownes"

The hand coloured poster (part of) for the special gig in Brighton on Wednesday night. I nabbed it off the pub wall (The Prince Albert, Trafalgar St), where the gig took place, on my way past a spewing Eighties Matchbox fan on my way out, only to bump into another fan pissing up the wall of someones house. Lovely!

O.I.B Records Presents...

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.
A Special Intimate Show... Ghoulish Horror Punk Rock Up Close & Personal.

With Scissors.
Blinding Hardcore Carnage. Think Converge & The Locust In A Fist Fight.

From the safety of my stage height bench, over looking the small, cramped, instrument strewn stage, I was only yards away from the psychobilly boys from Brighton. It was hot in there and probably even more so being nearer to the ceiling. At least I had a lone mirror ball to keep me company. I must have had the greatest view of the stage and crowd alike from where I was perched. I was well propped up on that bench for on one side I had my best friend Jac and the other the lady drummer from Breakneck Static.
Although it was Eighties Matchbox headlining, the whole evening was mainly, and understandably so, focused on a certain Mr Fownes, lead guitarist both with With Scissors and Eighties Matchbox. He has himself a new job see. Something to do with some nails of the nine inch variety. He must feel very privileged to be invited to join the American industrial rockers, who began Nine Inch Nails when Rich was just five years old!

After an interesting band (first of three) called Breakneck Static fronted by the tiniest (as in small, not tinny) and screechiest of Japanese girls, and rather cute to boot, on came Rich with his other band With Scissors. A hardcore, psychedelic, experimental (their words, not mine) band from Brighton. The red headed lead singer of which spent most of the performance screaming his lyrics in amongst the crowd. Very loud, fast and aggressive to say the least! I stood through their whole set wondering how on earth they manage to remember the tracks for each gig! Very complicated (to me anyway). You gotta see it to believe it! Awesome stuff!! Rich is one of the most animated guitarists that I have seen! You can just tell that he absolutely Loves it up there. It seems this might have been Rich's, also of Eighties Matchbox, last performance with With Scissors for some time too.

With trusty glitter ball still spinning madly and the rest of With Scissors already gone, Rich seemed to hang around alone on stage and for a while I thought he might just stay there and wait for the rest of Eighties Matchbox (his other band) to join him and begin his last ever gig with them. But after sticking up on his speaker stack the set list for his next performance, then he was gone too. They all came on together about fifteen minutes later to the sound of cheers and claps, mostly wishing Rich well. With the rest admiring Guys new haircut (when I read With Scissors on the poster stuck on the outside of the pub, I didn't think they meant literally;) and over sized, shoulder padded plaid jacket. When did he chop off all that hair? The last time I saw them was at the New Years Evil gig. He looks good though. Toms hair seems to have gone the other way as my friend Jac pointed out and as she also pointed out, as she does every time we see these guys, Marc Norris looks more and more like a Cenobite from Clive Barkers "Hellraiser". I think he'll be happy with that comparison;)

After an audience aimed, semi retarded (in a good way) 'Hellooo' from Rich, the psychobilly Brighton band began with their first track "Mister Mental" (remember Shaun of the Dead?) with that screeching, piercing intro that I absolutely Love! They continued through fifteen tracks in total (see track list below) including an encore that saw Rich walk away from the stage after an absolutely fucking rocking performance of "Presidential Wave". Quite fitting really, since he will be off to the USA soon.

Their set, as was the venue, pretty good! Excellent in fact! Downstairs is a normal pub and upstairs just a small room with a small stage and an even smaller bar. Most of the band were down in the pub when Jac & I arrived, drinking and having a smoke and everything else normal people do. Except, where was Guy? He never seems to hang around with the others and always seems to turn up last all on his oddy nocky. Probably still in the barbers ten minutes before the gig;)
The lighting on stage was fantastic too, so my camera could pick up the band. There were (as usual) a few problems with Guys mic, which meant he had to steal Rich's mic (as usual). The speaker stack next to Rich got knocked over and someone threw a plastic glass across the small crowded room and it walloped me in the neck. I didn't even blink! And for some reason, since reading the posts from Sheik-Yerbouti over on the EMBLD Forum, I was convinced there was going to be some sort of clash between the Sheik and Symren (bass). The main reason being because there was this guy in the audience who looked like it might have been him! Travis Bickle seemed like a puppy in comparison to the way this guy just stared at our band from near to the middle......just under that glitter ball! And, if I'm not mistaken, did I see a real life Gingerbread Man stage dive into the crowd? I know he's a big fan of EM and has supported them in the past (New Years Evil...I was there), so it might have been.

Anyway, there were no head butts, no more plastic cups and all seemed to finish rather well, with Guy hugging Rich just before laying into "Giant Bones" and saying thank you for everything he has done for them over the past two years. Quite a Lovely moment! And Rich even taking time to introduce his little mum who was there up at the front proudly cheering on her son. Eighties Matchbox left the room and Rich went off (I presume) to celebrate with his mother;)

So, what does this mean for the future of Eighties Matchbox? Disaster or the beginning of another new line-up with even more mental tunes, superb live shows and even shorter hair-do's, where Guy is concerned? I for one, know for a fact that I would be absolutely gutted if they split up now Rich has left. But they say that ain't happening and are already auditioning for a new lead guitarist. I really hope that they will go on to bigger and better things. I Love this band and will stick by them whatever! Since the early days when Mr Huxley was around and the last few years with Mr Fownes, I just haven't been able to get enough of them!

Thanks for a truly memorable gig guys!

Good luck with NIN Rich and good luck Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster!


Track List;

Mister Mental
I Could Be an Angle
Charge of the Guns
In The Garden
Mission From God
I Rejection
Love Turns to Hate
Under My Chin
Chicken
Man for All Seasons (Missing from my videos)
Psychosis Safari
Celebrate Your Mother
Giant Bones

Encore...

Horses Can Swim
Presidential Wave

I managed to capture most of the gig on video. Check out my Youtube link at the top right corner of this page. Unfortunately, I had to delete "Man for all Seasons" as my poxy 2gb memory card was running out! There are a couple of With Scissors tracks on there too.



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........