Last Saturday, I gathered together a bundle of cash and a friend and went in search of pubs in Brighton id never been to before. We went to 10 in total and this is just the beginning. Part II is already in discussion. For each pub we wrote a short bullet point review using the back of old flyers id never got round to giving out.

Here’s what me and Jack got up to:

2:11 pm
Prince of Wales
This is that strange pub next to Churchill Square (next to the burger stand/JD sports). This has been here forever, yet no one that I spoke to had ever been in there. There is a definite reason for this. Upon entrance my hung-over stomach was turned by the sight of two old men struggling through a plate of sausages, chips and beans and the whiff of dementia. It was so bad infact, that I had to leave and let Jack get the first round in. Before I turned though I did manage to see some odd WWII pictures that adorned the walls. It said stuff like “NICE TRY ADOLF!” The pints we had were sour and the entertainment consisted of an old hippie wailing through Plan B songs with an acoustic guitar outside. I did see an 8-year-old kid jump a flight of steps on a Micro Scooter though. Big ups.

According to our notes this got a 0/10 but the ‘Nazi Shit’ got a +2 so..

Overall – 2/10

3:07pm
The Iron Duke
After a brief stop in Primark for some shoes and sunglasses, we walked to Waterloo Street in Hove to this boozer / hotel due to being told it showed the football, which it promptly did.
Was a nice vibe in here, although a few too many children for our liking. However that said, it did manage to have a pool table, 3 big screens and a function room without being a shithole, which I suppose is some kind of achievement. Plus Peroni on tap, which is always a bonus.

We gave the Iron Duke a 7/10 but Jack started moaning later in the day and this was turned into a retrospective…

Overall: 6/10

3:50pm
The Paris….Something
At half time in the football we decided it was time to move on. Tried to go to CAPS SPORTS BAR on Western Road but it wasn’t showing the football. Worst sports bar ever? So after I threw a little strop we decided the football was rubbish anyway so went to a newly refurbished The Juggler; which is now called The Paris Something. The first thing we were greeted with was a basket of baguettes and croissants. If you know me and jack this was an automatic +1 for us. When it came to ordering drinks though, we were promptly told they “only sold half pints”. Rubbish. Interior was acceptable, even if it did feel a bit like Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen had been let loose in a Cafe Rouge.

According to our notes the lack of whole pints got them -5 but an extra point for making our hands look bigger.

Overall: 4/10

4:30pm
The Conqueror
Found this pub my mistake while looking for a different pub. Its located behind The Old Market venue was we were pleasantly surprised. It showed the football, was in a nice quiet location and food sounded like it might actually have been tasty.

According to our notes the carpets to the toilet were ‘springy’ and it got a +1 for having a “friendly dog with big balls”. Plus Jack liked the fact it held a Meat Raffle there every Sunday.

Overall: 6.5 / 10

5:26pm
Robin Hood
Had never been here but had heard good things. All profits from this pub go to charity once all bills and wages are paid, which even in my cynical brain is still a definite nice touch. We were starting to get a bit drunk by this point so the notes get a bit more obscure. We got very excited that there was bunting hanging off the walls apparently, and the barmaid got a +1 for knowing that Jack fancied her. The size of the place surprised us, as it looks very small from the outside and the decor was comfortable, albeit very “standard Brighton pub”.

According to our notes we very much liked the fact they sold Rizlas and Filters here. Although that was probably just because had been Jack poncing both off me all day.

Overall: 6.5/10

6:21pm
Rock’n'Roller
This definitely isn’t a pub but we were both dying for a piss so were forced in here by our weak bladders. This is a Pool hall / restaurant / bar for West Street types who have grown tired of the Gammon and Chips at Wetherspoons. It’s situated opposite Waitrose on Western Road and is actually a lovely building that has been many things over the years. Paid £10 for an hour of pool but left after 25 minutes. Bar staff were very friendly but apparently “Jack felt nervous as he entered”. Also all pints were served in plastic glasses, which meant an automatic -5.

According to our notes the toilets were “missions/out of breath”

Overall: 3/10

6:56
Prince Arthur
Hadn’t even known this pub had existed until we (literally) stumbled upon it after finding the similarly situated Shakespeare’s Head closed on a Saturday night? No idea what was happening there. The Prince Arthur looked inviting as we walked up the road (Just up from McDonalds on Western Road if memory serves) with nice benches, flowers and lights. Jack even marked the pub a +1 for the “nice lights” so they must’ve been fucking good lights. Walking inside was a different kettle of fish however. Was extremely sterile and also extremely empty, except for two queens propping up the bar. Got our drinks and sat outside. We were quickly joined by the landlord who in fairness was extremely friendly if slightly defensive about his pub. We told him we were writing a review and he offered us a free roast if we came back on Sunday, which was very kind. Don’t think we’ll be taking him up on his offer however.

According to our notes the selection of beer was shit and the clientele was marked as “none”. Being next to McDonalds got it a +1 though.

Overall – 5/10

7:47
Kings Arms
At this point in the evening we were joined by Nick, our “Cock Friendly” friend. With this in mind we decided to head into Kemptown to sample some more of what the Brighton gay scene had to offer. I actually have no idea whether this is a gay pub or not actually…it all gets a bit hazy at this point. I’ll let the notes do the talking:

- Gay Bar at Butlins -1 (!?!)
- Nicks here +2
- Old Dj + 1
- Not sour beer
- BANKSY -20 (The walls were covered in banksy prints, I remember that much)

Overall: 3/10

8:35
The Queens Arms
Now we actually cheated here, cos we’d all been to this gem before. If you’ve never been to the Queens Arms before (which really wouldn’t be that surprising, even if you are gay) then let me break it down for you: Its a cabaret bar situated opposite the Kings Arms off St James St. The name of the road escapes me but its up from the Starbucks. It has a plethora of critically acclaimed cabaret stars, such as my favourite; (who we had missed unfortunately) Robbie. Its camp beyond belief and also slightly scary for gay and straight alike. I remember it had huge Oscars all over the place for some reason, and also quite possibly the least convincing drag queen I have ever seen. Not for the squeamish, but definitely a laugh.

Here’s the notes we took – I don’t really know what we were on about:

- Atmosphere +9 (!)
- Weird Bloke +10 – Then crossed out and changed to +3
- Decor +5
- Friendly Guy +5
- General Wrongness +10
- General Wrongness -10

Overall 7/10

9:20
Marine Tavern
We went here because the landlord of the Prince Arthur had told us it was the smallest pub in Brighton. However he was clearly chatting absolute balls. All I remember from being in here is having an absolute screaming argument about Gay Saunas and the landlady asking us if we wanted a microphone. I’m going to have to let the notes do the talking here again, not that I can really make any of Jacks scribblings out. They really are the scrawlings of a madman:

- Arguments +6
- Decor Fucheng (…)
- Being looked at by everyone +5
- Conrad being here -8

Overall: 5/10

At this point, we left and carried on our arguments in the street. Jack ended up starting on Nick and me ‘cos he thought we were calling him right wing. We then went to meet some less than impressed friends at Fitzherberts and finished the night falling over in the Pav Tav. Classy.

Jack ended up throwing up in his bath and I woke up £120 out of pocket.

Sunday was the worst day of my life.

WINNER = THE QUEENS ARMS (somehow)

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He’s this guy who dresses as Peter Pan and goes to renaissance fayre’s and the like. And he has made the most insane website all about himself and what he does. He writes music about magic and being a kid. And he gives a lot of money to childrens charities. According to his website he will never grow old. We dropped him a line.

Greetings Mr. Constan, is it okay if we ask you a few questions?

Sure.

Have you always been childlike? Or was ‘never growing old’ something you decided upon in your early adult life?

I always was childlike, but it took many phases of emotional growth and time before I understood that it was part of who I was and not something to fear or hide from.

You have such a wide array of clothes. Do you make all of them?

I make a lot of them, or just as often modify things I buy. Its something you have to learn to do, simply because as a guy, I don’t have anywhere near the choices available to girls, and also because they don’t usually make the really cute children’s outfits in adult sizes.

Is there a special shop to buy items like the ones you wear?

Thrift stores are a great place to get things to modify or re-size. At least if the end result doesn’t work out, you haven’t lost much. Renaissance Fairs and things of that nature often have some great outfits too, but of course they are often costly. Another argument for investing in a sewing machine, and learning to use it.

What outfit is your favourite?

I don’t know anymore! Peter Pan will always be a central fantasy character for me to, but I’m also very partial to the Fauntleroy outfits, variations on Purple Pixie and Blue boy, and sometimes it’s really fun to be a little girl ballerina fairy. I guess the favorite changes with the day now.

Also, about your wardrobe. If you ever had to go to court for some reason or other, what would you wear? A suit and tie, or something a bit more fun?

Well I’ve been known to sneak a green blazer in to a court trial, but then again it wasn’t ME who was on trial Seriously though, of course I have the sense to not wear something silly and festive to a funeral. And I generally “tone down” quite a bit for day-to-day wear as well. I remember a few occasions where I’d do the suit and tie thing to get a job, and once in the company prove myself sufficiently invaluable that I could once again take liberties with my appearance.

When did you start composing music?

Since I started playing the guitar as a teen. In fact, if I had the time to develop every tune I have on a scrap of paper or tape recording (remember tapes?), I likely could fill another 10 CDs at least. Ah but that magic element… time! I have to work on getting more of that!

Do you play all the instruments?

No. I play guitar and bass occasionally, and use the computer to compose all the other parts, often one note at a time. It’s tedious… I can easily spend all day on a drum solo! But it is fun and rewarding!

You mention ‘The Castle’ a lot on your website and in your music. Can you tell us what it’s like there? The sort of crowd, music etc?

Well imagine a Goth/industrial crowd that has a much more divers age range, and people that don’t take themselves quite as seriously as some do. And over time, it’s become a place where all kinds of people come with all kinds fantasies and lifestyles, and for the most part everyone is very welcoming and friendly. The building itself has the perfect atmosphere, and will remind you of “tales from the crypt”, or an ancient tomb of some sort. But the lighting and sound systems are totally up to date and very effective. I’ve a number of friends from Los Angeles, California, a much bigger and much more diverse city than Tampa, Florida, who have repeatedly told me there are no clubs like the Castle. It is, like all clubs, changing all the time, and the downturn in the economy is having its affect. So my song, “The Castle”, hopefully captures the best of what I found there. Your mileage may vary.

You are obviously quite a celebrity over in the states, what with your music, charity fundraising and eccentric wardrobe.

Not true. I’m no celebrity at all. I am well known in a lot of circles, and famous only because a power much greater than I has continuously pushed me into the spotlight, to speak and be an example of the message I’ve been given to share (while spreading joy and having fun, of course!) That message, quite simply, is that despite all the lies religion has taught us, each of us has been created to be unique, and our creator loves us just as we are. Our role as humans, indeed our test that will determine our survival, is not whether we succeed at making everyone be just like us while excluding all who don’t fit our ideology. Rather, our test is to learn to accept each other and stop judging people for their differences. Heaven and hell, mostly of our own making, is manifested daily by the choices we make.

Is there anything you’d like to say to people in the UK who may not have heard of you?

I would ask them to give a listen to the music samples on my CD, available at http://mymusic.pixyland.org, and especially to listen to the last tune, “Who Is Peter pan”, which I’ve offered there for free. (And then, of course… (Shameless plug)… buy the album!

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Anyhow, the first band we caught were The Duloks who were on the new band stage. They were an all girl quirky electro comedy act that were enjoyable to watch in the festival context. Later at the same stage we saw Wet Dog playing their catchy primitive clashing melodies, which was definitely one of my highlights of the festival. Check out the interview we did with them HERE.

The Duloks

Wet Dog

Drum Eyes and Damo Suzuki were next on our agenda. We headed over to the Loud & Quiet stage to see DJ Scotch Egg’s instrumental doomy band project Drum Eyes, which led perfectly into the entrancing non-stop progressive style of Damo Suzuki the singer from Can.

We needed more cider before heading to the main stage to see The Slits. Unfortunately when we got to the stage the show never really got going with complaints about sound clarity being made after pretty much every song. I just didn’t get into this set at all. The huge stage invasion towards the end was quite funny though.
The Slits stage invasion

It was time for Metronomy who played the first ever offset a year earlier and were “the event of the summer”, according to the festival programme. We went to the loud and quiet tent, it was packed and there was a real buzz. Then an announcement was made that the band was being moved to the main stage. I wish they hadn’t bothered. There was then quite a long wait for everything to get sorted but this just added to the hyped up atmosphere. It was still only 10.30ish and this was the last band playing that night! Anyway Metronomy appeared and played a big set that everyone could party to. The live band thing bolsters up every individual sound and made the whole set more fun and enjoyable to watch and dance to.

We weren’t sure what to do with ourselves next but we stumbled across the comedy tent. The guy in there was a twat and seemed to be forcing people into doing open mic slots. Anyway he soon grabbed Japelling, “saying ok you’ll do.” This was a bad idea on the ‘professional’ comedians part as he felt the full force of some seriously funny insults that the audience obviously agreed with as they were cracking up. A couple of highlights from Japelling’s set was the joke about the man with a hat and the moment he spun out on stage and didn’t know where he was or what was happening. Ha, very funny indeed.

Sunday I woke up feeling shit as was to be expected. I got into my insular state, my survival mode and tried to make it through the morning. We spent most of Sunday walking round the different stages, laying down in the sunshine seeing what random bands were like. I heard an amazing remix of Metronomy – Heartbreaker by Black Devil Disco Club in between sets on the main stage.

Then we met Jazzman John, you can read about him HERE. He told us to check out a band he was introducing called Chapter Sweetheart. They had a really old-skool punk vibe with a bit of pretentiousness thrown in for good measure. Reminiscent of bands like The Make-Up or a more hardcore, soulful version of The Fire Engines but still with that jangling swagger. They definitely had a lot of potential and confidence but seemed like they were still polishing the songs for their live set.

Jazzman John

Later in the day we caught Wild Beasts, who I guess are the English countryside’s answer to Animal Collective, however these guys swear and sometimes reference the footie. After having our first meal of the festival, a delicious Ghanaian curry, we made our way to what would be the finale of the festival for us, The Horrors headlining the main stage!

Oh and this guy dropped his phone down the toilet. He was anxious to get it back because his coke dealers number was on that phone.

Words: Murley Bassey

Photos: Lutworth and Lyrical B

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Photo by Brian Vetter

Smack That: Thanks for the photograph is that outside one of your houses?

William Cashion: This photo was taken last weekend outside of a friend’s house in Greenville, NC. Various friends have lived there for years now, and that house is one of my old haunts from my college days spent there.

ST: First off, just the basics: Who is who in the band? And what do you all do?

WC: I play bass guitar and handle most of the booking/internet communication. Gerrit plays synthesizers & programs the beats, and Sam writes the words and sings.

ST: You’re part of the whole Wham City collective, can we assume from that, that you’re all ex-art school?

WC: Yep, all three of us went to art school. I studied painting, Sam did sculpture.

ST: How did you get involved with it?

WC: We became friends with bands like Dan Deacon, Blood Baby, Santa Dads, Videohippos, and OCDJ because they would come down and play house shows in Greenville with us. Our old band, Art Lord & the Self-Portraits would play shows with those bands around NC, and in 2004, we did a two and a half week tour with Dan Deacon. After I graduated, we decided to move up to Baltimore and focus full-time on the band.

ST: Baltimore sounds like it’s the place to be at the moment with the amount of cool and interesting underground music coming from there. Can you tell us a bit more about the whole scene there?

WC: It seems like everyone is in a band, or an artist, or a filmmaker, or a writer, or a director, or an actor, or a producer, or all of these things at once. There’s a great community where there’s not much pretension and everyone gets along with each other. There’s a lot of collaboration here, people tend to work together on different projects.

ST: We love the whole blue-screen thing at the moment. Who makes your music videos? Because they are insane. The director of the Beach Foam video is worthy of praise. It’s in my YouTube favourites.

WC: Joe Stakun made the video for Beach Foam. He lives in Philadelphia and is also working on a full-length documentary about BMXing. Allen Cordell directed our music video for Follow You. He also directed Dan Deacon’s Big Big Big Big Big music video, which is how we met Allen.

ST: I saw you guys in London in June at ULU. That was the craziest gig I’d been to in a long long time, are your gigs always that mad?

WC: They can tend to be a little bit more insane than that ULU gig. We’ve played several shows in sweaty warehouses where everything sounds horrible and the audience is completely wasted and falling over each other. Dan has a really awesome crowd, and they love to dance it up, so I think that particular was definitely our wildest show in London so far!

ST: I chatted to Sam in London, having a cigarette after you guys played. I told him that he was the funniest singer to watch I’d seen in a while. He didn’t like this and told me “I’m not a comedian, I’m completely serious”. Is he totally serious, because that would make you guys even better in my opinion?

WC: Sam is very serious about what he does and none of it is tongue in cheek. No jokes.

ST: At your ULU gig my friend Rose thought you looked like Matt Lucas, but with hair, do you think you could be related? Do you even know who he is? He’s a bloke that used to dress as a baby and play drums on TV.

WC: I don’t really think I look like him, but I do like Little Britain.

ST: Yeah, Little Britain’s great… NOT. So what’s in store for you guys over the next year?

WC: We are working on our new album, called “In Evening Air” and we are hoping to release it mid Fall or Winter. Also, 307knox Records and Altin Village & Mine are teaming up to release our debut “Wave
Like Home” on vinyl, and that will be coming out October 1st. A split 7″ with Lonnie Walker should be coming out by the end of the year.

ST: Everyone probably asks this, but is living in Baltimore like living in an episode of The Wire?

WC: It’s not really like The Wire at all. They did film some it just down the street from where we live, though.

Future Islands will be playing the Free Butt on 15th September 2009, get yourselves down there and get to the front so you can marvel at Sam “singing”.

Words by Lutworth

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ST: How are you doing Louie

LB: I was celebrating my 18th last night and the night before so I apologise that my mind is not correct as it has been damaged… I hope everything makes sense…

ST: I’m sure it will. First of all, how is someone as young as yourself already so good?

LB: Oh cheers ha… ummm I don’t have a clue really. I guess just not shooting crap stuff like ‘trees’ or ‘scenery’ helps. I don’t want to bore people or myself so I try and shoot fun things and sexy things also. sex appeals to EVERYBODY.

ST: Were you an unusual child?

LB: You definitely could say that. Firstly I was a cross dresser. I loved wearing girl’s clothes so that didn’t make it easy to be a popular kid haha. I used to carry around a mermaid Barbie with no hair and straws for arms, she was called Treasurist and apparently I wouldn’t let her go. I also used to say the oddest things when I was having tantrums like ‘I hate you so much I hope that your socks break’. Apparently I once said in monotone “I am so angry that I want something so bad to happen to you that I cant tell you what it is”. I think that’s a bit odd. I guess it was weird going from being an only child to being one of five.

ST: You just finished college right? When I was at sixth form, everyone was either taking photos of their pets, or single shopping trolleys down an alleyway with the words “urban decay” scrawled across in tag style writing. Did you ever do any of that “standard” shit photography, or were you always doing your own thing?

LB: Nah not really. My first lesson they basically showed us how to use an SLR and gave us some black and white film. The theme was mood. People came back with pictures of bins and shit. I went and got my friend kitty to take her bra off and dripped black paint all over her. I’m not sure if they liked it or not but that’s the kind of stuff I enjoy shooting.

ST: You finish college with such a professional portfolio of work, how did you achieve this?

LB: Well it really helped having loads of hot friends. I have always been surrounded by stunning girls, just by chance, and being able to shoot very cool, charismatic and sexy girls was great. It also caught the eye of the amazingly talented Dark Daze, a Brighton photographer who spotted me on flickr and asked me and some of my ‘model’ friends to come down to his studio and shoot with him. We did a shoot together and ever since then he took me under his wing. With the help of him and all of his talented friends I improved a lot. That really helped and in fact we have started a new fashion photography magazine together with some other Brighton talent called Gang Up – it’s awesome.

ST: Tell us more about this new “gang up” photo magazine exhibition that’s coming out?

LB: Oh good. A chance to blatantly plug it. Dark Daze texted me one morning asking me to meet him for a beer and that he had a proposition for me. We met, we drank and he told me he wanted to start a photography magazine with me. Obviously I was interested and he told me he was going to ask another Brighton photographer, Sam Hiscox to get involved. We wanted some stylists involved so he asked the amazing girls Emma and Stevi who are the creators of Ophelia Fancy who he had been working with for over two years. We then asked for help from his girlfriend and muse who is great at blogging and PR and all that stuff we are shit at. We met up and realised it was perfect, three guys, three girls all with similar interests, mainly photography and getting trashed, and we have been scraping together a sexy, delicately bruised glossy fashion photography mag. No articles, no adverts, just amazing fashion editorials. The launch party is this Monday but that will have already been and gone by the time you read this. So I may as well say it now, it was amazing.

ST: You take a lot of photos of young sexy girls, do you ever take pictures of fat ugly old men?

LB: Nope. I’m shallow, no denying it. I have always shot people who I find sexy. But in my defence for a good picture I really need the model to have charisma. I would shoot people less obviously beautiful people if there was a good idea behind it. For example I was going to do a shoot of lots of old men and women with an American theme. Sunbathing outside their caravans with visors and hot dogs etc but then they did an advert like that for E4 so I couldn’t.

ST: Other than other photographers, what influences you?

LB: People. I know a lot of interesting people and I love to feed off of them. I also am friends with a lot of artists and photographers, just coincidently, and it really helps. Clothes I see, people I see walking down the street, everything. Ideas just pop into my head at random times and I often forget them straight away. But obviously other photographers are the main influences.

ST: What music do you listen to?

LB: Oh god, I love music sooo much and I love a variation. My all time favourite band must be the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and I have been listening to them for about 7 years now and am still not sick of them. I love Kate Bush a lot, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ratatat, Florence and the Machine, Bjork, Amy Winehouse, Crystal Castles, most music with a lot of energy.

ST: What films do you like?

LB: Most Films directed by Michel Gondry. He is brilliant I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and he has done a lot of dreamlike films like that. I LOVE Tarantino. The obvious films like Pulp Fiction, and I watched Death Proof recently and fucking loved it. My dad is a great one to watch films with, I would always trust him to pick a brilliant film. The other week I watched Babel with him and I absolutely loved it. One of my favourite films was one he lent me called Sheitan (Satan) and I would advise anyone to watch it. It’s so fucked up!

ST: Is there anything you wouldn’t photograph?

LB: Weddings!

Louie will be showing some of his excellent photographs at the Old Music Library, Brighton on Monday 24th August, get yourselves down there to drink some free wine and mingle with some of Brighton’s hottest new talent.

Words by Lutworth

Photos courtesy of Louie Banks

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Kicking things off on Thursday we had Video Nasties with their distorted post-punk thing who I had never heard and was reasonably impressed. I’ve since checked out album ‘On All Fours’ and while not particularly exciting, it’s certainly not the worst thing I’ve heard all year. Following them it was Mika Miko who were a female 5 piece who play bouncy riot grrrl stuff. A bit like X Ray Spex crossed with Operator Please. They were quite cool but not really my bag maaan. Next on were Scottish band Dananananaykroyd who despite their awfully gay name, were and are actually pretty good. They play arty post-hardcore but with more indie vocals which I know sounds terrible, but they have a few good songs up their sleeves. Check the album ‘Hey Everyone’ if you care…So with the crowd having been warmed up by these bands, the kings of the overrated came on – Black Lips. Its not that I think this band are shit, I just never understand how they manage to have SO many fans…They were cool though and the crowd was pretty mental. They do manage to put on a good show fo’ sho’.

Friday was by far the worst day line-up wise, but first band on To The Bones still pulled a good crowd with their skewed take on grungy rock. Chew Lips filled the venue with their hype thanks to recently signing to Kistuné and being touted by NME as “the next big thing” (although, who fucking isn’t these days?). They played their bleepy, shouty crystal castles thing with varied success. New single “Solo” was good anyway. Dinosaur Pile-Up were next but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were like since id chosen Friday to really take advantage of the free Red Stripe on offer. On record they sound a bit shit though, sound like some weird early 90′s “alternative” rock band, which isn’t the hottest look ever in my humble opinion. Last band, The Twilight Sad are some moody Scots who play “atmospheric” indie stuff and managed to clear most of the venue because its not really what you want to be hearing on a Friday night. The sound was gash as well. The highlight of the day was the singer of Twilight Sad getting into a fight with an audience member while on stage, who then turned out to be one of the sponsors…good times…After work I went to check out Metronomy at the Corn Exchange which was pretty good but again, I don’t remember much. The drummer was HAWT though. You can’t beat a fit female drummer; they make sex faces while they drum.

Music on Saturday started off with a “secret” gig on the terrace of Above Audio. Don’t think it stayed secret for very long though because there was a queue of people with Babyshambles t-shirts on queuing up outside all day…So the king of the smack heads-who-should’ve-died-a-while-ago turned up and did a 20 minute set for probably about £20,000. Opinions were mixed and while I didn’t think it was a good gig (I don’t like Babyshambles either) it was certainly surreal and enjoyable in a “Christ, this is weird” kind of way. Music downstairs started with Rogues who are an “Up and coming” band who make camp indie with 80′s pop ideas thrown in the mix. Definitely a bit of Duran Duran in there. I thought they were pretty gay really but what do I know, apparently they’re going to be massive…Only caught a few songs by Fight Like Apes but they did their Irish punky-synth thing I’m sure. I was really looking forward to next band, Soft Pack, because they had sounded great during sound check but they actually ended up being really disappointing. They have some really great guitar hooks and melodies, but his voice is just so “meh” and there’s always just something missing from their songs. Still, early days I guess. Hockey finished off the weekend with their dancey indie stuff which the huge crowd went mental for. They’re currently touring with Friendly Fires, which makes sense. I think they’re ok but the show was wicked and was a good way to end The Great Escape.

After this I went to see Erol Alkan who was obviously dope, but I fucked off pretty early to go and do too much sniff for no reason and stay awake until late into Sunday. GOTTA BE DONE YO! maybe…

If you read that, you’re a fucking loser x

Words by Hulk Rogan

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