Future Gigs Thursday 31st July - London, Corsica Studios with Acid Mothers Temple Wednesday 10th September - Cambridge, Portland Arms with Ripping Yarns. Crushing Death for info. Friday 19th September - Liege, La Zone Saturday 20th September - ZXZW Festival, Tilburg, Holland. Venue TBC.  ZXZW for details. Thursday 25th September - Berlin, Cassiopeia, with Pelican and Torche. Octacle for details. Sunday 5th October - Leeds, Packhorse, with Part Chimp, Dethscalator, Bilge Pump + more  British Wildlife Records for details.  Past Gigs 93 - Saturday 23rd February - Edinburgh, Tron with Tractor, Naked Shit, Lords Of Bastard and Mesa Verde Rhys - Up with a hang over and the unusual sight of promoter Stewarts Mum and Dad…..we all cue for the shower and then roll out in to the windy streets of Dundee. We find a music shop and pick up repairs from the night before then tuck in on a café lunch which truly sucks major cock.  Back in the van and Edingburgh is only couple of hours away, we arrive on time, load in, blaze up and hit the pub.  The beer are flowing to night - we have nothing to lose, it's the last night of freedom - Tractor are drunk and amazing, for once we right a set list as we need guidance but we don't stick to it - we play hard and fast and Bob dedicates every song in the set to Tim Holehouse!  We are fucking wasted.  We get back to our host Scotts house and try to behave ourselves but it is difficult. Joe - The end of a great weekend with the Tractor boys. Edinburgh is a great place, got a bit lost trying to find the venue. Properly accidentally got a bit shitfaced at this. Naked Shit droned, Mesa Verde postrock-emo'd or something, I popped out to 'experience the city' at this point so missed Lords Of Bastard, got back in for Tractor who, as proved over the previous 2 nights, ruled. We played. Seemed OK, fuck knows. On the walk back a man clobbered a woman who proceeded to stumble down the street with a solitary breast exposed, none of her mates helping her to pack it away. Scotland likes a drink and a fight. Fucking miles from Edinburgh to Somerset on the Sunday. Took 12 hours.   92 - Friday 22nd February - Dundee, Balcony Bar with Tractor, Emersion and The Wildhouse Rhys - Wake up, crack open a SanMiguel, blaze one up.  The van is packed with old men and equipment.  Long drive up to Dundee.  It's windy and the van is slow as fuck.  Arrive at Dundee and the venue is small and cosy.  It's the first place I have played that has a net below the balcony to catch bottles and glasses that are thrown.  Everyone in this town is build BIG, we look like small boys stood next to these locals…..the nerves kick in, we blaze one up.  Tractor rip it up tonight, the best I have seen them and a riot begins to rumble in the corner of the room.  It moves out side and before we know it we are surrounded by fighting!  By 1130 we finally get to play and we are far too drunk.  Bass amp blows before we even get going - kick drum is broken, strings break, sticks fly, james' amp head crashes to the ground.  We play shit - but it is so much fun that we don't care, no one cares, everyone is too busy fighting. Back to the lovely Stewarts house and we stay up till 4am drinking, chatting and blazing.  Great night. Joe - A long drive from Leeds to Dundee, awesome scenery. Stewart totally saved the day with this as the Glasgow gig got pulled at last minute. Some funny characters at this gig, especially RollDeep man and the couple at the bar who who seemed intent on fighting all night long. Emersion played some ripping metal, The Wildhouse were a Velvet Underground/Beat Happening/JAMC affair who I thought were mightily fine. Great place Dundee. As mentioned we had the worst lunch ever at an 'American Diner' the next day. The guy thought he was Gordon Ramsey but he couldn't cook for shit. And the toilets stunk. 91 - Thursday 21st February - Leeds, Fenton with Humanfly and Tractor Rhys - Met wiz in Camberwell, loaded the van, blazed on up.  Picked Bob up in Watford, blazed one up.  Hit the M1 / M6 arrived in Leeds in good time, blazed one up.  Tucked in to 3 or 4 Stellas (1.50 each) watched Tractor grind set out, blazed one up.  Set up.  Play loud and hard.  Drunk and stoned. A couple of new tunes we never played before, end with a spectactular mess of drunken noise at the end of Pleasure of Hating.  Pack up, get in the van, blaze one up.   Joe - Drove to Bristol to meet up with Tractor chaps, Hank drove to Leeds, Craig had a couple of beers, got to Leeds OK, miraculously found the venue, started popping back some cheap ass beers. James licked Bob. Found somewhere that sold wine + pizza after hours. Stayed at Paul's lovely house. A nice night.    90 - Saturday 16th February - Brighton, Freebutt with Trencher and Headquarters Joe - We all drove down seperately like complete twats, got to the new swanky Freebutt in plenty of time, in fact hours before the other bands. Grabbed a Grubs Burger as is tradition in Brighton, watched Headquarters who I find funny as hell, we play OK, bit sober but pretty on the money. Trencher rip it up. Scotch Egg does a birthday stagedive. Get a nice Screenprinted poster of the night. Climb mountain behind the venue to get the motor and drive all the way home. A good night.   85 to 89 - Late October - Poitiers (France), Valencia, Madrid, Near Bilbao, Gijon with Moho, Adrift, Mothertrucker. Joe - A week to kill most bands. It killed us. I think we pretty much split up every day. Adrift were nice dudes. Bob went nuts. James proved himself to be crazy as fuck. Rhys swaggered about like he owned Europe. I got drunk in service stations. Jon the driver was a hero. The gig near Bilbao was the best, the one in Valencia was quite literally a bust as plod paid a visit towards the end of our set in front of a massive 15 people. Being lost in Valencia was funny for the first hour then very not funny for the last 3 hours. We stayed in some lovely gaffs and met some fine humans. James - READ HIS BLOG HERE   84 - Saturday 29th September - Leeds, Commonplace with Humanfly Joe - Probably my favourite HC gig up to now. On the floor. Bit drunk. Best venue in the UK? James - A night of pure joy as far as I was concerned. A lovely DIY venue, like a sort of youth centre with all sorts of community stuff going on. Lacking a stage which is always a good start. Everyone was really friendly - I'm talking here particularly about Humanfly, Chickenhawk and Manatees. The crowd seemed of the 'in' variety to begin with, eg heckling Chickenhawk (who seemed to be having a slightly off-night). But when we got our shit going they really welcomed us with open arms and suffering ears. There was a lot of hip-shaking in the room. I can't remember  enjoying a gig this much for ... Ever! I nearly passed out during our trance number 'Overlord' but that was due to how immense it was and not me being weak. The evening panned out beautifully, finally being put up in a room full of people in the promoter's house as the rest of HC wended their way home, the crazies.   83 - Friday 28th September - Sheffield, Grapes with Flatlands Joe - Got there. Had some beer. Played 'OK'. Stayed at Mike's. I think Rhys masturbated there and almost lost Mike's cat (these tales are not connected).   82 - Friday 13th July - Bradford, 1in12 with Pharaoh Overlord . elsubolouso for info Joe - Took forever to get there as a bread van was burnt out on the M1. Lovely curry. Great venue. PO played for 2 hours, NO JOKE. They were awesome. Big thanks to the fine elsubolouso people for having us. We were a bit shit. James - After possibly the worst drive ever known to a band, 8 hours or something on the M1 for some cake-delivering loser who allowed his van to catch a fire and weld itself to the road...we arrived nearly weeping with joy in Bradford. After this nightmare the city looked like Xanadu and our hosts, welcoming us with beautiful chilli were like iridescent gods offering manna from above. We could only mouth our silent gratitude with what little soul that remained. I remember little of the gig due to the free beer, but I do remember PO throwing a lot of shapes and finally erecting a sort of human pyramid during one of their planetary riffathons. A good night. 81 - Thursday 5th July - Margate, Qubar with Duncan Wilder Jonson. Moon on a Stick for info Joe - Funny night, no one over 14 years old there.  80 - Saturday 9th June - Nottingham. Gringo 10th Anniversary with Part Chimp, Lords, Hirameka Hi Fi, Bilge Pump, Reynolds and others. GRINGO for info. Get tickets in advance for this. Joe - James drove us up, we listened to Elton John to get us psyched. We went on 3rd which suited us just fine, a few looseners in the nearby boozer and hey ho. Thought we did OK, the bass kept cutting out but I could only hear Bob so it made no difference to me. Then spent the next 12 hours, till 5am, drinking, chatting, watching bands, having a good time. Nice one Gringo! Reviews can be read here + here + here + here James - I enjoyed driving up more than I thought I would (not often having the combined pleasure of Joe, Dunc and Bob polluting the car). However a combination of Wu-Tang, Elton John and hair metal helped get over it. Very long, very sticky day (helped by lots of dehydrating lager). But lovely crowd, into HC despite the odd daylit nature of the situation, and other bands eg Chimp (obviously) and Lords rocked my little world. Nice to see ninehertz people Pete and Carey down from Sheffield too.   79 - Sunday 25th March - London, Catch 22 with El Topo + Sludgefeast Joe - Not a bad night. Can't really remember much to be honest.   78 - Saturday 17th February - Sheffield, Cricketers Arms with Corleone, Flatlands, Chickehawk, Vessels, Sika Redem, Sunshine Republic, Above Us The Waves, Calf By Calf, Kraschenbern, Crystal Teet Heart and The Ocean Fracture. 2 floors. 12 bands. Five pounds. Doors at 5pm. Bargain.  ( www.ninehertz.co.uk for more info ) Rhys - really busy show, we are the 11th rock band to play and the crowd dwinddles.  the few that stay are enthusiastic and even attempt crowd surfing.  this confuses James, irritates Joe and gives Bob a hard on.   Bob - All dayer for Nine Hertz, we're on at 10.30pm. After food Rhys and I caught a nap in the car. We then played loud and drank more beer. Sunshine Republic were good. A good show. Drive back to my lovely country house and get to bed by 3am. Good weekend of rock. Joe - Right next to Sheffield United's ground. We had a nice trip down Snakes Pass, cheeky pint in the Snakes Pass Inn. A good gig. A lot of bands. Had a Chinese that tasted of absolutely nothing beforehand. James - We had a fantastic drive through Manchester traffic from Rhys lovely parents' mansion in Cheshire, towards the Peak District. I orchestrated this so-called scenic route so it was naturally a nightmare (well actually it was good eventually - some of the best scenery oop north). We arrived in Sheffield not knowing what to expect from the mammoth Ninehertz all dayer but we found some cool people and some great bands (Flatlands, Chickenhawk, Sunshine Republic) to enjoy. I really enjoyed our set, people were pretty 'softened up' by the late hour we went on, but that's how things should be...!    77 - Friday 16th February - Manchester, Big Hands (Oxford Road) Rhys - shitty drive from south to north.  rain, wind and 4 fat smelly men in one motor.   packed tiny bar in student-ville.  trendy doom bands.  5 pints before playing.  drunk.  we rock hard loud and with one microphone ala AC/DC. James - Our lovely jaunt to the north went better than could be expected. As in only one item of audio equpment was stolen. I jest, it was great as always to play odd new places with nice new people. Good to finally meet JoJo in Manchester (and thanks to her for putting on the gig), her band was good and noisy, Atavist were good and Khanate-y, and we were OK, although it was a rush job for me due to setting up my minidisc in a good position for someone to nick it. And they did. Warning, the Big Hands venue is very long and narrow and trendy, be careful if you are afraid of standing on stools, or haircuts. Respect to Bob's Freddy Mercury antics lasting over an hour later on (thankfully NEVER to be seen on stage). Bob - Good gig, small packed venue, loud noises, good beer. Joe - Had some stuff nicked. Played well though. 76 - Friday 26th January - Stockwell, London, The Grosvener with Army Of Flying Robots, Tractor and Battle Of Wolf 359 (www.myspace.com/bearspunx for info) Joe  - The other bands were good, we weren't. Had a good chat with a St. Pauli fan. Busy night. We stunk the place up.   75 - Sunday 3rd December - Stockwell, London, The Grosvener with Monno and Todd Joe - Question: is Todd's album one of the best from 2006? Answer: YES. Simple innit. Go see them if you get the chance as they give a night to remember. Monno were pretty inspirational as well, rhythm v sax v big sound + laptops = New meaning to heavy. A very enjoyable Sunday night, which suprised me as I was half blind due to smashing my glasses up at the previous nights gig so i couldn't actually see anything.   74 - Saturday 2nd December - Oval, Dropout with Kling Klang. Joe - We recorded on the Friday night and through Saturday then played in the studio in the evening. We were a bit shit. But it was fun. Amp probs, tiredness, and more tiredness. KK rocked it up with keyboards galore.   73 - Saturday 21st October - Brighton, The Hope with Trencher, Zettasaur, and Christopher Cobilis. Joe - Always a pleasure to play for the TST crew. Good crowd. I don't think we were hated. Liam Trencher has more tatoos than I remember from last time. We kept it to 105 decibels to keep the locals happy. What good boys we are. Zettasaur reminded me of Charlottefield and that's no bad thing, Christopher Cobilis was a solo laptop/mini guitar/vox dude from Perth who I really enjoyed.   72 - Wednesday 13th September - Macbeth, London with Snowblood, Narwhal, and Tim Holehouse Joe - A typical night in the shithole that is Hoxton, we're back to being a 5 piece and were right up for this gig. Tim went on first and almost died due to there being a leak in the roof dripping water all over him and his pedals, despite the clicks and whirrs his set was pretty splendid. Narwhal played 2nd and were on the ball, the heads were bobbing. We set up. The sound dude came over and told us to "keep it down", we turned down and started, he kept telling us to turn down whilst we were playing, so we did. Then after almost exactly 3 minutes of our first song he turned the power off. And that was that. Not for the first time (see gigs 34 + 30) a soundman gets all huffy and ruins the night. The gig was over. Snowblood didn't get to play. They'd driven from Edinburgh to London for no fucking reason at all. Hoxton + soundman with pony tail and obvious coke problem = bad vibes. The prick.   71 - Sunday 20th August - Grosvener, Stockwell, London with Trencher, Collapse, Cutting Pink With Knives and loads of other bands. Joe - Trencher rocked.    70 - Thursday 10th August - Buffalo Bar, London with Drive and Sludgefeast Joe - Sludgefeast were funny   69 - Wednesday 2nd August - Grosvener, Stockwell, London with Kilik, Kids Explode and Shokei   68 - Monday 24th July - Portland Arms, Cambridge with Lords (Details: Crushing Death) Joe - I drove us up in the van, it got us there and back EASY. Lords were splendid. I enjoyed what we did and despite there being some form of air conditioning in the venue I almost drowned in sweat. It's good to play out of town on occasion.   67 - Thursday 6th July - Grosvener, Stockwell, London with Tubers, Narwhal, Written From Negative, Teeth Of Mammals,  (Details: Bearspunx) Joe - Tubers didn't make it, which was a pity as I'm loving their album. Narwhal were on first and reminded me of pg99 which is no bad thing,TOM were prog emo or something, and were 18 years old from somewhere in the U.S,  and loving the fact they could buy pints. By the time WFN came on I was too busy drinking and chatting to fully appreciate their rock, which by all accounts was good. Tim Cedar spent a lot of the night bending my ear about the Chimp's forthcoming 4 string issues. I think Duncan drank too many Uri's and smoked one too many of his smokes and experienced a whitey. Nice. Good times as usual.    66 - Wednesday 7th June - Garage, London with The Drips - REVIEW and ANOTHER REVIEW Bob - Today was a hot day. After filling up on all day breakfast at the local cafe, it was time to load up the car and drive to Higbury. We arrive at the back of the venue to be greeted by the Drips who are drinking beers in the sun.  A great gig with a good crowd and great sound. The punk kids were into our drones and ear bashing sound which again was a nice surprise. The Drips played another cracking set complete with stage diving and constant Rob Pollard style beer drinking. It was a good 2 days of rock. Thankyou London, and thankyou to The Drips.  65 - Tuesday 6th June - TJ's, Newport with The Drips Joe - Both Drips gigs were good, Bob drove the van like a trooper whilst we drank beers. Rhys did a heroic beer run as we approached the hammersmith roundabout up the Fulham Palace Road. Turned up in Newport and weren't down as playing. Nice. The Drips turned out to be a great band and mightily fine humans. Pretty good pizza in Newport. I fell asleep curled around an amp in the back of the van. errr....that's it from me.... Bob - Newport - Our first gig in Wales. Top stuff indeed. Hot as hell on stage. Well worth the trip. We were unsure how our fuzz drones would go done with the punk kids of Wales but we had nothing to fear as they seem to like us. The Drips are an amazing band who play no nonsense rock n roll punk. They are also a nice bunch of people to play with. We got back to my house at 2.30am and as I was driving the van it was time for some well earned booze in my drinking chair. Thankyou Newport. London - Garage    64 -Sunday 23rd April - Bull + Gate, Kentish Town, London with Lower 48 Joe - First gig with new line up....A quiet night in Kentish Town. It was a sober one due to driving but it was, and I quote: "A WALL OF SOUND". Can say no fairer than that.   63 - Wednesday 29th March - Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, London with The Enablers. This is as Woe Colossus. HC + Woe together. Joe - CHAOS. In a good way.   62 - Sunday 5th February, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds with Part Chimp and Lords Joe - All these gigs with Chimp/Todd/|Lords were a total pleasure. Big thanks to all who put us on, put us up, and put up with us. To the young chaps who put our friend in hospital in Glasgow we hope you have miserable short lives. 61 - Saturday 4th February, Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow with Part Chimp and Lords   60 - Friday 3rd February, Cabaret, Nottingham with Part Chimp and Lords   59 - Sunday 29th January, Luminaire, London with Part Chimp, Lords, and Todd - REVIEW   58 - Saturday 28th January, Freebutt, Brighton with Part Chimp, Lords, and Todd 57 - Friday 27th January, Wheatsheaf, Oxford with Part Chimp, Lords, and Todd 56 - Tuesday 17th January, Vibe Bar, London. with Woe. Launch for the 12" Joe - Good(ish) gig, Woe were great. This was Duncan's first HC appearance.   55 - Tuesday 20th December, Catch 22, London with Charlottefield and 3HostMexicans   54 -Tuesday 25th October, LSE, London with Shit N Shine, Sausage Factory (or Party? I can't remember), and I'm Being Good Joe - It was a student place so it contained cheap beer. S+S played one track for 40 minutes that I loved and then hated, then loved. I got their CD. IBG are just a great band, really good now as a 4 piece, go get their new album! SF (P?) were on first and I sort of only half caught them, they were a duo who seemed to rock. I was up till 4am dealing with an errant teenager. He knows who he is.   53 - Monday 3rd October, Marquee, London with Trencher, Rothko, Akira, 26 Feet, and Tired Irie Joe - We played on the 5th floor, I think it was OK but to be honest I have no idea. Trencher have turned Prog-Grind and there's nothing wrong with that.   52 - Tuesday 13th September, Tonic, Dalston, London with Snowblood, Musicforone, and Cheapmachines Joe - Initially this gig was at Bardens 2, then it got moved to Bardens main room, then at last minute we (James)  had to find another venue, Tonic was ideal. It was a fun gig, a good amount of people came, the music was varied, and Snowblood played a blinder. We played 2 new songs that we'd barely managed to get through at Rehearsal the night before, we sort of got away with it. 6 of the Snowblood posse stayed at mine afterwards, we drank tea, ate toast, and went to bed.   51 - Saturday 16th July, Buffalo Bar, London with Macrocosmica and Fuck Off Machete Joe - Macro' pulled out so it was just us and FOM. I was very drunk as I had to drink my way past wanting to kill the people who run the Yacht Club for pulling our all dayer at the last minute. Consequently I thought it was a great gig. We don't all agree though.  James - This is kind of our homeground, it's the first place we played and I love it...there weren't many there but I thought we rocked out. We did seem to kind of bang through it, and we are getting a little tired of some of the old stuff - ooh over 2 years old! Once we finally finish some new stuff, the fear and panic of trying to play it live will no doubt fire us up once more. This gig was made however by my audio-visual skills - I nicked a projector from work and had a cartoon (possibly involving a metal giant) playing behind us which made it all a bit more fun...I thought. 50 - Friday, 8th July, Bardens Room 2, Dalston, London with Blood Red Shoes, The IK Jan Creamers, and Epideme Joe - Our 50th gig, fun was had. The day before had been a bit grim in London and there was talk of the gig not going ahead but it did and we were glad. By 9 o'clock not a single paying punter had turned up, which was stressing us but in the end around 50 people came along. Dalston is a tough place to get too in normal circumstances so three cheers to all who came. BRS were rocking, The IKJC's were jerky and fun, Epideme were skronky. It was a good night. We all wore white.   49 - Saturday 11th June, Ferryboat, Norwich with Eaves and Bullet Union Tim - Set off from Walthamstow with Bob and Joe. Drive took us only 1hr 40 mins! Nothing on the road at all. Maybe no one wants to go to Norwich at the weekend? Found the venue by turning left just past the local crack whore. Turns out Ferryboat is situated amongst Norwichs small red light district. Just by the canal. Walked into pub to be greeted by some not very friendly looking skinheads (who would later on all pile into pubs only cubicle to snaffle up some drugs...). Pub did have nice cat though. Think it's name was Black Witch or something. Met up with very friendly and super cool guys from Eaves. All the way from Aachen on the German, Belgium border (sp). Nice chaps who seemed to dig us. Shared a beer or two with them. Skipped the soundcheck as there didn't seem much point. Venue was a big back room, all wood and canoes on the ceiling. Stage was big but full of low beams and set behind a kinda barrier. All it needed was chicken wire and it would have been just like the Blues Brothers. 2 local bands played. Nothing to write home about. Eaves rocked hard. Screamy vocals in German. Great stuff. Much respect to them for putting up with Norwich on a Saturday night. We REALLY went down badly with some of the locals. Especially one dude...... Still we played hard and well. Ian using a dreadfull Mosrite copy. Joe falling to floor on his knees in true punk stylee! Excellent stuff. Bullet Union played well too - they get better each time you see them. Home by 3am. Nice! Joe - Eaves  were amazing, they have joined my very short list of bands that we've played with that rule. I tucked into a few super cheap lager beers purchased from the nearby Morrisons supermarket. We sat by the very oily smelly river and slowly supped and chatted, it was a fine evening. I banged my head on the beams whilst we played, they were low. One chaps yelled "SHIT" quite a lot whilst we were playing.   48 - Thursday 2nd June, 93 Feet East, London with Oneida and Up C Down C Tim - Another opportunity to play with the masters Oneida. Frankly I think we'd travel anywhere in he UK to do it, but luckily Brick Lane is kinda easy to get to.....usually. An out of the ordinary 93 Feet East experience to tell the truth. Huge fashion parties going on everywhere down Brick Lane. Whole area had a carnival like atmosphere. Half the club given over to a Hip Hop styleee party. Harvey from Top Of The Pops was spotted as was Pop Idol reject and Eurovision no hoper Javine. Queues for the toilet cubicles were ridiculous. What is it about cocaine people like so much? It's really expensive. You have to squeeze into flooded toilet cubicles with 5 other people to take the stuff. It makes you an aggressive twat and you can catch hepatitis. Sounds like no fun at all to me!! Anyway. We played a 3 song (Take It, Europa, Noise Of Carpet) set that lasted 14 minutes. Would like to have played more. 2nd band were nice folks, 2 drummers, expensive guitars, sounded like Mogwai. Played for hours! The Oneida folks found the whole deal pretty amusing, but they seemed pretty psyched to be playing though. Acid Mothers Temple were playign around the corner. us, Oneida and them would have been an interesting line up!! They rocked an INCREDIBLE set though. The drummer makes me want to sell my kit and become a potter or something. If I was only half as good....Truly they are Gods amongst men. Kid Millions, Bobby Matador and Hanoi Jane we salute you!  Joe - Tim pretty much sums it up. Oneida rule. I got very drunk on backstage lager beers and vodka. A good night was topped off with a 2am chat about The Warriors, one of the best films ever made, with a friend who was staying over. Good times indeed.   47 - Tuesday 31st May, Bardens, London with Mae Shi, Rapider Than Horsepower, Bones Brigade, and Fading Fast Joe - Playing between two bands who like 'the mosh' meant we went down like a sack of shit. Watching the Bones Brigade singer try to kill the audience was funny. Mae Shi were arty, I quite liked them, RTH were a bit dull. Ian - DISEASE DISEASE SPREADING THE DISEASE, bones brigade started with Among the living but stopped before the singing came in, disappointing.. Bob did sound for everyone tonight except us, when no one did the sound.. so I gather we only sounded good from inside the toilets. AH well.. no james at this show and I feel he had the right idea.. I liked Mae Shi, and rapider.. the one guitarist had a nice finger picking magic bandish style.. Tim - This gig made me feel 100 years old. Like a Dad at the back of a concert hall waiting to pick up his kids. I think people were laughing at us. Didn't play too badly but still.....   46 - Wednesday 20th April, Fighting Cocks, Kingston with Day In Black And White, Golden Birds, and Black Tax Tim - Interesting wee pub in Kingston. Kinda rocking a chrome/Americana 80s feel. What's with this trend in specific retro design? But very clean. Missed all the bands as I was in the bar talking to an old mate. We had to fill out a form listing what songs we were playing and who wrote them etc. 1st time that's ever happened! Very efficient place - would like to play there again! Nice back room. Good stuff. Joe - £1.80 an hour to park the car. Nice venue. Good people putting it on. Ian - Black Tax chap put this on, he was Scottish and knew the dudes who put us on in Edinburgh, playing with almost exclusively white male punk rock losers it was cool to see a band with a girl and black guy in, exclusivity.. I have pic's of this that Jane took the venue was cool, small and also had a female sound engineer who knew how to get a good loud sound.. I think we played alright but the crowd couldn't believe we were really that old. James - Turned up late to find everyone already there and giving me grief for wearing my old band Yeast's t-shirt. But the arseholes I play with could not dampen my spirits as my beatiful Marshall head was all fixed and decided to work throughout our set for once. Maybe this was due to me plugging a speaker lead in. It's all a learning experience, I've just got away with being stupid for too long! Good set even if played at Napalm Death pace, and nice people, although it felt a bit 'smash and grab' as setting up, playing, immediately taking everything down after sometimes does.   45 - Friday 25th March, Wheatsheaf, Oxford with Stinking lizaveta Tim - Last show with SL back in lovely, friendly Oxford. Local band supports. I think by this time we were a bit pooped. Christ a few gigs in a row and we fall apart. Had to split so never saw SL play:( No one tried to fight us which was good. We got paid £10 for this show. £10 between 5 people. Rubbish. Joe - SL were great fun to play with, the double bass / cheech and chong combo provided me with much inner mirth. Ian - sextodecimo were the other band.. they were loud.. I walked offstage and threw up as I was still ill. We also sold a shitload of merch at this show so you can't complain.. though I probably would as I hate oxford. James - Was very jaded by this point, after ooh, six gigs in a week and a half? But we still kicked out the jams, and I was very happy to play through an Orange half-stack after the kindly bloke from the okay Sextodecimo lent it to me (unwisely). Don't remember what we played cos I was knackered beyond stupid.   44 - Thursday 24th March, The Yacht Club, Embankment, London with Stinking Lizaveta and Bilge Pump Tim - Due to illness (Ian got the squits) we cancelled one show on our tour in Canterbury. But we decided to play this one as 4 piece. Ian did turn up to drop gear off but due to him not being able to stray too far from a toilet had to split. Brilliant venue to play, though not great sight lines. Fun to play on a boat anyway! Bilge Pump were on it! Not sure whart songs we dropped. I broke my bass drum pedal and I'm sure we had 'equipment' issues as our gear by this point seemed to be falling apart. I took the prize for drunkest at this show! Had to walk half way home. Joe - I had to play this gig sitting down as I twisted my ankle in HMV earlier in the day. I almost threw up at one point it hurt so much, luckily I drank enough Stella to floor an elephant. After that all seemed fine. Ian - bah James - this was Ok but missed Ian's guitar and keyboard nonsense. Bob falling over was the highlight.   43 - Sunday 20th March, Studio 24, Edinburgh with Stinking Lizaveta and Snowblood Tim - Train over to Edinburgh. Great city. Another Ibis. Drank in pub in the afternoon. Venue was huge but cool. We set up on the floor. Again loads of bands played and I can't remember who. Stuck around to watch them all though! I think this was the collectively drunkest set we've ever played. Again SL rocked it up. Found a weird Christ like 'shape' engrained on the wood of the bar. Weird. I like Scotland. Joe - Snowblood are a good band, people should check them out. Scotland ruled. Ian - The other band was called Jesus elephant God and were a bit indistinct I liked Snowblood more this night but it was like being in a club from a 1980's Madonna movie... or possibly the hunger. One of the dudes from Black sun (and indeed most of the people from the Glasgow show actually) came to this gig as well and black sun dude got so drunk that he came on and sang with us in Europa which was cool.. Someone kicked me in the ass when I had my back turned which was pretty underhand though, FOR SHAME  James - This started out with us being very ragged and hungover and me irritatedly trying to get us to play Vengeance slower in what was a very gruelling soundcheck in a blackened nightclub-cum-slaughterhouse. BUT (was it cos we again summoned the hair of the dog in our tour craziness) this turned out to be one of the best gigs we have ever done, all of us charging into it like one mighty stampede (or was I drunk?) with the crowd really into it. And Snowblood were fantastic.   42 - Saturday 19th March, Captains Rest, Glasgow with Stinking Lizaveta and Snowblood Tim - Up to Glasgow again to hook up with Stinking Lizaveta. Gig was in the basement of a place called the Rock Garden or RGs. According to Glasgow sources it was THE place to hang out in back in the mid to late 80s. Now it seems to attract a mixture of afternoon drinkers, office workers and pierced Suicide Girls look-a- likes. Loads of bands played this gig. I ended up in a bar around the corner with friends and missed them all as usual. The basement was really small. Again a kind of mixed set. First experience of Stinking L. Crazy jazz metal madness.  Joe and Bob crashed at promoters gaffe and were kept awake by naked drunken Frenchmen. Rest of us got  sensible nights sleep in he surprisingly ice Ibis. Good night had by all!! Joe - Bob and I flew up and spent the weekend getting very drunk and hanging out with some very fine characters. Today Brentford drew 2-2 having been 2-0 down. Ian - the other bands tonight were black sun who did A joy division cover and sounded cool and a French band who sounded like monkey boy... ho hum James - Enjoyed the PVC fashions in the bar upstairs but then went for food with Kate and missed most of the other bands. However sadly I didn't miss playing our set, as the curse of my amp continued - my amp blew up half way through, despite it having been repaired not very many months before.    41 - Wednesday 16th March, Cabaret, Nottingham with Boris and Like A Kind Of Matador Tim - Good to play another show with Boris. Worth the long drive. I think they recognised us..... Excellent venue, reminiscent of the 100 Club but plusher. Comedy night on downstairs also we had to go on late so as to not to drown out the local comics..... From the posters on the wall it was the likes of Bernard Manning and Stan Boardman... Another good show though. The crowd seemed into it. Folks heads nodding away. I got mistaken in a review for this show as a middle aged women. Great. Think we did a really brutal version of A Witch Is Born at this show. Would love to have used Boris' gong. Like A Kind Of Matador seemed to be having 'issues' with each other this night..... Joe - Another Damn You gig in Notts and more fun. One of the Boris dudes bought a copy of each of our releases. Ian - I left the plug for my amp and the strap for my guitar at home so I had to use the massive Boris stack and James' vintage SG.. it was alright like, nice to play to the nott's buddies.. also some kids spent the whole set moshing with each other and obviously knew the songs.. I don't think anyone wanted to admit to knowing them though..good review of this gig comparing Tim to someone's mum. SWEET James - Loved this gig, even though we did our most pub-rock set - other bands fab too - liked Like a Kind of Matador's doomy guitar intertwined with flute and keyboard, and the fact that the guitarist's girl had just run off with the drummer, giving them extra misery value!   40 - Monday 14th March, The Garage, London with Boris and Capricorns Tim - Ah the official release date and launch gig of Hey Colossus II which we started work on in early 2004. 14 months, two recording sessions and many sleepless nights later. Great support to land with the immense riffage and sprawling majesty that is Boris. Great gig even if Capricorns did decide to make us go on earlier than we expected. We ran over a bit and pissed em off. Ho hum. Pretty sure we played a few tunes like Red Giant a  monstrous Europa at this show. One of the best sets we've played. It all seemed to work. Good crowd, sounded ace. Nice stage etc etc.I broke a brand new cymbal. We played hard:) Joe - Enjoyable to be able to play through a big PA. Some people cried because we played for 3 minutes too long. Ian - blah.. I didn't really like this gig.. wasn't feeling it onstage.. There was free beer though. which was nice! James - This was kind of the highlight of our stint so far, big crowd, album launch etc, but it was kind of an anticlimax. The Garage makes you feel a bit like you are playing in a shoebox with people looking in from a slit in the side, so unless you do a David Yow and jump in amongst them (not easy while playing guitar) there's not a lot of interaction…compared with say the Edinburgh gig this was, er, not as good. 39 - Tuesday 8th March, The Swan, Tottenham with La Quiete, Catena Collapse and Abandon Ship Tim - Abandon Ship: full on hardcore riffs - singer had a 'tache and a flat cap. I liked them. James' 'head' ( his amp head not his physical head.....) didn't work so we played as a 4 piece with James coming on and playing through Bobs amp as Bob took the mic for last couple of songs. Seemed to work. Good turn out. Swans always good though. Joe - All the bands were fun. AS is a band I really like, old school NYHC or something, from Brighton. The singer used to live 4 doors away from me when I was a youngster. Which is now a long time ago. LQ were screamo-emo but totally slaying, even with the quiet twinkly bits these bands have to put in between the noisy parts. I imagine Beavis and Butthead giving them some "this bit's good" - "this bit sucks" treatment. Ian - This was good even though we established that the reason James' amp didn't work was because the Norwegians were using American amps through a transformer and we were therefore trying to run James' head on 110 Volts instead of 240... DOH.. This was a good show.. people were crowd rolling for La Quiete.. again I think our great age was stunning the audience a little. Curry goat smell rating was low tonight though.  James - ah yes this was the official start of the Curse of James - total drawing a blank after checking everything, and failing to spot the obvious 'you are playing with a US band' possible cause!!! Reaaally enjoyed sheepishly withdrawing to watch band play four songs without me, but actually did really enjoy Bob dragging me back on to sing Of the Black Circle - hmm sound familiar??   38 - Monday 28th February, Underworld, Camden with The Explosion and Bullet Union Tim - Major label support land. US 'punk' band The Explosion play Rock Sound sponsored night. We played to a pretty small crowd (but it was a really snowing outside) but it was still fun. Nice sound. Bullet Union were good but I split before the Explosion played. They lost some gear that night. Security were a but lax.....15 year old kids wandering in with 2 litre bottles of cider..... Pretty funny to watch. Nice to play the Underworld though. Joe - The Explosion had a guitar nicked, we initially got the blame. Ian - awesome complete silence after we played here, I got a parking ticket that cost me £100. NUTS James - Audience very confused by us - ie silent. Oh well, fuck them then!   37 - Wednesday 16th February, The Windmill, Brixton with The Dexateens Tim - My favourite night at the Windmill which seems to be getting better and better bands in and is working as a venue really well. Also pretty local which is handy! Dexateens were really friendly good ole Southern boys. Reminded me of the Replacements. They had a good night. As did we. Did anything blow up at this gig? I think it all went smoothly. Joe - YEEEEHAAAA. (again) Ian - I particularly enjoy loading gear out of the windmill running the crack house gambit. This show was good though. Dexateens were completely leathered and southern and I couldn't understand a word any of them said except one of them said we sounded like Karp so I clapped him on the shoulder.. I also got strong armed into to buying their merch selling girl a pint for pretty much sitting on her ass and chatting up their singer all night... (we only sold five 7"s as well) James - Windmill's a sweet little venue but we haven't really had a gig there that felt really rocking as opposed to 'friendly' , and this was exactly that - and the Dexateens sound like the Black Crowes.   36 - Friday 4th February, The Grovesnor, Stockwell, London with Bombstrike, Sika Redem, Among The Missing, and Flyblown Tim - Hilarious gig in lets face it pretty run down old boozer on edge of rough estate in Stockwell, South London. Still it didn't feel 'threatening'! Had much worse nights walking through Oxford at chucking out time.  Various strands of metal represented by t'other bands. Do remember Among The Missings drummer was so ill he could hardly play. Apart from that, I was in the bar.... sorry. Due to it being a bit more of a metal show we played Red Giant and Europa and maybe jammed Take It? Joe - This gig was hard work. All the other bands were "EVIL" and "HARD" etc. Ian - Apparently I don't enjoy grindcore as much as I thought I would.. This gig lasted for approximately four years.  James - A mate of mine Pete plays in Flyblown and while I do like the occassional blast of Napalm Death or Nile a whole set of them does just tend to get a bit much (if you are old). They are very good at what they do, but what they do is very fast, loud and silly. We were ok but there were about 9 stacks and our shit PA so the drums really couldn't cope (see Among the Missing). Liked Sika Redem (not that they didn't mind the occasional massive Neurosis rip-off!). However just as Red Giant was storming into its second half, smoke began to curl out of my Soundman head I was using tonight. (Yeah great amp, just don't actually PLUG IT IN!!!!) The funny thing was I was the last to spot it - my girlfriend Kate tapped me on the shoulder as I was lost in rock, and I think pointed and mouthed 'Your amp is on fire' at me. Oh well - start of a thousand broken amps.  35 - Tuesday 25th January, Infinity Club, Mayfair, London with Phil Collins 3 Tim - Another good show with PC3. We have a good sound board recording of this somewhere. We jammed on Take It this night. good versions of Ghost Ship and Raise The Flag were aired too. Mainly this year we have always played the following songs. Horsehead, Raise The Flag, Ghost Ship, Snakes, Of The Black Circle and alternate, depending on the night, Red Giant, Europa, Witch & Take It. Due to me arsing up Vengeance once in Brighton I'm not fond of playing that song live. We haven't played Red Nails in ages. We do drop Drug Widow into the set occasionally but we never play Money. The Infinity seemed to be full of art students waiting for us to finished so they could get off with each other. Had a kind of 80s cocaine vibe to the place. Really good night though!!! Joe - Once we finished playing there was an audible sigh of relief around the place. Ian - We played well but yet again the blank looks on the teenage faces were somewhat off putting.. I think they expect one of us to die onstage or something.. a review of this said we were a math rock band.. that person is dead now James - Joe disagrees but the first band was the biggest pile of art-wank I have ever seen - the 'singer' whining pointlessly while wearing a really great ball-style mask with feathers everywhere. Please. We were good (especially Take It and Witch enhanced by mind-bending synth action) and thankfully it was recorded for posterity. The art kids tried to raise their pencil-like arms to clap, but most didn't manage it….    34 - Tuesday 18th January, Hobgoblin, Brighton with Comets On Fire Tim - Another one for the top 10 I think. We were all excited to be playing with the mighty Comets. Originally gig was supposed to be at the Freebutt but due to a booking issue (not Phills fault) had to be moved to the incredibly small upstairs room at the Hobgoblin. We arrived at venue to find the band being harangued by idiotic pony tailed  metalhead sound prick who was making COF turn down to ridiculously quiet levels. There are great features on this night in recent editions of Comes With a Smile and Loose Lips magazines. We played and just turned it up -sending soundcock into a lather. COF rocked it as you would expect. Place held about 70 people. More crammed in that that with loads of folks locked out. It was a great night though. Poor old Phill from Victory Garden really got it in the neck from the soundchap though. Joe - A photographer from one of those Brighton mags spent the whole of COF's gig dancing in front of them like a pole dancer trying to get the right "ROCKING" shot. Ian - comets on fire ruled and so did the bloke who stood in front of me smiling for the whole set. (though I think he may have been on drugs) Grubbs burger gratefully consumed here. James - this was the infamous gig where my 'stage magic' engineered the beginning of the Curse of James- I was so chuffed to be playing a miniscule upstairs bar in Brighton that I forgot to plug my head in as we checked  levels, and my Marshall simply faded away, with no bang, just perhaps an inaudible death-rattle that no one witnessed. So lovely Comets on Fire's guitarist lends me a Hi-Watt that looks like an antique sideboard. I spent about 10 minutes checking I'd plugged this fucker in. In terms of playing, it seemed to take half as long as finding out what had gone wrong with my amp, but was good. Not as good as Comets on Fire though, even if you stepped back from it and realised most of their stuff is simply a totally fried type of acid pub rock, man.   33 - Tuesday 9th December, The Freebutt in Brighton with Phil Collins 3 and Giddy Motors Tim - I remember more about Phil Collins 3s costumes than anything else about this gig. Dressed as missiles I think. Giddy Motors I missed as I was UPSTAIRS having a drink. We seemed to play the Freebutt a lot last year. Always friendly and a good place to play. Joe - The launch for the VG 7". Ian - Grubbs burgers makes money out of bands.. sweet. I went home after Phil Collins three christ it was a Tuesday night.  James - Cant remember much - was I drunk?   32 - Thursday 11th November, The Windmill in Brixton, London, with The Killing Spree, Yakuza, and Blood Red Shoes Tim - Didn't see other bands because being the twat that I am I opted to play then fuck off up the road to see Nick Cave play at Brixton Academy. Was on the wagon for 2 weeks as well. Joe - All the bands were great. Killing Spree + Yakuza from Ireland were both rocking, Blood Red Shoes were storming. A great night in Brixton. A fine example of not expecting too much and getting loads. Ian - The other bands were all amazing, luckily we went on first so no one saw us.  James - This was OK. The Killing Spree were great, despite the worst feedback ever.   31 - Tuesday 26th October, the Railway Inn in Winchester with Cove and Caretaker Tim - Sad gig this as it was the day that John Peels death was announced. We all felt pretty upset if I recall.. Nice friendly venue though. Don't think Cove played? Or did they? Bloke from pop punk indie band Reuben played drums for one of the bands who played - and hassled me for Biffy Clyro CDs.....like he always does. Ian - Cove did play and did Peelies favourite tune of their's (the minuet song I think).. I spent the journey there in heavy traffic a bit teary. Joe - Cove played one of their best ever gigs (that I'd seen). It was a downer of a day but the crowd seemed to be more into the night than perhaps they would of been because of it? James - Felt a bit awkward saying 'this one's for John Peel' but I meant it - he stood up for everything at once - indie, drum and bass, grindcore - who else covered all those bases?? We love him!!   30 - Friday 22nd October, The Star in Guildford with Todd Tim - Ha ha - soundman trouble. Todd were good as you'd expect. Local Soundgimp got the REAL hump with us at this gig. Some jumped up local 21 year old flick fringed  prick who didn't want us to check our gear before we went on. Then told us the MINUTE we finished that we played loud to cover up the fact that our songs were shit and we couldn't play our instruments. He was lucky he didn't get a slap:) Guildford on a Friday night. Wannabe 15 year old Chavs getting arrested for under age drinking in darkly lit shopping precincts. Horrible. Still fun though! Got train home and got stuck at Clapham Junction for an hour. Bummer. Joe -  This was the launch for a compilation that never came out. Todd were highly splendid. Ian - another show where I was just recovering from bowel disorder.. I like the chips with cheese here though... and I think the beer was quite cheap.. which would explain why all the children were there.  James - Didn't enjoy the jumped up student twat soundman - ooh you're a bit loud (THAT'S THE POINT, well ok it is for the time being!) but did enjoy watching Bob slowly twigging what a knob he was being and squaring up 'We are A LOUD BAND!' haha. Bob's a skinny bastard albeit with a pot belly but I wouldn't have fancied the other bloke's chances…   29 - Friday 3rd September, Upstairs at The Garage, London with Future Ex Wife and Fixit Kid. Tim - This was the last Silver Rocket we played. Not a huge turnout. Future Ex Wife or Fixit Kid - one of them anyway - featured lead singer guitarist dude from Groop Dogdrill...... New band no better. All moody tattoos and crap sub Rocket From The Crypt riffs. No surprise then that no ones heard of them since. For the life of me can't remember what we played - though we may have done Red Giant as we were going back into the studio to re-record new stuff after Phil had 'recording problems. Again we may have played Ghost Ship and Europa. Joe - I really didn't enjoy this gig, we played not too well, the other bands were also not good. Ian - fixit kid are good chaps.. drummer dude is Deb's Twinkie's Fiancé, was amusing as he didn't know who me and Bob were but immediately recognised Dave Crofts . Future ex wife.. I have a better name for them... we are rubbish.  James - Other bands very average, we were just starting to really get Ghost Ship together here I think, moving in quite a groovy direction…   28 - Wednesday 25th August, 93 Feet East, London with The Murder Of Rosa Luxemburg Tim - Another night at 93 Feet East. Again kinda goes like clockwork. You turn up. Soundcheck. Get treated well. Get beer and water. A wee dressing room etc etc. Murder Of showed us their 'new direction' - haven't they split up now? They were good though! I think we played Ghost Ship for the first time at this show. Maybe Europa. Joe - I think we played 4 long hellish songs and bored people to death. Ian - Yeah we only did four songs and the kid who put it on kind of whined that we didn't play "the fast stuff" we're not a juke box mate.. particularly true as he didn't put any money in us.    27 - Sunday 8th August Squat show off Oxford Street with Fucking big Monster, jets Vs Sharks and Chillerton. Ian - The other squat shows I did for these kids were better organised than this one and in slightly more accessible places (this was just by Selfridges! so tough to drive to), but the sound and stuff at this one was great and the vibe was good. despite having to load gear up LOADS of stairs!. Also I think Bob blew his amp again at this show and plugged into Joes amp to keep on rocking. I remember we did Red Giant and the kids seem to dig it. I totally screamed my head off and that seemed to keep them interested. The Rozzers came but I was down the road buying water as this place WAS HOT and they obviously had to keep the windows shut.. We played in what was probably some kind of meeting room or board room as the place was an abandoned office.. The police were actually pretty cool and I think the whole bill got to play so all in all a sweet day. Joe - I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was, as Ian says, HOT. I really enjoyed Jets V Sharks, it was dark and busy and they were good.  James - This was unbelievably hot, sweating before we started, and we began with Red Giant which just caved the place in - probably the loudest we've ever been, certainly in gigs without big PAs. Rest of gig equally raging, then afterwards I was sitting outside and the police turned up saying there have been several complaints about the noise!! I chatted to them amiably and failed to completely own up it was our fault haha.   26 - Saturday 7th August, The Freebutt, Brighton with Hot Chip Tim - Another Freebutt show. Bit quiet as so much was going on in Brighton that night. Nothing blew up though and we played as a 5 piece this time. It was Gay Pride in Brighton so whole town was packed. Trencher were playing at pub across road, so after we played everyone bundled over to see them. Hot Chip were like a Bronski Beat like snyth band. Pretty crappy. Joe - Unfortunately I remember nothing about this, I think I had to get a night bus home from Victoria which is always entertaining / VERY SHIT. Ian - This gig was good as I was on the train and got drunk SIMPLE James - Gig not as good as Gay Pride which I attended also that day - a field full of men with their tops off dancing to Kylie - lovely!   25 - Wednesday 28th July, The Legion Bar, 348 Old Street, London,  Winnebago Deal Tim - Probably the hottest in temperature gig we've ever done. I got HUGE blisters and nearly threw up. Winnebago Deal said virtually nowt to us but that was ok, think they're a bit shy. Set was good, we really went for it. Interesting place to play too. Folks came out to see us play on a  hot July night in Hoxton which was nice of them. Big selection of Whiskey behind the bar. Joe - Winnebago Deal aren't that good are they? I don't get it. Kerrang reviewed this gig. Ian - This was rubbish, Winnebago deal are from oxford.. what more can be said for them.. except that one day they will probably die (although I wouldn't put it past them to live forever just to spite me). Lisa put this on, she didn't pay us either. Never mind eh! Was a busy show.. but a weird place and we all had to drive there despite WD having a shit load of gear we could easily have borrowed and saved us all the bother and expense.. PUNK ROCK dudes. James -  WD only shy of revealin they both came to the gig in their Bentleys and have a case of Pimm's on their rider, being utterly posh. Actually just kidding - chatted to the drummer and he seemed pretty down to earth, as they are major league rock minnows these days. 24 - Tuesday 15th June, Notting Hill Arts Centre, London Tim - Did this show as a 4 piece as James had to take a client out to dinner....... Odd night as the place turned into a C&W club later on so there were people dressed up as cowboys waiting to clear us out as we played. I got brought a Jack Daniels as we played by a man who looked like Cleetus the Slack Jawed Yokel from the Simpsons. He got on stage and left it by my feet. I wasn't sure what was happening. The stage, which was crates and a few big planks of wood, wobbled a lot. Weird night. Joe - YEEEEEHAAAAA! Ian - This was awesome there were some people in the other half of the room (where we usually play instead of on the weird stage thing) sat on sofa's doing some kind of art project.. the other act here was Paul the girl who was wicked solo girl with a guitar but playing like led zeppelin riffs and massive solo's she rocked.  23 - Saturday 29th May, Old Angel, Nottingham with Mistress, Tortoise Waltz, Bumsnogger, The Limbs, Jesus Of Spazzareth, Red Stars Parade, Patient Zero, November Coming Fire and Narcosis Tim - All the way to Nottingham to play to 15 people in a pub on a Saturday afternoon at 3 pm as part of a Metal Festival.  Strangely not as bad as it sounds however I personally got stuck in Notts for 4 hours waiting for a train to get home. Joe - Home by 7pm. Ian - Ha I got there five minutes before we played, Jane couldn't get in to see us play as she had to go and park the car but she did manage to buy some shoes. I think I drove to Manchester straight after as well.  James - I get a lot of stick for booking this gig, and yes maybe we weren't as metal as most of the other bands, but we went down fine. Only problem was that it would have been nicer to go on later than 5 in the evening having come all the way from London - there were only a few people in by then. Still, Narcosis nearly took off halfway through their set, it was so intense. However the rest of Colossus had scampered off home by then - ha lightweights!!   22 - Friday 10th May, Silver Rocket - Upstairs at the Garage with Part Chimp, Todd, and Wolves (Of Greece) Tim - Brilliant night again at Silver Rocket. 3 great bands to play with. Todd kinda destroyed the fixtures and fittings and the Wolves singer fell over a lot. Got very drunk by the time Part Chimp played. We must have played A Witch Is Born. Did we again record day (or week?) after this show. We must by this time be playing tracks that made it onto II. I can't remember when we for example started playing Vengeance or Raise The Flag as discussed...... Joe - This was the night where I decided all people should be killed so I left after we played. I got over it though. Ian - This was good.. Though Todd breaking stuff kind of irritated me, I think Rach' forgave them though, and they were nice when I met them again. I have this set on my itunes we played horsehead, vengeance, raise the flag and Red giant at this show Red Giant slayed.    21 - Saturday 24th April, Brighton Freebutt Tim - Mess of a show which was captured on video. James' amp (which he was borrowing) blew up. Then Bobs' amp blew up. So we ended show as a 3 piece with Bob singing. James walked off. Set was all over the place. But strangely the packed crowd love it...... All on video. Can't bring myself to watch it. Ian - haven't seen this yet. I'm sure if you played it next to a video of queen at Wembley bob would be synch'd exactly with Freddie. I ended up playing guitar on my own with bob and James singing was like being in a fat old version of linkin park Joe - Tim was angry at our amateurness, we all thought it went well, in it's own way. James - v funny seeing me disappear and come back on smoking a fag to shout-along-a-Bob, guitarless, looking like a slightly slimmer version of the guy from Anal C**t. Fun gig though, and the way we just battered through it stood us in good stead I think.   20 - Tuesday 6th April, Glasgow Barfly with Part chimp Tim - I got the train and Joe and Bob flew up to Glasgow for this show. I think Ian and James drove! Good night though. We went on 2nd after a local Husker Du-ish band. Place was about half full - pretty big venue. Part Chimp were REALLY loud - but suitably brilliant. Various Mogwai fellas in attendance. Long way to go to play 1 show, but it was worth it! Stayed in Glasgow over night. Joe - The first band were named after a GBV song if I remember correctly. The Chimp were fantastic, their songs are actual pop songs buried beneath 150 tonnes of Thames sludge, no one does it better. Ian, Bob, and I stayed with Marceline who runs Diskant. Glasgow is such a nice place. Ian - This was rocking as I got drunk see it's that easy! Me and James drove up to nott's the day before and then in the morning got cheese on toast.. although Claire tried to make us have asparagus on toast. Also when we arrived in nott's they were watching a weird movie with a young heath ledger and some dude that wanted to shoot him and another dead fellow helping him out. It was alright and I got drunk then too so that was good.. Anyway on the way to Glasgow that day we ran into Tim cedar et al in a swish service station on top of some fells and Tim C had a massive pork pie in his paw.. he looked like a man at ease with himself. if was beautiful.  James - Me and Ian did an insane 600 mile round trip because I hate flying and we needed to bring gear. But it was surprisingly easy, Ian taking a lot of the driving (and gunning it to 100 mph without me realising!) while playing some stuff I hadn't heard, like Cap'n Jazz. Gig was pretty good but surpassed by other Part Chimp shows. We did oK but it was a big high stage in a half empty club.   19 - Tuesday 23rd March, The Cellar, Oxford with Hella Tim - This I think was one the loudest shows we ever played. It just seemed to really HURT at this gig. Think another bands played as well as Hella (who I missed as I had to get a train home). Venue was a wine bar cellar - all cream and chrome. Joe - One of those nights that went on for ever, a lot of bands played, none of which I can remember. Hella were good for 2 songs then not so good, then boring. They were 'technically good'. The kids with the wonky hairdos loved them. Ian - oxford, will it not just disappear into a crack in the ground. Actually there are lots of nice people in oxford. Ady, the chaps from sunny vale (who also played this gig) and I'm sure many other blameless people.. but really no ones saying they can't move away from there are they. Hella blasted away pretty relentlessly they had nice shirts too.   18 - Tuesday 9th March, The Social, Nottingham with Oneida + Wolves of Greece Tim - Brilliant show and again this would go into the HC gig top 10. James' turn to get so drunk  that he can't remember most of this evening. The photos that adorn the back cover of the Lords split single we did were taken after the show. Oneida drove all the way from Holland that day and were knackered. We woke the drummer up with our soundcheck. Wolves of Grease made a big noise. Photo from this gig is what's on the inside of the Hey Colossus II CD. We drove back late and Bob fell asleep at the wheel of his car for about 30 secs when we were about a mile from his house. Oneida played a total blinding set to a pretty full upstairs room. Nice play to play. Joe - Great gig. Oneida were rocking, Wolves (OG) made a noise comparable to a jet engine with all the bass definition turned down, their singer fell over a lot. This was put on by Damn You, who put on all the decent rock in Notts. Ian - I'd like to point out that I was wiped at this show too.. as evidenced by my extremely poor playing and singing on the MD from this show. Oneida ruled and I think we had chips and cheese in fact I know we did.. also Dave drove us to this show and he was drunk with us too it was smart.  James - I was hammered - had drunk half a bottle of Black Bottle whisky on the drive up, and put off Dave the driver (thanks) several times by breathing whisky fumes into his face while talking. I had my excuses, but by the time I got to venue I was a little 'confused'. Ended up playing through Chris Wolves' (thanks) Fender Twin which sounded AMAZING! Was a very trippy but very nice night, and Oneida rocked. Spoke to their guitarist Jane (a he) afterwards and he said he was really into us (I think). One of the best gigs I won't ever remember much of.   17 - Friday 12th March, Buffalo Bar, London with Method Sent Tim - This is probably the only gig that  I can remember nothing at all about. I think I can recall getting the tube home and that's it. Anyone else? Joe - I read a review of this show that compared us to a really horrible MTV metal band. Ian - I went for a meal with Jane walked in played the show (which was pretty rocking I think but again I was pretty lashed), and then we left almost straight away, and I rudely didn't speak to anyone who'd come to the show. bad form. James - erm?   16 - Friday 27th February, The Fenton, Leeds with Paper Cut Out, Brown Owl + Rays of Helios Tim - All the way to Leeds. I think I went on the train and everyone else went by various cars. It was snowing and really really cold. Fenton's a proper old pub though and the turn out was good. Played a rip roaring set and really enjoyed this show. Couldn't say for the life of me what the other bands were like. Think I was downstairs in the pub.....sorry.  I think we played Raise The Flag at this gig  and maybe Vengeance Joe - We stayed with some of my wife's friends in a place called Barnoldswick, which for a Southern jessie like me really does sound like a Northern town. For a big city Leeds has a strange locals only vibe too it. Ian - this was smart. Brown Owl played and Elvis phoned up Neil just as they were about to start. I think we overran a bit and nearly made paper cut out miss their ferry to Ireland.. OOPs. I drove straight from here to Nottingham to stay with Chris and Claire so wasn't drunk it was still good though!  James - good show, met some cool people, eg Russell Remains and Cath ex of Month of Birthdays. Leeds is very in-crowd it seems but they welcomed us into their bosom on a bloody freezing night! Paper Cut Out and Brown Owl both great.   15 - Wednesday 25th February, Betsey Trotwood, London with Paper Cut Out, and Bullet Union Tim - My brother who was over from China came to see us. There are some great photos of this night. I think we played really well. Venue is really small but that's not a problem. The sound women got a really good sound for us I remember. Top night - one of the best ones! Joe - The ceiling is so low at The Betsy that I got myself wedged in. The Paper Cut Out chaps were very pleasant people. Ian - I put this show on and it actually went really well. Except for Dave getting drunk and insulting the girl from the promotions company who run the venue.. "what's this, listings for the water rats? All these bands are shit" I think she only tolerated him because she thought he was my boyfriend..  James - crazy small venue to the extent I had my back against side wall throughout set. Really cool raging gig, Ed from Yeast showed up - it being within 2 miles of his mansion in Hampstead.   14 - Tuesday 10th February, London 93 Feet East with Dudley Corp+ Querelle Tim - Our first gig at 93 Feet East. They treat you well at 93 Feet East even though sometimes it feels a bit soul-less. We got a crate of beer and some water though and at least you can change your kecks in a dressing room! Expensive bar. Joe - The bass player from Querelle had a funny hat. Ian - this was funny purely because dudley broke everything and Joss the drummer got offstage and heckled him.  James - I was oddly depressed after playing I think, and hence really didn't enjoy the other bands. Venue too big, sound just cannons around.   13 - Friday 6th February, Brighton Freebutt with Dudley Corp + Rock Of Travolta Tim - Our first gig at the Freebutt. We've done a few there so it gets confusing as to what happened at which gig. I can't remember much happening at this one. A bit got lost off one of the Rock of Travlolta drummers cymbals stands and he had a hissy fit. Aside from that..... Joe - I'm with Tim on this, I can't remember much about it. Ian - grubbs BURGER I think I may have one before and one after this show. We were on in the middle here and it was a good one. James - I love this venue, sound and people always great.   12 - Sunday 1st February Tunbridge Wells Forum with Cat On Form + Charlottefield  Tim - A really wet evening and part of the Unlabel weekend of shows. Good show, but can't recall anything amazing happening. Joe - My brother came to see us, he was back from Australia for a few weeks. I thought we were going to drown on the M25 it was so monsoonical. Ian - Christ got the train there in a right downpour but it was a good one, headquarters played and they were excellent.. We sounded a bit dicey as I recall but got away with it because no one really paid any attention to us! 11 - Friday 23rd January, Margate Lido with Blind Jackson. Tim - One of the strangest shows we've ever played at what can only be describes as a fading seafront Kontiki bar. The crowd were a mix of scantily clad teenage Goth girls and pubescent 15 year Goth boys. I think we totally confused them all, but they seemed to like Drug Widow or at least the nodding head bit. Split before Blind Jackson to get the train home, but they sounded a bit like toploader I thin. We all felt like dirty old men at this show. Joe - Blind Jackson were awful, they sounded like a bad Reef. They probably thought we sounded like a bad Deftones or something. Ian - Margate, the stuff that dreams are made of.. Mind you me and Tim got dead scared that we were going to get offed on the train back through Kent.. I reckon if we did it again now it'd be happy slap central James - Oh dear, mind you was very funny watching the kids work out there was a 'mosh part' in Red Nails, and doing some formation headbanging. We are doing this for the kids.   10 - Monday 19th January, The Swan, Tottenham with Wolves + Transistor Transistor. Tim - This was a good show I think, lots of people there. I think I left after we played though as I was ill. Didn't see the other two bands. Joe - Due to the ex-Orchid nature of Wolves this was a very busy night at The Swan. I thoroughly enjoyed both other bands but for the life of me I had no idea which was which, they both sounded identical to my ears. I ended up getting their split 12" on Level Plane and it's turned out to be one of my most played records. It's good going out music. Ian - The other two bands were almost indistinguishable from one another in their screamy hardcoreness TOP rating on the curry goat smell for this show though. NICE James - Liked Wolves, or was is Transistor Transistor?? Liked the reggae in the bar more mind you.   9 - Saturday 17th January, ROTA, Notting Hill (4pm-8pm) with Cove, Charlottefield + Trencher Tim - Ah... one of HCs top 10 best shows. Afternoon event at the Notting Hill Arts Club. Great line up. Cheap beer. All our friends in attendance. We had just got copies of Hates You back. We sold about 40 copies I think. Can't remember what we played but we did arse up the middle bit of Red Nails. But no one noticed. Cove & Charlottefield were great and Trencher slayed again. I ended up in a bar in Notting Hill drinking till very late..... Joe - I played the whole set one semitone out of tune. It sounded absolutely awful/terrifying. The other bands all played well and it was as packed as I've ever seen ROTA. Ian - I don't remember anything about this show except making an absolutely horrific amount of noise with the Korg during Witch.. I'm not sure how I got there, got home etc? implies some massive boozing. James - very cool venue, very cool gig. Can't remember playing.   8 - Tuesday 9th December, The Windmill, Brixton with The Dakinis Tim - We played to a virtually empty room. About 10 people I think.  I remember Manjeev from Rough Trade dancing manically though at the time for some reason I was convinced Manj was from Poland........I'm sure there were some Polish dudes who used to come see us..... Joe - The soundman did a made up solo set at the beginning of the night, it was "interesting". Ian - There were some polish chaps they were very nice.. this was on paper going to be a great show with Bloody kev's band Wives of Seth and Woe, but both cancelled (although no one told Kev' and he actually showed up and then went home!). James - Shit but somehow good gig. Rather have 10 people into it than 100 indifferent tossers.   7 - Friday 5th December, Upstairs at The Garage, Highbury with Black Eyes + Bullet Union. Tim - Probably the best gig we had played to date. An incredible night. Black Eyes had so much equipment that they couldn't fit on the stage. The place was RAMMED with loads of people left outside. Part of the very fine Silver Rocket club night. Southern Records checked us out. Harry Harris and Jon Loder stood by the side of the stage throughout our set. They are in a bunch of photos somewhere.They never contacted us afterwards. Black Eyes were excellent. Probably the best of the Silver Rocket nights - though actually the Part Chimp night was just as good. The day after this show we recorded the Hates You and You and You album at Bobs old place of work in Soho with Phil from Place Position. We were so on it that the recording took about 3 hours. Maybe it shows. Whatever, we love it. Joe  - Black Eyes were on fire, I thought the floor was going to collapse during their set as everyone was going nuts. Some of the songs on their first album really are good. I remember enjoying this gig, we played well and got all warm and wet at the prospect of recording the following day. Ian - This was good good good.. though I had to carry stupid keyboard stand that we borrowed off the singer from red ashes through town on two night buses cos I stayed 'til 3am and danced with black eyes a lot.  James - This was spot on - nearly as good as Part Chimp indeed. One of our Top 10.   6 - Sunday November 16th 6pm, London. 201 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton with Cat On Form, Birds Of Paradise, The Lords + Claque Tim - Played at a squat around the corner from our rehearsal studio. I think we must have played Drug Widow at this gig. Maybe we played it in Worthing? Funny little night. Cat On Form were good, Lords played like demons again. Claque I have no recollection of - or where they those crazy dudes doing a kind of MC5/Cooper Temple Clause pastiche? Place was an old closed bar. Can't remember what this was a benefit for. Trust funds I think. Ian - that band was birds of paradise, Claque were the kind of Dub/ Riot Grrl band with the poetry I enjoyed this show but was on the tail end of about a week of MASSIVE BOOZE Joe - COF were real good, BOP had Saxon haircuts and pulled some nice poses, The Lords were naturally brilliant, and Claque were also real good playing bass/violin, and drums. We've played worse proper venues in comparison to this squat. James - Lords - GREAT. Rich squatters - bizarre. Still at least it's better than snorting daddie's cash.   5 - Saturday 15th November , Vintners Parrot, Worthing with The Lords, The Burning Hull, Yenpox + Semioneside Tim - Brilliant night. My Mum and Dad (who are in their late 60s/early 70s) came to see me play. They wore earplugs  - total  respect to them for coming!! Ian was very very very drunk for this gig. Him and Dave Croft spent most of the afternoon in the pub. Coming from Littlehampton down the coast I used to play shows at this place when it was called the Thieves Kitchen back in the late 80s early 90s. Burning Hull - one of Tim The Dartkness' bands supported. Lords totally slayed. Local bands seemed to have the hump that 'out of towners' were playing. Go figure? Colin from Edgeworld put the show on. Top gent that he is! Joe - If I remember rightly Brentford won 2-1 pulling it back in the last few minutes, I almost punched a hole in the roof of my car celebrating on whatever road it is you take from London to Worthing. Ian - Chris from lords had just got back from Aus' I was drunk this was awesome we stayed at Colins with lords and Elvis told us his real name but I can't remember.. me and Dave did get taunted mercilessly by some teenage slags on the train there (which went a massively long way through littlehampton.. sample dialogue slag a) Have you got any gog? COME ON ian) what's gog? slag B) YeaH ARE YOU GAY ian) UMM Dave) (folding his copy of the guardian) Why? Slag a) DON'T CALL ME LOVE YOU FUCKING CAAAAANT etc..  James - Somehow at the last minute managed to sort out my then girlfriend Hannah going to pick up my mum and stepdad for this one. I was shocked to look up from my fretboard to see my mum grinning from ear to ear right in front of the PA speakers. I think she hated it really. Was a great gig, not just in the pissed-great, sober-hard work sense either.   4 - Sunday 26th October, Upstairs at The Garage with Red Ashes (formerly Yeast), Woe + Birdhouse Project Tim - Ah - James last show with Red Ashes. I missed Woe and Birdhouse Project as I was in the pub down the road. Notice how many supports/ main bands I miss by being 'in the pub down the road'. Probably played a very similar set to the first three shows.  Not a huge turn out but it was a Sunday night. Joe - Woe ruled. Ian - This was a bit poor as I recall although the music between bands was good and I had chilli and chips from the wetherspoons round the corner James - Bit difficult for me to be too emo about Red Ashes finishing, as for one that had really run its course, and for two, I was happy as larry doing this Hey Colossus thing that had somehow transpired. 3 - Saturday October 4th, Oxford Wheatsheaf with Dive Dive + Lapsus Linguae Tim - Saturday night in Oxford. Rougher than a Thursday night in a Tottenham pub. Good show I think, but some of the 'locals' from the bar downstairs were a bit pushy. Lapsus were bizarre. Gemma my wife turned up to surprise me. Various local Oxford chums turned up too. I think all the 'Wives of Colossus' were in attendance. Joe - I'm not too fond of Oxford. Ian - this pretty much sucked.. it was meant to be an econoline show (which would have made as little sense really). Dive Dive are nice chaps but perhaps not meant for a bill with an avant garde prog band and us on it. As they were the big local draw this meant we went down like a lead shit James - Bit of a crap gig but I was so enthused by everthing just steaming along with the band, after it having been more of a struggle with my previous band, that I didn't mind a bit. Also met Ian from Lapsus who is a really nice guy.   2 - Thursday October 2nd, The Swan, Tottenham with Majority Rule + Amongst The Missing (Due to being stuck in Spain, Majority Rule were replaced by: Sin 'O The East) Tim - The mighty Swan. Can't remember anything about the other bands but I do remember we went off like a bomb and being painfully unfit I nearly collapsed at the end of the show due to exhaustion. There seemed to be loads of people at this show and we got paid as well. Set same as below again I reckon. First experience of the Swan for me. Great place to play. Joe - Tim is confused, this gig wasn't that busy, but he is correct in saying The Swan rules. Sin O The East were high pitched noise, AMT were tuned down to B and ground us to bits, this band includes the legend that is Tim Holehouse, apart from Hey C he is in every other band based in and around London. It's a pity Maj Rule didn't play as their records are really good. Ian - I actually quite liked Sin o the east the drummer was looping his vocals and the girl singing was shrieking like a cut rate diamanda galas.. Curry Goat rating was high... and I managed to drink quite alot of red stripe. It was cool  James - Among the Missing were good - well the guitars were absolutely raging, but the sound mix so poor that they didn't slay people as much as they might have. Really enjoyed our set - it suddenly felt so comfortable - the first gig was but this kind of cemented it. 1 - Saturday 6th September at the Buffalo Bar with Southall Riot, Thread + Trencher. Tim - This was our first show. We'd got together to 'jam' in early May 2003 and pretty quickly cobbled together a set for this show which I think was originally gonna be for Stanton. It made us work hard towards getting some songs down. I'd grown a comedy handlebar moustache especially for the occasion. I don't remember any of us being particularly nervous but there was a false start to Snakes so I must have been a bit shaky. James smoked some 'herb' before he went on. Photographs from the night show he is wearing a Neurosis t shirt. Trencher played in the 'round' on the floor like Prince at Wembley Arena or something. We had fun so decided to play more shows. Set was probably - Snakes, Red Nails, Of The Black Circle,. Money Will Roll Right In, A Witch Is Born. Joe - I remember this being chaotic and fun. We'd had a total of 6 - 8 rehearsals. The mighty Victory Garden / Glass Shrimp organisations sorted it. Ian - This was a good start, despite me having to walk all the way to stockwell tube station (15 minutes) Carrying my amp (which was pretty heavy).. I don't think we hung around for thread.. me and James went home and got really drunk with marianne and my old house mate nick which was ruling.. I had such a bad hangover the next day that I didn't get out of bed until 4pm. James - Bit of a blur, remember getting paranoid cos someone had split a pint on my side and it was really slippery (not good when you have just had your first spliff for a while!) Also remember Ed from my other band at the time, Yeast, grinning from the side of the stage, which was cool.

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