Party Till You Puke

A night out in Londontown

So at about half past ten, Flora and I headed down to a warehouse party in Hackney where four bands would be playing. When we got there a duo was already on - they were so good - though neither of us knew their name. They turned out to be Cuckoos Nest. So good! The first song we caught was vocalless, but then the girl component of the pair stepped up to the mic for the rest of their set which consisted of heavy distortion and drum beats.

After a brief intermission at the close of Cuckoos Nest's set came another band was maybe a bit too loud for my ears. No - I'm not old - just a bit way too close to the speakers for such punk shouts.

Then finally it was time for the unexpected (because I didn't previously know them) best set of the night by Graffiti Island!

If there is any way to steal the show, Graffiti Island have clearly been schooled in it! Yes - we're talking about monotone vocals about pet snakes and turtles over beats and basslines delivered with the best of "I don't care" stage presence - or rather off-stage presence as the lead singer spent most of the set wandering off into the audience to pet a girl's face for the lyric "pretty" and the like when not offering head massages to the drummer Cherise.

Their set was entirely too brief, but maybe that assisted in their lasting impression. They put me into fangirl mode - seriously hahahaha They remind me of so much, yet are so unique.

(are we looking at her YACHT shirt? Are we?)

"Wolf Guy" Graffiti Island MP3

Directly after Graffiti Island came the top-billed hardcore quartet Lovvers

I haven't been to a hardcore show for so long. It was funny cos I was staying with Dev (this show was during a day off from tour - we came back to London after the Bristol show before booking it to Manchester) and as I was leaving his flat Dev was like "Rory will probably be there" and he was. Test Icicles4EVA hahaha. I didn't even notice Rory was in my frame until I looked at the pics the next day:

It's rather funny how many TI related conversations I've had since being here. It appears they're still most people's favorite bands (including mine) even if they did pave the way for Hadouken!
Anyway, back to Lovvers - there was a lot of crashing and jumping and even a foray into crowdsurfing!

It was a lot of fun - I felt 15 for a second. The end of their set concluded the live portion of the evening.

Matt put together the night. He should guest star on the Dirty Projectors latest album:

The night was SO fun!!!!!!! I downed an entire bottle of tequila in the space of about 30 minutes so the latter part of my evening pretty much revolved around this post's title - I threw up 7 times - what a way to make an impression hahahahaha

I met Markland (on the right) who has an album out on Absolutely Kosher label home of Frog Eyes and Get Him, Eat Him of as Sleeping States. He was enjoyable. This summer he toured around the States for a good long time and actually spent a couple weeks in Portland only 3 blocks away from my sublet on 28th and Killingsworth! What, what! It was funny cos he was like - since I'm from Portland "Why are you here?" referencing the truth that Portland truly is Shangri-La.

(Cherise, Florence, ?)

I also talked to Cherise of Graffiti Island who made the mistake of instantly mentioning YACHT and then pause for it -- E*Rock. Me not drunk - I would've already been over-enthusiastic, but with the tequila I went a little lot E*Rock crazy hahaha. As I always say - way more people should know him. Did you know his Gossip video is currently in the Paris Museum of Modern Art alongside Andy Warhol? I am just so thrilled that in connection to Portland he was the second thing she mentioned. Rad!

I remember when no one had heard of Portland. A specific example - when I shot Test Icicles for German Vice and their album booklet in '05 and I was flying to Portland for 10 days a couple hours later. Dev asked where to in the US.
"Portland."
"Ohhh, that's cool too..." so half-heartedly you could imagine a 'I guess' at the end.
Now P-town is on the map.

So yeah - other than that I met a TON of awesome people and formed a band with two siblings.

I'm not a playa,

I just floss a lot

Let's link it up:
Graffiti Island myspazz
Lovvers myspazz
Cuckoos Nest myspazz
Sleeping States myspazz
Little Death myspazz (band of Canadian Nathan who was seemingly the only one to know the first band's name)

More photos here

Comments

[Jamila Fucking Dance]

the singer in that first picture looks like the singer from Headless. maybe maybeeee.

[douglas martin]

you met markland? i'm so jealous. sleeping states is so awesome.

[Nilina]

Good one Jamila!! Tracked their 'Space down - they now have a name!