Hey You! Let's Party!

Be prepared, this appears to be novel length long, y'all. It gets less text heavy after the first handful (read: ten million) of paragraphs if that's any consolation

Where we last left off Klaxons had just finished their ecstatic set and as we all know, after the show is the after party. When I stepped up to the stage door before the show I was given a silver VIP wristband and instructions for the after party on a white business card pointing me towards Kitts in Sloane Square, open at 11.
As the audience poured out of the general concert area into the foyer I made my way upstairs again to the VIP area where everyone was beginning to get their drink on from the far over-priced bar. I really didn't have much to do, so I relented and purchased two shots of tequila and orange juice for myself at the price of ten pounds while on the phone with Meg.
Eventually they let us into the dressing rooms and it got fun!
How long had I been looking forward to the Fist Fite/Klaxons show the night before? Ummm... since April! I dropped the hint I wanted to go to the show when I saw them on Halloween and pitched a review of Fist Fite's set to my Willamette Week editor. No offer of glist was made, so four days before the show I straight up asked Fist Fite on myspace. No response. Maybe I didn't send the message? Nope - there it was in my sent folder. Maybe they didn't see it? Nope - there it was marked as "read." As soon as their UK tour dates started rolling I had been google searching "Fist Fite" with a combination of words hoping to turn up reviews so excited for what people were saying about their shows - didn't really turn up anything other than forum postings. So let's say it was a bit more than a mild disappointment when I didn't get to attend the show. Major bummer. I love Fist Fite/Klaxons shenanigans! Their double feature shows my favorite (as you'll see in my year end list).
Well Jonnie and Christian of Fist Fite were in the dressing rooms. First response - awkward! And you know what - it turned out not to be - at all! Apparently I was on the list the night before - they just didn't tell me... Jonnie said they only had three people on it.
Cue Simon el Capitan Strobe standing up from his spot sitting at the mirror saying "Nilina Not on the Guest List was on the list both nights!" Seriously - knowing I was actually on the list for their night - I don't know if that makes it even worse. Well, at least I got to see Klaxons in concert!
I wanted to talk with Simon seeing as I haven't see him since July and don't know what happened so that we didn't after the hug. I do remember Patrick Wolf giving me a head massage with Sally - his battery operated toy Chihuahua that he got in Japan (and that I thought he'd given to Fifi).
God though - it was so nice seeing Portland people! ie poor people hahahahahaha - man - that pound KILLED me. It's SO strong against the dollar! Too strong!
We got to talk yards versus miles and the delights of traveling on British roads with the aid of slightly outdated (due to rampant construction) navigation systems - a pleasure I'd experienced on the Lightspeed Champion tour a week earlier.
There were other enjoyable people there too - I was mistaken for 18 years old hahahahaha (an improvement cos everyone thinks I'm 16). The woman then encouraged me to take a gigantic bottle of Vodka that no one was drinking - saying if anyone caught me they'd think it was cute hahahahaha
Peaches Geldof was getting quite friendly with Claudio of Crystal Castles - literally -they spent SO much time talking on a couch. (WHY do I have the need to refer to him as Claudio Daddio? hahahaha)
Apparently "Metric are the worst band ever" according to Alice. We talked about their Portland show at the Wonder Ballroom and about their upcoming show with Health. Jonnie began the task of getting them to play a house show when they come to Portland. They said 'yeah' many a time - believe you me, my fingers are beyond crossed for that. I went to the Cute Alert after show when they were last in the Rose City, but left at 12:30 at which point they hadn't shown up yet.
Jonnie had some Brace Paine gossip (no pun intended) that Christian discouraged her from telling me. I'm not gonna type it now, but it may appear later. This came up when I started talking about the Feather Figure show I'm doing with him on January 27th that ALL Portland people BEST be coming to - it's at Someday Lounge - a night of noise. Prepare for your ears to bleed.
So many people looked familiar so the task began with a few of them of trying to pinpoint how we'd know each other.
Soon it was time to move it on over to Kitts minus Crystal Castles and Simon.
We made our way outside for cabs that everyone was pretty much too drunk to hail or call. Steffan and his coif made an appearance talking about the escapades of Klaxons' guitar tech Dreamboat for no apparent reason, saying that while his appeal was that of an angel, he is in fact "a sexual devil." He repeated that phrase too many times to count. "He's a sexual devil. He's a sexual devil, ..."
Okay...
We made our way around the corner and a fleet of taxis could be found. Jamie doled out a 20 pound note to Jonnie to get us over to the club and we were off - sharing the back of the cab with Trev and John who I'd met two weeks prior after coming back from a Lightspeed Champion concert in Bristol.

Dev and I went to the bar beneath his flat and then the party continued onto Trev's. That's also the night I met Alex who I was soon to meet again inside Kitts.
Is it odd how many times over the course of my trip "who's your favorite Klaxon?" came up? Seriously! That's all people talked about while I was in London. If Jonnie had Tigerbeat-esque posters of a Klaxons band member hanging on her wall it'd be Jamie, which I found surprising.
I had bought disposable cameras at Boots so I passed a couple out and wound mine for the first time.
We got to Sloane Square, but had a hard time finding Kitts. Fifi was on the sidewalk dressed as Santa.
Soon we found it - complete with velvet ropes and a bouncer who let us in even though none of our names were Dan. (Yeah - I just said that hahaha)
We had to give up the white card in order to gain entry.
The coat check was free monetary wise, but not of scorn. Seriously.
What I encountered all too often already during my 3 weeks over there, was manifested inside Kitts - excess breeds emptiness. That club was not empty in terms of capacity, so I believe you know what I mean.
Pretty much everyone was there - as it was alight with pretty young things. I instantly spied a Mystery Jet in the form of William,

Jamie T and Jack Penate whose face reminds me of a rip-off of the lead singer of Hadouken and that doesn't quite jive with me.
I chatted with Misshapes mascot Jackson about a DJ gig he'd abandoned in Miami to attend the gig instead.

I then ran into a pleasant looking guy who I'd seen ALL night - from the dressing rooms at Brixton to now Kitts - glass on, glasses off, glasses on. Turns out he is Tim Burgess - of Charlatans and that band with Carl Barat that plays once a year.

I still didn't know who he was until someone made the comment on my flickr as when we talked it didn't come up.
Jonnie, Christian and I made our way to the center of the dance floor and tore it up to The Knack's "My Sharona." Oh how fun it was. And guess who was behind the decks inside the most miniature DJ booth ever? Why it was only Justice!

And who decorated the outside of the booth? Why it was only BUSY P!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not even gonna get into why I don't have a picture with him, but Kinga took one of James and him. Jealous much? I know I am. I NEVER get my photo taken with bands, but managers are a whole 'nother field. I went fangirl for Simon White just three days later. Is that weird? hahahahahaha But god - Busy P - ahhhhh - be still my beating heart. The Ed Banger hancho was making out with a girl when I first spied him. I thought him and Nana were together, but this girl didn't look like her.
So the free bar at Kitts DID NOT include tequila. Kill me now. Seriously - don't just play the Killers b-side.
My impression of a single tear due to this travesty:

(my eyeliner took the impression literally)

I don't like beer - hell - I don't even like alcohol, but two shots don't even get me tipsy so I approached the bar on some crusade. That's when I spotted Alex in the corner with his NME editor Conor McNicholas. No - I didn't ask about Morrisey-gate. Alex and I had been texting for a good portion of the day - neither of them attended the gig due to a NME Awards launch shindig that Pete Doherty couldn't be bothered to turn up at.
Anyway - the bartender reconfirmed that tequila wasn't a part of the free bar, but quickly produced two shots of it - one for me and one for him. We did them and then shouted the lyrics "We Are Your Friends" at each other as Justice's DJ set followed the exact same set as the one at CSS - "Never Be Alone" directly following a Klaxons remix.

I wanted to introduce Alex to Christian and Jonnie, but we bumped into James on the way, prompting a mini-makeout session. Yeah it was hot. In the few seconds it lasted, my camera wasn't ready, so I made them restage it - a restaging that was a lot less amorous.

After James inquired as to whether Alex was coming to Japan the next day with them, Alex and I spent a good portion of the evening together briefly discussing red light amongst other things. We'll leave it there.
Later his co-worker Imran and I formed a tribute band to New Kids on the Block while I looked for the bathroom. We'd both be Donnie. Soon we were quickly engulfed in a group hug by Jamie as he stumbled across the club.
Patrick's sister Jo Apps was discussing how vacuous the atmosphere was. I quickly agreed. It was definitely fun, but the feeling couldn't be denied.
As I made my way out a certain chav-chic singer passed me - a Lily Allen who had stumbled in trashed to oblivion. She was supposed to DJ the party after Justice, but was too drunk. Did I ( and every blog on earth) forget to mention she's pregnant? Even in heels, she was a few inches shorter than me. Not quite a skinny-minny as the tabloids are referring to her as, but rather just slim and normal sized.
Luckily Christian who was holding my coat check ticket had left it with the coat-check girl, so I claimed my coat and was gone at 3am passing Peaches in the stairwell gabbing (sounded a bit like bitching :) about Lily.
When I got outside Trev and John were about to make their way back to Dalston - she'd found her coat which had gone missing earlier.
I caught the nightbus with Claire of Headless and took a picture of her and her flawless lipstick on a disposable camera that I have yet to develop. We talked some Test Icicles, mostly Sam who I'd heard from a few weeks before. Then we geeked out about Gmail and the fact we were the only ones without pockets deep enough for a cab ride home. It was so much fun!
The next day while over at Dev's he was changing his Lightspeed Champion myspace location to "Trashed: Fifi Brown, Guyana" - why? Cos that was a headline that accompanied paparazzi pics of everyone leaving the members-only club were in the papers the next day - including a pic of Fifi getting her Red Stripe on in her santa costume alongside an exiting James and Miss Allen. Pretty freakin' weird in that I was somewhere where paparazzi were and then where the pics of the night end up in all the London papers the next day. How bizarre.

I was informed by an accompanying article that guests at Kitts that night consumed:
32 bottles of Jack Daniels, 500 bottles of beer and 63 bottles of Grey Goose.
WTF! There was Grey Goose!?!?! I could've pretended to be Fergie!?! Re-do please! hahahahaha

More of my photos of the night can be seen in my flickr set o' Kitts.
Kinga has tons too in various groupage.

Fist Fite featured in a Klaxons Simian Mobile Disco NME tour diary.
>> 2nd photo in

"Theme from Vicarious Bliss" (Justice remix) Vicarious Bliss MP3

Why does this track want me to somehow start spelling my name with a Y and remind me of the Cure's "Lovesong" all at the same time?

As Above, So French Klaxons MP3 cos it ties into the abundance of EdBanger crew at their party :)

And I think all of us youtube alert know why this post's title takes it's name from an Andrew WK song (as many of my posts do lately actually...)

Comments

[meg]

favorite part, hands down:
"complete with velvet ropes and a bouncer who let us in even though none of our names were Dan."