Not on the Guest List

One Night in Manchester

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week Day 5

The printed itinerary from Dev's manager Rene alloted us two hours to make it to Manchester from London, but knowing better we arranged an earlier departure time the night before so that we'd make it to scheduled radio sessions in time and perhaps have time to shop - Footballer's Wives style as Fifi referred to it as. Since there had been a day off in the tour schedule, we'd all headed back to London. Originally Patrick was going to ride the rails up to Manchester, but opted to come along in the car with Dev, Fifi, driver Tom Page and I. Needless to say it was a full load when we eventually took off, however our take-off was hampered by an hour as Patrick was late arriving to Dev's flat. Already bringing along a dollhouse for all the tour dates, Patrick showed up with a menagerie of instruments and odd toys bought at Shepherds Bush Market including an unfortunately sized goldfish balloon that took up what free breathing space there was in the car.

We made it to the University of Manchester radio station early! A first! Fifteen minutes after our arrival the station attendees came out to meet us and take us down to their lier adorned with posters that decried songstress Kate Nash. A recording session ensued including Patrick joining in for a Lightspeed Champion rendition of Wolf's song "Souvenirs" after an interview.

Then we hopped it over to the venue - a proper venue and seated as Patrick had requested. Many of the venues were being upgraded to standing to allow for people to make more money which Patrick didn't like. The hall was actually located just on the fringes of Manchester and apparently designed by someone with an obsession with the color pink. Everything was pink! From all the seats to the walls.

The promoter was especially generous with Dev's rider for the night - setting out a sole bag of crisps (aka potato chips) on a plate in his mirrored dressing room while tables overflowed with food in Patrick's allotted space.

Dev filmed it as apart of his video clip of the day - it appears just a little more than half way through. Note all our disbelief as he pans his camera around haha:

(And of course the above clip was filmed via his Fuji camera. He got it cos both Fifi (see) and Patrick(see) are sponsored by Fuji - to the point where Patrick randomly sang "Fuji-la-la" - the the tune of the Fugee's "Fu-Gee-La" pretty much all the time)

A few seconds later in the video I'm going crazy with Patrick's children's "terrorist training toy." Seriously - it was the best thing EVER! He of course bought it at Shepherds Bush Market and was convinced of it being a terrorism tool as each button says something else and one says "war" repeatedly while another says "New York, New York" hahahahahaha. I used to be OBSESSED with found sounds and still carry an affinty, so I recorded some of it. I don't know if I'm convinced of it's message, but it sure is fun! Can anyone translate it?

Patrick Wolf's toy MP3 (1 min and 27 sec)

Dev took to his practically sold-out merch table as Fifi manned Patrick's. Two girls dressed in capes approached Dev. We couldn't decide whether they had simply chosen to dress up as casual super-heroes regardless of where they were going or if they'd dressed up in homage to Dev's frequent caped crusades on the many concert stages of the world.

The audience was rather subdued throughout both Lightspeed Champion's and Patrick Wolf's sets. During Patrick's encore the duo finally played their "Souvenirs" duet in the live setting in front of a crowd. Patrick messed up on the lyrics, but it was still a treat.

"Souvenirs" (Patrick Wolf Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

After the show we headed back to Patrick's hotel for a few drinks. While Dev is a teetotaler, he did take a tiny sip from Fifi's white Russian from a straw. An exposed nerve in his mouth has made it so that wherever he goes, so does a handful of straws should the occasion arise that he needs to drink. The bar just off the lobby closed soon after our arrival so within the hour we caught a black cab to our castle for the night - ie Travelodge - a rite of passage for any band touring in the UK and residence of Dev's so often that he recognizes the staff members now.

Yes - Manchester also brought about the first date on the tour in which there was a hotel room! Oh the luxury of Travelodge. No internet - unless you want to pay five pounds per hour (!), no TV, no microwave, wonky heating, but three beds - one in the form of a couch. Now that's accommodation.

We had until noon the next day to check-out, so Tom took off for a walk, Dev hunted down Subway, and I got lost looking for a bottle of water as the hotel's vending machines were throughly under-stocked.

Now it was off to satellite town of Leicester! To play the Y Club. Where does the name come from you ask?

Well, it was actually part of the YMCA - it's doorsteps decorated with kids in tracksuits and not looking especially welcoming i.e. chavs. Dev looked on with indifference, inside his head and with Lil' Wayne cranked to deafening levels.

My Tour Blog Round-up!

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 4

I've wanted to photograph a tour for a bit and finally had my chance with the joint Lightspeed Champion and Patrick Wolf UK tour in November. In the beginning of October I sent Dev a message and bada bing, bada bang, he was up for it. Note: I'd just been fired from my day job - what a great time for an expensive-ish trip overseas! Whoo! The possibility of self-imposed poverty rocks! Pitched it as a photo diary to Pfork who declined, so I pitched a few glossy magazines and URB was psyched for it. I blogged the tour for their site. Keep an eye out for the issue in January featuring my words and Dev's photos in a photo-essay profile of his project.
It's really funny cos I always want to be involved at a photo level in the projects Dev's involved in and that drive always nets me bylines in big places - first, my desire to shoot Test Icicles portraits led me to hunting down the editor of German Vice who bestowed me with the privilege. Now kinda with URB where I will now be contributing regularly (believe you me - I am trying to establish Portland's music scene even further in URB's Next 1000 issue out in March).

On with the tour...

First stop was Brighton. Because Dev's manager Rene couldn't find a driver, Dev had to take the train while I caught the bus, by way of National Express. At this point we assumed the entire tour would be by train. You can read about the whole Brighton adventure on Urb.com including a Test Icicles run in, Dev getting some prayers in, a tap dancing class and Patrick Wolf singing Britney Spears songs.

(I'd been looking forward to seeing Brighton's Pier. Saw it in the dark)

I came back to London as planned that night, only Dev did not, which I didn't learn of until after 1am. Due to Rene not transferring money into his bank account, Dev's phone bill did not get paid and he was levied a 300 pound fine and was no longer able to make outgoing calls. That caused a big kink in everything. Cue me outside his flat until near 4am (while hoards of foxes ran around having their fun) until I knocked on random doors at his direction on my mobile and ended up sleeping in the kitchen of Millers care of Pre and Comanechi's Akiko. That was sehr fun - she was recording, so we rewrote a song of hers, talked some Karen O solo material and had toast. Oh, and she cut her foot, but didn't feel it and thought she'd just stepped in ketchup so there was a trail of blood all over the floor.

In honor of riding the rails, a very appropriately covered person:

"Devil Inside Your Soul" (Train Chronicles Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

Next stop was Exeter. Dev got a driver! Patrick's van broke down! Interview cancelations! Spice Girls songs! Read on Urb.com about what happened on the cobblestone streets of Exeter and at the venue which had a metal horse outside of it causing me to sing the Simon Bookish song of the same name (complete with inflection).

Patrick Wolf's tour manager Stuart really wasn't nice to me. After the show I went into the dressing room to check on my recharging laptop where four boxes of pizza were stacked near the garbage containing about two slices each. Even though this was a "solo tour" Patrick had a large crew along for the ride including his hairdresser Harri who said I could have a piece. As I was going to take a bite, Stuart walked in and grabbed the slice out of my hand and said I wasn't allowed to have any (while every one else was). I looked at Patrick thinking he was joking. He wasn't. It was like that a lot.

While Dev packed up his merch inside, his driver Tom and I sat in the parking lot. Previous to this short tour, Tom has driven for many acts including those on Dev's label Domino and for Feist. He hadn't heard Test Icicles so I played him a few tracks. Soon Dev was approaching. We decided maybe we should stop listening to "Who Ate All the Offal" and "What's Michelle Like" cos that might be weird. hahahaha

Bristol was my favorite afternoon/night. It was the most fun and relaxed one - everyone was in a positive mood. I assumed that on this tour there'd be at least an hour of free time to experience the cities. Not so. Every minute for Dev was scheduled for press. The second he arrived into each city it was time for a radio session, then to the venue for soundcheck and as soon as that was completed (it typically only lasted for two songs since he only had a guitar) it was time for in person interviews until stage time.

We made it to Bristol about an hour late, but still with enough time for everything to be just dandy which you can see plenty of photos of and read about on Urb.com

Another concert-goer had fun at the show in Bristol too!

We had a day off in London on the 24th before continuing on so I used the time to go to a party in a warehouse. Next was Manchester and partially Leicester which never went up on Urb, so that full blog will be my conclusion to this theme week.

I will be uploading ALL of my photos from headdresses to hotel rooms from the tour onto my flickr as soon as the New Year kicks in so stay tuned to it come the beginning of January.

Black Cab Sessions

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 3

Right before I arrived in London (in an airport in Minnesota in fact), Dev said he'd be back to his flat around 9pm on the day to let me in as he had ten million things to do during the day that would keep him away. Doubts he'd be able to leave his flat by the 10:30am time he was scheduled for entertained themselves in my head given his habit/penchant for only leaving the flat in the evening, not to mention an unabashed love of the internet. When I showed up with my too much luggage around 12-ish in the afternoon, he hadn't quite made it out of the Big Chill, so all was good - after a hug I instantly started boiling some water to make some Annie Chun as he further checked his schedule.
I assumed his appointments for the day were meeting up with friends before two weeks spent on the road, but oh no, I was wrong. My god was his schedule packed - with everything from business meetings with accountants and his management to press, press, and more press. And then more press after that - photoshoots, interviews, and videos shoots.
Just prior, he'd been in Europe doing near 80 interviews in 5 days. When he went to New york for two days in October, his schedule had been similarly packed - if not more - doing shoots and interviews with every publication including my book club read Nylon. One shoot was with the guy who shot the portraits in the Strokes' Is This It album booklet. Talk about perfect pairing.
This is in addition to endless online press commitments he's continually emailed.
Major hectic!

So on his schedule for the day (aside from the couple of appointments he'd missed) was a Black Cab Sessions filming - basically the equivalent to Blogotheque: Take Away Shows, but always in a cab. Because Dev's laptop doesn't carry the correct software necessary to open the schedules his manager Rene sends him, we misread it as shooting at 3. Um no - 1pm more like it. We'd already got on a bus to go by his management when he received a call from Rene alerting him to the correct cab timing and we headed off to the Old Blue Last where the cab was waiting.

We drove around the city getting a good view of London as the meter racked it's way up to 18 pounds. Dev did two songs: "Tell Me What it's Worth" and "Heart in a Cage," which I requested when he was searching for what would be the second song.

"Heart In A Cage" (live Strokes cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

He ran through a couple chords in his flat before we left for about 30 seconds, but other than that - no other notes had been played by him before they pushed record on the camera.

Wanna watch the final product?

Also featured? The Kooks, St. Vincent and Eugene Mcguinness amongst many others.

Dev was still doing his daily video-blogging at the time, so I shot some of it with his camera which I dropped repeatedly (in the car, on the sidewalk, etc. hahahaha :(
Watch our DIY cinema:

Dev shot me in his kitchen and laughing hysterically in the cab too which is right before I took over in the video.

Lightspeed Christmas

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 2

Last year Dev released a single track "Happy Birthday Jesus" (MP3) (which he deems as "the worst song ever written") to commemorate Christmas. This year - a whole EP!
He received a myspace message asking if he'd be doing anything special musically for the holiday and yes in fact he did in the form of Lightspeed Champion's Garageband Xmas E.P.
Garageband Xmas E.P tracklisting:

1.INTRO I Forgot To Wrap Your Present (PERFORMED BY VICTORIA HESKETH)
2.Happy New Year (ABBA Cover)
3."Another Song About Being Alone At Xmas" Lightspeed Champion MP3
4.I Forgot To Wrap Your Present...My Bad
5.OUTRO I Forgot To Wrap Your Present (PERFORMED BY VICTORIA HESKETH)
6.(BONUS TRACK) Perfect Harmony 2

Download the whole thing via zshare.

"Perfect Harmony 2" features guest vocals by Patrick Wolf and Trash Pussies DJ Fifi Brown.

The day after Klaxons at Brixton and after his 3am return from a gig in Sheffield, we went to the pound store across from his street and bought four santa hats, magenta tinsel, mittens, a plastic North Pole plaque, a gold bag to cut faux ornaments out of and a cane and got our Christmas photo on at his flat.

When Dev hears a song he doesn't just hear it - he sees the chords. I asked if he could play "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and he said probably even though he hadn't heard it in a bit. Then I asked if he could play "Winter Wonderland" and got the same answer. In a few minutes later and sat in front of his computer, he took "Winter Wonderland" to task - and it was kinda magic to watch - he is so talented. He got it on his first try - perfectly - and he wasn't strumming just the basics - no there were intricate chords!! It was amazing to watch him work it out and master it in under two minutes.

Before abandoning his youtube channel due to negative feedback, he recorded a video for Garageband Xmas E.P track "Another Song About Being Alone At Xmas" that became a featured video on youtube!!! Excitement! Of course I had to screencap the occasion!

^^Right there! First vid under featured!^^
View the video (filmed on his hot pink Fuji camera) below:

PS - if you know anything about Dev's taste, you know he hails the Killers as the best band on earth. We spent far too much time waiting for their neue Christmas video to load so he could show me. Notice the green ribon around his neck in our photos? Yep - that's an ode to Mr. Flowers. I bought the ribbon at Mills End. Shout out! Here's "Don't Shoot Me Santa":

And look who got seasonal!
"Yule Shoot Your Eye Out" Fall Out Boy MP3

Why don't we get local while we're at it?
"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" Eskimo & Sons MP3

a track title which ties into this photo:

That E&S song is apart of a Portland hoilday comp that you should check out and buy!

And this is how I celebrated Christmas on Not on the Guest List last year.

Happy ho-ho-holidazzzzzze!

Lightdreams

Lightspeed Champion Week Day 1

Last year I used to blog about dreams I had that involved musicians. Then I let the tradition lapse after a really rad dream about Turbo Fruits coming to Portland and never returned to the post topic. Of the few I did blog, those entries have kinda come back to haunt me hahahaha. This blog does mention "neurotic" in the sidebar.
Anyway - last night I had a dream where Lightspeed Champion, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Gossip played a gig in a movie-theatre like auditorium. Could those three acts be anymore different? I'm pretty sure it was a movie theatre. I was still on tour with Dev and after his set we took seats and watched the show go on. Soon BRMC's Nick Jago came over with a detached flash head and started making it flash at us. Then he started talking about Dev's flickr stream and talking about them taking photos together. He said he was taking photos of us by just using his flash -- with no camera attached. Whaaaa? He was taking strobist to new levels - he'd modified the flash so that on slave mode it took polaroids - like inside the body of the 580ex, was a pack of polaroids and after each shot he'd have to manually adjust them - kinda like a pinhole camera.
He said he'd show me how to modify mine.
I went to take a shower backstage and the drain was clogged. Beth Ditto came by and said she knew how to fix it as she wanted to take a shower after another sweaty Gossip set. It took forever and we didn't get too far.
Back in the regular part of the auditorium the night had wound down so the only option if Nick Jago was going to demonstrate how to modify a flash into a polaroid camera was to spend the night at Dev's which happened to actually be Reverend Run's house in the dream. At this point Beth invited herself along because she still wanted to take a shower.
We all slept on the basketball court. So did two security guards - Ralph - gigantic in weight and height, bald head and handlebar mustache and Josh from my former job at a mall, not for security purposes, but just because they were there (?). They made me fetch them sleeping bags too.
The next day it was really sunny. Beth was up early and hanging around the joint tourbus outside in a mini-dress in LA like sunny conditions on the suburban street that near identical houses lined - we were at Reverend Run's house after all.
And at some point word came that Jimmy Kimmel had booked Naive New Beaters to play on his show. Yessss! That part of the dream had nothing to do with anything else. I wish of all parts that that would become reality.
That's kinda where the dream ended.

So where in reality did this come from? See above photo - as before falling asleep I'd just been looking at my Foals pictures from their Rough Trade instore on Brick lane for the first time and in many of my photos one dancing photog can be seen unleashing his inner strobist. When Yannis asked why I was in the UK afterwards I briefly mentioned Dev which got him talking about their joint upcoming Observer cover. Boy - did he go on about that. Then I took a polaroid of him. The polaroid/Nick Jago factor may have come from the polaroid I took of him at Bumbershoot with Greg's camera. Oh - and I just got to my mom's place and Seattle and her bathroom sink drain is clogged...

"Another Fight" (Theoretical Girl Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

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...)

Turn that video around Metronomy!

Talk about fast turnaround! Just a couple weeks ago, Mr. Mount sent out a myspazz bulletin asking for a brunette to come and star in the music video for "Radio Ladio" shooting on November 29th. Looks like they found one:

metronomy - radio ladio

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Joe has a disclaimer for the celluloid:

"Hello Folks, My manager has snuck up the video we made for Radio Ladio (directed by the wonderful Daniel Brereton). I'm just warning you it's pretty creepy, we got up on a day off from the bloc party tour and were all really unwell...that's why I look like Hulk and Oscar looks like death itself. Anyway, i hope you enjoy it. joseph"

Just a few seconds into viewing and I wanna turn Oompa Loompa too!

And note I say quick turnaround because Dev shot a Lightspeed Champion music video directed by the ever-enjoyable Saam the day before I arrived in London and was supposed to get it back within a few days. Where is it?

Since everybody and their brother is already offering "Radio Ladio" and I included it in my October podcast and you should buy it, I thought to change it up and hit you with his best Britney:

"Toxic" (Britney Spears cover) - Metronomy MP3

Arya equated it to what "Toxic" would sound like if Beirut covered it (only a bit more electronic I must add).

I have local electro goddess Michele (with one "L") Wylen to thank for passing along this track. Remember when Scots Travis covered Britney's "Baby One More Time" and then people covered Travis' cover? Well, Michele has covered Metronomy's cover - the MP3 of which you can download ala LocalCut.com.

Go to Metronomy's myspazz for a live rendition of "Heartbreaker" which isn't a Pat Benatar or Mariah Carey cover, but just as delicious! And remember I saw him and his Food Groups in Glasgow just a week ago-ish.

BEST. VIDEO. EVER.

Regardless of your preferred music genre, this video is required viewing:

Did Ashlee Simpson just take it there? I believe she did. It reminds me of everything (Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For?" video, those insane asylum scenes from Good Burger with George Clinton, that twins photo by Diane Arbus, Missy Elliott's "Work It" video, Spanish geeks who hold world records in Rubiks cube fumbling to name just a few) yet disturbs me like nothing before. If I were to list all my favorite parts in this video I would be listing every single second - seriously. Yes - she's dancing, levitating and hanging upside down in a straight-jacket. And NO - I CANNOT believe this video exists. AT ALL. Omgzzzzzzzz forever - it just gets better and better - new levels, new dimensions, new youtube favorite.

WHO is the director? I'm not sure if they should be taken out and shot or celebrated. I'm gonna go with the latter for now. I've got a wreath of flowers just waiting to decorate their neck who ever it is.

"What You Waiting For" (Gwen Stefani Cover) Franz Ferdinand MP3
cos now I have an excuse to post this olden days BBC live lounge MP3 since I mentioned the original song and all...

Four Horsemen of Brixton

The last time I saw the inside of Brixton was for a No Doubt show in June 2002. Well - the balcony still looks the same - a castle fit for kings, or rather four horsemen... from 2012 even if 2007 is already Klaxons' year. Brixton's website was finally changed day of to reflect the actual opening acts of night two of Klaxons' December residency and lo and behold - I was getting my chance the very next night to freak out to Justice!! - whoo!, but not SMD who I've yet to see live (only DJ) and was soo looking forward to and of course those shouty Canadians in the guise of Crystal Castles. Thanks to Klaxons' manager (and one of my newest myspazz friends) Tony, a photopass was waiting for me when I stepped up to the stage door after passing posting alerting the public to the band's ban of glowsticks. Trying to shake themselves of a genre/lifestyle tag, no? :) Or how about decreasing the chances of having to wear an eyepatch due to getting hit in the eye?

What time did I arrive? Despite getting into London just before noon and really not having anything too pressing to do other than find the cheapest possible clothes to buy to replace my curry stained jeans and a dress I didn't want to wear, I delayed my getting ready until 6 - which is around the time I would've needed to leave in order to shoot the first three songs of Crystal Castles' strobe heavy set. Yeah - I was uber-bummed at not getting to take them in, especially having missed them on the 4th at the Scala since I was still in Glasgow taking in Dan Deacon. But just as Bogart and Bergman "will always have Paris" in Casablanca, I knew I'd have my Crystal Castles and Health show at Holocene in Portland in a mere month, so I wasn't suffering too much.
By the time I arrived - guess what - Justice had not only already taken to the stage, but FINISHED. Ahhhhh!! Boooooo! Though little did I know, I'd have my chance to see them again in mere hours...

So what did that leave me with? Well - a lot - in the one act yet to play - Klaxons! One of their very final shows of the year and their final show in the UK of 2007.

With the lights down, I swear I heard some Franki Valli coming from the speakers before they entered onto the stage. Jamie shouted various proclamations and they predictably launched into "Bouncer." "How bizarre, how bizarre." Remember that song? I do and that's just what I had on my mind when Klaxons galavanted onto the stage in their silver gladrags and for the first time didn't introduce themselves as hailing from London. So crazy - mind warp! hahahaha They've done that at EVERY show I've seen 'em at to the point that the statement was as much apart of their set as their songs - hell - it had become a song.
He addressed the audience the whole night as Brixton.

Everyone's arms were immediately in the air - not just those against the barrier, but as far back as the door - and they stayed up - the whole time - everyone so ecstatic to be there!

Uh-oh - I spy glowsticks:

As I shot away I noticed that same look James always has - the look of singular vision - like he's an athlete - an endurance runner perhaps - fierce agility through the course all the while Simon blundered his way to the front of the stage - hunched over, cape flying.

Following the same setlist as they always do - the set was still mucho different from previous showings I've taken in. As always - in "Magick" there was that almost too long, just long enough to make everyone fervent brand of pause, but this time there was no dramatic towel flaunting by James. In fact, there were pauses a plenty throughout the night through many a song.

After the first three songs in the pit, I darted out to take in the concert from multiple perspective points. As soon as I'd made my way around the barrier I bumped into Akiko, who I hadn't seen since sleeping in her kitchen on my second night in the UK. It was rather amazing how few Klaxons friends knew if they'd be attending prior to the show. When I asked Alex if he was going two weeks before, he'd said he didn't know and same with Akiko. I'm really glad she was there - she'd wanted to be, but wanted to be invited instead of having to ask. Looks like the request came to her as she was up at the very front all a smile.
I made my way upstairs to the VIP area - there was no way I wouldn't be enjoying the concert amongst everyone else, but wanted to take a minute to see it from another perspective. I always tell myself I will immediately stop going to concerts if I ever have the desire to take them in a removed setting because to me, concerts aren't about that. From behind the plexi-glass once I'd made it up they'd made their way onto "Golden Skans" and what a treat that was to watch from above and just see everyone carrying on the "ooo-ooooo-oooo-ohhhh-ahhahhhs" as if they wanted to take the song to eternity.

The beautiful lighting also factored into the night - reflecting Klaxons as statuesque silhouettes - especially with the shades of purple during "Forgotten Works."

I realized it was the last show I was ever gonna see like this - them in support of Myths of the Near Future - with a setlist reflecting all the tracks to their credit. Oh the feeling of nostalgia for the present.

While I couldn't fight my way all the way back up to the front, I was happy to take in the show from my spot - I could see everyone just going crazy and have enough room to dance myself. By the end of the show they had silver confetti raining down.

And get this - there was an encore! An encore! First time I've ever seen that from Klaxons. Any special track you ask? Not really - they still closed with the chaos of "Four Horsemen," but this time exited the stage and returned before giving it a go with the gust of the cheering crowd.

Klaxons left the stage with a bow and salute. What a show to go out on - when they closed - they sealed the deal for everyone there. In need of a comeback by album two? Sophomore curse? When they return, so will everyone else.

More of my photos of the show here on f-f-f-f-f-flickr

Compare and contrast:

"Bouncer" (Demo) Klaxons MP3

"The Bouncer" (Original Mix) Kicks Like a Mule MP3

Part 2 of these MP3s coming in the Near Future (pun intended)

After party report+photos in my next post... I finally caught up with Fist Fite and didn't feel like the Mark Ronson to their Lily Allen (who was actually there too)

Unwrapping Metronomy, Justice and CSS live

Where was I on December 5th? Not at Brixton Academy watching Fist Fite do their damage. No - I was in Glasgow. I left getting on the list for CSS at the Carling Academy until last minute, holding out hope Fist Fite would add me to their guestlist, but when word didn't come - ever - not even day of, I knew I was being granted my Christmas Present early in the form of CSS' holiday tour opened by none other than Metronomy. My first time seeing the man whose music I idolize! Knowing I'd be spending the majority of my day away on the roads of Ardlui therefore being unable to harass publicists during business hours, the night before I set about trying to get on every guestlist possible, not giving a shit if my requests overlapped as there was no way I was missing my Joseph Mount. I hit up CSS' American publicist, I hit up their UK national press officer, I hit up their UK regional publicist, I hit up Justice's US publicist, I hit up Metronomy's UK publicist. When I got back from being hailed on at the north most point of Loch Lomond I got onto my email and what did I find in my inbox? Nothing.
Eventually I coerced Sub Pop into contacting the CSS tour manager, just as an email surfaced about the Justice glist. And I got in - whoo-who! Since I was leaving for London the next day at the behest of Meg, I packed, caught a cab to the bus station, stored my luggage and then caught a cab to the venue. The cab driver had never heard of CSS, let alone "a band of Brazilians" - a quick descriptor I threw out. I arrived at the venue just as Metronomy hit the stage, having been schooled in the many inventions Scots have contributed to the world during the ride over - apparently the bicycle according to the proud cabbie and weaseled my way out of the one pound glist charity donation since I was there "for work purposes" - not to enjoy myself at all - at all hahahahahahaha

I expected to hear the calls of "It's Metronomy. It's Metronomy. It's Metronomy" as I made my way through the venue such as the live at Soldout MP3 begins, but those vocals never surfaced on my radar.

The trio - Joseph Mount and his backing band the Food Groups were outfitted in the predictable press on, press-off lights that they normally are - that E*Rock has never heard of! hahahaha Over at his place making music before I left, I hit him up with some Metronomy tracks. It baffled me that he'd never heard of him before - especially given the similarities between E*Rock's right-hand (at times) man Marius aka Copy - Metronomy and Copy share a lot of musical similarities - as I've noted before. But yeah - I was even more astounded when E*Rock had never before seen those lights. "Haven't you seen infomercials for them?" "Haven't you ever been to Walgreens?" A no to both.

The only track that boomed out of the speakers that night from Metronomy's You Could Easily Have Me EP was title track "You Could Easily Have Me." Other than that the music of the evening was heavily dependent on Joe's vocals - all in a direction similar to "Radio Ladio", all catchy and all superior to a lot of current pop. Defining the desire to dance to music. Forget Joe as my husband - I'll take all three!

They closed with current single "Radio Ladio" - and hit some synchronized poses at the end. For those there to take it in, they seemed heavily impressed with the trio on stage that many didn't appear to have heard of before. I think I spied a CSS member ie Luiza briefly in the photopit snapping away during a few songs. I quickly made my way out of it to dance, dance, dance with wild abandon.

Next was Justice. Do we need to even go into there set? It was predictably phenomenal and I was again awash with the desire to move to France and simply spend my life partying it up every night. What is it with French DJs that make me want to buck real life?

After playing a Klaxons track, they made their way into some song that made everyone go INSANE. Something about friends. I think. hahahahahahaha

I had too much stuff with me to go totally crazy, plus I wanted to spend some time taking photos and vowed to myself next time I took in some Justice I would be spending the time losing my mind.

Oh CSS and your parade of unknown Christmas costumes. Seriously - what were they? Lovefoxxx looked like half sequined greenbean, half cloud. The sextet entered the stage dressed as cloth presents, quickly unwrapped themselves to reveal further questions and kicked into it.

Four songs in Lovefoxx handed an apple to photog Jon to pass as a present to an audience member which he graciously did. A dancer soon appeared onstage at her introduction - dressed in a Christmas tree dress and shimmying it away.

Then it was time for some stripping - down to a different cat-suit- this one magenta and adorned with three naughty green hand-prints - two across the chest and one suggestively placed on the behind. Lovefoxxx? Saucy minx more like it hahahaha. SO. LAME. hahahahaha

They introduced "Alcohol" as their love song and I surprisingly didn't cringe upon them kicking into "Music is My Hot Hot Sex" now that it plays endlessly as an i-pod commercial and all. God has it been nice to be TV free for the past month! "Paris Hilton" made an appearance and I was gunning - just gunning for them to churn out their Grizzly Bear cover, but alas they did not.

The last song of their regular set they introduced as their "peace song." Once they disappeared off stage I left to make my way down to London believing I was just hours away from Simian Mobile Disco. I heard later that CSS encored with "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above." Was there any other set closer? Could there have been? Of course not.

"Gold Mine Gutted" (Bright Eyes Remix) Metronomy MP3

Yo - it pays to be Metronomy's myspace friend. PAYS. He used to release unsused remix MP3s all the time through it.

"NYEXCUSE" Justice MP3 (originally by Soulwax and featuring some Nancy Whang vocals)

"Knife" (Grizzly Bear cover) CSS MP3