Aldershot

Is a bit off my beaten track, don’t think I’ve ever been here before; we pass a Home to the Army sign after a decent drive. I’m thinking sqaddies and barracks and suchlike…so that’s what it’s famous for. Ben wangs a short cut and we’re at The West End Centre in no time, a community centre style venue with council sponsorship and a lottery funded PA. Women in bri nylon aprons patrol its corridors with brooms and polishing machines. In a funny way it reminds me of a hospital, or I should say a long stay institution. We’re met at the venue by Karina and Sid [who’s band Wherewithal are supporting]. It’s so nice to see them after years of emails, letters and record exchanges. Karina’s excellent fanzine POPART is still in production and has given plenty of support to VP over the years. Julie the sound engineer for tonight affords us the most luxurious of sound-checks paying great attention to detail. She really knows her stuff and we in turn are very grateful. Then we leave for a radio session on Eagle FM in Guilford, Karina navigates. Roy ‘the boy’ DJ meets us at the station where we chance upon a kids plastic guitar which we fail to persuade the station owners to part with. It’s a prize for the phone-in or something, one of those plastic button riff beat box battery jobs. Andy entertains us admirably grovelling to the bosses no avail. He also wins the gizmo guy in the band award by a mile spending most of the travel time today playing computer golf on the laptop. Me I’m just about to get a lap top, better late than never. This will mean I can update the site with a little more punctuality. The radio station doesn’t have the capacity to handle a bass D.I. [no inputs and no desk] and we’ve somehow forgotten the percussion and melodica so I end up playing Jesus Stole my Girlfriend solo. There’s a bit of a giggly vibe going on in the studio but I get through it OK. We do a brief interview and they play the Two Fat Lovers single. We thank Roy ‘the boy’, do some pictures and head off for pizza express. Back in the venue we’re just in time to catch The Poppycocks who are first on tonight. They are like The Joe Jackson Band meets The Go Betweens. Their singer has a fringe to cry for and their bass player suits the naval look as well as dancing like Andy Cox from the Beat [hmmm…I’m going back a bit here]. Quirky punchy catchy songs. I do my best to photograph them from side of stage. Wherewithal are next and Ben and I go out front to mingle atmospherically. They hit the boards running, like a proper power pop posse. Our gig comes and goes. Response is good. For me it’s an odd one as I manage to break 4 guitar strings [I hardly ever break them, in fact I don’t think I’ve broken any strings since we started touring early in Nov last year] so this is a personal record of sorts and one I hope never to repeat. Thankfully the guitar tech who works with Wherewithal was on hand to sort me out and minimise the disruption. So many thanks for that, a real life saver on the night. After the show we meet Zoe, her mad teacher dad and others sweet enough to buy the albums. Then it’s back to Karina and Sids place for a blinding recovery, best VPx