Brixton

We have a day off and drive east out of Cardiff along the M4 heading for Windsor which seems close enough to London but not too close if you know what I mean. We’ve already visited the music shops and Ben’s bought a blue ukulele for his son. Of course we all have to have a go. Bonehead is the by far the fastest learner and entertains us on route with a startling rendition of his now famous [as far as we’re concerned] major minor song. His head is healing nicely. It passes the time. We stop off at a country pub and put our feet up on the tables before getting politely asked to remove them. We locate the Travel Lodge but there’s nowhere to park so we end up with inches to spare in an underground car park. Its touch and go and but the roof of the van remains intact. Then we load all the gear into the hotel. Later on we partake of dodgy Indian food and some decent sleep. Next day we set off for London refreshed. We played The Jamm earlier this year and booked this gig last minute to offset travelling to Bournemouth directly from Manchester in a day but alas the Bournemouth gig has been cancelled. This proves to be something of a headache in terms of financial planning as the hotel cancellation deadline has lapsed and they have no flexibility whatsoever. I make a number of futile attempts at getting some kind of refund all to no avail. I feel well pissed off. We stop off on route and watch the Man U v Arsenal game in an Irish pub in Richmond. It’s full of Man U fans which is a relief. Arriving in Brixton later that afternoon we are offered a flop house, turn it down and end up in hotels after some justified protestations to the promoter. After sound check we discover the stage times have changed and we wont be on till 12.45. This trobles our guest list no end. We’re only a few minutes drive away from The Jamm so return to the hotel to get our shit together and watch some TV. The Jamm Crowd is decent enough and we play well, its one of those shows that increases in momentum with each song. People are positive and we sell CDs. Later that night Ben and I return to the hotel at 5am for a much needed rest after Bone and Mikes DJ sets. The others stay in the club all night pasting posters onto ceilings and generally tripping the light fantastic. Ben drives home on Sunday and we’re all eternally grateful as ever. He’s like a human sat nav system still you probably know that already. Every band should have a Ben in it says Club manager Monique; I couldn’t have put it better myself. VP