Category Archives: Music

Maiden Voyage

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I can finally tick one off my ‘bands I really want to see live’ list, having just been up to Birmingham to see Iron Maiden.

Me and three of my oldest friends piled into the car, and after a quick pitstop to grab a case of beer and snacks for the road – not that yours truly saw any of it, thanks to volunteering to drive – we pootled up the A30/M5. I played a bit of catch-up at the bar after a check-in fiasco, which saw me waiting twenty minutes for a member of staff to come and look at our door which wouldn’t open (and for some reason did the first time they tried it…), but made sure I kept a lid on it, this was one gig I didn’t want to forget a minute of.

We found a local ale pub to go for half an hour, not wanting to get there stupidly early, then got a taxi over to the NIA which was rammed. I’ll never forget the moment we went through the wrong door and I found myself stood in the middle of the stands at the back of the arena, looking out over 20,000 people going crazy to the end of Airbourne’s set (the support act we missed most of), it was completely awe-inspiring. We soon got ferried out though and told to go downstairs to the standing area, which again was just full of thousands of people.

Not my photo, but whoever took this was stood about 20 ft away from me

Not my photo, but whoever took this was stood about 20 ft away from me

Half an hour of waiting and people-watching later and the lights went down and the night began properly. I can’t begin to describe how amazing it was, seeing the band about 60ft away, belting out the better songs from the new album, and so many classics. The guitar – and there’s a lot of it with four guitarists on stage! – was incredible, watching those solos being performed live is enough to make your jaw drop. Bruce was on top form, how he manages to hit and hold those notes now he’s in his 50s, as well as running and jumping all over the stage like a maniac, is beyond me. Ever since I first saw the Rock In Rio concert, I desperately wanted to be one of the people in the crowd shouting ‘Two!’ (miiiiinutes, tooo miiiiidnight), and I finally got to do that.

As well as having an awesome stage presence for the better part of two hours, those of us waiting to see Eddie didn’t go away disappointed either. Eddie at the moment (his appearance changes with every studio album) is a big, green, toothy mother from space, and near the end of the main set he walked out on stage, eight feet tall with red eyes and bad-ass! He had cameras in his eyes too which were being relayed to the massive projector screens, so you could see him messing about with Janick and Adrian from his point of view. The Eddie fun didn’t end there though, no, as the night drew to a close an enormous pair of green hands appeared over the back of the set, followed by an equally massive Eddie head! It moved left and right, the mouth opened and closed as they planned, and the crowd nearly lifted the roof off cheering.

Eddie will eat you all!

After the set finished, they came out and played an epic three song encore: Number Of The Beast (complete with massive cross-legged devil beast raised on stage, watching the crowd), Hallowed Be Thy Name and finishing with Running Free. An utterly amazing night, finished with the hilarity of us getting lost on the one mile walk back to the hotel, following the worst GPS ever on someone’s iphone, and one I’ll never forget. I’ll be watching them again as soon as I get another chance, it was easily the best performance I’ve ever seen by any band.

And finally, I was over the moon to hear Bruce talking near the end of the night, saying that he’d heard that everyone thought they’d be calling it a day after the end of the Final Frontier tour, and how it was all rubbish. They have no plans to pack it in, and are going to be around for at least another few years :) .

A Week In The Life

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I’ve had a busy and eventful week or so, so here’s my attempt to catch-up on it all.

Garden

As I mentioned on here a couple of weeks ago, I’ve got it into my head that I’m going to finally sort the back garden out this Spring and get some fruit and vegetable beds dug and planted. I’ve actually started it this time, and I’m making steady progress so far. I’ve got one bed fully dug, planted peas, and built a cane/net support structure to keep the birds (and dogs) off, and for the peas to grow up. I’m under no illusions of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ proportions of veg, but something to eat in a few months would be good. I’ve also got a large pot planted up with chilies, and another pot with some spare strawberry plants in. If I can’t grow strawberries there’s no hope for me!

I’m going to get back out in the garden this weekend and dig another bed or two, with a view to getting carrots, garlic, onions and some corn in (the corn is a trial). Just call me Richard Briers.

Dogs

Ella is well and truly settled in now, and turning out to be a proper little character. For such a scaredy-dog (she jumps at the slightest sound) she’s incredibly pushy when there are treats being given out, or some love to be had. Murph gave us a scare last week and was really poorly for a few days, but he’s back to normal now and loving agility again. The problem for me is the better he gets at it, the further and faster I have to run to keep up with him as the courses get longer and more complex. It’s as taxing mentally as it is physically sometimes, trying to figure out whether you should be doing reverse turns, cut-behinds, pull-throughs or whatever, all the while keeping an eye on the overly excited ginger monkey running and jumping with me.

Music

This is the best thing I’ve had to post here for a long time, I’m so excited. I was chatting to some friends about bands we’ve never been to see, and how it’d be sad for them to finish before we had a chance to watch them live, and to cut a long story short, we ended up buying tickets to Iron Maiden this summer! Iron Maiden…. how frickin’ awesome is that?? We’re going to watch them on 31st July in Birmingham as part of their Final Frontier tour, and I already know how amazing it’s going to be, I cannot wait.

Holiday

It’s looked for a long time that I wasn’t going to get a summer holiday somewhere warm this year, mainly due to the fact that we tend to go on holiday with a group of friends, and one of the couples in that group recently had a baby. However, it turns out that they’re keen to take their offspring off to warmer climes too, so there’s a good chance that we’ll all be heading off to Spain again in September for a week chilling out by the pool together. I’m really glad we do it that way to be honest, there’s no way I could really afford a ‘proper’ holiday this year, but when we get a villa between us it usually works out at about £300 for everything; flights and villa. That’s the sort of holiday I can afford :)

Grading

Last Sunday was the Spring grading at the academy, and it was quite a nervy one for me, because it was the first time ‘my’ students had been with just me by and large since their last grading, which meant I was responsible for their forms and one-step/self-defence. They did me proud though, and the day was a great success.

So that’s me for now, I’m sure there’s probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten, suffice to say March has absolutely flown by so far. Hopefully the next time I update I can be a bit more focused on one topic, and maybe even show you all some pictures of my gardening success!

A Night At The Orchestra

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I can finally tick off one of things that would be in my ‘Stuff I Really Want To Do!’ list – if such a thing existed. For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to go to see a live orchestra, and last night I did exactly that.

The British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra came to Truro to play a ‘Strauss Gala Concert’, and with my love of the New Years Day concert from Vienna at the Musikverein, it was a no-brainer. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend you tune in to BBC2 at around lunchtime on New Years Day and use it to sooth your hangover. The setting is amazing and the music (if you like classical) is a real treat. The Strauss/Vienna connection meant I knew I was going to know a lot of the music and I wasn’t disappointed.

I was surprised by just how close to the stage we were sat, and it meant I could indulge myself in something I love doing – watching people really skilled at what they do. It doesn’t matter what it is, watching someone excel at what they do always blows me away. I was sat within spitting distance of first violinist and watching them play was fantastic. The music was incredible to hear performed live, and flawlessly with it. I got to hear the pieces I wanted to, including the Champagne Polka, the Pizzicato Polka and of course, The Blue Danube (An der schönen blauen Donau). There was a compere who did a good job of keeping the crowd amused with stories and readings, and singing from a Baritone, Tenor and Soprano which all added to the evening.

I managed to get a rum and a JD & Coke down my neck during the interval to keep warm (it was cold!), and it was then that I realised that we had to be the youngest people in the building by about 40 years! I don’t really mind, it was nice to be able to get to the bar easily while the rest of the audience had a nice sit down somewhere ;) . I really want to go and see a MASSIVE orchestra somewhere now, but for the time being I can at least say I’ve participated in the clapping along with the Radetzky March (again, watch the end of the NYD concert to see what I mean) :) .

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggg

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That’s the noise currently living in my ears after last night’s Machine Head gig, and it’s one of the painful reminders of just how awesome last night was. The others would be the aches and pains of hours of pit antics, and a severe lack of sleep.

We got there way too early; I was expecting much worse traffic than was actually on the roads, so we were inside waiting for the arena doors to open by 5:45. It was disheartening at first, as teen after teen arrived and queued, most of who were wearing the same one or two Machine Head t-shirts, and all of who looked way too young to even remember the likes of Davidian. I was sat there feeling very old as emo haircuts, leggings(!) and bumfluff beards queued, wondering why on earth anyone would stand and queue to get in before the first support act starts, but each to their own.

I don’t even remember the name of the first band, but I feel for them. Trying to get a small crowd going for it at half-six in the evening, with really crazy vocals and heavy guitars is a pretty thankless task. They had one half-decent track but the others left me cold. Next up was Bleeding Through, a group I knew of through the likes of Metal Hammer, but had never really listened to before. They were pretty good, very heavy and really good at working the crowd (I’d never been a part of ‘The Wall Of Death’ before last night), but still pretty indecipherable. To be honest, I think the sound setup for the first two acts left a lot to be desired. All you could hear was guitar and nothing else. I’m as big a fan of heavy guitar as the next man, but I want to hear the rest of the band too.

After the first two small sets Hatebreed took the stage. Now Hatebreed I’m more familiar with. They were great, big heavy riffs and a lot of bouncing. They were the first ones to get me moving on the floor. They played a long set much to everyone’s very vocal enjoyment, and I think I’ll be investing in an album or two soon. Lights up, curtains up and time to mill around and get a drink before the headliners take the stage.

Stood there with my mate having a chat before they started, the roadies started doing the sound check, and I can honestly say I’ve never heard – or more accurately ‘felt’ – a louder bass drum. It made every part of me shake; we looked at each other in instant acknowledgement that this was going to be loud, very loud, and very excellent! Once the curtain dropped they opened with a track from the ‘The Blackening’ album and the whole arena went fucking crazy! They weren’t promoting an album so they treated us to a mix of old stuff and some of the less well-known album tracks which was just brilliant. Everyone in there knew every track, the pit was bouncing, shoving and getting into it (and we were in the middle of it), it was a metal-head’s wet dream. At one point the band got everyone to clear the centre of the floor and demanded to their very obliging fans, that they start ‘the biggest circle pit this place has ever seen’. We didn’t disappoint, it was immense and incredibly good.

Machine Head - Plymouth

Machine Head take the stage, Plymouth erupts

Robb Flynn and the rest of the guys are consummate professionals; every track they played sounded as good as the studio versions. Harmonised solos, awesome vocals and finishing with an encore of Halo followed by Davidian just topped off the perfect night. You haven’t heard Davidian until you’ve felt the machine gun double-bass drumming hammering your chest. There’s not a bit of me that isn’t aching this morning, I didn’t get in the front door ’til after 1am, and I can barely hear a thing today, but it was all worth it. I can happily say that I’ve seen one of my favourite bands in the world, and they lived up to my expectations and far beyond. I was going to go to a local Rock Night tomorrow night, but I don’t think I’ll bother now, there’s no way it can top that while it’s still fresh in my head :) .

Machine Head - Plymouth

A very blurry Robb Flynn in glorious phone-cam-o-vision

Let Freedom Ring With A Shotgun Blast

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Machine Head are playing in Plymouth tomorrow night and I’m going to see them! I can’t tell you how excited I am, I’ve loved this band for a long time now, ever since the first time I heard the double bass drumming on Davidian (where this post’s title comes from), and this will probably be the only time I’ll have a chance to see them this close to home. I’m going up with a friend who shares the same love of very loud, very heavy and very excellent music, and despite having to work the next day, I already know how awesome it’s going to be.

I’m still in the hire car I was given after mine was written off a couple of weeks ago, and while it’s nice to drive a swanky brand new car around, I know that I won’t be buying a new Astra in the forseeable future. There’s something I don’t really like about it, something I can’t really put my finger on. Maybe it’s a combination of little things, like the way the indicators don’t click down into position; you have to press it down once to indicate left, then the arm resets back to the middle while the lights stay flashing. I’m tall and from my seating position it’s almost impossible to see the dashboard lights telling me if they’re on or off, and with music on I can’t hear it either, which means I have to duck and peer through the steering wheel to see if I’m still indicating… not good. The windscreen wipers work in a similar fashion, it’s a small niggle, but it makes the driving experience that little bit more annoying. The Focus we just bought though, despite being 8 years old, is brilliant, I really enjoy driving it.

No new games to speak of, I’m tightening the reins for the time being, I’ve got loads to be going on with and a bank balance which seems to be freefalling toward the end of the month. There’s another big squad training session this wednesday with an eye on the European Champs in April, and I’m looking forward to trying to smarten up my competition forms and sparring again. Plus it’s always good to mix with the guys from the other clubs.

On top of all of that, it’s sunny and beginning to feel like Spring! The sunshine on  the beach yesterday was actually warm! Can you imagine!

Thar Be Dragons

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A wet and windy Tuesday evening in Truro, Cornwall. Not the most glam of scenarios for most, but for me it was a night I’d been looking forward to for some time. Unusually for this quite quiet neck of the woods we had a major band coming down to play, although strangely it was really overlooked and subdued in the press. Yep, Dragonforce came to town!

Dragonforce are a throwback to the 80s style of metal; lots of hair, lots of guitars and epic solos. But in stark contrast to a lot of the groups from that decade, they do it with a load of style and a technical brilliance. Metal fans know them, even if they don’t particularly like the music or lyrical style. Anyone who’s ever played the Guitar Hero games will know them too, with Through Fire And Flames being the track that sorts the men from the boys (or the people with nothing better to do than practise for hours and hours from the people with active social lives ;) ).

So after a trip to the local Nepalese, the very excellent Kathmandu Palace, we headed to the Hall For Cornwall to watch the bands. I was pleased to get inside and see that the place was crammed with like-minded people sporting band t-shirts from every genre possible, it’s nice to feel at home somewhere. I was really keen to get in and see the support acts, especially as I knew of one of them reasonably well, namely Glamour Of The Kill.

Glamour Of The Kill

Glamour Of The Kill

I first heard of them when a track was on a Metal Hammer cover CD, and everything I’ve heard by them since I’ve liked. Some people say they’re a bit ‘emo’, but I think that’s stretching it a bit. Just because the vocals aren’t as rough as most metal bands. They’d already started when we got there, but I still got to hear Rise From Your Grave which was the one track I wanted to hear more than any other. I have to say they sounded as good live as on the studio versions. From there the music changed gear a bit as Sylosis took the stage.

Sylosis making things a bit heavier

Sylosis making things a bit heavier

I didn’t really know of Sylosis before I saw them on the support list so did a bit of youtube research. They remind me of Trivium, although not quite as polished as Trivium are these days. The lead singer did a great job of hitting his screeches, and the band were super-heavy, one of those ‘feel your ribs rattling on the bass notes’ kind. At one point between songs the lead singer said “And to think some dickhead told me Cornwall has no metal scene…”, nice. After making our ears bleed for a bit on came Sabaton, and what a treat that was.

Sabaton!

Sabaton!

More of the Swedish awesomeness

More of the Swedish awesomeness

I’ll readily admit I’d not ever heard of Sabaton before yesterday, let alone know any of their stuff, but I am a total convert this morning. They’re a Swedish power metal group and were simply amazing. Hair, massive beards, great tracks and tons of charisma, they’re easily one of the best bands I’ve ever seen perform live. The lead singer has an infectious grin, a wicked accent and they had the whole place jumping and chanting ‘Sa-ba-ton!’ between songs. It looks like I’ve got a few more albums to add to my collection.

Dragonforce!

Dragonforce!

There was a bit of a wait while Dragonforce set up the stage, including a raised ramp area for solos and suchlike, but it was well worth the wait. They belted out tracks from the latest Ultra Beatdown album and some older stuff too and the place went mental. I’d heard people say before that there’s no way they could actually play the solos recorded on the albums without some kind of studio post-production, but to those people I can say from first-hand experience, they really are as good live as on CD. Watching the hands of the guitarists ripping through solos lasting minutes each time was dizzying and awe-inspiring. I think there are a lot of tired, slightly hungover metal fans with ringing ears sat in offices and colleges across Cornwall this morning, all with a big grin on their faces.

While I was at the bar between sets a guy came up to me and pointed at my t-shirt (a Machine Head ‘The Blackening’ one) and asked me if I was going to see them. I was a bit confused, as I had no reason to think I might, but when he told me they’re playing at Plymouth in the new year you could have knocked me down with a feather. Machine Head. One of my all-time favourite bands Playing just up the road. Gaaaaahhhhh how did I not know this!?!?!? Luckily it’s not sold out yet, so I’ve nabbed a couple of tickets this morning. I can’t wait, it’s going to be off the scale! :D

Good times to be a metal fan in Cornwall.

A-ha No More

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Just a short one today, mostly to point out that A-ha are disbanding! What a sad day. Although I’ve not really listened to any of their newer stuff, there are barely any songs around that can match Take On Me, or more importantly The Sun Always Shines On TV. I absolutely love that song, it’s one of those that stirs up where you were and what you were doing when you heard it.

Other than that, there’s not much to report at the moment. It’s getting a bit colder, I’m having a pumpkin design choice dilemma, and my social diary is actually getting pretty full. This Saturday we’re all off to celebrate my friend’s wife’s birthday with a meal, the week after it’s the annual Falmouth Beer Festival (and I’ve got a nagging feeling something else is on, but I can’t remember what…), then the week after it’s Halloween. Cue a night out with loud music, and going to a fancy dress party as a muppet. It keeps on into November too, there’s Guy Fawkes night and in the same week Haye is fighting Valuev for the belt. That’s going to be a great fight, I reckon more fireworks than on Nov. 5th ;)

How droll of me. If I could get to youtube here I’d finish up with a nice embedded video of The Sun Always Shines On TV. However, I can’t, so I suggest you head over there and watch it while I hum the tune in my head.

Touching (Or Should That Be Tapping) Base

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You might have noticed that I’ve got a bit slack at updating this over the last few weeks. I could say that I’ve been on a secret spying mission, or maybe abducted by drug lords while hunting for treasure in Peru, but in truth I’ve just been utterly rubbish. So what’s new I hear the assembled masses holler…

Work on the house continues apace, and it’s so close to being finished now it’s tortuous.  The old stairs are out, the new ones are in, and as I type the ceilings should be being plastered. The builders are paid in full now, and I can tell you it’s no fun walking through town with a bag stuffed full with twenty pound notes! I was eyeing everyone suspisciously like they’d been following me all day and had a master plan ¬_¬

My Xbox 360 gave up the ghost this week and has (for the second time) decided that rather than playing games and streaming my music and films, it’d be much happier showing the dreaded three red lights…. Once I can muster up the ‘can-be-arsed-ness’ to find the Microsoft number again I’ll get it repaired, it’s very annoying.

I have yet another new interest! A couple of weeks ago I went along with my friend to his first class in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I’ve been back to every class since. It fits in nicely with my current training and I’m absolutely loving the technical – and very tiring -  aspects of the grappling. I’m covered in more bruises than a peach in a washing machine, have burned elbows and aches all over, but it’s great fun. It can be frustrating, but having something click and start to work feels awesome. It means I’ve had to buy yet another Gi (or dobok as is the case for Tang Soo Do), although this time it weighs easily twice as much as any other I’ve had. The heavy weave is really necessary as they take a heck of a beating on the floor, and are used for the locks and chokes. Some people really seem to like the look though.

And finally, to bring us bang up to date,  I went along to the Princess Pavilions in Falmouth last night to watch The Eagles Of Death Metal. I can’t imagine they’ll have known what they were letting themselves in for when they agreed to play there, but what we lacked in size and gradieur we more than made up for in effort and noise. The band themselves were awesome, every song sounded the way it should and the guitar riffs just tore through the place. You’ve never seen a more charismatic front-man, and it was so refreshing to see a big band like that who obviouslt didn’t take themselves too seriously.  What a great gig.

"I love you so hard baby...."

"I love you so hard baby...."

Yeah Yeah Yeah

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Might I suggest that you all go out and get yourself a copy of the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album – It’s Blitz. Some of you might have first heard of them when ‘Maps’ was included in Rock Band – which is a brilliant song in its own right – but tihs new album is awesome!

If I had access to youtube here you’d all be listening to the tracks Zero and Heads Will Roll about now, I suggest you look them up yourself. Now. Karen O’s voice is just pure mmmmmmmmm.

Things Are On The Up

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I’ve had a lot of different things start to go right for me recently, and as much as I realise I’ll probably jinx everything by even thinking that, it’s tough, I wanted to post. Some things are probably pretty trivial, but the cumulative effect is a nice one. Even things like feeling my kicks are slowly improving and getting higher (they might not be, but they feel that way at least) are representative of these little pluses. It’s fair to say I’ve had some surprises too, most of them very welcome.

First up, my job looks safe. It’s been pretty tense over the last few months for everyone working for the council down here, as a giant merger of the main body and the districts have had people fearing for their jobs. I was lucky enough to be confirmed in my current role last week which was a massive relief having just taken some more money out on our mortgage to be able to get the house done.  Then over the weekend and early part of the week, Murphy seemed to be getting ill. His stomach was gurgling like crazy, he didn’t want to eat and was all slow, tired and unmurph-like. We took him to the vets as a precaution and typically the day he went he seemed fine again.  They say the best cure for a toothache is booking an appointment at the dentist after all… He’s got a few tablets to help settle his stomach now which is good and he’s back to his old self.

Work on the house seems to be going well. What was a massive hole in the floor has transformed into proper foundations and there’s even a floor now. It’s been built up with hardcore, gravel and sand and tehn compacted, and today they’re laying six inches of concrete on top of it all to form what will actually be the floor we lay the wood on. It’s exciting now to have something substantial there and not just a big pit of mud. Once the concrete sets properly I intend to get out there with big pieces of cardboard to represent the kitchen appliances and furniture  so I can see how best to lay everything out. The walls will go up pretty quickly apparently, I can’t wait personally!

My best friend’s stag do looks like it’s been sorted out, it seems we’ll be heading to the wilds of bristol for a weekend of drunken debauchery wholesome male bonding with vehicles and guns of different kinds. It’ll be nice to have the little break away because other than the prospect of being sent to Worthing again for more training, I don’t think there’s any chance of a holiday this year. Although saying that, having a nice new home with a bathroom and kitchen will certainly feel like a holiday compared to the last couple of months.

This Friday is the monthly Rock Night as ever, and it should be a good one. One of my friends and training partners has joined the RAF and is off to do a tour in Afghanistan for six months so we’re seeing him off in true TSD fashion ;) . I think that’s it for now, certainly everything I want the wider world to know, but yes, it’s been a good week so far.

Time for some music, first up is a lovely uplifting song which would easily have made it on to some of my older playlists had I known it then.

..and this is what I’m listening to a lot lately..