Blog: Hello Lewisham!

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I was due to head for distant LEWISHAM last night, but before i went i popped to the pub fro a quick drink with my little brother and his young lady. When I arrived a couple of their PALS were there, who were LOVELY, and asked why i had my guitar with me. Usually i just GRUNT something and change the subject, but this time i thought HEY! they asked, i shall tell them, so i did, and it was all very nice. When I left for the TRANE i wondered to myself, why DO i usually do that? Whenever people ask about What Do You Play and such like I always try and get away from it, YET at other times i WILFULLY try to shoe-horn it into the conversation. i PONDERED my own PSYCHE for a short while... but not for long, as i had to find the TRANE, and then had to concentrate on getting out at Lewisham, which, shortly afterwards, i DID.

I strolled through Lewisham, enjoying the sight of a POLICE CHASE and ARREST as i walked along, got to the Fox & Firkin, and was PLEASED to find my GAMBLE of turning up at 8pm rather than 7pm had PAID OFF, as everyone was still soundchecking and i got to spend 40 minutes reading my book rather 100 minutes as I otherwise would. I did a quick LINE CHECK, and then sat down with the small group of PALS who had arrived. It was LOVELY, a group of NICE people who i knew in different ways all sat together, all of whom had turned out ESPECIALLY. It was, as i say, LOVELY.

At 9.20pm it was SHOW TIME, and one of the guys running the evening introduced me by saying "Now here's a guy playing on his own - I always think this is a Really Brave Thing To Do, so let's have some quiet and respect." BLESS - it's nice to get the "You're very brave" thing in BEFORE i even start playing, but I think he was expecting something a bit more RESPECTABLE than what i went on to do... which was THIS:

The Peterborough All Saints Wide Game Team (group B)
Red & White Sockets
The Perfect Love Song
Good Luck In Your New Job
Fucking Hippy
Clubbing In The Week
The Lesson Of The Smiths
Easily Impressed
Boom Shake The Room

To get technical, it was a Warriors Of Nanpantan SLANTED Uber Set, with the addition of BRAND NEW SONG halfway through, performed 25 hours after writing it. YES i was chuffed to be doing this, and i was EVEN MORE CHUFFED when it went down REALLY WELL. In fact, let us not mince our words here, it all went REALLY WELL. The room was pretty full, and all around me i could see people getting into it - one of the few who didn't was a chap sat RIGHT near the front who Talked Loudly and Danced Sarcastically for the first couple of songs (i like it when people do this - they forget, I HAVE A PA SYSTEM on my side, and thus will WIN!) but soon was DEFEATED. HA! There was a GRATE table of people sitting quite near the front who were all watching and GRINNING too, which is always nice, and my POSSE of PALS were stood near the front too, so i felt RELAXED and very happy INDEED. Easily Impressed got a PROPER audience participation bit and Boom Shake The Room ROCKED the house. HOORAH! It was really really GOOD - ZANG!!

Afterwards I got changed then did my usual Helpful Walk Around The Room, just in case anybody wanted to buy me a BEER or say i was GRATE (i know, i am a LIVING SAINT in this respect), which a few people did - mostly, i have to say, GURLS. I really LIKE it when this happens - now, I am VERY MUCH spoken for and blissfully happy to be so, so there's none of THAT going on, thank you very much, but somehow i think it COUNTS more when women like the gig. I don't know why, it's probably a leftover from the days when i really wished there WAS some of THAT going on, but there's also a lot less Stuck Up NESS about Women At Gigs than there is with Men At Gigs.

ANYWAY, as well as being ASSAILED by more people telling me i was very brave (and i have given up DENYING this now!) i suddenly got an INFLUX of GIG OFFERS. The Tsunami gig at the LA2 was spoken more of with MALCOM, mighty mentor of Orange and Blue studios and also the chap who kindly asked me to play, which should be GROOVY, and i will hopefully be playing some MORE gigs with the people who put last night's show on. They seemed KEEN on having me play in NEW CROSS in a week or two's time, which'll be good - yet another realisation i had last night is that i DON'T need to be so AFEARED of doing more gigs in LONDON. It's NOT like playing in Leicester, for instance, where you're relying on the same general POOL of people to come to all gigs, London is (stand by for GEOGRAPHY) actually quite a bit BIGGER (FACT!), and you get a very different crowd of people in LEWISHAM as you do in, say, BRIXTON. Yes, I know it is an OBVIOUS THING and probably LOTS of bands know this already, but to me is was a bit of a Clearing Of The Rain Clouds and View Into A More Relaxed Future.

Verily, it was a night of Me Realising Things That Might Appear Obvious To Other People and NO mistake! Most excitingly of ALL, in the GIG OFFERING STAKES, someone asked me whether I was playing The Edinburgh Festival this year. I don't know if I've already mentioned this, but YES, there is a chance that I might have a gig there, so i confidently said "Oh yes, I should think so", and then came a CROPPED when she asked where, or when, and i DID NOT KNOW. Turns out she is putting together a SHOW for a week up there and, i think, wants me to play! COR! That would be BLOODY FANTASTIC if it did come off, I'd LOVE to do that, so THRUST a CD at her and said "Yes please, that'd be GRATE!" Because it WOULD!

There then followed some more CHAT and watching of the second band called, I think, UpCDownCLeftCRightC (that's what it said on the webpage, I don't think it's right actually). They were an INSTRUMENTAL band so OF COURSE my first reaction was one of DREAD, but as it turned out they were DEAD GOOD - their first song sounded really Christmassy (and a chap who MAY WELL have been the DAD of one of them later told me it had been released as a Christmas Single) which put me in a good mood for the rest of the evening, it was LOVELY. The loveliness, however, eventually had to draw to a close so off i headed to the DLR station, finding a handy BUS on the way. Yes, i could have got the TRANE and probably got home a bit quicker, but DAMMIT i LIKE getting the Futuristic Monorail Through Mega City, ESPECIALLY at night-time when it is EXTRA COOL.

THUS i made my way to the FRONT so i could pretend to DRIVE, as did DUNCAN, who'd been at the gig and magically reappeared now, and as did a trio of DRUNK BLOKES, who ALSO wanted to pretend to drive. When they got on i thought "Oh no, a bunch of drunken wankers", then the guy pretending to drive said "Bloody hell! You know those bunch of drunken wankers we had with us on the way in? Now we're THEM!" How could anyone resist such a GRATE thing to say? I agreed and said "Yes, it is ALWAYS THE WAY" and then we had a GOOD OLD CHAT all the way to Canary Wharf - I told them about DOING GIGS and playing "Boom Shake The Room" (something i would never previously have done, they asked and i usually would just GRUNT and look out of the window, but i had LEARNT my lesson from earlier in the day, and also it still felt like CHRISTMAS) and they told me about BRICKLAYING. It was ACE!

Thus it was a very happy Hibbett who eventually got back to Leytonstone. It had not ONLY been a BLOODY GRATE Gig, it had also been an evening of MIND EXPANSION!

posted 18/3/2005 by MJ Hibbett

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