Blog: Underground Action

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A swift pop round the corner from work last night saw me at Chicken Royale, at PUSH on Dean Street in That London. Push is a tiny wee place which is, basically, a cellar, the sort of dark slightly NAUGHTY feeling DEN that you expect to find in Soho but which I, at least, don't ever seem to get to. It was a night run by Charlie and Asha of The Fighting Cocks, and i had been looking forward to it IMMENSELY.

Soundcheck was fine, if a bit ODD cos the room is SO tiny that there's more room BEHIND the speakers than in front of it, but we all recited The Soundman's Incantation ("Lo, it'll sound find when there's some people in") and all was well. A quick bite to eat at Red Veg, a slightly less quick drink with my brother and pals at The John Snow (i LIKE that pub, it's like combining my CAREER in The Epidemiology with my HOBBY in The Booze) then back in time to find a lovely Modular Audience arriving.

It's lovely having a Modular Audience - it used to be, long long ago, that there was A Crowd or A Scene of people that I'd ask to come to gigs. If you could persuade the Alpha Indie Kids to come them most of them would, but i rarely managed to do so. Nowadays I seem to get small groups of people in twos and threes coming, and it's REALLY nice. When ALL groups come, like they did at the Bull & Gate last year, it's a right proper CROWD, but usually I get a random selection of groups, and it's REALLY lovely as I can wander around saying hello - it's like a SOIREE really, and it's even BETTER when different groups meet each other again. I LIKE it.

ANyway, The Fighting Cocks were on first and they were BRILLIANT. I know I always say that, but it's because it is TRUE. They sounded particularly GRATE last night, even playing some song unfamiliar to me, and it was a powerful ROCKING PACKAGE all round. They even managed to LOOK even better than usual - the ladies always make a big effort, of course, but this time Charlie was BESUITED and he looked positively DAPPER. They're off on tour next month too, so heaven help the rest of us when they return for LO! none shall be able to stand in their way.

The only trouble was that I had to go on next, and I must say I felt a little inadequate. Still, i was BRAVE, and for once stuck to my plan of doing some different songs from usual, as follows:

The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B))

The Saturday Lunchtime Wrestlers

The Symbol Of Our Nation

Breaks In The Journey

Clubbing In The Week

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

It was a FESTIVAL OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE! I noticed at the time there were a lot of "The" songs, but didn't realise it featured in all but ONE of them. Crumbs! It felt a bit SERIOUS in the middle, but I'm pleased I stuck with it, and still had my usual starting and ending songs to rely on, so it all seemed to go quite well in the end. The nicest bits were talking to people afterwards, many of whom hadn't seen me before and had come from Lands Quite Distant to be there, which is always appreciated. Also really nice was the fact that The Dates On My Calendar was there too, so I had someone to talk EXCITEDLY to about the past events on the way home, rather than having to either wake her up or wait until the morning. That was GRATE!

posted 9/2/2006 by MJ Hibbett

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