Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Saw them first, slated them first

January 2003
I go to see Ikara Colt return from a prolonged hiatus at the ICA with Tom and Ian. We arrive early, and rather than stand in the ponce-heavy ICA bar we choose to watch the support bands. This proves to be a mistake. The first band are playing turgid, 70s-fixated bloated retro rock of the worst kind. There is a lot of it about at this time in the aftermath of Strokes/Stripes/Hives mania in the preceding year or two. Iggy Pop is suddenly everyone's lord and saviour, and it's getting a bit boring anyway, but this opening band are just dreadful. So dreadful in fact that I am provoked to do something I've never done before or since: I heckled. Well the place had only about 40 people in it and the music was just so infuriatingly derivative, the poses so forced, that with some gusto I shouted up at the stage: "Iggy and the Stooges finished twenty years ago man! Move on!". The band don't hear, but this scenester-cow in front of us does, and she's clearly friends with them, cos she turns around and berates me half-heartedly for not supporting new bands as if that's somehow morally wrong. I mutter something along the lines of 'whatevs' under my breath.

December 2005
Tom and I are looking through my gig-list (really, don't ask), and notice that the band first on the bill supporting Ikara Colt on that cold day in 2003 were called, um, The Killers.

So, yeah, how's that for being ahead of the game?

3 Comments:

Blogger Alex Bok Bok said...

i'm almost more impressed by the fact that you're keeping up your gig list still ! I gave up on mine when i started seeing loads of crappy little unsigned bands. Like hmm, do they actually deserve to go on the gig list? What are the criteria for the gig list? Can i have a gig list that is loads and loads of bands that I have seen only once and that no-one else had ever seen, therefore rendering the list of no anthropological value whatsoever?
No, I decided, I could not.

But that's just me though, respect for keeping it up ! And lol @ Killers obviously

3:10 PM  
Blogger dan hancox said...

the criteria actually amount to just a criterion (singular, pedantry fans): bands that you have seen live. you shouldn't leave any off, whether they're support bands, your mate's band, festival bands, whoever.

i'd argue it's of much more anthropological value if the bands are nobodies - no-one's interested in finding a regular cat when they're walking along the road are they? but find a small cat-like red creature in a forest in borneo that's really obscure and no-one has seen before, and everyone gets excited. unsigned bands are the little red creatures. or potentially 'the killers' of the future!

i actually gave up on my gig list about two years ago cos i hadn't updated it for ages and couldn't back-track. so please withdraw your respect.

3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can hear your righteous baritone heckle as clearly now as I did then.

It was almost as heroically preemptive as that time Tom mailed a photo of his arse to Natalie Imbruglia when she was still in Neighbours.

1:53 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home