Winston's Zen

Scroob schools the masses, over-zealous bar managers, and Winston’s media frenzy…

It’s been a busy few days here at Zen Towers, the pesky broken heel is well on it’s way to recovery now, I’m down to one crutch and have even managed to venture outside and leave the blasted Aircast SP Walker behind. You’ve no idea how good it felt to wear a normal shoe for the first time in two months. Oh the simple pleasures. Anyway, my newly regained mobility has put me firmly back on the gigging trail.

White Sunday’s headline slot at the Barfly in Camden was the perfect reminder of what I’ve been missing out on these last few weeks. Glanville and the boys performed their gutsy rock n roll with a familiar verve that has seen them score residencys at Birmingham’s Sunflower Lounge and at Death Disco at the Notting Hill Arts Club (which is a cracking little venue). It was a little disappointing to see a large part of the mindbogglingly big crowd that the frankly dreadful Minus IQ had pulled, disappear before Readings latest rock sensations took to the stage. As it turned out the Amy Winehouse soap opera was in town just across the road, and no scenester worthy of their Russell Brand haircut was gonna miss out on that one.

Then it was off to the Astoria 2 for the brilliant Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip. Brit-hops new visionaries held a ‘motivational seminar’ that held the packed and deceptively large venue in raptures from start to finish. Dan le Sac’s super-phat beats dictated the movement of a willing crowd and on stage Scroob’s flawless rhythm is simply a joy to behold. Absolutely fantastic. If you don’t have their album Angles yet, you are SERIOUSLY missing out on one of the best records of the year, go buy it!

And finally, yesterday I made the short trip to Highgate, to check out Barbequtie, a summer shindig being held once a month at Boogaloo. There I caught new Zendar additions The Junior Victors who’s spiky indie sounded a lot more like The Fratellis than their debut EP Juvenile suggests. A pleasant afternoon was tainted by the bitter taste of injustice however, when Boogaloo’s over zealous bar-manager asked us to leave. Apparently it’s perfectly acceptable for people to continue their inane conversations at screaming volume whilst completely oblivious to the fact that the band everyone else has paid to see is struggling to compete. Apparently it’s NOT acceptable to complain about the ludicrous volume of said conversation. Clearly the Boogaloo is not aiming these events at real music fans, by which I mean people who’ve come to see an artist perform and will happily spend money in a venue doing so. Rather it’s simply generating itself a nice little Sunday afternoon income that it might otherwise have to make some fucking effort to be nice to the punters to gain. Suffice to say the place is unlikely to see Winston’s wallet again in the foreseeable future. Shame really, I remember seeing Chris Martin play a secret gig one night years ago when I used to drink there regularly. Of course, the place was called the Shepherds back then and was one of the friendliest and least pretentious bars in the area, and of course, had a different owner….draw your own conclusions.

At home this week my melon has been getting well and truly twisted by Cage The Elephant. There’s something strangely familiar about an awful lot of their eponymous debut album but it rocks like physco in a straight jacket. New additions to the ever expanding music library this week were pretty sparse, but The Dirty Pretty Things new LP stands out from the crowd and I got myself a copy of The Subways All Or Nothing and The Music’s apparently long awaited second album Strength In Numbers after a discerning friend described them as the best live band he’d seen in years. Haven’t listened to it yet, I’ll keep you posted. Mrs Roache kindly added Duffy to the library as well as some God-awful nonsense by a band called Lifehouse which I’m desperately trying to forget ever having listened to.

The inbox has been literally stuffed this week with bands vying for my attention, hoping to gain a mention on these hallowed pages. And some of them probably will. Interestingly citing Monkey Island, the classic adventure game series from LucasArts as an influence, Brighton outfit Stars and Sons are worthy of note for their original and expansive sound. And eclectic Michigan electro pop collective Night Shall Eat These Girls And Boys describe themselves as ‘like Hot Chip meets Beach House on a dinghy'. It’s funky, it’s fun and it’s eminently danceable. Go try it out. And thanks to my friend over at YetAnotherMusicWeblog for putting me onto L.A.’s War Tapes. If you know a band that I should be listening to, suggestions are always welcome, and here is as good a place as any to slip me their name.

You’ll be pleased to know that work on Winston’s empire is progressing nicely. I’ve been converting video and uploading photographs like there’s no tomorrow as Winston's Zen expands ever onwards towards a multi-media Utopia. Hop on over to Picasa Web Albums to check out my pictures from a whole host of gigs;

Pete and the Pirates

The Pigeon Detectives, Black Kids & The Rascals

Example
The London Fractures
I Am Kloot
Stereophonics
Air Traffic
and many many more

If videos are more your thing then the media frenzy continues on Winston’s YouTube channel. New additions to the library include some brilliant FULL tracks from Pete and The Pirates live at Kings College.

Here’s the excellent Come On Feet


There’s plenty more to chose from including The Enemy performing a brand new track, Sing When You’re In Love, Sing When You’re Out Of Love at the Astoria.

That’s all for now,
I’m off to get a sandwich.
Happy viewing.


Back soon,
Winston