19-10-20 Sunday I - Indie Daze @ Kentish Town Forum, Saturday 5th October

Saturday, and it was time to head up to London to meet E and attend Indie Daze at the Kentish Town Forum. I took the train and caught up on a few podcasts, and then I was there. E was a few minutes late, but that was no problem, there was time before the first band came on. Probably the last time I saw E was last year, at the Poppies in Wolverhampton, but we fall back into our friendship easily when we catch up. We were at university together, and met in the first year, so we’ve been friends for nigh on thirty years. Shit! Has it been that long? 

We went in, and of course it was pitch black, with no natural light, which was a bit disorienting when you know it’s 1pm and broad daylight outside. The first band up were Kingmaker, whose set was okay. Last time we came to Indie Daze the Popinjays opened, and they were very chatty and self-deprecating. I seem to remember them being very grateful that anyone had turned up so early to see them, and they did say that if they weren’t performing that day, they would have been in bed, nursing hangovers – which was refreshingly honest!

Not so Kingmaker, they came on stage and were very muso and earnest. They were very much heads down, “here is our music”. The first couple of songs seemed to me to be middle of the road indie rock, and then the later songs were reminiscent of the Wonder Stuff’s sound – I seem to remember there being some comparisons back in the late 80s/90s. Anyway, they properly wigged out at the climax of their set, and it was okay. Kingmaker were never a favourite of mine, and I hadn’t fished out any old CDs or looked them up on Spotify, to refresh my memory. I think I recognised maybe two of the songs? And then they were gone, and we decided to go and get some lunch, giving the swerve to Back to The Planet.

We went back to the same café we visited before in 2015, which was nice. They did a nice breakfast last time, so I was looking forward to that. Unfortunately they told me they couldn’t do an English Breakfast in the afternoon, and so I had some delicious pancakes with cream and syrup and blueberries – which slid down a treat.

After that brief interlude, it was back to the Forum, and time for Utah Saints to put on a DJ set. To be fair, I wasn’t looking forward to this. I thought the Saints were a bit of a leftfield choice, and on a guitar-heavy line-up they looked to be the odd ones out. They came on stage and were almost apologetic: “hi, we don’t normally talk much during our sets. And we don’t normally do sets in the middle of the afternoon. So if you can just imagine it’s gone midnight, and you’re having a banging night, I’m sure it’ll go well” (or something like that). When they started up, I htought the beat was a bit oppressive, or claustrophobic, but at the first breakdown I was willing the bass and the beat to come back in, so they must have been doing something right. People were dancing too, so I think they went down well. I’d certainly consider seeing them again.

Next up was Jim Bob, who was a bit pissed (drunk). He kind of meandered through an introduction, started a few sentences and didn’t get round to finishing them. But once he started performing, he didn’t drop a beat. The old songs sound great, even when performed acoustically. He sang a couple of songs I didn’t recognise, which were from his later solo stuff, but I listened to the lyrics, and made a mental note to search out some of those tracks. I think there’s a bit of material out there I’ve been missing out on.

Following Jim Bob were Pop Will Eat Itself, performing This is the Day, This is the Hour, This is... This! It was first released in 1989, so they were celebrating its 30th anniversary. I first got into the Poppies with the subsequent album Cure For Sanity, so This is... This! isn't one of my go-to albums, but I’ve bought it in the interim and I know it well. The Poppies always do a good show, and today was no exception. With Mary from Gaye Bykers I think they’ve rejuvenated themselves, and they certainly know how to put on a show. They performed the hits and they were all good, as you would expect from a band who still gig live regularly. I’m disappointed not to going to see them in Brighton in December, to be honest. There was a bit of an issue with the sound towards the end, but that didn’t stop the crowd enjoying it.

When the Poppies had finished their set, the Forum’s front section emptied out a bit, and I felt a bit faint to be honest. E went and got some crisps, and I recovered once I’d had some sustenance. Swervedriver were up next, and I definitely wanted to see them, so I stayed on for a bit. Unfortunately they weren’t as soaring and majestic as I was hoping. I’d not really heard much Swervedriver, my main knowledge of them being their track “Sandblasted”, which I think is phenomenal. But their performance at Indie Daze seemed much more grounded and earth-bound than I was hoping for. By now it was 8:30pm, and I was tired. My mind was very much focused on being homeward bound. Apart from the meal break at about 2:30, we’d been in the dark listening to loud rock for seven hours or so? I decided that I’d had enough: I didn’t want to stay and see Therapy, and if Swervedriver weren’t as colossal as I was expecting, I thought I’d prefer to be on a warm train heading home. I said my goodbyes to E and headed off to the nearby Tube station.

This was the second Indie Daze “festival” I’d been to, and it was definitely worthwhile. It was great to see some bands from the old days performing again, and I was very impressed with the Utah Saints set. I’ll be keeping an eye on any announcements they make about next year’s line-up, and will certainly consider going again.

TTFN.

Saturday 15-10-10 Indie Daze at Kentish Town Forum

And so on the 3rd October I headed off to Kentish Town for Indie Daze, to see a few bands from the old days. I was meeting up with an old friend from Uni and we were planning to have one of our semi-annual meet-ups and a bit of a bop. Pop Will Eat Itself, Primitives, Wedding Present and Wonder Stuff were all appearing. The train journey was fairly uneventful, except that at Burgess Hill an eighties throwback got on the train and I did wonder for a second whether he was also heading to the Forum. But then I quickly dismissed that, he would have been from a different "tribe" - he had a wet-look permed mullet, which I have to admit is fairly distinctive in this day and age. I seem to recollect he was wearing denim as well, but I may be misremembering... Anyway, he got off after a bit, and went on his merry way. I was sitting next to a couple of, or perhaps just one pilot and his friend, they were heading off to "Twickers, yah?" to meet up with some friends and watch the rugby - England were playing Australia later. In their pressed tops and colourful slacks they cut quite the dash. So, earphones in and a bit of Happy Mondays was the perfect antidote to that.
I met up with E outside the venue, and we went in without any delay. I suppose that as it was  an all-dayer, and people would have their favourite bands, not everyone was planning to arrive at 12:45. So, we beat the rush. The first band on was the Popinjays, who struck me as a more poppy female Carter USM, in that there were only two of them, one singer, one guitarist, and a drum machine. They were both quite cheery and self-deprecating, and they seemed to be happy to be there despite the fact that there were only 30 or so guys there to see them. I'd not heard the Popinjays before, but they sounded pretty good. It was a bit weird to be inside, in the dark, at quarter past one in the afternoon, watching a band perform under lights as if it was 9pm. But they did okay and started the day off well.
The next band on were Back To The Planet, and I had no interest in seeing them. Neither did E, luckily, so we headed out to get some lunch. We disregarded a number of places before ending up at the Rustique Cafe, where I had a really nice English breakfast (but no sausages, unfortunately!) and a coffee, before we headed back to the venue for the third band - Eat.
Eat are one of my favourite bands that no-one has ever heard of. I have a couple of bands which fit into that category - New FADs come to mind, but Eat are right up there. Apparently I did see them in 1992 at a one-day festival in Slough, with Jesus Jones and the Fall, but I can't remember watching them. They are proper rockers, they didn't look like aging indie kids, and they were excellent. The lead singer Ange  Dolittle was obviously the main focus of the stage, coming on as he did with dreads down to his arse and his mad stare. It was an impressive show.  They played their greatest hits, so Fatman, Skin, and they finished with Electric City. They were memorable, and probably, for me, worth the cost of entry by themselves.
Next up were Primitives, who didn't do it for me, I have to say. They played Crash and Through The Flowers, but I didn't recognise a lot of the songs and my interest wasn't piqued in finding out any more.
We started on the beers when Primitives were on, and so by the time Pop Will Eat Itself came on, we were ready to revitalise the day. PWEI always put on a good live show, and last Saturday was no exception. I found myself bopping away to the tunes and really enjoyed it. Despite the fact that Graham Crabb is the only original member, they have a big back catalogue to plunder, and they played a big range of hits, from Def Con One to Ich Bin Ein Auslander, to Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies. The mosh pit was heaving as per usual, and everyone seemed to have a good time.
I was a bit worried at how Wedding Present would maintain the atmosphere, but my fears were groundless - Gedge and the team were brilliant. They played a couple of hits and then launched into Bizarro. I think the influence of Steve Albini is still felt on them, as the tracks and the sound certainly seemed to have more muscle and power than I expected. And of course everyone went crazy to Kennedy and Brassneck, so having them on after PWEI paid off.
After Wedding Present the Wonder Stuff were headlining, and I've seen them before so I chose to head for home. It was a great day and I really enjoyed seeing the bands and catching up with E., as well as having a few beers. The journey home was fairly uneventful and I was in bed and asleep by 00:30. I may go again next year, depending on the line-up.