Thursday 30 April 2009

Hollywood Doll rehearsal

Met up with the guys at Nightfly Studios in Southend for a Hollywood Doll rehearsal. It went pretty well (muscially at least). As usual it was a blast playing through our tunes but unfortunately the singer, Chris, didn't seem to be able to nail the songs that we had asked him to learn. We even took some time to swap instruments which was a real scream! After the rehearsal Matt, Charlie and I had a discussion about Chris and unfortunately we came to the decision that we didn't think he was really ready for what we wanted to do and agreed that we let him go and look for a new singer so it's back to square one again!



The return of swine flu...............

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Back to the gym

Sam and I made a welcome return to the gym tonight (after a bit of nagging from Toni, which is fine cos I asked her to).
Had a long session and it was good to get back into it. Sam and I have decided we will definitely get back to going 2 or 3 times a week.

Swine flu!

Shelton's neighbour is a GP who has spent all day at an emergency meeting about swine flu. Seems it is so serious that they spent all day telling jokes!

Doctor, doctor, I think I have swine flu as I have come out in rashers!

Doctor, doctor, I have caught swine flu from the petrol station. Don't worry its Mexican swine flu not Texico swine flue.

Doctor, doctor I've tried to call the NHS helpline about this swine flu but all I get is crackling!


Support my friends Vikki and Lord Zion and get this fabulous swine flu warning t-shirt from: smellyourmum.com

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Gigs galore coming up

Really looking forward to the weekend as it's a total gigfest for Sam and I. Unfortunately Toni has Gemima so she will be unable to join us.

We kick off on Friday night with a trip to Leicester to see SPiT LiKE THiS and are travelling back with them on their bus so that is going to be great fun. Saturday is punk legends NOFX with proceedings topped off with King Lizard in Sunday!

Just as well Monday is a bank holiday so we can have some time to recover!

Wrestling and horror

Sam and I had a great chill out tonight catching up with some wrestling, including WWE Backlash. I suspect a lot of you think it's sad but it's a great way to relax and unwind without resorting to trash TV like soaps LMFAO.

Following the wrestling we then watched House Of 1000 Corpses, the film that was a precursor to The Devil's Rejects (which we watched the other week). I do like our little horror fests!

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:






Top weekly artists:






Overall top tracks:






Overall top artists:




Monday 27 April 2009

Home again.......

.....and no sooner had we just got settled in and enjoying ourselves it was time to come home again. We popped back to The Shambles to grab a cup of tea (and do some last minute shopping) before heading back to SWF. Journey was quicker this time and we made it back in 7 hours 45 minutes (which included a 45 minute stop off). It rained a lot of the way but it was a pretty clear run.

Nice double rainbow en route:

Whitby Abbey

Toni and I got up early this morning, had breakfast, loaded up the car after checking out of the B&B and then headed back off to Whitby Abbey to do the tour properly. The walk was good and helped to shift out breakfast especially when we realised we had just scaled 199 steps again:


Whitby Abbey is totally beautiful and I am so glad that we made a conscious decision to go and see it properly rather than peering over the wall at it like we did on Thursday. Have to admit that I did get a bit snap happy while walking around it.









See all the pics here: 270409WhitbyAbbey#

Sunday 26 April 2009

Nostalgia @ Raw night club

Well, tonight was our final night at Whitby and so we popped along to Raw night club for the special WGW Nostalgia night. Just traditional goth music, no EBM, no metal, no cheese, just GOTH!



It was just like the Trad Goth floor at Slimelight and was great fun although we didn't stay all night as we were both knackered.

Food and rest

Following the excitement of our football match we headed back to the B&B to get warmer clothing and then went in search of food as we were starving. We returned to The Staircase Cafe (where we went yesterday) and had yummy jacket potatoes with bacon and brie..........delicious!

After food we went back to the B&B to have some rest before heading out clubbing. Toni checked her Facebook and a friend had suggested that the pains that she was experiencing could be TMJ syndrome (or Thermonuclear Jaw Syndrome as I called it as trying to pronounce Temporomandibular Joint Disorder seemed like too much hard work). Having looked at the symptoms she is going to explore this further with her doctor as it does seem to match what she was feeling rather than being merely tooth or back related as she first suspected.

We then watched a bit of TV before getting our heads down for a few hours prior to going out for the last time.

Real Gothic 1 Athletico Gazette 2

Following her rest Toni and I set off for Whitby Town FC to watch Real Gothic take on Athletico Gazette. Someone once said that there is nothing like a good football match. In the immortal style of Waldorf & Statler, "and that was nothing like a good football match".

Actually it wasn't a bad game (what with me being an expert and all LMFAO), it was totally hilarious and as I hate football it was nice to see a game and come away feeling that I had enjoyed myself. Expectations were low with Athletico Gazette currently holding a 9 - 2 win record against Real Gothic and so it was much to our delight when it was still 0 - 0 after 30 minutes.

To put all this in perspective, Athletico Gazette are a team fielded by the local rag, The Whitby Gazette, and Real Gothic are a team of goths (usually the ones who are still sober enough to pull on a kit and be available to play. We were allowed to drink in the stands (which I am reliably informed is very unusual) but the local council have apparently passed the edict that although drinking is not allowed in the stands at a football match, this game bears no resemblance to a proper football match so it is allowed.

The in game commentary was fantastic and most amusing with both teams being heckled by the announcer. We were actively encouraged to heckle Athletico Gazette.

Fans in the stands:



Things were looking up for Real Gothic as they went 1 - 0 up through a penalty kick:


GOAL!:


The first half ended 1 - 0 to Real Gothic but unfortunately fortune decided to turn against them in the second with Athletico Gazette coming out with a slightly better team to turn things around and win 1 - 2 (BOOOO!)

Man of the match was Real Gothic goalkeeper Streaky:


REAL GOTHIC:


See all the pics here: 260409WhitbyRealGothicVAthleticoGazette#

Bad night.........

...........not so good :o(

When we got back to the hotel room I found that my phone had completely frozen and Toni had a message from Sam asking me to call him urgently. I started panicking as my phone just wouldn't recover despite many reboots. Called Sam from Toni's phone but he was asleep so called Sophie as Sam was with her. It turned out that Sophie and Shane had split up (for good it looked like) and everybody had got a bit upset and emotional about the whole thing. Thankfully every was OK by the time I had called.

To make matters worse Toni was up most of the night in severe pain (we think due to her back problems) and ibuprofen wasn't touching it and she was out of co-dydramol. It was really frustrating as there was nothing that I could do but watch as she was doubled up in pain. Not fun! She did settle down eventually and get some sleep before we got to have breakfast. After that we came back to the room and I sorted out photos and blogging so that she could have a sleep.

Turned out my phone was completely knackered too so I had to do a hard reset on it so it is now without any of my data or contact information until I can get home and sync it with the PC again. It is working now though so I am at least contactable. Put in a quick call to Sophie and Sam and they are both fine now so I can get back to enjoy the rest of WGW.

Saturday 25 April 2009

WGW - day 2: the bands

Once we had tightened our corsets and the Monster and vodka had kicked in, we headed off once again to the Spa Pavilion for some musical entertainment. We started off by popping upstairs to have a professional photo taken and printed as we have never had anything like that done before. I will scan the picture properly when we get back but in the meantime here's a version from my camera:


Deciding to play it safe (following the Monster vodka) we stuck with vodka and diet coke rather than risking moving on to our usual rum/JD and diet coke. I haven't drunk vodka for a long time but I have to admit it is very nice.


RAZOR BLADE KISSES
First up tonight were Razor Blade Kisses, a band that I really love although Toni wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I was due to our last experience of them at Gotham 9. It started off a bit ropey with Layla struggling to find her vocals properly but this soon settled down and they performed a good set. One thing though, Layla does have a tendency to waffle between numbers and sometimes she should just quit the banter and let the music speak for itself. Toni commented that she was being a "bit blonde" which was made even funnier when the other singer, Azzy, then accused Layla of being blonde tonight LMFAO. Razor Blade kisses are like watching a couple of psycho dollys playing and it's all great fun and the music is superb, especially Teddy (which I maintain should have been called Toys In The Attic).




See all the pics here: 250409RazorBladeKissesWGWSpaPavilion#


HOUSE OF USHER
Old school guitar based goth, you gotta love it! Formed back in the 90s, these guys were really good sounding like a cross between The Cult and The Sisters with lots of other moody goth elements thrown in for good measure. Although time might have taken it's toll on some of the band members visually they still deliver a good strong gothic set.




See all the pics here: 250409HouseOfUsherWGWSpaPavilion#

After House Of Usher we went for a stroll around the Spa and went to the Razor Blade Kisses stall so that I could get their CD. As the band were hanging around I decided to get it autographed. Some of the band members had disappeared so Layla kindly offered to go backstage and get the rest of them to sign the CD. She was gone for ages and Toni and I joked that maybe she had "gone blonde" again, got distracted and forgotten about us. Some time later, guitarist Jacqui appeared, with drummer Steve, carrying my CD (Layla was nowhere to be seen). Jacqui was superb, she apologised profusely and then proceeded to ensure that I got the rest of the bands signatures. It was really nice seeing a band member looking out for one of their fans and being so hospitable. Big thumbs up to Razor Blade Kisses and especially Jacqui.


DIARY OF DREAMS
What we saw of Diary Of Dreams was pretty good. They were more electronic than I had expected to see at WGW and would certainly be classed as dark wave but they did have a goth feel to their music. It's a shame the Monster had worn off as I would have liked to have seen all their set but we were both tired and so the band and photos were sacrificed in favour of some much needed sleep.

WGW - day 2

Once again we started the day with a lovely full English breakfast and then we slowly got ourselves ready before heading off into town to do things.



We started walking to The Shambles (a goth friendly pub) where we decided to have lunch and then camp out for the WGW Forum meet up. After a bit of changing (due to most of the things we wanted being sold out) we opted for nachos and a chicken & bacon salad with some curly fries on the side.

Lots of groups of people started congregating and looking around The Shambles so it looked like the WGW Forum meet was on but nothing seemed to happen. Loki arrived so I headed off to the bar to find out what the deal was but it turned out that the person who was supposed to be organising the meet wasn't even there LOL. As a result it all turned into a bit of a low key unofficial meet up but I did at least get to meet, Mr and Mrs Nobodie, Loki, Dave-il-man, korpse, Gothic Doll and starwarrior.

Following the forum meet we went for a stroll and decided to indulge in a bit of tourist fun so we went and visited the The Dracula Experience. It was silly, fun, a bit like a fun fair haunted house walk through but it was entertaining and well worth the £2.50 entrance fee. Here's a sneaky pic that I took:


After our Dracula fun we popped back to the B&B for a quick rest before going out for something to eat and getting ready for the bands at the Spa Pavilion. While we were looking for somewhere new (and cheap) to eat we stumbled across this wonderful shop:


We found a little cafe tucked away up a flight of stairs that did really nice food. Toni opted for monkfish and I had a fillet steak.



After a lovely meal we were flagging a bit so I suggested we go and get some Relentless (a Red Bull style energy drink to perk us up a bit). There were lots on offer but having browsed the shelves there was only one drink that would have been appropriate and so we bought that (and a bottle of vodka).

Monster Monster:

Friday 24 April 2009

WGW - day 1: the bands

Following our pub jaunt and posing we arrived at the Spa Pavilion ready for some musical entertainment. There was a great DJ and then three really good bands.

ZEITGEIST ZERO
Zeitgeist Zero had been drafted in as emergency cover for Elusive who were unable to make the event. The singer was a regular attendee of WGW and was obviously highly delighted and also seemed slightly in awe of playing in front of the Whitby faithful. That said, they a were pretty good blending a good mix of electronic rock and Devilish Presley style death rock (n roll) even if the bass player did look totally bored and miserable. They had some great animations playing on a screen in the backgroud.




See all the pics here: 240409ZeitgeistZeroWGWSpaPavilion


THE LAST DANCE
The Last Dance are WGW veterans having played here on numerous occasions. They had some good tunes and some good anecdotes. They were joined on stage at one point by Nathan of Abney Park who added some violin to the proceedings.




See all the pics here: 240409TheLastDanceWGWSpaPavilion


ABNEY PARK
Abney Park are purveyors of steam punk (apparently, whatever that means). They are, however, a bloody good live band. They had an amazing image (which perfectly fitted how I would see steam punk folk and artefacts). The tunes were great and, despite the technical problems every now and then, they put on a fantastic show. Not really sure how to describe the music but it was really good and I will definitely be getting some of their CDs.





See all the pics here: 240409AbneyParkSpaPavilion#

Whitby Goth Weekend - day 1

So here we go, the first "real" day of Whitby Goth Weekend. We kicked things off by getting up early and heading downstairs for a lovely full english breakfast in the B&B before taking a stroll out to the Spa Pavilion to exchange our tickets for wristbands. While we were waiting to get our wristbands Toni picked up a gorgeous bustle skirt from a stall that was already open. We then had a chill out with a nice coffee.




Following coffee we had another browse, and I bought Toni a gorgeous necklace that was an absolute bargain:



We entered a lucky dip raffle and I was oh so "lucky", with this being my wonderful prize:



At 11:00 we met up with Loki (along with a few others) for the WGW Virgins (that's Newbies) talk where he ran through a lot of things that were going on and some of the "do and don'ts" of the weekend. Next we went downstairs to browse the many, many, stall in the Spa Pavillion and parted with a few more shekels!

Some hours later, as we were feeing a bit peckish we decided to go for another stroll around Whitby and find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. We found a lovely little fish restaurant where Toni had Salmon and salad and I had a traditional fish and chips all topped off with a refreshing pot of Yorkshire tea.

Some old lush:

Me contemplating a ship on the wall:

Late lunch was followed by more walking and window shopping in an effort to reduce any bloatiness before getting dressed up to go and see tonight's band line up. We had hoped to go for a ride on the lifeboat but it was slightly later than we'd thought and the ride's had stopped running.


I have a strange feeling that this picture will be doctored soon:


After our walk, we were dressed and ready for tonight's events in fairly quick time, so we decided, just for the novelty factor, to pop to the pub for a quick drink before heading over to the Spa Pavilion. It was lovely to have the freedom to be able to just do that.

Posing en route to the Spa:


Moody, arty pic of Toni:


See all the pics here: 240409WhitbyGothWeekendDay1