Ransomware, lunch with dad, catch up with Dan and Electric Wizard

It was an interesting day at work today as we discovered that a section of one of our network drives have been somehow subjected to a ransomware attack. this basically meant that a load of files were encrypted and a text file left that said to get them decrypted we need to go to some iffy URL and pay some money via a Bitcoin code. Closer examination of the text file revealed the name of someone who works elsewhere in the company so we contacted him and asked if he had encountered any issues. He then replied yes, sent us a copy of a screenshot of the ransomware popup and said that he had just killed the screen off using Task Manager but hadn't reported it to anyone! Hard to think that we are an IT company when thinks like that happen! We now have to go through the painful process of a big restore exercise to get everything back as it should be.

I popped out at lunchtime to meet dad at Barbican for a bite to eat and a catch up. It's always good to meet up when he is in town.

After work I headed out to Camden to meet Dan Symmons. We haven't seen in other in around twenty years so there was plenty to catch up on! Fortunately it was one of those meet up with old friends that was like we'd never had a break. Great talking about old memories and music.

We missed Moss due to drinking and talking but did manage to catch some of Purson's psychedelic set. They were pretty good and I'd like to go and see them in a more intimate venue.

The Cosmic Dead were up next and I was less than impressed with them. I had my fill of experimental noise in the 80s/90s and what Moss started off with just seemed tired and dated with none of the flair of the noise pioneers. In this day and age it's not cool to do a performance and just not even look at your audience!

The rest of the set might have got better but they blew their chance as we went out onto the terrace for more drinking and talking.

Which then led us on to Electric Wizard who are described as stoner/sludge doom metal (whatever that is supposed to mean). I had listened to a few tracks before in the lead up to the gig and they were OK. Live however was a different kettle of fish. They were really good, the sound was huge. If you like Black Sabbath then there is lots for you to enjoy here. Slow paced doomy riffs with the whole building vibrating with the bass but the sound was crystal clear. The entire show was backdropped by cheesy occult porn and some dodgy biker clips.

It was a great night of catching up and live music and Dan and I intend to be doing this more often in the future!