We recently enjoyed a visit from the Great Cole Coonce.
We laid on a
rehearsal while he was here so that he could get a flavour of the Wilson
thing, and it actually turned into something of a private gig. Much
fun. Cole duly set off for a cycling tour around Tuscany (oh, he's fit
for his years) and we set about preparing for our return to the Soundhaus,
report below:
We hadn't played the Soundhaus since our very first show, so it was
pleasing to get the invitation to come and play there again.
The evening took an early turn for the weird while we were still
soundchecking, when we lost Mr. E. Wilson after some chronic
misunderstanding with the local promoter in re. beer. He had managed
to get hold of the wrong end of a number of sticks, but it had all made
him so angry that he just packed up and legged it. The soundcheck passed
without further drama and we repaired, along with sonic technician Stevie
Ward, to Shakespeare Villas to watch England's game against Slovakia.
At half-time England were trailing by a goal to nil, but we had to set
off and do our thing. After a pleasant stroll round to the venue we went
in to find the first band, Ambience, already on stage. The audience? Oh,
we were the audience. By the time we took to the stage (announced by MC
Bot as "the Wilson Five") a few brave souls had abandoned their tellies
and showed up to watch. What they got for their trouble was a 30 minute
blast of guitar-heaviness, with Stevie G. on record-breaking form.MC
Bot was probably fortunate that the place wasn't too busy: otherwise
his persistent shouts of "GAY BAR!!!" might have been misunderstood. But
hey - we were always going to like the Electric Six. They are our kind
of people having fun.
The audience was small but appreciative and the set rushed by, hitting
the wall at the end of Buffalo Sniper with a mighty slap, while maniacal
laughter rang out through the feedback. No time for mutual fan-club
action, though, for we had to clear our shit away to make room for the
headliners, an agreeable quartet from Nottingham called Fin. Their style
is a bit all-over-the-place, but they play very well and Jamie, their
singer, definitely has the looks and the charisma for the job. We got
on well with them, for they had seen our set and declared it "f***ing
brilliant".
Afterwards we walked our kit round to Misery's place, just a hundred
yards (eighty metres, Euroreaders) from the venue, before heading back to
Shakespeare Villas to party with Johnny P and Will Carruthers, who were
over from Rugby Town, and to listen to the new album from British Sea
Power (it's the last track you want - all 15 minutes of the fecker!). Will
was on top form, winding up everybody in sight. It being midweek, we
shut down at around half past two after a very pleasant evening.
Oh, and England came good in the second half, with two goals from Michael
Owen bringing in the essential three points.
The Stone
xxx
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