Retro-Beat/Our Souls @ The Roadmender, Northampton, 18/07/08

I think I last went to the Roadmender about 4 years ago to see Electric Six. Since then, it shut down, reopened, and is now Northampton's main venue since the demise of it's sister club, The Soundhaus (which was far more to my taste).

Architecturally, the Roadmender is a giant purple concrete block. In fact, everything in the interior, from the tables to the DJ booth is made from purple painted concrete blocks. It's like a tribute to what can be created if you rob a building site. It's hideous. But hey, it's there and it serves a purpose. I'd had some good nights there in the past so off I went in my new shoes to see what was new. Which was actually very little as it looked a lot like it used to, just with less rooms open, and, sadly, less people.

Our Souls are a band from Corby. Do you see what they did with the name? How clever! *Duh* Not a big fan of "wacky" comedy band names over here. However, it is worth noting that a lot of good music is coming out of Corby (it being, spiritually speaking, somewhere between Glasgow and New Jersey). They did also give us Raging Speedhorn but I can't hold that grudge forever. They had a good sized following as well (who, in Corby tradition, drank like fish, danced like maniacs, had a punch up and got kicked out). The thing is, I have no idea what they were hearing with such enthusiasm, because I wasn't getting it. The band were nothing really to look at or listen to. The music was bland sub-Oasis tribute act, and their fans were infinitely more interesting to watch. There was the odd catchy moment, but it always sounded faintly like there was a record of a different song playing in the background. In their defence, the sound set up was bloody awful. Still, the band and their music were in no way as memorable, or as wacky, as their name.

The Retro-Beat clubnight went on in it's usual fashion (i.e. mild chaos). When we arrived someone had quite ingeniously set it up so that the decks were wired into the mixer "backwards" i.e. the crossfader went the opposite way than you would think. Not a biggy, though, we can handle this stuff. We have Pete for that. :) I went on first and, whilst I don't remember everything I played or in what order, I know it included the following:

What Will You Do (When The Money Goes?) - Milburn
I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Lush
Shut Up & Let Me Go - The Ting Tings
A Life Less Ordinary - Ash
Stop Your Crying - Spiritualized
Free Things For Poor People - Infadels
Shine On - The Kooks
Faster - Manic Street Preachers
Standing Next To Me - Last Shadow Puppets

That's about all I remember. I did then start enjoying the supply of Fosters behind the DJ booth at that point so it gets a little fuzzy (and who stole my bottle opener!?!). Rock and roll people. James & Gaz did their usual one-deck-each thing. After the band, Jay (who I had never met IRL before but is in another local band thingy called The Importers) went on aided by a guy with a beard (not really the social butterfly, me). Really liked his set... quite dance-y, making its way from Madchester to Hot Chip via Reverend & The Makers (possibly... I was
reasonably merry at this stage). Then Pete did his funk/soul/mod/freakbeat thingy. This was the highlight of the night for me. Not just for Pete's excellent DJing (ahem) but more for the fact the the little dance floor more than resembled the Blue Oyster from the Police Academy films as a selection of industrial looking lads in bondage trousers threw shapes to some very un-industrial music! It was awesome.

After that it was a bit downhill as the lights behind the DJ booth got hot and set Nes's coat on fire (rather that than the records but still...), Pete burnt his thumb on said coat, Nes got mad, and just to cap it all off, the Roadmender very kindly gave us all parking tickets.

Good night? Hmm... bit of a mixed bag really. Was a bit surreal, given the the band and the clubnight were booked separately, so noone appeared to be running the night which gave it a disjointed feel, and a serious lack of finesse. I'm glad the Roadmender reopened and good to see it carrying on some of the Soundhaus' role as an alternative venue, however given the prices after 11pm for entry to most of the nights (£5.50 after 11 is pushing it) I'd expect it to at least have a bit of a refurb to justify it. Or at least make the toilets vaguely sanitary. Yuck!

Our Souls
http://www.myspace.com/oursoulsforever
Retro-Beat
http://www.myspace.com/retrobeat
The Roadmender, Northampton
http://www.purplehaus.com/

Hometown Glory aka Is my council tax paying for this junk mail?

Every so often, Wellingborough council send us round a newsletter. This time it was a celebration of Wellingborough's carnival weekend (Jason Donovan live!), and the dubious fact that Wellingborough is one of the top places to get married in the UK, beaten only by Kensington and Chelsea. This fact is later clarified to explain that Wellingborough has more bridal shops/venues/florists etc per capita then anywhere else except Kensington and Chelsea, which sounds a little more likely. They did, however, manage to use the pun 'Weddingborough' in the article so more power to them. I don't expect to see Wayne and Coleen renewing their vows here any time soon though. It also launched the new slogan for Wellingborough. Previously they had tried 'Wellingborough... It's Getting Better' but this only led to the snide follow-up of 'Because It Couldn't Get Any Bloody Worse'. Our new slogan is: 'Making Wellingborough A Place To Be Proud Of'. Which I suppose, whilst annoyingly proactive sounding, is at least, well, proactive.

Tucked into this fascinating piece of journalistic excellence were several other publications. They were Growth Area Development Fact Sheet 2 June 2008. This was an update on their rather grandiose plans to extend and redevelop Wellingborough. They intend to do this by putting Compulsory Purchase Orders on half the existing town, including our only free car park, a nursery school, a large ornate building that until recently held the British Legion, a pub or two, basically anything useful or historic. The little drawings Bovis Homes have provided showing one development by the river looks a lot like a cross between Milton Keynes (not renowned for it's beautiful architecture) and Camelot. I have a suspicion it may not look like that. Fortunately, I currently reside half a mile out of town, so I can ignore all of this rather than writing angry letters to my MP and lamenting what is to become of me.

The next booklet was Know Your Local Councillor & A-Z Of Services. In between adverts for Weavers Leisure Centre (which was the school gym when I last used it... for my GCSEs, rather than any sporting activity) and Women's Aid, there are several pages dedicated to pictures and details for all our local councillors. I don't know which mine is as Wellingborough is separated into several wards, and there hasn't been an election since I moved into this flat. Last time I voted, I lived in Castle ward, which coincidentally is the only one in Wellingborough that isn't predominantly Conservative, represented currently by 2 Labour councillors and an Independent Socialist (who looks a bit like my dad, or Penfold from Danger Mouse, either way). I think I may be in Croyland now, where I appear to be represented by 3 Tories who are a smug looking man named Martin, a woman called Lesley who looks a lot like Bella Emberg, and a 19 year-old ginger called Thomas who has one of those faces you need to stamp on, and the fact he's a 19 year old Tory councillor shows he's evidently a precocious little shit who was bullied at school (and rightly so). I despair. I would, however, like to know who took these photographs, as I would love to know how they managed to make every councillor look orange and as if they had no neck, giving the impression that we are actually being represented by orange Smarties in toupes.

Finally, there was my favourite publication, Wellingborough Partnership. This is produced by.... Wellingborough Partnership (an organisation so professional they have a residential address and a Yahoo e-mail address). They are 'the Local Strategic Partnership for Wellingborough'. Which begs the question, what do the council do all day then? They do have some admirable aims, like reducing the under 18 conception rate, reducing obesity among primary school children, and apparently encouraging random capitalisation of letters. Here are a few of my favourites:

'Increase % of people who believe that people from different background [sic] get on well together in their area'

Which basically means we're a backward bunch of racists.

'Reduce % of residents perceiving a high level of anti-social behaviour'

Note: not reducing the anti-social behaviour, just the percentage of people perceiving it. May I suggest blindfolds and headphones?

'We want Wellingborough to be the place where you want to be'.

You want Wellingborough to be a cocktail bar in the south of France? Blinding!

They then went on to state a bold and unexpected goal, one that if achieved, could really put Wellingborough on the map:

'Reduce all age all cause mortality'

That's it people, no more sarcastic comments, no more snide remarks, let's get behind this local initiative and, regardless of age or illness or circumstance, let us all join together and not die. Dying just isn't acceptable. It's not community minded. Dying is anti-social behaviour (so if you must do it, make sure noone 'perceives' it). Do not die in Wellingborough. Fortunately, Earls Barton is easily accessible by bus, and out of the Wellingborough area whilst being only 4 miles down the road. Die there instead, and help them achieve not only the reduction in mortality in Wellingborough, but also their much longed for increase in 'local bus passenger journeys originating in the Borough area'.

I do wonder, given the time and energy (and money?) that went into writing, researching, designing, printing, distributing this information, could they have maybe done some of the things they keep talking about instead of just telling us all about it?

Still, thanks for the latest publication Wellingborough Borough Council. Although I will admit, the subscription price of £100 a month for those of us in a one bed flat is nowhere near as competitive as the prices Heat magazine are offering for 12 months. And they'll throw in free hair products.

http://www.wellingboroughpartnership.org
http://www.wellingborough.gov.uk

This week I will be mostly listening to...

I've made myself a compilation to listen to on my MK commute for the week. It goes a a little something like this:

1. Let's Push Things Forward - The Streets
2. Crash - Gwen Stefani
3. Domino Dancing - Pet Shop Boys
4. Wings Of A Butterfly - HIM
5. La belle et le bad boy - MC Solaar
6. I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Lush
7. Down In Mexico - The Coasters
8. Machines - Biffy Clyro
9. Lapdance - N*E*R*D
10. Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins
11. I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You - Black Kids
12. Just Go Away - Blondie
13. You Don't Understand Me - Roxette
14. Avalon - Roxy Music
15. In These Shoes - Kirsty MacColl
16. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage - Panic! At The Disco
17. Last Resort - Papa Roach
18. Misery Business - Paramore
19. Fan - Pascal Obispo

It was a dull and rainy afternoon

It was a dull and rainy afternoon, and the computer said to Kat, 'Kat, tell us a story'.

So I bit the bullet and got a proper blog. Because the world needs more of those.

And this is all that's here for now.