Lemonade

I'm reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (my 50th Stephen King book) and boy did I pick a bad one. What a piece of shit. Almost unreadable.

http://eduncovered.com/10-aberdeen-gig-venues-wont-remember-2014-07-08

5 hours ago, Dan G said:

Drummonds and Tunnels were my favourite venues to play between 2006-08 - might have been as much to do with the promoter, sound engineers and crowds that were there at that time as much as the venues themselves though.

Played Lava/Kef tonnes of times with various bands between 2002-2005... good memories, although never thought the sound was great on or off stage, it was overly dark, sticky and creaky floor, and my overriding memory of that is Paul Lava's "Four local bands...£8 please" door policy. Still had some great times there and is probably the venue, along with (Dr) Drakes that I am most  to thank for giving me live experience with bands in formative years.

I'm turning this back to the ab-music memories thread aren't I...

 

Dr Drakes was my home from home. I lived 5 minutes from it and at that time was still young enough that I could stagger home pished at 1am and still be up for work at 8 the next morning without a bother on me. I played there a lot, hung out there a lot, must have seen hundreds of bands there. Losing Dr Drakes was a huge blow for the local music scene imo. 

31 minutes ago, Jaaakkkeee said:

Deadpool 2 was good fun. Proper belly laughs. I think it's definitely missing it's anarchistic edge that came with being so low-budgeted in the first film. Took a little longer to get in to it but once it did it was proper good. Cable was great, Domino was great. Brad Pitt was fantastic. 

I waited until the end of the credits for any other post-credit scenes and was a bit disappointed. But the mid-credit scenes were absolutely brilliant.

Brad Pitt was in it? 

And yeah agreed, the mid-credit sequence tied up the whole film AND had the biggest laugh.

2 hours ago, Soda Jerk said:

Same. Did they not wonder they the lights hadn't come back on, or why 90% of people weren't leaving?

It was great fun though. I preferred it slightly to the first. Loved the parachute scene.

 

I hate the cinema though. It reminds me why I usually wait for a film to come out on Bluray (last film I saw at a cinema was the first Deadpool). Film started at 2:45, and two lads come in late at 3:30! And obviously they sit two seats away from me, rustling of jackets, popcorn, bags, TALKING TO EACH OTHER. Die. Once the trailers are done, that should be it, you've missed it and you're not coming in, rather than disturb everyone else who has paid £12-odd to be there.

I agree with everything you've said here. Once the trailers are done, doors locked. 

Guardians of the Galaxy - Don't get the hype with this one at all. I liked the characters and there were some funny lines but overall I found it really boring and difficult to follow. 

2/5

Deadpool 2 - My favourite film since the last Deadpool. Pretty much every line is funny, the action is awesome and it's full of heart. Must-watch. Must stay and watch the scenes during the credits, which a bunch of people in the cinema walked out and missed. 

5/5

Portishead, Massive Attack, Ian Holloway. 

27 minutes ago, AVB said:

That band Cold Years seem to be doing well for themselves, They just did a few dates in Germany.. other than them theres not much outside the Teabagsy scene.

from my experience its pretty much a circuit of Musical vision - Drummonds - Krakatoa on loop then the odd trip down to Edinburgh/Glasgow when the work schedules line up. its shite.. even Krakatoa is less of an option now cos if your a local band looking for a gig between June and September they're gonna want you to do the Battle of the bands thing which is fine But 3 summers in a row of bands not getting paid for gigs is a bit much. 

On another note, getting folk though the door is nigh on impossible. look at Full metal haggis, Captian Tom put on a sick little 2 day event, heaps of bands, reasonable prices and a bus going to a from the venue.. nae cunt showed up. when questioned why 'there's nae that many good bands on the bill' 'its too far' ' i cant be arsed' ...abysmal

Is the Tunnels still a thing? Been to many an empty midweek gig there. 

People talk about the early 2000s music scene as being amazing, which it was, I was there and part of it, but although there were loads more bands and a lot more enthusiasm, the same problems existed then too. I played to half-empty Dr Drakes or Lava plenty of times in 2001/02.

Like I said I've only read a few. I'm going to try and get through a few more this year though. Sourcery was my favourite so far. 

28 minutes ago, Soda Jerk said:

Anyone into Discworld? I've been meaning to delve in for ages, but kept putting it off. I'd heard mixed things about whether to start at the start or dive in to the middle, as the first 2 or 3 apparently aren't so good. I started at the start anyway.

The Colour of Magic is making my head hurt. I keep having to re-read bits and I'm still left thinking "So what actually happened there?". Doing a quick Google seems to suggest it's generally a bit of a difficult read for many. Did anyone else struggle with it? And is it worth it? Or should I bin it and come back to it? If so, what's a better starting point?

I've read a few. My wife is a mega fan and has read them all multiple times. She always recommended reading them chronologically but the thing with Discworld is there are a few different story strands going on, all with their own jumping-off point. See diagram. 

You can start with any of the orange ones. I started with the Rincewind Novels. The Colour Of Magic can be a tough read, it's dry and full of long descriptive passages that can be hard to read. They do get a lot easier after that one. My wife loves the Witches Novels and thinks they're the best arc, so maybe consider that but she says just read them chronologically for maximum enjoyment. 

1 hour ago, ca_gere said:

To turn this thread away from making me want to top myself, what would be some realistic and worthwhile changes that could be made to (re)establish a better music scene in Aberdeen?

I use a thing at work called the DMAIC Methodology, which is top-level, grade-A bullshit, but there's a part of it called the Five Whys which is used to find root causes and solutions to problems and could almost apply here. 

So here's our problem in the left box. 

>The Music Scene is dead<

Why? 

1.People aren't going to gigs. 

Or

2. There aren't enough gigs. 

Why? 

1.1 People don't know about the gigs. 

1.2 Bands on the bill aren't good. 

1.3 People don't want to go to gigs on Tuesdays. 

1.4 People are bored of watching the same bands.

Why? 

1.1.1 Lazy promotion

1.1.2 Nowhere for them to practice

1.1.2 No-one told Dave he can't play the fucking drums. 

1.1.3 Shows are lackluster and TV is a better option. 

1.1.3 Love Island is on. 

1.1.4 There aren't enough bands. 

Etc etc etc. 

All just examples obviously but eventually you're meant to come to your root cause(s) and can thus come up with solutions. Yeah I hate my job too. 

Out of curiosity, what is lacking at the moment? Is it lack of bands, lack of venues, lack of promoters? Or still just the age old problem of getting punters through the doors?

Guys, guys, hold on. I think you're all forgetting about Sandi fucking Thom. 

I don't have much to contribute here, but Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material is essential, Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, The Clash's first album, Rancid - And Out Come The Wolves and the first three Ramones albums. 

54 minutes ago, James Broonbreed said:

Aye, that's probably the same bit we used to camp oot in.

The golf club always seemed to have plenty of wood about to keep the fire going.  Then there was the dreaded walk to the 24 hour garage....

I remember cooking square sausage over a campfire down there using a rusty piece of corrugated metal from a fence then having serious, serious diahorrea the next day. Karma for wrecking the fence probably. 

2 hours ago, James Broonbreed said:

My chums and I always used to steal one of the flags from The Broch golf course and set it on fire at beach parties. Every week it was replaced, every weekend it was burned.

What hole was closest to the second bomb hole, Lemonade?

Not sure, but we did the same. We had a campie about halfway between Tiger Hill and the Philorth and we were forever burning the flags, rakes and anything else we could find that would go on the campfire. We dismantled and burned one of their fences once, then next time we went over and they'd flattened our campie with a bulldozer or something. Golf pricks. 

1 hour ago, ca_gere said:

From about the age of 8 till 15 my junior membership was 30 quid for the year. Played as much as I wanted. All balls used were locally foraged from gorse bushes. Would go out with a bucket and a sand wedge and scoop up hundreds. Played in the same adidas AstroTurf numbers id play football in. The only hoity toity part of golfing as a kid was having to wear a shirt with a collar to get into the clubhouse. Pool table was 20p, mars bar 30p and a pint of orange and water 20p. 

I stopped at 15 as well because I didn't want to pay adult membership. I was always shite but it was a fun thing to go and do with my pals. I don't think there was a dress code at the two courses I played at but I remember an old guy shouting at me once for wearing jeans on the course. Like come on, is your life that shit that you have to go out of your way to come and shout at a 14 year old kid for wearing jeans on your precious golf course? We weren't allowed in the bar but there was a wee games room with a pool table and you'd get a pint of Coke for 50p. Good times. 

I almost got a hole in one once. Hit the pin. Absolute fluke. I could take that shot 100 times and I'd probably only even get it on the green like 4 or 5 times. 

Dicks Sports in the Broch (a real shop) used to sell found golf balls for cheap, and would buy them off you too. Most of mine come from there. I was a Maxfli or a Titleist guy. 

That said I did just pay €33 to enter a 10k that's in a park 5 minutes from my house where I go running every weekend anyway. 

2 hours ago, Jaaakkkeee said:

There are obviously some folk that go over the score. But I find it hard to judge people on spending money on games, when I've spent hundreds if not thousands on band stuff over the years. 

Golf though - about a tenner a week, if it's summer you do two rounds a week. that was back over 10 years ago like. but right away that's easy like £700 a year. then you've got either your packed lunch for the course or your meal at the clubhouse after. Lost balls? I'd say buy a new pack of 3 a week. And didn't go for the cheapos. I was young enough that my feet were still growing. That's a new pair of Adidas golf shoes a year. New golf slacks/shorts/waterproofs for playing rainy days per year. hats. maybe a new putter or driver once in a while. I stopped playing once I left school. But if I had continued, the costs would just be stupidly high at this point. all for a hobby.

let the kids have their stupid emotes/skins. Obviously some kids will put all their money in to it, or worse, all their parents money. But that's more on the parents. On PS4 you can have a parent account that has the credit card details, and you have to manually put money in the sub accounts' wallets. If the parents are too technologically inept (which is their own fault for not taking the time to learn how to use it) and they don't teach their kids the value of money, then that's on the parents. Of course a young kid is gonna want the cool new outfit for his player so he looks cool for his pals online. But back before the internet you had to get your mum to come to a shop with you and buy you stuff that you couldn't afford. If they parents are letting kids hyped up on mountain due run riot with their bank details. that's on the parents. 

If you were losing three golf balls a week it's probably for the best you took up music instead. 

I also used to play golf as a teenager, it's an expensive hobby. But most things are if you're trying to get serious about them. I've been doing a bit of running over the last year which is refreshingly easy on the wallet, at least to start with. €100 odd on a half decent pair of running shoes and you're good to go. 

2 hours ago, James Broonbreed said:

 

Just... what? It sounds like three different songs playing at once while a bunch of Emo kids pretend they're in a hip hop video. 

1 minute ago, James Broonbreed said:

Just trying to keep the site alive with inane drivel.

It's what we do. 

1 hour ago, James Broonbreed said:

Sharon once paid our taxi home after the door takings were £7 at a Drakes gig.

How does a door take £7? Two people paid in and one was £1 short? 

1 hour ago, Soda Jerk said:

Have you ever played so terribly that the venue mercy-killed you by shutting the power off?

Not me, but I have witnessed it happen to another band back when I was in college. Definitely the worst band I've ever seen. The local pub had student band nights on Tuesdays, so it was always well attended. People were in hysterics at how bad they were. Then they played this song, a cover of sorts, where they jammed a whole bunch of iconic guitar riffs together to make one 'song'. That's when the guy behind the bar had had enough. Lights went out. Everyone cheered.

Brutal. That would make me never want to touch a guitar again.

Not shut off but we got asked to stop once in a local pub in our covers band because we were too loud. I think I was 17, I called the landlord a bitch or something through the microphone then went and stood outside in the rain in a sulk and refused to come back in. That showed them. 

2 hours ago, Soda Jerk said:

Gigs to empty rooms are rough. My first ever band played a gig at Josephs Well in Leeds to pretty much my Dad and a mate from college (deservedly, probably. we were baaaad). It was a gig that the inhouse promoter put on, 4 totally different bands who didn't know each other, so the friends of the bands went into the next room where the bar is when other bands played. We brought the drumkit and bass cab for all the bands to use, and they still didn't even watch us, and it unfortunately meant we couldn't leave early.

Those gigs were weird. The promoter asked which band you were there to see when you paid in, and tallied it. If your band got less than 20 people in, you got blacklisted from his future gigs. Proper weird way of doing things, as opposed to, you know, putting together bills that make sense? The promoter, "Peanut", now plays keyboards in the Kaiser Chiefs. Or used to. I don't know if he still does. He was always a dick. I once saw him get refused entry into The Cockpit whilst bellowing "do you know who I am?!?" as the bouncers ushered him away, and that was before KC were really known. He just seemed to think he was the scene-king because he put on shit gigs at the Well, or something. Twat.

Yeah, playing to nobody can be a bit of a kick in the ego. I've never played to a completely empty venue, though I have played to 0 paying customers. I played bass in Sirius for a few gigs and we were booked along with another punk band, I think Point Of Origin, for a random gig in the top floor of that Irish bar on Justice Mill Lane who had decided to start putting local bands on. Another weeknight gig, our crowd was the other band and a few girlfriends, literally not £1 taken at the door. I think that was the first and last local band night there. I had food poisoning too and spent the whole gig trying not to shit myself. Despite that, it was actually a pretty fun gig. It was a nice room, a proper big stage and a little backstage room and everything. I don't know if they use it for gigs now or what. Presumably Irish bands if they do. Eye diddle eye. 

We got offered the opening slot for this, supporting two touring bands I'd never heard of. The promoter gave us tickets to sell but it was a weeknight and they were like a tenner a pop and none of my mates fancied it, I guess it was the same for the other guys. Tbh we didn't really make much effort to sell tickets, assuming that the touring bands, a screamo band and a hardcore band would probably sell loads, and we just hadn't heard of them because we're all too old. Cut to gig day. We turn up for soundcheck. 

"How many tickets did you sell?" asks the promoter. 

Me- "Honesty, none. Sorry. We've a few said they might pay at the door. How many are sold altogether?" 

Promoter - "None." 

Me - "So we've sold 0 tickets?" 

Promoter - "That is correct."

Cut to a couple hours later and we take to the stage in Moshulu to a crowd consisting of two people from my office, my girlfriend and our drummer's wife. Tell you something, Moshulu looks fucking big when you're playing to four people. We still got paid, somehow. I felt bad taking it. 

3 hours ago, Teabags said:

Is this site dead?

There was a wee issue for a few days there but Neil got us up and running again (thanks Neil) 

1 hour ago, scottyboy said:

I am going to answer this without googling it to test my smarty-pants-ness. Then I'll google it. It's duct tape (its used for taping up pipes, or their insulation foam, in air ducts and attics and similar). Duck tape I think is a brand name, Duck Tape, of duct tape. So like blu-tack or bandaid; except in this case the generic name came first (is my guess).

....and googling "duck tape" brings up duct tape (for Wiki, certainly). But down the first page is Wallmart selling something called Duck Tape. Got a duck logo. Doesn't say if it's duct tape or gaffer take or something else though. Just adhesive tape. Exciting.

Pretty much what I thought. 

OK next quick question. What's the correct description of someone who likes spicy food? 

Spicy food-lover
Spicy-food lover
Spicy-food-lover
Spicy food lover