Hup Hup Hup Hup! The Wonder Stuff @ O2 Academy Leeds, 23rd April 2010

On Friday night Doozr and I headed to Leeds O2 Academy for The Wonder Stuff's Hup! Tour.  I have been a fan of The Wonder Stuff for as long as I can remember.  When I told my mum who I was going to see her reply was "Wow, I know them.  How do I know them?".  Simple mum, I used to force you to listen to their Hup Album over and over in the car when I was about 15.

The Wonder Stuff decided to head out on a 20th Anniversary tour of their first album 'Eight Legged Grove Machine' last year.  It was an amazing gig and their new line up was impressive.  Erica Nockalls being a complete surprise, not only fantastic violinist but also adding a touch of glamour to The Wonder Stuff line-up.

When they announced that they would be touring again in 2010 to tour Hup I had to get tickets.  Hup is without a doubt their best album to date and, having seen the show they put on last year, I knew I couldn't miss it.

We dashed across to Leeds after work and found ourselves entering 'The Light', an entertainment and shopping centre around the corner from Academy.  We parked up and with a good hour to spare we popped into Subway for a bite to eat and a sit down.  We headed for the venue at doors opening and found ourselves a little corner midway back, out of the way of, what we knew from last time, would be a sea of 30 somethings moshing about like loons.

The first support act came on at about 7.30.  An interesting fellow called John McKeown.  He is sold as a solo artist but he appears to be more of 7 piece, a number of guitarists, keyboard, drums and violinist.  The songs were catchy and I even found myself bobbing my head a little.  Unfortunately, he appeared to think he was very 'rock and roll' and even strode off the stage at the end of the performance without even a simple thank you.  This left his 'band' to accept the slightly sparse clapping from the yet to fill up audience.

The second support act seemed to have a large following in the audience and I had spotted a number of gig-goers with their t-shirts on.  They were called Amsterdam and hail from Liverpool.  Immediately I noticed the common theme for the night; another beautiful girl with a violin in hand.

Amsterdam did not disappoint though.  They were excellent - I particularly liked the title track from their album, Arm in Arm.  Their entire set was really catchy.  Solid folk pop tracks with a distinct Irish feel thanks to honorary performer Elmear McGeown on the flute and penny whistle and Anna Jenkins on violin.  We enjoyed it so much that we acquired the aforementioned album.  Another new band to add to the collection.

A nice addition to the stage performance was a roadie who clearly appreciated Amsterdam's music.  He suddenly appeared from nowhere on the stage and started performing Bez-like dance moves whilst singing his lungs out.  Very amusing indeed.

Finally at about 9.15, The Wonder Stuff took to the stage.  They opened with 30 Years in the Bathroom, changing the year to 1979 instead of 1959. Time really has flown since they released this album.  It soon became clear, however, that the were not playing the tracks in the album order.  A disgruntled audience member enquired as to why this was so.  Lead singer Miles Hunt was happy to answer, admitting that he felt they'd made a mistake with the original track order and that this was the order the tracks should have been.  Since listening to the Anniversary edition of Hup I can see that they have changed the order on the re-recording too, and I concur; the album does indeed make a lot more sense this way around.

All too quickly they had finished the album tracks and had vanished off stage.  There were a few minutes when I wondered if that was it.  Slightly disappointed that it could be over so quickly.  But then they were back and on form to sing some excellent covers, B-sides and classic songs from the era.  Circlesquare, Size of a Cow and Caught in my Shadow being 3 of my favourite tracks and the amazing Ten Trenches Deep to finish the set.

They were on stage for over 2 hours.  2 amazing, non-stop hours.  I danced.  I never dance at gigs.  I was completely drawn into what was happening on the stage and could have kept going for another 2 hours.  At some point during the evening, without me even noticing, Doozr snuck off to the Merc stand to grab me a copy of the re-recorded Hup album.  A welcome addition to my Wonder Stuff CD collection. Due to the complete overhaul it has received, it's like a new album rather than a re-recording of an old classic.

Hup has and always will be my favourite offering from The Wonder Stuff.  After that performance I really hope they come back next year and tour Never Loved Elvis.  I will certainly be there, cheap seats or not!

Dalek Storm

Further to the relevation of the new heavily armoured Dalek seen parading around Sheffield station, I bring you new news on this awesome beasty. It is Dalek Storm (Special Tactical Operations Radioactive Mutant), a fan built project based on sketches done by Rocky Marshall in the 80s after disappointment with the red "Supreme Dalek" on the show.

Alan Clark, who hails from Stanley, near Wakefield in our very own sunny Yorkshire, built Dalek Storm from wood and an old electric wheelchair. It's fully mobile, complete with water cannons, neon lights and the obligatory voice-changer for EX-TER-MI-NATING hapless pedestrians.

Sadly, as this is a fan project, it'll likely never appear on the show or, much to my dismay, as a radio controlled toy. Looks like I'm going to have to be as resourceful as Mr Clark if I ever want one.

The photos in this post are from the Dalek Storm Facebook group. Have a look for loads more pics.

Might Morphin' Power Daleks

If, like me, you were disappointed with last week's Dalek revelation, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. The new Daleks initially looked pretty impressive. The first thing I thought was "Wow! Giant Daleks!" Then I got a good view at the whole set of primary coloured death machines and thought "They're a bit ... erm ..."

So yes, a new revelation. For some reason that to this day remains a mystery, the Daleks invaded Sheffield train station yesterday morning. Sadly I couldn't get down there for a look, but a friend of ours who works nearby took a camera. What greeted him was this:



Is that not the most awesome Dalek variant you've ever seen? I can't wait 'til they make an appearance on the show. Also, 'til the radio controlled toy version comes out. Hey, I have to indulge my inner nerd!

Focal Point - Paul Cusick

A couple of weeks ago I did something I very rarely do. I clicked on an advert on the internet. It was for a musician I'd never heard of, Paul Cusick, who the advert billed as being like Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Nine Inch Nails. Sounded interesting. I clicked through and had a listen to the sample tracks.

I'm not sure about the list of similarities, but what I heard was some pretty decent prog rock. Not hard rock in any way, but good stuff and similar to many things I already like. There are hints of Porcupine Tree in there, and certainly I can hear hints of Bryan Josh in there. A lack of long, meandering instrumentals and more to-the-point lyrical hooks make it a more mainstream sound than many prog artists, and it loses nothing for it.

Paul Cusick (aka Q) has been the guitarist for several prog bands, Gabriel, Ripped and Riversea, who I've never really listened to. Perhaps I should, because if this is the sort of talent they have playing for them they're probably worth a listen. His solo debut album, Focal Point, is available in myriad formats from his website. He's certainly been very considerate when producing for the widest possible audience, and has maintained his own record label so he can control distribution.

A couple of listens is all it took to convince me to buy the album. I bought the CD, but with that you also get a download version in a format of your choice. The usual contenders (high and low bitrate MP3) are there, but also VBR MP3, AAC, FLAC and even OGG. Can't fault him for not covering all bases! Once downloaded, I was very impressed by the production quality of something as simple as an MP3 file. The first track, Focal Point, has the album cover as the artwork. Subsequent tracks have their respective pages from the little book, complete with lyrics when viewed large. A very nice touch and will definitely be appreciated.

The music then. There is quite a variety on there. Everblue is a great track, using some interesting vocal techniques to make a complex, immersive track. Fade Away and Hello mellow out to become almost balladic in their melancholy, while Big Cars and Soul Words stand out as being the most proggish with some of the best riffs. There's even a bit of political commentary in Hold On with a rather depressing, but fitting for the genre, message about holding on to what you've got. An eclectic mix of styles which, unsurprisingly, we at TME find most agreeable.

Another nice touch is that, once the CD arrived, Paul included an autographed postcard of the album cover, not signed en masse but personalised for each customer. The CD packaging itself is very good, with some nice artwork and good integration of the song lyrics. I've very much enjoyed looking through the little book, and of course seeing as I have the downloaded MP3s on my iPod, I can enjoy it when listening to it out and about too.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this random purchase brought on by a momentary lapse in judgement. Although not all the tracks are amazing, they are well laid out and hold the album together. An excellent first solo album.

TME Goes On The Road

The Mix Eclectic is soon to have it's first international field trip. As something of a relaxation measure and just because it's a nice place to go, Doozr and 23inertia are flying off to Prague next week for a sampling of Czech beer, good grub and picturesque scenery. It's all very exciting and everything was going to plan until ...

EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL

Yes, the ash cloud emanating from that most unpronouncable of all volcanoes that has shut down most of Europe for the last week is still at large, although much diminished. Airlines are frantically trying to get planes in the air and everything is going horribly, horribly wrong. Hopefully all will be well come next week, but if not, we need a backup plan!

So if we can't get to Prague for beer, food and scenery, what's the next best thing? Why, staying in England and doing the exact same thing from a nice little country cottage, of course! It has come to our attention through some searching that some holiday cottage companies are trying to boost their Spring business with handy tag lines like "Flights cancelled? We have cottages to rent TODAY!" So that's the first plan; go and spend a week in a lovely little cottage and get quietly sozzled on the English moors. Or something to that effect.

Of course, being the cautious sorts, we didn't want to risk getting to the big day and not being able to find an available cottage. With all the upheaval it's possible that next week will be fully booked all over the place. So what is a self-respecting Englishman to do if there is nowhere to stay and he really wants to go on holiday? There's always ... this:

Even though 23inertia has to date shown an almost pathological fear of tents, she has recently mellowed a lot and, in fact, suggested the idea! So if, come flying out day, it all goes completely pear shaped, we'll be heading down to Towsure and CCC. After rapidly stocking up on camping equipment and finding a nice campsite we will go somewhere rural, calm, relaxed, and with a good source of beer.

Cheers!

What's that sound?

Is it the sound of one hand clapping? Is it the sound of a tree falling in the woods, when nobody is there to hear it? Is it the sound of my brain grinding steadily to a halt?

Nope, it's the sound of a Spectrum loading Horace Goes Skiing off a tape cassette! After a rather geeky chat about retro computing last month, 23inertia revealed that she probably still had her Spectrum+ somewhere at her mum's house. Seeing as we were down there for Easter, I had a rummage about in the loft to see if I could locate it.

Here is a short list of things that I found:

• A dead mouse


• A very 70s hair dryer


• A box brownie camera


• A metric ton of Sylvanian Families toys


• A Spectrum+ with datacorder and a bunch of tapes!

While 23inertia played with the Sylvanian Families, I set about refreshing my brain with the immaculately kept Spectrum+ User's Manual. Considering it's been 23 years since I last used a Spectrum, it was surprising how much of it I remembered. I had the classic rubber-keyed Spectrum 48k but the plus operates in much the same way.





I haven't actually had a chance to hook the thing up to the TV yet, but I've been messing with an emulator on my MacBook to get myself back into the swing of it. Remembering where all the BASIC keywords are on a Mac keyboard is tricky, to say the least, but I got as far as designing a space invader sprite and making it wiggle about.

One thing that struck me about the users manual is the assumed basic use of the system. Loading programs off a tape isn't touched on at all for most of the book, and the first half is about how to write short single-use programs to make the machine do what you want. Even the last sentence of the system set-up page says, after tuning in the TV, "now you are ready to start programming." It's stuff like that that makes old nerds like me go all misty eyed and nostalgic.

I think it might be fun to apply some modern software paradigms to the Spectrum's capabilities. Last time I programmed one I didn't even know about procedural programming. GOSUB was as close as I got to structured programming and there were GOTOs everywhere. To be fair, though, I was only 7 ...

So. What shall my first conquest be? And where can I source a copy of the DK "Spectrum Machine Code Reference"?

Easter Tea with the family!? :/

So, my dad decides as I am visiting Shropshire for Easter, we should all go for a meal in The Gingerbread Man, Market Drayton.  Not averse to a nice family meal we decided to book a table (there were going to be 9 adults and 3 children so best to be prepared).

We arrived a few minutes before the table was booked and went inside.  The staff looked terrified of the large group of people who had just entered their pub and were not expecting us at all.  The Manager came over and said that as soon as there was a table for us we could have it.  Erm, we've booked.  Why is the table not ready for us already?  45 minutes later, no table, no attempt to arrange a table, new people arriving and being seated all the time - my step mother snapped and we started looking for our own damn table.

We found ourselves a corner where there was a large table for about 8 and a smaller table for 4 next to each other, so we grabbed them.  The Manager came over again to apologise and to offer us free sweets and coffee.  Apparently the booking had not been written in the diary and so they were not aware we were coming.  Fine.  Not an issue.  Why not tell us that 45 minutes ago?  Why not be a little more pro-active and find/create a space for us ... there were plenty of tables empty that could have easily been moved together.

The kids were hungry and fed up and so were us adults so we quickly chose what we wanted to eat and sent Doozr to order it.  They had a special Easter menu and we all wanted the mixed grill - 2 main meals for £15 ... bargain.  Sadly, the special offer mixed grill was out - apparently we could have the normal mixed grill (which cost £13 each) instead.  Erm, no!!  Doozr insisted we have the mixed grill at the Easter menu price and, not wanting to annoy us any further, the manager agreed.

The meal itself was very nice, steak was even cooked perfectly which usually never happens on a mixed grill.  The complimentary sweets and coffee were a lovely treat that would have probably been missed under normal circumstances.

Everyone left the pub, very full and very content.  The mess up with the booking had been all but forgotten.   All in all, it was an interesting experience.  I am not sure it was a good experience, but the reduced cost main meal, free pudding and free coffee certainly helped sweeten it a lot! Where can a party of 9 adults and 3 kids eat a 2 course meal with drinks and coffee for £123??  :D