Wednesday, August 8, 2007

How Can I Start?

Turn back the pages when I know the words by heart. Meeting your idols can be a bit awkward and sometimes disappointing. That's what Gregory Webster said when I met him last weekend. But he didn't realise that was the exact situation I was in. Greg and Tim will always be two of my biggest idols. But I've never been disappointed with any of the people I've met from my favourite bands, and Greg is certainly no exception. He was in a great mood and more talkative than I'd expected. I guess it's because none of these people really feel like popstars even they ARE in our eyes. Of course Razorcuts were never 'successful', but they've become indiepop legends over the past twenty years. I shouldn't be the one to talk however. I don't even feel like I'm in a 'proper' band now, and god knows I won't twenty years on! I actually felt more like a friend than a fan, thanks to meeting him before the club - 'in private' as it were, instead of in the public sphere of the dance floor. He did know who I was in fact, as I'd been emailing him a few years ago when I wrote that (in retrospect unaccomplished) paper on c86. I never expected then to meet him in the future of course. He did get his fair share of admirers approaching him for a chat though, it seemed. Graham had brought all his Sportique records for him to sign, and a slightly drunk girl tried to drag him off to KB after Retro closed. "It's a rock club..." I explained to Greg and he wisely refrained. A guy has to stay true to his beliefs, you know. No more rock 'n' roll for you! Gregory did two great sets behind the turntables - one before the first onslaught of drunken dancers had arrived (with stuff that "you couldn't dance to" like Huggy Bear and The Buff Medways) and then an "unplanned" barrage of girl-group hits for a packed dance floor. Everything from 45s of course. I'm already looking forward to next month when Harvey Williams is the guest dj!

Oh, I just noticed that Nancy has posted Razorcuts' Caff 7" on her blog, which you'll find among the links if you're not too stupid.

Daniel alerted me to the fact that I managed to write the whole of this without even mentioning the name of his club! I should be ashamed. It's called So Tough So Cute - so now you'll know where to go next month. It's in Sweden, by the way.

3 comments:

Fire Escape said...

Are you really tall or are you standing on a chair? Or did Greg lose his legs in a drunken bet (these things happen)?

The Boy and the Cloud said...

oh no, that's daniel standing on the right. and he is tall with a capital 't'.

thanks for posting the fizzbombs/desperadoes flexi and the mousefolk ep. the latter may not have aged well, but isn't that why we listen to 80s indiepop - because it doesn't sound like post-belle&sebastian indiepop?

did you ever post those two candees songs? i've been cut off from the internet for a while, so sorry if i missed it.

and btw, i'd appreciate it if you'd change the link on your blog to "heaven is above your head" :)

i'm still bummed the heavensabove.blogspot.com url was taken! that person doesn't even write anything...

Fire Escape said...

Yes, I did post the Candees songs, but they'll need reposting now...I'll get round to it...
No, I don't listen to 80s indiepop because it doesn't sound like post-B+S indiepop; I listen to it because it's good (and, perhaps more often than I'd like to admit, inspired by nostalgia). The stuff that isn't good, I don't listen to. I'm not sure that there is a definable sound of "post-B+S indiepop" (I take it you mean post 1996), anyway. Unless you count bands like Camera Obscura or The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, who are clearly heavily indebted to early B+S, but that's a sub-genre itself.