gnome mercy

Has been while, so bullet points.

• Work

Still not been fired yet, so I guess it's going okay.  Spent much of the last month away on training in such exotic locations as Toulouse and North Wales.  Plans to spend the final quarter of the year on secondment to a maintenance, repair and overhaul outfit in Canada were scuppered when they selfishly went bankrupt.  Now I'll have to go somewhere even more sinister and foreign.

• Gigs

Many.  Helmet toured to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their seminal Meantime record; they were excellent, but I was crap and spent much of the gig standing way at the back trying not to black out.  This was just after the trip to Toulouse, so I'm going to assume the dastardly French poisoned me somehow.


Thankfully my iron constitution meant I was fully recovered in time for Meshuggah the following week.  Support was provided by We Are Knuckle Dragger, who made a delightfully shambolic clattering noise; and Animals As Leaders, who were astonishing.  Tough acts to follow; and of course Meshuggah absolutely killed it.  And almost killed me as well, when I collided hard with some other guy and cut my head open... the next day I had to get three stitches and a tetanus shot.

A powerful show indeed.  The following night we saw Pelican at the Cooler.  It's been a while since I've seen these guys, and I'd forgotten just how massive they sound live.  First support was Death Of Her Money, which was a very pleasant surprise; second support was Black Elephant, whose bluesy classic rock shtick seemed more than a little out of place between the vast swirling post-whatever majesty of the other two.  They played well, I guess - just not my thing.


And then a couple of weeks ago we managed to catch Nedry playing the Croft, in all their dubsteppy bjork-esque indie electronica glory.  Since we saw them last (supporting 65daysofstatic a couple of years ago) frontgal Ayu's vocals have got even stronger, while her dancing has stayed exactly the same - she still has all the  rhythm and grace of a toddler that's had too many fizzy drinks.  And she still dances better than me.

• Mouses

Are both still alive, but Megatron is doing his best to rectify this situation by annihilating all that stand before him (ie. Barton).  Conventional wisdom (or whatever passes for conventional wisdom on the internet) suggests that they should either be separated, or not separated.  Thanks, internets.

• Weddings

Matt (who has never traded in Nazi war memorabilia) and Laura have decided to merge for the kill.  Good for them.  Displaying an uncharacteristic lack of judgement, Matt has asked me to be his best man; now I have to work out the best way of working his failed career as a car thief into a speech that will surprise and delight his family and in-laws.