The night started well. I was going out with my gorgeous wife for the first time in ages. We were going to see a banging Welsh band. We were going out in Cardiff!
Then it all started going bad……
Started pissing it down with rain.
£6 for a pint and a bottle. Twice!
£4 to get into Barfly! “It said £3 on the email” I say. “Yeah Scott got it wrong”.
No free shot! “We’re one of the first 50!” I say. “Yeah Scott got it wrong”.
It seems Scott may have some answering to do. And still the night tried it’s hardest to get worse…..
Couple of weird looking blokes walking round in short trousers and deck shoes.
Big Dave drops his pint and makes a right mess.
The lead singer of All the Damn Vampires looks like the Irish guy from The IT Crowd…..
But then everything changed…….
Tracey is still smiling and having a good time.
Outside while she has a smoke I spot one of the band (no idea which one at the time as the website does put name to face!!!) and get all excited!
The music starts……..
……and all of my worries about a disaterous night melt away with the banging sound that is coming from the stage. All the Damn Vampires were brilliant. The noise they made was an instant joy to my ears. And as soon as our internet is back on at our new house I will be on youtube looking for them! I’m not one to instantly like new music but this lot I liked. Liked a lot.
Good Time Boys jumped on stage and we found the deck shoed men! Amazing energy from them, if a little to hardcore for our liking. The lead singer threw himself into the performance (and up on the floor!) to continue the great night.
And then they were there, gracing the stage like 2 scruffy homeless dudes and a little man with a backpack! I’d been listening to exit_international for the last couple of months and had been blown away by them. The sound, the lyrics (well the ones I could make out!), the emotion….and now they were playing. And I lost the fucking plot!!!! Luckily, my wife loves me and was in no way embarrassed by my drunken movements to the music, and for the first time in months I forgot all my problems and let the bass engulf me. I was mesmerized by the ferocious drumming from Adam Thomas (“But he’s tiny” said my wife, “how does he thrash those drums so brilliantly??”), a little bit scared by the stare from Fudge and amazed at the vocals from Scott.
And then it was over. I was dripping with sweat, my phone was covered in beer (as was my wife’s shoe!) and Scott, by this time forgiven for the price and shot error, was lying on the floor after an exhaustive set (hopefully he wasn’t in the sick left by the Good Time Boys lead singer!).
We left Barfly, slightly drunk and hoping to cadge a lift home with my Dad (some things never change with age!) and in a great mood. Adam was outside and we interrupted him chatting with a lovely lady to say thanks for a great show. If we’d had more money we would have stayed for the party afterwards but alas having kids limits that!
Hopefully we’ll be able to catch them again before they become big and every fucker and his dog loves them and we can’t wait for the album!
