Day 7: July 12th, 2000 Liverpool, @ SLAUGHTERHOUSE "Goodbye Scarper!.....see you soon."
The drive over to Liverpool was short so we ended up having most of the day to walk around and check out the scenery. Liverpool was another big town, and like everywhere else there was tons of people everywhere and no skyscrapers at all. The local papers were saying that the kidnapper that was on the run was caught and was a Mersyside man.
The first thing we saw when we parked the van was the Beatles experience right there on the water. It was cool. We didn't go in and do the tour but it was neat to be in the city the Beatles called home. In fact you heard Beatles songs wherever you went in the city. It was like every store had the Beatles station on or something.
Ken was completely ill by the time we woke up in the morning and the tour was gradually breaking us all down. We spent the majority of the afternoon in a cyber cafe e-mailing friends and trying to get a handle on what was going on in the world. It was weird, while we were gone, we had zero contact with the states at all. We didn't know if there had been a major catastrophe or anything. It was UK UK UK when we were there, and well, that wasn't such a bad thing really.
After wasting away much of the day we finally met up with Scarper and took a walk to the club. It was called O'neils when the show was booked, but it was now called the Slaughterhouse. After a few misdirections we found the pub and went in for a bite and some pints.(BOD: Worthington's) Ken had some horrible food, shrimp potato skins....they sounded good.Soon after, Ken and Aston walked back to the van and brought the gear over for the show.
The place we were playing was in the basement of the pub and it was cold and damp. Not good for our failing health. In fact Ken ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the van before the show to try and feel better. Wayne and Chris talked to a drunken Liverpudlian and saw the old Cavern Club.
We got to see a couple local bands play and they were both pretty good. Bobafett was the better of the two and they did some cool punk-pop stuff with dual vocals including a girl who could really sing well.
We went on third this night so we could play a shorter set and let Scarper! be the headliners for a night. Ken felt like he couldn't play that many songs anyways so we played a set of songs easiest for Ken and got off quick for Scarper! The only thing that saved Ken that night was Matt buying vodka-redbulls. Man those really can give you a kick when you need it.
The Liverpool set was:
NEVER BE THE SAME-LOOSE TRUKS-NEED TO KNOW-WHETHER-STARE-BEST FRIENDS-ANOTHER VOICE-YOU MIGHT THINK-SELF CONTROL
After we played Scarper got up and pulled off another brilliant set. It was obvious that our touring mates were quite a competent band, and we were enjoying them more and more every night.
We got some fans tonight as well. For the first time we had people come up and talk with us for a bit after the set. Most nights the crowd would keep to themselves and just clear out of the pub after the show. Tonight we had some chance to talk to the local Liverpoolers.
After the show we said our goodbyes to the Scarper clan, as they wouldn't be traveling with us up to Scotland for the next two days. It was weird. It was really hard to say goodbye to these guys that we had just met only a week or so ago.We knew we'd see them again so the tears didn't run too heavily....
This was also the only night we didn't have a plan to stay with anyone in particular. Aston had decided to drive along the motorway for a couple of hours and stay at the first Travel Lodge we could find. That turned out to be easier said than done.
After about an hour or so on the road, we pulled into a Travel Lodge. And wouldn't you know it, it was completely filled! Something about a graduation week or something. We stood there with all of our luggage and just felt completely destroyed. We were really pissed too. Aston asked if there was any vacancies in any of the ones coming up and the guy said he thought they were al filled. What??? Just great. We had no choice but to drive on. Aston and Dave decided to try and stay awake and try and make the trek all the way to Scotland while the 4 of us tried to sleep. We stocked up on food and coffee and off we went.
We didn't make it to Scotland.
Aston and Dave managed to find a room for us at about 4am near the Scotland border. We all walked into the hotel in a zombie state and immediately crashed on what was the most comfortable beds and couch beds we had ever put our stinking bodies on.....we slept.
Day 8: July 13th, 2000 Leven,Scotland, MCPHAILS "Hen Party? What's that?"
As much as we would have loved to sleep all day, we still had 3 hours to drive to get to Leven and we had to be out of our hotel rooms by noon. At least we got to shower and enjoy the 6 or so hours of sleep that we did have. It was needed. The tour Orange is still with us.
The drive up to Scotland was very scenic and beautiful. It really is rolling green hills and lots of sheep! We didn't believe it but there they were right in front of our eyes.
We stopped along the motorway to take some pictures and enjoy the view for a while. It was funny cause we stopped in a place where there was a garbage can and sitting on top of the can in perfect condition was a bag of porno mags, brand new. Wayne and Chris had some new reading material.
Leven was a small city. Probably the smallest city on the trip. We found McPhails and did the usual thing and went in for a pint. We were in Scotland now and the accents were thicker and the pints were cheaper and stronger.
We got into town and dropped off the gear at McPhails before heading g over to Jocko and Shirley's house (the promoters) for some awesome food. Once again, we were treated to an amazing meal from these two Scots. We were eating better on this trip than we do at home. They had a cool dog named Annie. We also found another unopened Beatnik Termites CD in Jocko's house. The Parasites had just been through ahead of us in a lot of cites the month before and Reggie was on tour with them passing out Termites stuff. So Brian was sure to notice the cds in the collections we saw...
We headed back over to the bar and got settled in. Aston began selling merch from the very second that people walked in the door. All in all this would be the best night for merch sales. Figures, the smallest city, biggest merch.There were two opening bands one was Six Pac Cac and I don't remember the other one's name. They were both punk rocky kinda stuff and they both seemed to dig us.
We got on and played a decent set. Jocko videotaped the show and all that would happen afterwards.....
The Leven set was:
NEVER BE THE SAME-LOOSE TRUKS-BEST FRIENDS-WHETHER-STARE-NEED TO KNOW-ANOTHER VOICE-LISTEN TO ME-PUZZLES-FEELINGS-BLINK-DISAPPEAR-FOOL-CONTROL
We cleared out the back room and headed for the front bart to finish off our drinks when the weirdest part of the tour happened. (BOD:Tennants Lager) Man was that stuff strong....
McPhails was a bar that had three different rooms. The front bar room, the band area and a party room. Well the whole place was cleared out and locked up except for us and a loud party going on in the party room. Shirley decided to check it out and found out it was a Hen Party (bachelorette party). They were going on strong and making tons of racket so we all decided to go and take a look.
Well it was soon discovered that there were Americans in the bar and well lets just any and all details from here on in will only be disclosed to our closest friends and family....so make sure you ask WAYNE "How was Scotland?" when you see him......Ask him to show you the pictures too.....
Day 9: July 14th, 2000 Day off in Huddersfield "Back to England."
Unfortunately we had one cancellation on the tour route. It was OK because we knew it was cancelled when we came over for the trip. This was supposed to be a show in the city of Dundee in Scotland, but instead we had the chance to recover a bit and spend the day and night off with Matt the drummer from Scarper. We got up and had another great meal form Jocko. After a 5 hour or so journey down from Scotland, we pulled into Huddersfield to meet up with Matt. Matt had just moved into this small city and he had plenty of room for us to stay and hang out with him. We didn't arrive til around 10pm and we knew if we wanted to do anything we had to hurry (damn these English curfews). So we decided to take a walk into town and try out the local pubs.
This was a college town so Matt assumed there would be regular pubs and one or two late night places. On the way down we got to take in the sites and sounds of Huddersfield. As we walked down the road, we passed a couple of little kids to whom Monk decided to say hello to. Well, I guess the kiddies in Huddersfield were of a different breed because all we got back was a flurry of swearing and cussing from these 10 year old little brats. Most noticeably we heard "F*** You you Benders" Well as you may have guessed we were both amazed and laughing hysterically at the site of these two brats. It was even funnier when Matt told us that "bender" is another word for "homosexual" in the UK. So it was an interesting walk.
We spent the rest of the night in two different bars. (BOD: Harp) One was your standard pub that closed at 11pm and the other was the weirdest place we'd been to all trip. It was like an alternative dance club and the only one of two places open til 2am in the town. We got there and there was heavy metal blaring from the building. We proceeded to spend the rest of the evening watching people dance on the dance floor under strobe lights and smoke machines to the music of anything and everything that was "alternative." We heard Green Day, NOFX, Screeching Weasel, Operation Ivy and then Limp Bizkit, House of Pain and other crap all in the same hour. It was weird.Really weird. It was a good laugh though.
Tomorrow was another short drive, so we took taxis back to Matt's and hung out and talked all night. We also got to do our laundry!...we needed it....
Day 10: July 15th, 2000 Bradford, England, 1 in 12 CLUB "Hey this is a hardcore show"
We got some much needed rest and food and spent the morning just milling about before we went on to Bradford.
When we got into the city we had some trouble finding the infamous 1 in 12 club. But through a series of phone calls and talking with Scarper we found the club and all was well.
The 1 in 12 Club is the DIY meeting place for all of Bradford. This was by far the coolest place we have ever seen that is run solely by punks in a DIY way.The 1 in 12 was housed throughout 4 stories of one building in the heart of Bradford. The first floor is a practice space, the second floor is the gig room, the third floor is a bar and the fourth floor is a cafe that served tons of vegan food at really cheap prices. All of it was run by volunteers. We spent most of the day just going from floor to floor enjoying the atmosphere of the place and really getting to know the local punks. (BOD-Ayingerbrau ,Sullington) This is what Speak in Tongues in Cleveland SHOULD be. The entire place is a legit club/space and solely run by people who care. They have no troubles with cops and there is even a membership fee to keep things up and running. Maybe one day SIT can expand to be what this is....
The show we were at was a two day festival to raise money for the 1 in 12. Most of the bands playing were hardcore/noise bands and that's what the 1 in 12 usually put on. We were slated to go on at about 7pm in the middle of the first day of bands.
Every band up to Scarper, who played before us, was a really heavy band and the place was really into them. We and Scarper thought we might have some problems with the crowd seeing as we weren't their style of music. But all was well. Scarper played and they actually had some interest and there were no problems. Except for the mic that Mac was using didn't work too well (we found out before we played that it was the shit mic used for singers who jumped around and beat on it, and it wasn't switched for the Scarper clan).
The Bradford set was:
NEVER BE THE SAME-ANOTHER VOICE-WHETHER-STARE-LIES-BIFF-MY KIND-PUZZLES-BLINK--LISTEN TO ME-SELF CONTROL-LEAVE ME NOW
We tried to play the songs that were a little heavier so as to play to the crowd. We didn't have to worry though, cause the people that dug the music stayed and watched and those that didn't had two other floors to keep them busy. We only got a few heckles like "hey this is hardcore show" and actually throughout the tour we didn't have any real bad comments form the crowds (only when we asked for it and usually Scarper provided the old "Play one you know" or "Cocks!"
All in all the day was really fun and the experience of the 1 in 12 Club will stick with us for a long time. It was definitely a great place.
We all went back to Huddersfield and stayed at Matt's again, this time all of Scarper was there too. So it was a little cramped, but cozy. We spent the night drinking cheap French beer (Biere d'Alsace) and eating pizza. It was this night that Russell exhibited his one hand clapping routine, Matt tried to show us his ass again and the rest of Scarper really got into the pull-my-finger game.....weird. We're surprised the house is still standing, especially after Brian cracked the living room window with his ass! (don't ask....)
