DAVE'S DIARY
This journal of the comings'n'goings and musings'n'enthusings of Dave Ling
will be updated daily - except after days of stress and nights of excess.
Thursday 30th June
Phew... Boris Johnson has ruled himself out of the race to become leader of the Tories ], and thus eliminating him from becoming Prime Minister. I may not have to leave the country after all - for now!
Classic Rock's tribute magazine to Lemmy Kilmister has just thudded onto my desk… and it's bloody superb. Buy it, and find out via my brand new interview with Mikkey Dee how he and Phil Campbell considered taking Mr Kilmister to the taxidermist and put on wheels, so they could go on tour without him. No, I'm not kidding ("unfortunately, Lemmy was cremated so it became impossible. We will never, ever bring out a stuffed Lemmy onstage").
There's nothing like the smell of a newly mown lawn. It'll need some work to bring it back to life after a year of neglect (a mere three hours ago the grass was almost knee-high), but I finally feel like I'm making a little progress with the house. It's a bit of an embarrassment if I'm honest - I probably shouldn't have a garden this nice if I can't bloody well look after it.
Wednesday 29th June
The first wicket of the day has just fallen. I'm at the Oval for the One Day International between England-Sri Lanka... an early birthday pressie to myself: a day out with those sworn teetotallers Neil Pudney and Paul Berry. Not sure how much actual play those nasty rain clouds will allow but this is just what I needed. It's a bit bloody windy, too, which makes it quite hard to drink cider in this weather, but I'll make the best of it. My bag also contains certain, er... let's call them provisions. Hahaha!
In a few hours FM will be onstage at the Royal Albert Hall, opening for Heart. It's the first London gig of theirs that I've missed since Malcolm Dome wore short trousers! Shit!! But the tickets for the Oval were bought at the back end of last year, had it not been a day/night game I could have done both. Ah well, them's the breaks. Now pass the dark rum please!
[Edit: Arriving home I discovered that FM played for a mere 35 minutes, running through seven songs. Methinks I probably made the right call.]
Tuesday 28th June
Beyond saying that the result seemed like a self-fulfilling prophecy from the instant that Iceland took the lead - England appeared struck by mortal fear over the prospect of losing - I don't want to talk about my national side's ignominious exit from Euro 2016. I was in bed, seething with fury, by 10.15pm.
I've barely looked at Facebook today. The mobile phone is to remain switched off., After a night of such crushing, humiliating disappointment, a 7am start at work and my music are all that have kept me going. Thanks to Jethro Tull ('Aqualung' special edition), 'Quo' by Status Quo, Genesis 'Seconds Out', Diamond Head's white album, a new double live album from the Neal Morse Band, 'Earth Vs The Wildhearts', the classic Montose debut, 'Head First' by Uriah Heep and Big Big Train's 'Folklore'. I've still got at least two or three more hours before I can knock off for the day, so plenty more great sounds to spin. Skynyrd's 'One More For The Road' is up next...
Saturday 25th June
Up rather early to a quiet and deserted house, it was time for the Final Episode of The Good Wife, one of my favourite US shows. I enjoyed the ending though in some ways I found myself wishing that its star, the delightful Alicia Florick, had walked off into the sunset with the investigator fella. She deserves some happiness. I'm really gonna miss this programme.
And talking of 'missing' things, I'm rather demoralised and fed up that I cannot go to Birmingham for tonight's Ritchie Blackmore comeback, especially as I had a ticket (now passed onto a fellow fan). The Man In Black insists that it'll never happen again, but I've simply too much work to do, also lots of domestic shit to get my head around. It's a crying shame.
Friday 24th June
Re: the Euro referendum result: I'm shaken to the point of speechlessness. What. Have. We. Done??!!
On a lighter note, HBO has pulled the plug on Vinyl, the Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese-produced music drama after just one season and in the wake of less than favourable reviews. I'd like to say I was surprised, but my Mum taught me that lying is a bad thing. I'll be glad to see the back of Vinyl. Those cheesy portrayals of real-life musicians were just laughable, especially the 'Cockney' Robert Plant.
Anyway, it's Friday night and I'm back from the gym to find those lovely Status Quo chappies have sent me some of their new branded cider. I could really do with it right now. Down Down the hatch!
Thursday 23rd June
It's here at last – the Brexit referendum. This could be a good coupla days to stay off social media. The forced opinions and general bullying on Facebook is all getting a bit too much. I know my own mind, now kindly sod off and leave me alone.
Meanwhile… help me please Doctor – I'm enjoying the new Rival Sons album. Until now I'd taken an odd pleasure from my unfashionable status as a dissenter - I've seen them on great and atrocious form, and their egos are outta control. I'll never forget doing a phoner with Jay Buchanan to reveal his album of 2014 - and he picked 'Great Western Valkyrie', his own record!! "I'm not being immodest, actually it's me being objective." C'mon, don't be a dick! But 'Hollow Bones' has some very good chewns... I keep going back to 'Pretty Face'. Confound you Rival Sons, you've turned me into a Goddamned sheep.
Wednesday 22nd June
Last night I was among a jam-packed crowd at the Forum for a rare UK appearance by former Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond. Angel Witch were the event's Special Guests. Guitarist/frontman Kevin Heybourne looked just the same as he did back in 1980, it was truly scary to behold. With just one song released in the current Millennium (though 'Dead Sea Scrolls' from 2012's 'As Above, So Below' actually dates back to the 1980s), the band plundered their legendary self-titled debut, now a terrifying 36 years old, and its associated tracks with the likes of 'Gorgon', 'Confused', 'White Witch', 'Atlantis', 'Sorcerers', 'Dr Phibes', 'Angel Of Death', 'Baphomet' and a rousing finale of 'Angel Witch'. I loved it!
The King, who even at the age of sixty still has a voice to strip paint, arrived to the strains of Heep's 'The Wizard' – classy stuff! Absent from the UK for a decade and with an extravagant haunted house stage setting, the place went utterly bonkers, teasing us with a warm-up that included a couple of Fate gems ('Melissa' and 'Come To The Sabbath') before getting down the main business of the night – a revision of his 1987 album 'Abigail' in its gruesome entirety.
What can I say? Around me grown men either blubbed with joy or attempted – foolishly – to impress mates by delivering their own take on the King's falsetto howl, a din that can really only truly be copied by stapling one's scrotum to the living room table. I went for neither of these options, though I did stand with a mighty grin on my face from the first note to the last.
Tuesday 21st June
After a first rate, rock 'n' roll-filled weekend, yesterday presented a stark wake-up call. There I was at 8am on my hands and knees scraping off gunk from the downstairs loo prior to the arrival of a plumber. It's all part of Operation Clear Up Ling Towers. The lavvy is fixed now and I'm £115 poorer, but the work has only just begun.
Monday 20th June
Here's a quick look back at Day #2 of the Stone Free Festival (which, incidentally, was alcohol-free for yours truly... after the previous 24 hours there was no way I could even look at a beer!). With a metaphorical cry of: ' Follow that!', Cats In Space set the standard for all else to match. Playing tunes from last year's awesome debut, 'Too Many Gods', the six-piece purred through their best 30 minutes; a sublime distillation of influences from the 1970s (10cc, ELO, Sweet and Slade), they looked and sounded like they belonged on the IndigO2's huge stage. If you don't yet own 'Too Many Gods' then please go and stand in the corner, and see me after class.
Next up were the eight-piece Knifeworld, who battled some annoying equipment gremlins (Kavus Torabi's guitar strap broke during the first song and gave him problems throughout) but managed to secure a great reaction. Wearing a suave white suit, Torabi announced with some amusement that his band have a song in the Anthem category of this year's Prog Awards. After they'd played said track, 'I Must Set Fire To Your Portrait', he mischievously grinned: "You'll be humming that one for weeks, right?" Errr... right. Kavus was the man hand-picked by the late, great Daevid Allen to succeed him in Gong, so it's no surprise that their music, enhanced by bassoon, saxophone and various other instruments perhaps considered unusual in rock music, is difficult yet rewarding. I particularly liked their epic final track, 'Me To The Future Of You', which offered a great mix of the band's vocal/instrumental interplay.
Leaving the IndigO2 for a while I sought some lunch and dropped by the Fireball Stage, set up inside the O2's foyer. There, out of pure good fortune, I saw a home-grown four-piece band called Vambo, whose original material was remarkably fine. Frontman Jack Stiles had a rather fine set of tonsils, too, and they finished their set with a highly creditable remake of Deep Purple's 'Burn'. That's what I love about festivals; you always come away having discovered something new and exciting. For me at least, Vambo definitely fell into this category.
Next up on the Fireball Stage was a band that I was very much acquainted with - Colour Of Noise, featuring former Little Angels guitarist Bruce John Dickinson and fronted by the helium-voiced Matt Mitchell, previously of Pride and Furyon. Although many around me seemed unfamiliar with CON, the enthusiastic quirkiness of 'You Only Call Me When You Want Something', 'Drive It Like You StoleIt' and 'Can't Take It With You' caught on like wildfire.
Still smiling, I headed back into the IndigO2 to claim a decent viewpoint as the one and only Wilko Johnson closed out the first part of the show. It was so great to see him still so obviously alive and well after a well documented brush with the Grim Reaper, revising all of his trademark stage moves and sending a packed crowd into raptures. 
Towards the conclusion of a firebrand display Johnson, who had forgotten to put on a watch, gestured to someone at the side of the stage, tapping his wrist. "There was a time when I had ten months, but now I've got 20 minutes," he grinned to enormous cheers, and, luckily, there was still plenty of time for the Feelgoods classics 'Back In The Night' and 'She Does It Right'.
Heading into the 'main' O2 Arena for the remainder of the event, Steve Hackett was indecently good and, better still, introduced to the stage by my good pal Mr Jerry Spewing in his red prog-rock cape. I kid you not! Allotted a shamefully insufficient 45 minutes, the time was used with a brilliant mix of solo tunes ('Every Day', 'A Tower Struck Down' and 'Shadow Of The Hierophant'), an acoustic track ('Loving Sea') and three Genesis biggies – 'Dance On A Volcano', 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' and Hackett's signature number, 'Firth Of Fifth'.
Though they were forced to cut out a song or two due to the sheer difficult of the staging of Rick Wakeman's headline slot, Marillion absolutely killed it at Stone Free. It's no surprise that the material from the Fish-fronted era ('Kayleigh', 'Lavendar' and 'Heart Of Lothian') was the best received of all – I was a little surprised that they played it – but that guitar solo to 'Easter' always brings me close to tears.
Truthfully, I didn't stay around for very much of Rick Wakeman's set. Rick was playing his 1975 album 'The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table' in its entirety and for the very first time, complete with orchestra and choir, and narrated by Ian Lavender (AKA Pike from Dad's Army!) but by 9pm I was flagging. Allocated seats at the side of the stage, instead of standing as per 24 hours earlier, it was becoming hard to stay awake and rather than suffer the indignity of dozing off during 'Launcelot & The Black Knight' I made my excuses and headed for the exit.
All the same… Stone Free presented a wonderful weekend of entertainment. Fingers crossed that it will happen again in 2017.
Sunday 19th June
It's 5am, I'm pissed as the proverbial parrot and I'm back home in Catford after a first-rate Day #1 at Stone Free. I said I'd stay for one drink at the Indig02 after show bash. Last thing I remember was leaping around on dancefloor to Sweet and Kiss and being thrown out at closing time. In seven hours I've gotta be back in the frickin' O2 for the brilliant Cats In Space, and Eddie wants to take me to the local café for a Father's Day fry-up brekkie. A very welcome gesture, but this is not good! FFS!
There's just time for a *very* quick reprise of yesterday's events.As things began at 12.20 in the afternoon the crowd inside the IndigO2 was sparse, but a very nice bit of crunchy, melodic Southern rawk from Jared James Nichols got things underway in the best manner possible.
As the place filled out, Lynne Jackaman and her band (including on loan Quireboys guitarist Guy Griffin) maintained the quality levels with a tasteful mix of rock and soul. I hadn't seen The Virginmarys in several years but they haven't changed much; vigorous, anthemic and very powerful - it reminds me, I must grab their new album, 'Divides'. Michael Monroe always kicks ass, he's simply one of the best live acts I've ever seen. Yesterday was no different.
Though I'm a fan of Therapy?, the last of the day's IndigO2-based acts, by this point some serious drinking and perhaps even a bite to eat started to seem like a good idea. The day's 'headline' acts – Blackberry Smoke, Apocalyptica, The Dorkness and Alice – were all due to play inside the main arena. The bad news was that there was no re-admittance. I enjoy the music of BBS but they are a fairly bland live act… which meant there were three hours to kill. Cider o'clock!
By the time it came around, Alice Cooper's headlining spot was really fantastic. Just about every track of a 25-song set was from the 1970s (who else could come out with a 1-2-3 punch of 'The Black Widow', 'No More Mr Nice Guy' and 'Under My Wheels' without spilling their best bits too early?), and later on there was a very cool tribute to fallen legends Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Lemmy with covers of 'Pinball Wizard'/'Won't Get Fooled Again', 'Fire', 'Sufragette City' and 'Ace Of Spades'.
What a bloody brilliant first day!
Saturday 18th June
Back at Ling Towers after a short, damp but enjoyable park run with Bob The Dog; off for a shower and then brekkie, the penultimate episode of The Good Wife, and then the short journey across Sarf Lundaaan to the O2 Arena for day #1 of the inaugural Stone Free Festival. After my trip to Drownload, the weather is irrelevant: it's going to be mud-free and there's a really good bill... plus The Dorkness. Haha. Bring it on!
Friday 17th June
Here's a nice l'il interview I did with Kip Winger a few days ago, talking about his success in the classical charts. I always knew he was much more than a pretty face!
Friday 17th June
My youngest lad Arnie was interviewed yesterday at the army recruitment office and says that he passed. Y'see, that's what life here at Ling Towers will do to you. He scrubs up well though, eh? But the news brings a whole range of emotions, that's for sure.
Talking of which, so did England's last-minute victory over Euro 2006 group rivals Wales, settled by Daniel Sturridge's injury time winner. The Taffs actually took the lead, courtesy of a long distance free kick that Hart should have kept out, but Hodgson's men now occupy the driver's seat – bloody fantastic!
Thursday 16th June
It's almost midnight and I'm back from the 100 Club, where Dan Reed Network played an absolute blinder of an album launch party. Hand on heart I'm not completely sold on said comeback disc, 'Fight Another Day', but the new songs worked very well onstage and it's always great to see a band having just as much fun as their audience. Time restrictions meant that the band could play just 14 songs in 105 minutes, which meant curtains for the likes of 'Long Way To Go', 'Stronger Than Steel', 'Cruise Together' and many more, but it was a top night out all the same. And with the prospect of a full tour in early 2017 that's a short-term problem.
Meanwhile, here's what they *did* play: 'Resurrect', 'Under My Skin', 'Infected', 'Baby Now I', 'Rainbow Child', 'Come Back Baby', 'The Brave', 'Champion', 'Forgot to Make Her Mine', 'Ritual', 'Divided', 'Save The World', 'Tiger In A Dress' and 'Get To You'.
Wednesday 15th June
Fantastic news - one of my all-time fave TV comedies, Curb Your Enthusiasm, is to return for a ninth series. Asked why he decided to come back, creator David said, "In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, 'I left, I did nothing, I returned.'"
Last weekend I read this brilliant, career-encompassing interview with 'Slowhand' himself, Mr Eric Clapton, during the train journey to Drownload, and now it's available online. Do yourself a favour and check it out. Fantastic work from Paul Lester – it's one of the very best things that Classic Rock magazine has ever published.
Anyway, I'm off to an early start today, and here's the soundtrack to this morning's work. (Yes, amazingly, they *do* call it work!)
Tuesday 14th June
As a final representative of the UK edition of the launch team of Metal Hammer to remain on board, I'm feeling rather proud. 2016 marks the magazine's 30th anniversary, and last night the fact was marked by the latest Golden Gods awards ceremony – this time at the Hammersmith Odeon, no less.
It's mind boggling to think that genres, staff members, publishing houses and rival titles have come and gone but the Spirit Of Hammer has always stood strong and proud.
There was live music, too. Lzzy Hale and Halestorm just get better and better. I've got records by Gojira but until yesterday had never seen 'em live – happy to say that they were tremendous, and a request for a finished copy of the Frenchmen's newie, 'Magma', has just been dispatched. And last but by no means least the much-mooted Saxönhead jam was short but very sweet indeed – three songs by Saxon alone ('Heavy Metal Thunder', 'Motorcycle Man' and 'Princess Of The Night') followed by the arrival of Messrs Campbell and Dee for 'Ace Of Spades', 'Born To Raise Hell' and 'Overkill'. It was a first-rate send-off for Lemmy, and for Metal Hammer a 30th birthday party to be proud of.
Given that my trip to Download was alcohol free, I made up for the fact by supping far more of the gratis Fireball (a cinnamon flavoured whiskey) than was advisable, and ended up returning to Ling Towers for the second time in 24 hours. Gruuhhh. It's gonna be a long week.
Monday 13th June
It's 5am and I'm back at Ling Towers after the Maiden at Drownload experience. Just about everything you've read about this year's show is true. After days of solid deluge the site was like a warzone. It took me six hours of travel in each direction, I'm caked in stinking mud and utterly exhausted but glad that I made the effort. Big thanks to my friend Robert Corich for the lift from Donington back to Trafalgar Square.
I arrived at the festival site midway through a set from Disturbed. No word of a lie, it took half an hour to make the painstaking descent from the entrance to the main stage, taking care not to fall over.
Though I had backstage access, getting around the site was like walking through runny treacle and gaining entrance seemed a little pointless – it was a swamp there, too, by all accounts. I was pleasantly surprised by Disturbed – their version of 'The Sound Of Silence' was excellent. After Mr Draiman and company finished I was astounded and relieved to find myself a very small patch of solid ground in the shadow of one of the sound towers. Priceless! I stood there rooted to the spot for the next five hours. No food nor drink was consumed – I had last eaten brekkie at Ling Towers! – the whole experience really did become about remaining upright and as dry as humanly possible.
Nightwish came and went – a terrific set from a band at the peak of their powers, and remarkably well received despite the constant drizzle, but the wait for Maiden seemed interminable.
And finally… it was time. UFO's 'Doctor Doctor', the intro tape, filled the air and there they were at last, in all their headbanging – Iron bloody Maiden. What we got was the set-list performed elsewhere on the 'Book Of Souls' tour: based around a huge chunk of the new record ('If Eternity Should Fail', 'Speed Of Light', 'Tears Of A Clown' and 'The Red And The Black' filled the first third of the show). From where I was stood, the sheer volume of new material took its toll on the atmosphere which sagged until the band pulled out the classics – 'Children Of The Damned, 'The Trooper', 'Powerslave' – and then we were back into 'The Book Of Souls'. I had no problem with this whatsoever, but the miserable bastards around me chatted away or inspected their phones until a final run-in of 'Hallowed Be Thy Mame, 'Fear Of The Dark', 'Iron Maiden', 'The Number Of The Beast', 'Blood Brothers' and 'Wasted Years' – those final two songs are big faves of mine, and I'd forgotten that they'd been returned to the set, so that was a nice surprise.
Splashing through the mud in the dark, I managed to find Mr Corch, and my ride outta this hellhole. Rob was very organised; his 4 x 4 vehicle was parked close to the exit for a quick getaway, and besides bringing loads of towels he had also packed binliners for footwear. As I peeled off my trainers and socks I felt utter revulsion – without realising that when I was dropped off back in London I'd have to replant my tooties into their sodden, fetid ooze. No wonder I got a double-seat seat on the nightbus to myself. Now it's time for some zeds!
Sunday 12th June
Okay, it's pissing down here in South London. I'm absolutely gutted about the last gasp equaliser conceded last night by England and in an ideal world would stay tucked up under the duvet, inhabiting a world in which the referee had blown the whistle a minute earlier.
Instead I'm about to walk to Honor Oak Park, jump on a bus to St Pancras, take a train to East Midlands Parkway, a shuttle service to Donington Park and stand around in a muddy field for the rest of the day. Why? C'mon, it's Iron fucking Maiden! #thethingswedoforrocknroll
Saturday 11th June
A day such as this requires meticulous planning. It's 3pm as I type, and things are running like clockwork so far.
9.00-10.30… work
11am-midday… gym
1pm… lunch (and highlights of Australia-England rugby game)
2.30pm… a couple more hours of work
4pm… start drinking (at a reasonable pace… maybe some pear cider)
4.30pm… quick Skype interview with Kip Winger
4.45pm… drinking (the pace quickens… move onto wine?)
5pm… Wales-Slovakia
7pm… evening meal (and Test Match cricket highlights)
7.30pm… get serious with the drinking (by now it's cherry brandy time)
8pm… England's first game of Euros versus Russia (all bets are off)
10pm… book an ambulance
Thursday 9th June
Frontiers Records are about to release an album by a Swedish melodic hard rock act founded by lead singer and guitarist Michael Palace. They are called, quite simply, Palace. What an utterly brilliant name for a band. Guarantees a 10/10 review from me, even if the logo is a bit crap and the sleeve could do with a red and blue eagle or three. Oh, and a couple of strangled s**gulls.
Wednesday 8th June
Getting in at 5.30 am after a midweek gig? It was worth it for Foreigner, I think. Yes, 'The Real' Mick Jones and his merry men rolled into town for a gig at the Palladium. I went along with my pal Andy Beare. Drinks were consumed, there was an after-show 'do' in the bar of the Palladium, after which we headed to the Crobar for an after show after show… yeah, things got messy, but the 105-minute gig was superb. It helped, of course, that Jones was well enough to play the entire concert; in the past he's been joined by his band-mates after several songs.
[Click on these photos for larger pictures from the show]
The set-list ran as follows: 'Double Vision', 'Head Games', 'Cold As Ice', 'Waiting For A Girl Like You', 'That Was Yesterday', 'Dirty White Boy', 'Say You Will (Acapella)', 'Feels Like The First Time', 'Urgent' and 'Juke Box Hero', followed by: 'Long, Long Way From Home', 'I Want To Know What Love Is' and 'Hot Blooded'.
Here's my TeamRock website review.
Tuesday 7th June
Last night I hopped across to the Boston Music Rooms in Tufnell Park for the London headline debut of where Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown. Fronted by Texas-born vocalist/guitarist Bryant and featuring Graham Whitford, son of Aerosmurf man Brad, on guitar, the Shakedown have been supporting Axl/DC on their latest European tour, so there seems to be a bit of interest in them.
Birmingham's Broken Witt Rebels opened proceedings with a loud, crisp and sometimes soulful blast of blues-laden hard rock. They reminded me quite a lot of The Temperance Movement. It comes to something when one ends up thinking of TTM, themselves an amalgam of so many other groups, when describing a new band, but that's the long and short of it. However, I enjoyed the Rebels sufficiently to make a mental note of seeing them again.
Though there were times when they strayed a little too closely onto Aero-turf, the Shakedown also got the thumbs up from yours truly – despite the best songs being packed into the second half of their set, by which time several of my friends had given up on them and headed for the exit, according to one of them: "Wondering what all the fuss was about." I quite liked the fact that Caleb Crosby picked up his bass drum and moved it into the crowd after two or three songs, where he was joined by Tyler, though some of the naysayers viewed this act as unforgivably naff and contrived. Whatever, it certainly got the audience on their side. A more in-depth review can be seen here.
Monday 6th June
That *unbelievably* frustrating moment when you are asked to go to Germany and review Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and it dawns upon you that it's been so long since you last left the country that your passport is no longer valid. F**k! F**k! F**k!
Sunday 5th June
Yummy... a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake on a sunny veranda to start the day. I've only a mild headache following a hugely enjoyable 50th birthday party up the hill in Honor Oak Park in celebration of my friends Lisa and Paul. Attendees included Sir Daniel Bowes of Thunder and my old mate Dan Tobin of Earache Records – there was much merriment, cool conversation and a reservoir of booze. Now it's a short time of relaxation before getting on with some work. I was just about to 'click' this photo when a certain moggie ran the length of the garden seeking her share. Get outta town!
Edit: Several hours later... I'm watching Soccer Aid complete with that notorious Palace reject Edgar Davids. I've made my donation to UNICEF, a huge Chinese meal is on the way. Eddie is out gallivanting elsewhere, so later on Arnie and I are gonna settle down to watch 12 Years A Slave, which I recorded recently on the Sky+ and had saved for a special occasion. Not a bad Sunday night, eh?
Saturday 4th June
Whew. I can confirm that 666 is without doubt the number of the beast! I'm pounding the treadmill as most of my friends and workmates are across town at the Olympic Stadium watching the entity that now passes for AC/DC. Not for me, thanks. I had no plans to attend when Brian Johnson was supposed to be singing and I cannot stand Axl Rose. The YouTube clips I've seen are surprisingly decent, but this one just isn't for me.
Friday 3rd June
I'm chuckling into my bran flakes at the first episode of Henning Wehn's C4 show An Immigrant's Guide To Britain. They say that Krauts don't have a sense of humour and in my experience this theory holds water (though some, such as Rudolf Schenker, are unintentionally amusing), but Henning is a very funny guy in the traditional sense. That's a great way to start the day.
Thursday 2nd June
Here's the little 3D-related interview-ette I did with Brian May a few days ago. I think it came out pretty well, considering the lack of time that we were granted.
Oh, and for those that might be in the least bit interested, here's this month's Playlist.
Wednesday 1st June
Yesssssss... the mighty FM have confirmed the London date of their upcoming 30th anniversary trek for the 'Indiscreet' album - they're gonna be at Islington Assembly Hall (one of my very favourite venues in the capital) on November 19. Bernie Marsden and No Hot Ashes will be the support acts. Just realised that it's on the same night as Opeth at Wembley Arena, which is a crying shame... but that won't be an issue for too many other peeps, I guess. It's gotta be FM all the way for me, though!
It's early evening as I type and I've been summoned to the alehouse by Eddie Lemmy Selhurst Ling who wants to buy me a few beers with his first ever paycheque. Attaboy. And besides, it would be churlish to decline.
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