Monday 31 March 2014

Gig #9) @ The Sanctuary BASINGSTOKE & Review by Sarcastic Badger. 7/10.

Getting a message on FB at 10.30pm asking if you could do a gig the next day doesn't happen often in our world, but when an old friend we havent seen for best part of a decade asks you to fill the opening slot for a Dutch Punk/Hardcore band out on tour with them as the main support you cant turn that down can ya..

The Sanctuary in Basingstoke is everything we love about a venue. Its dark and gritty with an almost "gig in someones double garage " kinda vibe. As soon as we walked in and saw FIRESTATE their we knew we were going to enjoy it.

Karlos (From Firestate) and I (and Lee) first met when he ran a venue in Hungerford back in the day called The Railway. It was an awesome place to play and was almost a home away from home venue. Annnnnnyyway... Having not seen him forever and only recently getting back in touch it was great to see him and his band finally play live.

The headline band, John Coffey, we setting up when we got there and continued to set up for another 45 minutes before Firestate even got to sound check, then it was our turn. With no monitors I thought the harmonies in some song would be a challenge but the engineer was a true fuckin legend. I think he got the vibe we were after and the sound was awesome... The crowd wasn't that big, obviously we didnt bring anyone as it was too short notice, and the headline and had decided to fuck off somewhere so I let my feeling be known on the subject. I dont know when bands thought it was acceptable to be so up their own arse that they cant even support the bands that are on before them.

We'd never done it. We've always watched every band on the bill when we we're in our old project and bought the engineer a drink to say thanks. Do they do that now?? Do they fuck! They think they've made it because they have 20,000 plays on soundcloud with their over-produced click track album and have a million followers on Facebook and Twitter... which may be right, but at 10.30pm on a Thursday in a venue youve never played in before it just makes you a massive cunt!.

I digress, we played as well as we could and their was a great bloke there called Shaun who was taking pics and reviewing the gig so here is his review of us. He gave us 7 out of 10 and he isn't pulling any punches. It isn't a glowing reference to our musical ability. He gives a fair and honest review and ... well, i will let you read it..

sarcasticbadgerreviews.wordpress.com


On a dreary Thursday night in Basingstoke, the best thing to do is to grab a beer and watch some live music. Come to think of it… that’s the best way to spend any evening, dreary or otherwise. Nevertheless, when you’re enveloped in a depressing downpour it’s even more enjoyable to find a nice warm venue and have a lovely relaxing beverage! So when presented with the opportunity to see three talented bands at the much revered Sanctuary this past Thursday, there was only one logical option for the alcoh… I mean Sarcastic… Badger.
Due to the frankly shite weather the crowd was almost non-existent, a fact that wasn’t exactly helped by the noticeable absence of headline band John Coffey, who had disappeared to a nearby pub instead of sticking around to watch their support band. Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s absolutely disgusting behaviour. If you come all the way from the Netherlands to play a show, surely the least you can do is give the earlier bands on the bill the support they deserve by watching their set? Truly baffling and, as you’ve probably guessed, very aggravating.
Let’s move away from that for now and get onto the music shall we? Kicking off proceedings having been a last minute addition to the line-up,KURBd (7/10) made absolutely no apologies for being a straight up, good old fashioned rock band. With their brand of precise and well-delivered if not memorable rock, it’s clear that the trio have been honing their craft over many years to create a very tight live sound. It was above all an enjoyable set, with some hilarious between-song banter creating a rather relaxed atmosphere. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a larger crowd in attendance to enjoy it!
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Next up were Newbury rockers Firestate (7), who had to battle with some pretty severe technical problems right from the off. Did they let it faze them though? Of course not! Being the ultimate professionals that they are, the quintet powered through a setlist filled with new material, and despite not sounding as good as they could have due to the aforementioned issues, they left the small crowd in no doubt that they’re building something rather special. Ahead of some exciting shows with States and Empires, it was probably a good thing that the night’s setbacks happened sooner rather than later…
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Bringing the night to a close were the disinterested Dutchmen themselves, John Coffey (7). Following their earlier antics it was hard to go in with an open mind, but in terms of the music and performance they were spot-on. Combining heavy-as-fuck riffs with hook filled choruses, the quintet really did put on a great show, and their rating would have been much higher than a 7 had they not exuded the same unfortunate arrogance on stage as they had earlier on in the evening.
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All in all though it was a fun night, showcasing the talent lurking around not only the UK rock scene but the Dutch one as well…
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Sunday 2 March 2014

We're back.. Sorry for being so shit on here lately.

Sorry for not blogging much lately. I've had serious problems with my laptop :(.

Been trying to clear my laptop up and downloaded some fuckin thing and its ended up randomly shutting the thing down. ANNNNNYYYYWWWAAAAYYY....

Things have gone a little bit off the boil as of late. We are still rehearsing the set and working on new tracks ready for the Music Box show in Salisbury in April but nothing else gig wise booked in. Would like to get something in Bristol or London, more Bristol to be fair. Ive never been in love with London shows.

Don't get me wrong, in other projects I have played the late great London Astoria 2 (LA2), The Garage Downstairs and Upstairs as well as some small festivals but I always feel its a little bit clicky wanker NME fashionista fuckin hipster sort of thing. I am not a cool person. I don't dress to fit in with a certain scene. I don't care if people don't like me as a person. All that's should matter is the substance of my music. The Songs should be the reason people are at a show not because I have 10,000 friends who will tell me I'm great and come to all my shows but we don't..we still have less than 200 likes on Facebook.

When did music become sooo soooooo mush about image. Leather jackets and shit like that. Basically what the Artic Monkeys look like now. Its too try hard. Too Scene. Yet the fuckin media go bat shit crazy for them. I cant see it. But then again, I don't get a lot about the industry any more so its a good thing im not trying to be liked or noticed by any labels or management.. I couldn't give a fuck if we never get anywhere, as long as someone real somewhere likes our stuff enough to listen to in once that's enough for me.

VIDEO TIME :)

Daves friend from Brighton was in the midst of doing a vid but wasn't happy with the end product so we are going to do a bit of a low key performance vid so be sure to keep your peepers on YouTube and Facebook and Twitter for news..

Have a good one guys :)