A Punk & Hardcore All-Dayer @ The Cockpit, Leeds:
Saturday, November 9th, 2002
- Photos from the event - Airbomb, M.D.M & The
Varukers -
The first surprise of the day was to find that Maff from Airbomb was
mysteriously 'missing' from the band's line-up, despite the fact that I had
only spoken to him regarding the gig a few days earlier. I never managed to
ascertain what the reason for his absence was but nevertheless, Airbomb still
turned up to play. They are a nice bunch of chaps and seemed very happy just to
be there. I didn't recognise a lot of what they played so I guess that it must
have been stuff from their long-overdue second LP ? I think I might have
heard the opening track from 'Lookout' at one point and that was it. The pic
below was unfortunately the only one I managed to get of them all day which
was a shame. But anyway, thanks lads for making the effort, it was a long way
to come and I hope that you enjoyed the beers on the train back home, cheers !
If the truth were to be known, I wasn't originally going to include M.D.M in
the bill this year as they have already played at most of my gigs. With the
uncertainty of what was going to happen direction-wise ie: would I ever do
another all-dayer again ? I made the decision that if this was indeed going to
be the last such gig ever then I was going to reward the bands that have worked
best for me with one final decent show. Needless to say, you can guess that
M.D.M featured on this list and after all the hard work they have put in over
the years, I gave them due reward and put them right up the billing where they
rightfully belonged.
True I always worry that I have made the correct decision (one rule of
promotion, never let your heart rule your head), but yet again, the
feedback came in. "Who were that band M.D.M ? I have never heard of them
before but they were really good". That comment says it all doesn't it ? The
art of promotion is not just to get rich (I wish !), it is to put yourself
behind something and do your utmost to get it noticed. I hope that my shows
have helped show M.D.M for the great live act that they are, catch them at my
next gig featuring them on Friday January
31st, 2003 @ The Star & Garter, Manchester.
Fate had so far deprived me of the chance to actually get The Varukers to play
at my gigs, it wasn't as if I hadn't tried before but so far without success.
I was a little un-nerved by the fact that the band had to travel up from
Bristol on the day, but they went out of their way to make sure they got there.
Lo and behold, Rat (looking more chubby hamster than rat-like in the pic),
Marvin, Sean and Kev (their on-off long standing drummer), duly turned up late
in the afternoon. As with everyone else that day, the guys are an incredibly
down to earth bunch and it was really great to see them. They rewarded my
efforts and the crowd's appreciation with what I thought was a blinding gig.
The instrumental kick-off using the first two tracks from 'How do you sleep ?'
brought all the crowd rushing to the front and they just blasted their way
through the whole set, I was very pleased indeed with them and I got a lot of
good comments about them in susbsequent days after the gig. They obviously
really enjoyed the day and I was really pleased that after all this time, that
I had finally managed to get them a gig, and a very good one indeed, even if I
say so myself.
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