Back to School!

Last night I once again joined my partner-in-crime, Christopher Laird in seeing a great band, and friends of RadioNowhere, The School. They were playing at The Corner House in Cambridge, a small but perfectly-formed pub venue, put on by new local promoters Sleeping Today.

On arrival at the venue, Christopher was locked in the pub cellar and members of The School stole all of his equipment and ran away with it. Fortunately, rather than throw the stuff in the river, they showed their incredible work ethic and their dedication to good music and decided to use their down time by recording a show for him, taking over the controls and recording all manner of crazy banter and picking all their favourite songs of the moment to share with the wonderful RadioNowhere audience. Their takeover show will go out on RadioNowhere later this year, with some special seasonal surprises - keep an eye on www.radionowhere.org for more information and a transmission date.

After reluctantly releasing Christopher from the cellar (he was very dusty), The School took to the stage, playing several songs from this year's Loveless Unbeliever album, as well as some new songs, which I thought sounded great, and they assure us will form part of an album scheduled for next year (yay!) on Elefant Records.

They will be off to Germany soon, so if you're in that part of the world, go along and support them - they are the loveliest people you could wish to meet, so friendly and enthusiastic - some of the members are in about 5 or more bands because they love making music and are overflowing with talent. And if you can't get to see them live just yet (they'll be in a town near you soon) just get a copy of the album - it will make you smile and want to dance even if it is raining and dark and miserable (like today).

If you like the sound of that, visit them at www.myspace.com/theschoolband

The School in Shepherd's Bush

Back on 27th March I went to see The School at Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush, London and I took this picture of their stage set. Sorry about the person on the right hand side - I'm no master photographer, I just like taking pictures! The show was excellent and the venue is just too cute - there are some great photos in the lobby of it when it was a proper bingo hall. The staff there were really nice too and can't recommend it highly enough. It is in a bit of a weird place though, and options for drinks and food nearby are a bit limited. Before the show we went for a drink at a local pub (and I mean local) and while we were sitting there (me with my flat diet coke and my partner with a half - 'just in case it's a bit weird') a rather dodgy looking character came in and approached a man by the pool table - he then produced a flat pack of meat from within his jacket, a transaction took place and the dodgy man left. After that, every few minutes, the purchaser took the meat out of his bag to look at it, and each time looked rather rather pleased with his newly acquired meat.

Also, on the way to the venue, I saw this:

There was a VG store on the road that I grew up on and I rather liked this retro sign. Be aware, I had bought my new camera the week before so I was taking pictures of pretty much anything that caught my eye at that point!