Diary of a Madman

17:34:48 o'clock BST
Hearing Skinflick - In God We Thrust
Myself, the Secretary, Andy Fatman and Steve Sync trundled over to Menai
Bridge to take part in recording Walton's Records for BBC Radio Wales. A pop
quiz hosted by Adam Walton in various pubs across the land - this time in
the Four Crosses.
I finally got to meet Hue Williams, the Minister for Cool Welsh Pop, having
sparred with him many a time on the radio, and also Andrea who was the lead
singer with 80s indie band, the Darling Buds. They were the team captains, I
was on Andrea's team.
Two shows were being recorded, I was on the second one. Andy Fatman was
included on the first show, having blooded him on Adam's Sunday night show 3
days earlier when he tagged along with me for my link2wales monthly archive
slot. Fatman did very well, and it goes to show that if you have a huge pile
of NMEs and Q magazines next to your bog, it does pay dividends for pop
quizzes.
Being on Hue's team meant that Fatman ran away with the answers giving the
Minister an unbeatable 3-0 lead by the time the 2nd recording was due to
take place, but we gave it our best shot, but being nowhere good enough to
pull anything back.
Another highlight of the night was actually meeting Duncan Black, the
ubiquitous guitar mercenary, where we swapped Jack Sharp anecdotes!
The rest of the night was certainly medieval torture in the jewellers shop,
as after a pizza from Gino's, we enjoyed 3½ hours' sleep before the fucking
crows started tapping on all the windows in a Hitchcock inspired frenzy!
They did the same thing this time last year and we used black bin bags to
deter them. This year I'm gonna shoot them instead.
Crow pie anyone?


Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

17:21:14 o'clock GMT
Hearing Melys - life's too short
It was like a red rag to a bull. The touch paper was lit and everyone apart
from the one with the match took cover, as they knew the firework would be a
big one.
No one pisses on Adam Walton's bonfire and then justifies their actions in
print.
I am talking about the BBC Radio Wales broadcast from Holyhead a fortnight
ago when Weapons of Mass Belief, Inferno and Skinflick played live to a
small audience at the RNA Club and the proceedings were pumped quite
wonderfully across the nation in FM and digital sound quality. It was an
excellent night, even if I was sat at home with a roaring log fire, glass of
wine, tartan blanket over my knees and my pipe and slippers at the ready. I
did have a reason; Holyhead is 62 miles from Crud Acres. Those who didn't
have an excuse for not going were the bands involved with Green Dragon -
notably Xms3. They, as it turned out, with their entourage
boycotted the evening, hence the small audience. The bands and management
were displeased at having not being asked to play at the event and felt the
inclusion of their local 'rivals' Inferno, smacked of nepotism, as the
drummer Jay is the son of the RNA promoter Jim Lee.
All the stranking achieved was to wind up one of the very few people who has
helped and would have continued to help the likes of Xms3 develop and
broaden their appeal. The fact was that Adam wasn't aware of the family
connection until during the show and he himself chose the bands and that
choice had nothing to do with the RNA Club. In fact, Jim Lee had fought the
corner of keeping it local and putting on other Holyhead bands at the event.
But the formula for these broadcasts has always been to pull in talent from
all over Wales.
I do love rivalry and bitching and even fighting between local bands,
probably because I'm not in one and can sit back and enjoy the show. The
reason for being in a band is about ego, even though there are those who'll
deny that, but it is, ego, ego, and ego. So egos get bruised, but to bite a
feeding hand will always lead to your food being taken away, and someone
like Adam has such a huge larder that you cannot afford to go hungry for too
long.
Xms3 were given a session on Adam's show last year and I did raise an
eyebrow and put it down to Martin Green Dragon's enthusiasm and clever
coaxing skills to cajole Mr Walton into letting them record for the BBC. The
year before I talkedhim into giving sessions to Gintis, Jives Room and the
Hollow, it turned out the latter two were not ready for the pressures of
rattling off 4 songs in a studio in one day, and it showed on the broadcast,
and they would have probably been better off leaving it for a year. The
Hollow have since recorded a second (and excellent) session for the show and
Jives Room are now long overdue a return.
Xms3's session showed promise, just like the bands from the year before, but
it didn't do them any good. They weren't ready for such wide exposure or
would've benefited from a producer in the studio with them to oversee their
work. The same would've happened at a live broadcast and it would've (as
Adam stipulated about Gintis last year) shattered their confidence when up
against the slick professionalism of Skinflick and Weapons of Mass Belief.
The Great Eskate Tour arranged by Green Dragon was a superb concept and
fantastic experience for such young bands, where his bands toured Wales in a
proper bus playing proper venues with  proper equipment, but they need more,
more gigs, to be out there mixing it with bands from other areas (I do
believe they're organising shows with some South Wales bands). The more
shows they do they'll then realise they're either ready to take the world
(not just Holyhead) by storm or apply for that job in McDonalds.
Its easy to say 'fuck off Crud, you don't know what you're talking about,'
and you could be right. But I thought a similar thing after playing my debut
gig as a 19 year old in 4Q. Anhrefn's bassist, Rhys Mwyn said, 'you'll be
pretty good after about 20 gigs.' I thought what a cheeky twat, we were
excellent. He was of course right, we were shite and it was about 30 gigs
before we really clicked as a unit. And back then we didn't have websites,
BBC radio DJs and internet radio shows to help us, we were lost in the
wilderness and eventually imploded through lack of people out there in a
position to expose 4Q to the world.
Don't cut off your lifelines and let that happen to you.

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

17:08:48 o'clock GMT
Hearing MELYS - Life's Too Short CD
Where are you going on holiday this year Neil?
Holiday!!
HOLIDAY!!!!!!
You are kidding me now aren't ya?
Animal count for the end of February 2005 is as follows.
2 horses, 2 dogs, a cat, 5 guinea pigs, 2 goldfish and 3 lambs.
Welcome to Crud Zoo.
Dingle, the old horse who we sent to pastures new as she didn't like wading
through the paddy field has dropped down dead.
Zorro, the Welsh Black Cob is stabled every night as he has an enflamed
hoof.
Christie the Welsh Mountain dwarf escapee pony is happy to chew on wet
grass.
Hattie the cocker spaniel still escapes even though we've spent hours trying
to secure the grounds.
Kuma the Japanese Akita is not really a dog, but a bear, has settled in
well.
Megz the cat is not too sure.
The oldest guinea pig was found dead and flat beneath the others, she was 6 years
old and blind.
Bob and Bob the goldfish are enjoying clean waters having been cleaned out.
And finally, the local farmer turned up yesterday with 3 new born lambs,
asking if we would rear them as their mother has no milk. I've named them
Breakfast, Dinner and Tea.
Anyone who fancies a week out in the country looking after various forms of
wildlife drop me an email (preferably with a couple of airline tickets).



Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

09:44:37 o'clock GMT
Hearing ETHANIA - Pennod un EP
They say you shouldn’t eat cheese late at night, as it’ll give you weird dreams. I was hungry and trying to cut down on the usual late night saturated fat intake of chicken tikka madras I opted for smoked salmon and Mexican cheese.
It was nice ‘n’ spicy, but it wasn’t just my taste buds that were affected.
I spent the night in bed tossing and err… turning as dream after dream woke me from a very light slumber in varying states of disturbance.
One dream shocked me back to consciousness but I can’t remember what it was, but when I closed my eyes I kept seeing cartoon caricatures of Margaret Thatcher forming then dissolving continually in my mind – nightmare!
I then dreamt that I was holding two lengths of copper pipe that were possessed and they were wobbling and shrinking, so I found a minister who blessed them for me. They would become rigid again, but would return to their strange viscosity again when he stopped. I kept urging him to keep blessing them and he became more and more reluctant. Awaking next morning I felt like I needed a good night's sleep.
The moral of this story is; don’t mess with Mexican cows!

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

11:05:27 o'clock GMT
Hearing CARBON ATOM - Restart
 

Fancy getting kicked out of an Alarm gig! It was my own fault, a piece of quiche and 2 slices of pizza are hardly what you call a daily intake to give you substance for an alcoholic onslaught.
Steve Sync picked me up and I rubbed my hands with glee at the prospect of a 12 hour blow out. Mrs Fatman collected us from Sync’s pad and Fatman, Sync and myself headed to Llandudno for the Gathering 13.
The gig was as the Gathering always is; a self congratulationary slap on the back for all things Mike Peters. He should be chairing the next CBI conference as he is as shrewd a business man as you’ll ever meet. And while people are prepared to buy £100 DVD packages of the Gatherings and travel half way round the world to see a gig then you’d be a fool not to furnish their needs.
Still yet to fully recover from my three week non-alcohol sabbatical it was a pretty stupid thing to do to guzzle nine pints of the amber nectar before 11pm. Fatman and Sync took theirs pretty well. I had to hang on to the sound desk railings to prevent myself hitting the floor.
Not to miss a Billy Duffy photo opportunity I staggered toward the front, I recall bumping into a girl, who punched me in the back, I told her to ‘fuck off.’
I got to the front and started snapping, using the photo facility on my video camera, then a bouncer gripped my shoulder and told me to stop filming;
’I’m not filming I’m taking photos, like everyone else.’
’Stop filming.’
’Take your fucking hands off me.’
Another bouncer soon joined him, and I was riled and getting more abusive, as they tried to take my camera off me, saying I could have it back after the show (yeah right!).
It was the alcohol you see, although I’m never usually aggressive on the stuff it must’ve been a combination of the amount I drank and the err… ahem… angry music.
I was escorted out of the building, probably the first in the history of The Gatherings! Although, fair play I was firmly ejected but not man handled, but I was really pissed off. Kicking the phone box outside I started walking toward the George hotel where the aftershow party was to be held later, but I was so pissed I fell into a wall.
I flagged a taxi down and asked him to take me home, we tried to have a conversation but I was having trouble speaking properly.
Woke up the next day, recharged my phone and it buzzed a message from Sync sent at 1.28am it read.

?You fucking lightweight. TWAT?
He was right.

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

08:57:58 o'clock GMT
Hearing VARIOUS - Roots of The Sex Pistols
 The link2wales poll eh! The hype machines work full time as bands and fans clamour to ensure they’re up there in the running.
It’s all a laugh really and means nothing, I do it for the entertainment element rather than any serious gauge to what the outlook is.
Let’s face it, the majority of active visitors to this website are based on the North Wales coast, although South Wales and Liverpool visitors are now taking more of an active role. Whereas the silent majority slip in, read what they want and sneak away almost unnoticed, except that I have a nifty program that logs all visitors and what they’ve been looking at. Eg; The Gig Guide is probably the most read page, followed by the latest gig review, then the radio show then the Liverpool pages. All in all there’s about 1500 to 2000 visitors a week.
So only 267 voted, that’s up 59 on the last poll, and like I said, its only a laugh.

The Gintis hype machine earned them the coveted Best Band slot, The Cox with Nailbomb The Dancefloor was probably one of the most genuine of winners for Best Single as a lot of votes came from South Wales (not bad for a defunct Rhyl band!). Bar Blu’s heavy rotation of PSST’s ‘Creatures of The Night’ probably had a say in the votes and it was great to see Helen Love in there too.
Duncan Black voted for himself 16 times for Best Guitarist, but he would’ve won it anyway!
Jonny Lantern’s guitar licking exploits ensured enough people felt it necessary to make him Twat of the Year ahead of George Bush and myself.
And Adam Walton ran away with Best Radio Show, although I did give him an early run for his money!! And he didn’t vote for himself, in fact he didn’t vote at all;
’I don’t agree with Polls Neil.’ He said. ‘They suck big time, with mass emails going out saying “Vote for me”’
He does have a point; Valleum’s website actually had the Voting form already filled in and ready for you to send, hence their rating in the Best Band and Album awards. Nameless and The Stiff Kittens did a similar campaign a couple of years ago, and I wholeheartedly condone vote rigging! It’s ace.
Here’s to a great year!

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

08:50:55 o'clock GMT
Hearing MCLUSKY - Do Dallas (CD)
It was a momentous occasion. The newspapers, TV and family and friends were all there as I took those first tentative steps back to the comforts of alcohol.
Eighteen days without beer or wine passing my lips, that’s how long it had been, eighteen long and tortuous days. The longest I have ever gone in my adult life. The ‘flu prolonged the agony for five days more, but the spirit [sic] of Norris McWhirter was there to confirm it was a record and duly noted it down for next year’s Guinness [sic] Book of Records.
Bottled Carlsberg Export, I raise my glass to you, and promise never to abandon you again. I am so sorry.

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

13:32:17 o'clock GMT
Hearing ROMAN JUGG - Papa Loco CD
 

‘I never catch colds, or get the flu’ I defiantly announced once. A stupid statement that was well and truly retracted when the epidemic was passed onto me via a Crudlet. The pattern was the same, you started with a cough and ended up in bed, pole axed. Too ill to read, sleep, sit up, lie down or breathe. Nightmare!

By day 3 you’re feeling sick from swallowing phlegm and that’s all you have to bring up as you’re too ill to eat and even drinking is hard work. If you’re not sick, you’ll have the squits, or better still, both!

On day 4 the doctor’s surgery will call you out of the blue to see if you want to go for a flu jab next week as there’s an outbreak on the way. Yeah right…

By day 5 the shoots of recovery are almost poking through and you’ll be up by the evening.

Good luck!

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

12:57:17 o'clock GMT
Hearing MY RED CELL - 13 in my 31 CD
 We were kept awake most of the night as gales ravaged outside. Although going to bed at 10pm may have something to do with the reason I felt wide awake at 2.30am, having had my customary 4½hrs kip!

The high winds certainly did their damage as I left the yard this morning to find the road blocked by two felled trees, both from our garden. At least I won’t have to carry anymore dead wood back when walking Puppy Crud to fuel the fire, its all on the doorstep.

New years eve was spent in the company of Fairziff’s sister for the second year running, where they had a party. And, for the second year, without Fairziff who was sunning himself and family on the shores of the North Yorkshire Moors. The Millennium seems to have killed off the New Year tradition in Rhyl, where everyone would be out in fancy dress. This year, with the exception of the Gintis crew dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, town was dressed square. A lot of the revellers have become wise to bouncers charging £5 for you to get into a pub that’s too busy to get served in. So we go to or throw private parties.

Plenty to look forward to this coming month in the superb shape of Beki Bondage and the Vice Squad, swiftly followed by a night of rampaging at the Gathering

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

16:04:25 o'clock GMT
Hearing SPACESEED cd
With the field at the back looking more suitable to grow rice rather than grass, we decided to let Dingle (the 26 year old horse) head back to her old stable a couple of miles down the road, where it its much dryer and she won’t get foot rot!
Still waiting for the sparky to complete the electrical work; at the moment the barns are drenched in darkness, and believe me, on a cold winter night in the middle of nowhere it gets very dark. We need to install a telegraph pole to carry a cable across the yard to the barns. Hopefully John and his tonka toy will be over on Sunday with the caber in tow to dig a hole.

Written by neilcrud Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own