The Psychøtic Reactiøn

The Old Neptune, Whitstable, 12th May 2003:

Bloody hell! This was a vintage evening, though I say so myself. I hadn’t been for ages, but today felt like a new beginning for the Neptune open stage, oh yes.

With the invaluable technical support of Phil “Steve Albini” Davis we had the return of Abi and Jenny (aka Lucky & The Dead; don’t ask me which is which!) which was well received and a welcome departure from geeky males hitting acoustic guitars (like, um, er…?). Unfortunately I was 45 minutes late due to having to clean up lots of blood in the kitchen (a cooking mishap — I wonder if Dennis Neilsen ever used that excuse?), but I caught the end of their set. With my left index finger only partially operative I tried playing bass with Ian for a few songs. However the effects of ALCHOHOL were soon felt and the pain seemed to miraculously disappear, so I attempted some solo stuff on the guitar, before sitting in with Ian and Willoughby for more bass high-jinx. It is just possible I got a little carried away at this point. With my finger shedding blood all over my bass in true Iggy Pop/Sid Vicious stylee (actually, it was probably more like Kenny Everett’s DIY man) it was something of a free-for-all and now, all of three days later, my memory is somewhat hazy! Having climbed on the furniture and played bass solos with my teeth (Derek Smalls??? This much!!!) we had another few songs from Abi and Jenny, including an original song from Jenny which was very good (well, it fooled me — I thought it was a cover). They have a slot at the Neptune soon, as will Ian, probably sooner rather than later. Me? Well, I’ll blag my way in somehow. It’s high time we had another gig, don’t you think readers?

The Old Neptune, Whitstable, 11th May 2003:

Another impromptu extravaganza of Ian’s John Doe Band ditties, including the legendary “Living In A Sitcom”, and a few randomly chosen covers (including “Ziggy Stardust”, “Louie Louie” and a hoe-down version of Tatu’s “All The Things She Said”), with whoever he can rope in to assist, This evening it was a vocal cameo from the inimitable Abi, bongo fury from the even more inimitable Dave Willoughby, and guitar/bass/vocal abuse from yours truly. I played a couple of brief cover-heavy acoustic sets (I did “Blue Monday”, “Beat On The Brat” and “Pinball Wizard”) and squeezed in a few Reaction songs, which went okay apart from Someone who Shall Go Nameless (well, I didn’t actually catch his name) inviting himself to randomly hit Dave’s drum whilst I was playing. I should have told him to piss off, really, but I’m too polite. Why do goons always latch onto me? I mean why??? We even resorted to playing “Alright Now”, which I haven’t had to play since I was 16. Still, a laugh was had by all and there will be more, oh yes.

Local Hero Records, Canterbury, 4th May 2003:

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