*PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM A MUCH LONGER MYSPACE BLOG AS I GOT TOO DRUNK AND COULDN'T ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE WHOLE GIG TO WRITE A PROPER REVIEW FROM!*
...upstairs we meet Wez who has become a good net-friend over the last year and grab beer numero 3 and then openers Ghost Of A Thousand take to the stage. a groan escapes from Wez at the sight of them as it's skinny fit tshirts, tight jeans and daft hair as far as the eye can see but they bound into a decent sub-Botch set of angular 'core n' roll. i will no doubt buy the album as i liked what i heard but both guitarists seem strangely unaware of what the bridge pick-up is for and hence the sound is tinny as hell and rather cheapens what otherwise i think would've been a fine set. comedy moments also abound throughout as the vocalist (who appears to have robbed his on stage moves wholesale off of a certain Mr. Jagger) has fallen off the stage before the end of the first song only to then not be able to get back up on it for a few songs although this indirectly leads to the 'save of the night' as he careens into a three-pint bearing BigJon who somehow manages to not spill a drop earning himself a spontaneous round of applause from those who witness it and finally, as they finish a song toward the end of their set, Wez (who is looking somewhat less than impressed by them) shouts 'TAXI!' perhaps a little louder than he was intending and a ripple of laughter floats around the gradually swelling crowd. in the meantime i have decided it would be wise to let BigJ toddle off to do his gig photography thing and match Wez pint for pint. unfortunately for me Wez is a big lad more than capable of drinking his weight who has been gripped by The Thirst so i'm already half way leathered by the time GOAT leave the stage to appreciative if rather luke warm cheers and applause.
at this point Cyrus Grissom (another mate from the UG boards) turns up and we get chatting before Charger wander on stage. the boys pile into an almost exclusively new material set and it immediately becomes apparent that GOAT can't necessarily be entirely blamed for sounding a bit weedy as the sound guy manages to somehow produce a flawlessly clear but entirely bassless sound for them. bearing in mind this is Charger we're talking about i have to admit this is a feat in itself but none the less irritates me for the duration. Ives is his usual edgy and nervous self on stage but nonetheless chats to the crowd throughout the set explaining the songs and talking about their lack of gigs this year and the forthcoming album and i have to say that (whilst i admit i was pretty much battered by this point so have large blackspots in my memory) from what was on display here, 'Spill Your Guts' due early 2007 will be something rather special indeed. i think one or two older songs may have got an airing though i honestly couldn't be certain and then suddenly from nowhere they tear into 'Cult vs. Cunt' and the crowd who have all been digging it as much as me go mad for it as the boys do their level best to destroy the place. then the set ends and it's all too soon for me, by now i've forgotten about my back problems and have been headbanging quite severely for some time. awesome stuff, can't wait for the album!
more beer is consumed and i beg the sound man to turn the bass up only to get a dismissive sneer for my troubles and then The Abominable Iron Sloth appear from nowhere. again, i can remember little other than they're A. W. E. S. O. M. E! i'm not sure if the sound man did take my advice after all or if it's just the somewhat more likely case that the yank Sludgsters are just too heavy for him to control but finally the wall shaking bottom end we're all here for is in evidence and the now packed venue goes mental. they are, in fact, so heavy that it takes me about half the set to realise that there are only 3 men on stage which impresses me all the more. the majority of their superb self title debut album gets an airing along with a fair amount of new material as well (i believe, don't quote me) and we're all lost in a Sludge-Tsunami that threatens to be the end of all of us and then the highlight of the evening (both musically and comedically) fires in as they launch into album opener 'Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Scent'. the crowd double their efforts rocking out and as i look over my shoulder for the first time since they took the stage i realise that not only myself, Wez and Cyruss but in fact the entire audience all respond in kind throwing The Claw and screaming along to 'RRREEEEEZZZZZZUUUUUURRRRRREEEEEKKKKKKSSSSHHHHHYYYYUUUUUNNNNNN!!! which nearly makes me fall over laughing but as i'm rocking out and throwing The Claw so hard myself i manage to stay upright. about two songs later they end in a hail of feedback and we amble back downstairs. somewhere along the line i've finally managed to buy myself that Charger hoody i've been after for so long and then Ives collars me at the bar and i have to go to the cash point to get more money to buy him that beer i've been promising him for just as long. this puts me in a foul mood for no explainable reason and then (i think) we say our goodbyes to jay Charger and Jon manages to herd me out the door so we can find this pub his mate is having a birthday bash in. somewhere along the line we proquire chips and i rant about Ives before Jon delicately enquires if maybe i'm not overreacting and i collapse into a brief fit of despair at potentially having acted like a cunt to the poor guy whilst absent mindedly wiping ketchup and mayonaise all over my new hoody...
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