At the time of writing this I am a mere 2 days away from my 41st birthday; a good 11 years older than I initially thought I was ever going to live to. Like most people my age, I wish for little more than just a quiet day pottering about the house or in the pub. No socks, bathroom gift sets or humorous coffee mugs, just a bit of 'me-time' where I can relieve myself of the normal weekend duties I normally undertake. Also, like most people my age, I know I'm only going to accomplish about half a day at best of that, and will be grateful for whatever I can muster.
Prior to this non-milestone anniversary of the flesh, I was also breaking away from the normal weekend duties by taking a 4-hour solo road trip to Whitby, where I was to fulfil my guest DJ slot at Nostalgia, a goth night held around the Whitby Goth Weekend & founded by martin oldgoth (the lower casing of the name is deliberate and correct).
I quite like a long drive, though I'm not a huge fan of driving long distances without a companion. Circumstance dictated that was indeed going to be the case this time round, so my wife stocked up on large quantities of energy drinks for the trip. My companion for the journey was a three foot tall plastic skeleton who sat in the front passenger seat who didn't pay anything towards the petrol but was useful for hanging onto various wires & cables that were sprawling from the cigarette lighter socket into the iPod, mobile and sat-nav.
I managed to cover some serious distance before deciding that I needed to pee. Funny how long you can go before you see any service stops at all the precise moment you need to take a leak. Eventually a service stop emerged on the horizon the other side of the road, but had a slip road on my side which would presumably take me round to it. What it actually did was take me directly onto the same road back in the opposite direction, allowing me to watch the service stop disappear off to my left and add a whole bunch of miles onto my journey while still leaving me with a full bladder…
Anyway, bodily fluids aside, I arrived in Whitby at around 3pm and parked up at the Leisure Centre to the tumultuous roars (of laughter, it seems) emanating from the Whitby Gazette Football Stadium as Real Gothic were receiving somewhat of a ritual slaughtering from the Whitby Gazette team. I think the final score was 5-0. I know little about football but apparently that's not very good…
I caught up with Leeds based goth-rock combo Rhombus (minus backing vocalist Mya) for a long overdue and quite entertaining interview for Fadeout, which took place on the stands of the stadium. I've been wanting to get the dulcet tones of Ed Grassby & Co. onto the show for a long time, and I'm hoping to get that interview edited ready for airing as soon as possible, ie. next weekend.
The hunt for food was on, so after destroying a chip supper outside the Pavillion, I headed off to pick up Nightbreed Radio's DJ Wolfman who offered me a place to crash for the night while up in Whitby.
We arrived at the Raw Club to meet up with Martin, Velouria & Katy Kitten, whom I would be sharing the decks with for the night. Maybe I'm just lucky like that, but I do seem to get to DJ with the nicest people I could ever wish to meet (of course now that I've said that, the next person will turn out to be a complete arsehole or something…I hope not!).
Apart from the normal process of doing my set, popping outside for a ciggie and chatting, coming back in for a caffeinated beverage, listening to the other DJ's then taking my turn behind the decks again, I also managed to bag an impromptu interview with Tim Chandler & Gordon Young of Pretentious, Moi?, which only really happened by the magic of alcohol. Yes, they were quite drunk and would agree to anything. I supposed it was the journalistic equivalent of date rape in hindsight, but they put together a fairly cohesive dialogue which wouldn't even indicate that they ever been near a drink at all. 'Consummate professionals', and all that…
I also managed to chat to a few other people I hadn't seen for a while, not least Tron from Grooving In Green, who once again kept me amused with his drink-oriented tales of life in the moderately-paced lane.
After the evening/morning's proceedings, DJ Wolfman & I headed back home to eventually hit the sack at 4am Monday morning. Rock & Roll. Five hours of unconsciousness would pass before I was awoke from the bed with a cup of tea and a bacon sarnie (for which I will be ever grateful to Wolfman's other half, Mandy), followed by farewells then a smooth drive home to the family I was spending probably too much time missing.
It's still taking me several days to get over one late night. I must be getting bloody old…
Do you want to see the playlist from the DJ's at Nostalgia? Here it is:
Nostalgia @ Raw, Whitby 31-10-2010Dead Can Dance - The Host of Seraphim
Cocteau Twins - Persephone
Dragons - Redemption
The Cranes - Adrift
Danse Society - The Theme
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Red Eyes and Tears
Blacklist - Poison for Tomorrow
The Opposite Sex - Turning Colours
Altered States - Tomorrow People
Cruel Britannia
Loud - D Generation
Torpedoes - Twisted Lovesong
Chatshow - Kings of Confusion
Marionettes - Like Christabel
The Cold - Summernight
Bauhaus - Spirit
The Last Cry - Haunting
The Cranes - Jewel
Katy Kitten
Rosetta Stone - Eye For The Main Chance
Nosferatu - Lucy is Red
Love Like Blood - Kiss and Tell
The Merry Thoughts - We Love To
Star Industry - Nineties
The Horatii - Daryll and Alicia
London After Midnight - Kiss
martin oldgoth
Lords of the New Church - Open Your Eyes
The Cult - Go West
The Cure - The Walk
Flesh for Lulu - Roman Candle
Chameleons - Everyday I'm Crucified
Joy Division - She's Lost Control (r)
Velouria Rose
Faith and the Muse - Sovereign
Fangs on Fur - F Boy F Girl (r)
Christ Vs Warhol - Paper Dolls (r)
The Cramps - Inside Out (r)
The Damned - New Rose (r)
The Stranglers - No More Heroes (r)
Virgin Prunes - Pagan Love Song (r)
Lords of the New Church - Russian Roulette (r)
Frankenstein - She Casts No Shadow
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Candyman
Cruel Britannia
Mount Sims - Grave
Anders Manga - The Last Alarm
Blacklist - Dawn of the Idols
Sisters of Mercy - Body Electric (r)
Bauhaus - Largartija Nick
The Cult - Resurrection Joe
Time Zone - World Destruction
Katy Kitten
Suspiria - Night Time
Corpus Delecti - Saraband
Sisters of Mercy - Ribbons
Garden of Delight - Shared Creation
Fields of the Nephilim - Psychonaut Lib III
Children on Stun - Sidelined (r)
martin oldgoth
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Happy House (r)
Rosetta Stone - If Only and Sometimes (r)
New Model Army - Poison Street (r)
Sisters of Mercy - Walk Away
Specimen - Returning From a Journey (r)
Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire
Japan - Quiet Life
Velouria Rose
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
Killing Joke - Sanity
Clan of Xymox - Loiuse
Chameleons - Swamp Thing (r)
Pretentious Moi? - Living Dead and Undecided (r)
Pink Turns Blue - Missing You
Alien Sex Fiend - R.I.P (r)
Vampire Beach Babes - Tomb Mau Mau (r)
Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles (r)
Cruel Britannia
The Cramps - The Crusher
Zombie Ghost Train - Step Into My Coffin
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cascade (r)
The Last Dance - Do You Believe in Angels (r)
Killing Joke - Kings and Queens
The Wake - Sideshow
The Marionettes - She Said
Katy Kitten
Suspiria - (Loved in) Emerald
Miranda Sex Garden - Peepshow
Manuskript - Rapscallion (coldheart mix)
Christian Death - Church of No Return
Rosetta Stone - ?
Emma Conquest - Such Pretty Things
The Horatii - Island of Zombie Women
martin oldgoth
Adam and the Ants - Zerox (r)
Sexbeat - Sexbeat
Ultravox - All Stood Still
Lene Lovich - Lucky Number
We've got a Fuzzbox... - XX Sex
James Ray - Texas (r)
The Ramones - Somebody Put Something In My Drink
The Cramps - Domino
Messer Chups - Music to Watch Zombie Girls By
Thanks so much for the great tunes matey, always a pleasure to work with you
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