Tour diary 02.05.12 - Casey's, Canterbury
An early start due to being lobbed out of the hotel, an elaborate egg-based breakfast at a swish Spitalfields cafe, and on the road to Canterbury in the bleak, grey May rain. Personally, my first attempts at driving the hilariously-massive van, which could easily have ended in disaster given that we only had to pay the first THOUSAND POUNDS of damage on the insurance excess. Rock n roll.
Anyhow, an entire afternoon in Canterbury, spent in tea rooms, looking at the cathedral from the outside (£12 to get in? COME ON CANTERBURY) and finding a shop specialising in nautical, and therefore Listing Ships-themed goods, and a pub with the UK's finest array of specialty rums. That round of Krakens before soundcheck not a good idea.
One of the gigs on the tour had to go not so well I guess, and this was it. The venue was a tiny enclosed bit of an old Irish pub, which we entirely filled with kit - a kind of wood-panelled fishtank for bands.
Attempted the new song in soundcheck - sounded absolutely hideous. Resolved never to play it again. Eventually we got a decent sound out of the PA, and the whole thing was very pleasingly DIY - hats off to Alex for making so much effort to put on shows in a town where there seem to be no venues and, at least on a wet Wednesday, precious little appetite for live music.
Also a delight to play with Canterbury's only surf-doom band Speedwitch (unless there's a surf-doom scene down there), a colossal sheet of riffing audible right across the city centre, punctuated by incongruously meek mutterings of 'thanks very much' between outbursts.
Audience of about twelve people, I reckon, and two images to leave you with. Firstly, a drunk girl dressed as a nurse staggering past the van as we loaded out in the rain and slurring 'maximum respect for playing at Casey's'. And secondly, drinking rum in a Travelodge on the A2 out of plastic cups as the rain came down outside, and yet still thinking to myself 'this is the life'.
Setlist:
Equus Ager
Skipper's Daughter
Melusine Romance
Alba Adriatica
Then Venice Sank
The 100 Gun Ship
All Aboard The Andrea Doria