How many of us have been shocked and/or appalled at the rate at which music venues have been closing down? Probably most of us. I remember feeling like I'd been punched in the gut when I was told that the London Astoria was being demolished in 2009. Having been to see many bands there as a teenager it was saddening to know that future generations would be denied such a great place to watch their idols. It was home to incredible memories and I wished it was still there but do you know what, I didn't do anything to help save it so I guess I just need to live with it.
One thing I was determined to get on board with was saving the SouthBank undercroft. The Long Live South Bank campaign was something it was my very great pleasure to have been a part of. I wrote letters to MPs and National Heritage and promoted the issue using this very blog and any other means I had at my disposal. The real heart of the campaign too was fought tooth and nail by the volunteers who took up the fight. Even the website on it's own is a beautiful thing, filled with passion and love for the cause. Celebrities were endorsing their fight, it was in huge amounts of media and they endured slander and relocation propositions and rejections until even the London Mayor himself endorsed them and helped sway them to victory. This victory was not easily won and despite all they made it happen. I look back on it all and smile knowing that I helped in the little ways I could and that the core campaigners never let the end goal slip, even when people called them pests and unreasonable and tried to rub their reputations through mud. The alternative scene took a collective stand against rampant gentrification and held their own against big business.
I don't feel the same can be said for the loss of Denmark Street.
I have "researched" the Denmark Street closure and the most I can find online is a petition to stop with with 28,000 odd signatures (compare that to a similar one for the LLSB campaign that garnered almost 71,000) and a smattering of pieces in the BBC, talking about it going like it already had. I couldn't find a website or even a dedicated facebook page to the cause. I know there are a group called Save Denmark St but I can't tell you about their exploits or what they did to try to save things. I'm not saying that they did nothing I'm saying that there is nothing they have to show for it other than a few half assed articles and too many separate petitions knocking around.
Why wasn't there as much of an uproar? are things so clear cut that they couldn't fight? was the relocation offer just too good to refuse (12 Bar opens back up in Holloway soon) or were people just not as passionate as they made out? I don't want this to come across as me saying that nobody cared about what happened here but what I am saying is that there doesn't seem to be any record of the battle. They say history is written by the victors and it seems like the victory was so absolute that the opposition was wiped away.
Earls Court is going soon too, I went to a bunch of conventions there but it's not something I did regularly enough to be any more than mildly annoyed about it, however there are places like the New Cross Inn and Birds Nest that I frequent regularly and perform at and my patronage is hopefully what will keep these places alive. I know I will move mountains to keep them as they are should the need arise. We can't save the whole world, but when someone threatens something that is a part of our lives and history in a big way we should kick up so much fuss that people just have to pay attention. Even if we lose we should have to be taken down kicking and screaming with a shrine to our struggles against higher powers left for people to view and improve upon next time someone with a big budget and re-dveleopment plans tries to pave over history.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Denmark St. group went down fighting till their last gasp. Show me where I can see this fight and I will happily, enthusiastic admit I was wrong, but the entire point of this is I can't see a fight right now, all I see is an obligatory objection and the steam rolling of an iconic landmark.
One chilly night I sat in a dark basement in North London and watched what looked to me like a heavy metal asguardian sing sea shanties whilst beating the shit out of a stool with a huge chain. Every word of that last sentence is true and yes it was as cool as you're imagining. What I glimpsed was only the tip of the iceberg though. I had only seen a Jesus Hooligan solo effort not the full band. The band is made up of minimal boring old shit like guitars and whatnot and mostly made up of anything you can savagely hammer with a lead pipe whilst bellowing to the wind for those pussy greek gods to test your viking mettle. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy their sparkly new cd Feel. and here's how that went.
"Feel" is a lot more than a string of songs. It's a social occasion. There's a story for those to tell who may be putting it on for someone brand new to the "hooligan" experience. "What the flaming fuck is this?" one may exclaim. The answer to this is long winded and and more fun to explain the more of you there are who know the deal. This is something to pull out at parties when you decry pop bullshit and someone says "well what do you think real original music sounds like?" or to blare down a crowded highstreet from your battered pickup to say to the world "fuck you world, I wont do what you tell me". I would say more than anything though it's a memory of an outstanding band you saw that time with all your friends and you want to reminisce about just how cool they were. If you're after easy listening or something to quietly contemplate then this isn't it. If you want to become the centre of all attention then step right up because I'm pretty sure no one in your vicinity has heard anything like this.
"Old Fashioned Love Song" kicks things and let's you know right from the get go that you won't be getting all that "deep and serious" malarky from this set of songs. from opening lyrics like "whips and chains" and a chorus that let's you know that lets the world know Mr Hooligan is horny the tone here is unashamedly crude and a little silly on purpose. The whole thing is set to tribal feeling riffs and god only knows what being pummelled in the background.
"Rain" comes around and by this point you think "of course there's a didjeridoo, why wouldn't there be". The tribal drumming kicks back up over minimalist guitars and by now you feel like you're getting the hang of things. I like to think that this is what music was always supposed to sound like. at some point people became obsessed with scales and what was technically possible and they forgot to strip naked with their neighbours and stomp around a fire at night, settling disputes by who could shout the loudest while still keeping the beat and finding the love of a woman over embers and hypnotising rhythms.
"Sweat" starts with (somehow very appropriately) the death of a guitar and the ominous boom of what I like to think of as your preconceptions being smashed to smithereens. Structure as we imagine it is another of the things that Jesus Hooligan are determined to show is something the rest of us are doing all wrong. All that ABACAB shit is over-rated and what we all need as a tonic is hollering and chants and then stop. Subject matter here I guess could be considered humanist, or pagan or even satanic. telling us that human nature is perfectly ok and that all the primping and pandering of modern culture is the truly weird freaky stuff. Underneath all that is also a quite touching love song. Beautiful stuff.
"Jame's Song" kicks straight of with more shouting at the very tops of lungs and then the drums kick off. no more guitar here. No more words. No more anything that makes up the mainstream construct of music, bands and songs that any of us think need to be there. What your brain may not have clocked onto though is that al these ideas you had about "proper" music have slowly been removed throughout the course of the last three songs so none of this seems out of place and you don't feel like you're thrown in at the deep end. You just find yourself in a place the the groove and the fact that everyone from toddlers upwards can join in.
As if the first couple of songs teased a guitar just to help you get to grips with things "I Met A Woman" assumes you're fully up to speed with this particular brand of hooliganism and feels that full on tribals are all you'll need band wise and that you'll be totally fine with lyrics like "I'd like to skin her and wear her as a coat". eventually this track devolves into primal screaming and then it ends abruptly with no apology for bending your fragile mind into gooey paste.
Then it's over and you're left shivering in the stark silence and you understand that music as you understand it is a lie and that bin over the other side of your office never looked so musical before.
So For the first time (I think ever) I'm going to write about a band I've not personally interacted with, bare with me because this Thug Life we call bad music blogging is about to step up a notch.
So Eat Defeat are a band that I may not have played with yet but hail from Leeds, which as far as I can tell is knocking out some of the best UK bands around right now. They've arisen from the ashes of skacore to become a power pop skate punk quartet that are doing pretty well for themselves, having toured mainland Europe and all over the UK. In fact if you like what you hear after this review why not check them out in an upcoming February tour.
Anyways onward to the actual EP:
This thing sounds chunky like you'd expect a Punk-Pop record to, the level of professionalism here is about what I'd expect from a band who have a few releases and members from bands like Fighting Fiction. They clearly have some stripes they've earned and this is the fruit of their wisdom. The hooks here on display will let you know instantly if it's your cup of tea and it certainly is mine!! The cover is a very quick indication that if you like your music exclusively dark and brooding then you're looking in the wrong place here
"Thundergun Express" is the kicker on this EP and it's a good one, I purposefully haven't listened to the previous material yet so I don't become biased but I can only hope its as cool and powerful as this. I don't recognise the quote at the beginning of the track but by virtue of the fact that it's there I feel at home. I may have mentioned that I was a giant Midtown fan back in the early 2000s and this gives me great memories of those guys.
"Luck is for Losers" is next along and this has a pretty special treat on it. In what I assume is a nod to their origins as a skacore band they have guest vocals from none other than Barney Boom. The breakdown in the bridge is setup in the previous song as an Eat Defeat trope and helps to make the drop in tempo style not feel too jarring, the guest verse is cool and will make Sonic Boom Six fans need this in their collection. The chorus for this tune is just superb and the strongest of the three tracks. It's a real pop punk anthem without the need for too much polish or bravado, just like great pop punk should be.
"Survival Mode" rounds out the EP and the intro feels like it could go in many a direction, being a little technical and feeling like it could be used to introduce something heavy or maybe just a throwaway beginning into more pop punk. Instead the guys choose the absolute best path (in my humble opinion) and kick the pace up to a thousand miles per hour. If there's one thing I love more than great harmonies and catchy choruses over a pop punk beat its the same over double time skate punk drumming!! Being addicted to the double makes this a definite favourite for me and an extremely strong finisher both in terms of wanting to finish with a bang and for this being something that can hold it's own against other established powerhouses in the skatepunk/melodic hardcore scene.
All in all really great set of songs that I've been listening to a hell of a lot since I was pointed in their direction. It's a crying shame that I haven't played with these guys personally and I'll be looking to remedy that soon. If you think the glory days of pop punk happened before a certain band released a certain shite self titled album then you will thoroughly enjoy this. In fact if you are a fan of music in general and you want to check out a well thought out fun set of songs then this is the place you need to be.
Back around September I bullied my way onto a gig line-up because I really wanted to play a show with the headliner and also DropThis were playing and Triple Sundae two awful(ly good) bands with friends in the line-up. The other band on this bill were Cereal Box Heroes (a name I got wrong a few times on the night) and as far as I know it was their first show. Well to say they knocked that shit out the park is an understatement. These three dudes who by my old man standards couldn't have been older than 8 just smashed their way through the most incredible 90s power pop punk revivalist set and instantly won the hearts of a nation. If they had just been a great band they would have still won the night but on top of that it turned out they were bloody stellar blokes too the nail in the super awesome leagues coffin right there. Shortly(ish) after they managed to put out their first EP Frier. and that is what we're here to discuss.
Get past a gaudy cover makes a bit of a mess of the band name and you'll find that Frier feels both perfectly comfortable around all your 90s Lagwagon, Blink and Diesel Boy albums and utterly fresh and new. A little track full of fart sounds and sets the scene and if you're put off by this then fair enough, you have obviously come to the wrong place, you'll find your humourless boring person shit somewhere else. The thing that will hit you from the get go is that this doesn't just sound like a 90 punk album, it sounds like one. The production is incredible for something that is a first ever effort and a lot of care has gone into perfect capturing the era in the master.
"Forget It" is the first "proper" track on the album and it's a revelation, fast and fun with all the right breakdowns and those stops which are synonymous with the style. The second double time verse shows that these guys are fully capable of keeping up with all their idols and anything else that I would rank highly today.
"Homewreck" is blisteringly fast and awesome fun to listen to. It just makes me smile. There's no other way to put it. This track introduces to the fact that we have two lead singers in Conor and Dom. Who's my favourite you ask? That would be telling but the difference, whilst being obvious is as glaring or uneven as Blink was and you probably wont find yourself with one voice you hugely prefer. THe breakdowns found in this track could almost be thought of as derivative, but they are played so well and with such feeling that they quite right show off a loving homage to late 90s/2K pop punk instead.
"Mudface" is the last track on the EP and again the stage is set for a trip down memory lane. These retro punk vibes never overshadow the groups talent however and this in particular would be way beyond your average vocalist in terms of complexity in the verses. The choruses then reset us back into familiar sing-along territory, something these guys understand is necessary part of writing a fun album and something they work extremely well in delivering.
The comparisons to the past, especially to Dude Ranch are ever present in this EP and in the band as a whole, but rather than clinging to an ideal or a desperate emulation of better things these guys have created something born of the same basic foundation and can now proudly rest it up against all the albums of my own teenage years. If you can't tell from all this these few tracks are really something special and if Cereal Box Heroes aren't already on your radar then make sure they are now or miss out.
Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a struggling acoustic musician. He was bumbling through unfulfilling shows and watching his far cooler friends rocket up to fame/imfamy and felt like he was wallowing in obscurity playing shit shows to 0 crowds for no real reason.
Just as he was about to jack the whole thing in the aforementioned friends asked some punks who were putting a show on in Worthing if that sad acoustic pop punker could play the show too. He did and then he met some excellent dudes, they liked the things he liked and were awesome and welcomed the acoustic punk as a friend and then played the most ridiculously fast music he'd ever heard and saved his musical career. This man was of course me (you can see some depressing blog posts here from when i nearly gave up) and the band that restored my faith in playing shows was Recluse Club. One of the biggest shames about this band thus far is that they previously only had one shoddily recorded demo to go by. This is now not the case as the guys have the stellar Osaka Mechaslug Concern to please your lugholes with.....
OK lets start with genre definitions. This is a toughy, but melodic hardcore hits the general area, maybe a little Refused esque post-hardcore in there too. I hear a tad of Enter Shikari too, which is awesome since they are one of my best not punk bands.
This EP sounds good. Everything sounds like it's complimenting everything else and is clean enough to ring the vocals and harmonies nicely whilst still being raw enough to convey the hardcore nature of the band. The opening "Linear" has an almost progressive feel to it, although if like me you think progressive is a dirty word in music don't fret as it's the only instance of it, serving to nicely warm up and build expectation of the speed fest to come. "Errors" is straight up melodic hardcore and fits in well with anything else especially that you might hear on the continent that would fit in that bracket, a good thing in my book. "Evensong" is the most classically hardcore track with this offering and if I imagine the song as a human they have the biggest balls of all the tracks which is saying something since all these guys play rugby and are firefighters!! "The Crash" is ever so far from least as the last track, it's my favourite of all due to it seeming to hit every bit of 90s skatepunk nostalgia in a technical storm of cool metalish riffage and spot on EpiFat harmonies and blast beat drumming. It's a full storm and I felt a little out of breath just listening to it.
All in all this is the awesome sound I've been waiting roughly a year and a half to hear from these guys, a brilliant effort and one that will be hard to top on the upcoming album (I may have made up the upcoming album news). Remember supporting your local scene automatically makes you 63% better than other humans in your area who don't. so jump over to bandcamp and pick this up as a blinding first catch of 2015.
This is the third year that I've been writing this blog. In that time this thing has gone from my own tour diary to a thing where I write stuff and more than just me reads it!! mental stuff there!! Anyway since I'm all cool and stuff I thought I would do a few end of year lists. I'll try not to be a tosser and love on 13SX bands too much but then again fuck you all it's my list......
Following categories - Best EP, Best Live Act, Best Solo Act. I'm not doing albums because I don't listen to too many these days. Call Me Malcolm would probably win if I did though. you can hear me spend a whole blog post freaking out about the album here.
Best Solo Act
*That I've played with.......As is always the case in life the solo acts go on first....
5. Harrison Wilde
Harrison is awesome both in the fact that he is possibly the sexiest man I know and that he is also the most self aware and cool about it. This comes across in both his tunes, self deprecating but never apologetic walks through the mind of an addict, and a live show full of humour and the kind of don't give a fuck attitude we all wish we had.
I had the pleasure of playing with Connor on what ws one of the last duel acoustic shows I played this year. He's one of those real musicians who can work his way around a fretboard like a demon and has a voice like cool breeze on a hot day. He was amazing on the night and is note perfect from end to end.
Jake and I have been friends for years but also he is one of the hardest working touring artists in the UK. It's a tough job touring alone but I don't think I've seen a month without Jake playing every week. This year saw him release a brilliant EP too and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of his stage show. getting the audience - even when there are only four of them stood in front of you - is an artform all on its own and Jake is a master.
I'm actually surprised at myself for not putting Luke at number one. He is not only one of the greatest human beings to walk the earth but also the full package when it comes to musicianship. He has the voice of a thousand angels and can make a guitar do things that make me blush. I love his songs, all singalong anthems, and the fact that he has a full band album that is him on every instrument only makes me love him more. You can't really get much better, except for one man....
On a night when he was going on first and the place was still waiting to fill up I first got to witness the majesty of Charlie's songs. I don't often feel totally moved by music and especially not by one man and his guitar but I was all but hypnotised the whole way through his set. I'd hate to use the term perfect to describe anything but I honestly can't think of another thing to say about him. His songs soar around a venue and infect everyone listening and I could listen to him sing for a hundred years and not get bored. I wished that he could've just played all night, but alas I'll have to just listen to his EP until I get a chance to see him again.
I still remember the first time I saw OAHTN and they stole my heart, it was the second MOT fest and I hadn't heard of or known who they were or what they sounded like at that point and then the music started and I fell in love!! From Johnny, who is arguably (definitely in my opinion) the best speed punk drummer around kicking out monster beats at a thousand miles per hour to Jack Wiseman, the springy-est face-pulling-est head-banging-est bass player I know they put on a fierce show and the energy spills over all who get to watch.
Which Demon Smiles I hear you ask? Well certainly having yours truly be part of the line-up was a feast for female eyes but no I'm talking about the current iteration of them melodic basterds! Having Jazz come along has re-invigorated Demon Smiles to newer greater heights and they are a spectacle of extremely high caliber to behold these days. The confidence levels of the whole band is all time high and it shows in kick-ass perfomances. Comfortable with stage invasions and crowd running alike, they now show off the power without letting a note slip.
I do love me a bit of DropThis, and they are the single most seen act of mine this year, Every time it's such a pleasure and whether they play full band acoustic or full whammy, the show is always most excellent. having a large band can sometimes lead to a bit of bumbling and uncertainty but the DT boys know how to make that stage their bitch! Add in jumps and stage dives and that cool hand-behind-your-back roaring thing the kids are doing these days and you've got yourself a package that would look as good on a giant stadium stage as is does down the Birds Nest.
Sometimes I wonder how I ended up being friends with Mug. They are some real next level musicians and I stand in wonder each time i watch them do their thing. Each member is an incredible live musician, rarely playing out of time despite giving every gig their all energy wise. I have spent many a word in this blog saying about how highly I think of them so I wont go into it overly much right now. Suffice to say they are the greatest musicians I personally know and every thing they do on stage is gold.
I love me some melodic hardcore and bands don't come much more melodious and hard of core than The Human Project. I'd seen A Wilhelm Scream earlier in the year (a couple of times) and thought that was the utter pinnacle of playing a technical live show but these guys easily rivalled that. They made it look like it was just the easiest thing in the world to scream every riff and hit every harmony whilst throwing themselves around in time and on queue. The Human Project are incredible in every way and one of the best bands I think I've ever seen. And I've seen all the greats!!!
Of course I love Demon Smiles, they are my total besties but also they make awesome music. Miss Me is one of my favourite of all their songs they've ever done and that can be found on this tidy number. Not easily found but worth the hunt. This EP is my favourite until the next Demon Smiles offering next year.
I guess you could say I'm something of a DropThis fanboy, being that I own everything they've ever had to sell and write fortnightly sonnets to singer Jordan in the hopes he'll become my live in love slave, but besides all that Spitting Feathers is a real masterclass in how to knock your songs out the park. Not only is each and every song on the EP a gem but the production on it is fantastic and it sounds perfectly at home mixed into playlist by "established" artists. I know this through first hand experience having the thing still in regular rotation on my mp3 player today.
Darko were a band I'd not actually heard until late this year and now are up around my top five favourite bands in the world. Sea Of Trees is blindingly good from start to finish with just everything about it blowing me away. Darko are true artistes with guitars and this is the finest they've sounded to date. Hard as it is to pick out a standout amongst all that gold I particularly love Seaward, which is the perfect blend of just shy of metal riffage with the speed I'm so addicted to in the music I love.
I'll try to stick on topic and not just go off on a Mug loving rant again.... I love Mug. This EP set up just why they are some of the greatest most talented people on the planet and in three short songs I defy anyone not to totally fall in love with them. This is one of those sets of songs where you can listen to it fifty times in a row (and believe me I have) and there is always something new to discover, an extra hidden layer, a clever double meaning in a lyric, or an extra lick on the guitar that was just spot on. And god the end of the titular song. That never ever ever stops being mind blowingly epic, just put it on repeat, do it.. do it now!!!!!!
I have a pretty narrow taste in music that I listen to personally. I don't hate other styles but there is just a certain groove in the endless genres that floats my boat more than any other and melodic hardcore is basically it. On top of that bracket is Dead Neck. This is it for me. utter brilliance and the absolute closest I have to what i consider ideal music. I can't stop listening to this, I build playlists and have the entire EP play several times throughout. every time I listen to any music I listen to this first as a warm up, I skate to this, eat to this, sleep to this and jerk off over how good it is.
So having started up a record label and joining a promotions company this year led me to hear untold amounts of new bands, I'd like to think that everyone who I thought sounded awesome I've been lucky enough to see or play with but then there has been some utter shit too. Now everyone is entitled to their taste in music but sometimes you have to wonder what the frick people have been smoking when they come up with this stuff. My turkey award goes to...
3 Chords and a Lie.
I just don't even...... god! Just listen for like thirty seconds and then don't put yourself through the tortue anymore.....
Goddamn it was everywhere over the last week or so. I couldn't look at Facebook or Dying Scene or any punk news outlet without seeing the story of one incident when a person we all look up to savaged a fan, got hated, then apologized and let the fan kick him back.
Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the specific incident and about whether or not Fat Mike is a total cunt or not. I mean everybody. I saw the same thing in around four different regular news outlets along with countless other blogs and whatnot. All of it focused on that one thing and that's fine.
I'm going to talk about the same thing but not that one incident about their behavior in general. You see this isn't the first time a fan has been savaged by NOFX and their crew, infact I saw it happen first hand in Slovenia. The cycle of lashing out at those supposed to be dear to them and constant apology seems to me to be a direct reflection of an abusive partnership and that's something I have a lot of experience with.
I was in a pretty severe abusive relationship (ask to see my scars sometime) and through study and other second hand experience I would consider myself something of an expert on the subject. In an abusive partnership the abuser will often belittle and attack the victim, this attack can be physical or emotional and will always leave the victim scared of eliciting a similar reaction. Often the abuser will blame the victim and say say it was their fault ("look what you made me do") and the victim will not want to talk out about the abuse under the belief that they somehow deserved it. When the abusers attacks go over the line of the victim and they are left with no doubt they have done wrong they will apologize profusely and comfort and treat the victim to win them back. This causes the victim to believe that there is great good under the abuse and that the relationship is worth sticking to because "they don't really mean it" when the attacks happen. Eventually the abuser goes back to the attacks until the next time they overstep the mark, and the cycle continues.
When I was in Slovenia I had the great pleasure of watching NOFX from the side of the stage. As I sat down at the side I was kicked at by Timmy the Scottish Roadie who also plays keyboards. I'm not talking the full swinger we've all watched Fat Mike do but nonetheless a stiff nudge with a boot instead of a quick word which would have sufficed. having moved to an acceptable location we settled in to enjoy the show. Part way through the set an overjoyed fan (bare in mind these guys might see their greatest idols once or twice in their life) jumped on the stage and tripped on a monitor and fell over. The same grumpy Scottish roadie then ran over to the fan, failed to pull him up by a t-shirt (succeeded in tearing the shirt off his chest) and then proceeded to grab the fan with both hands round the neck, pull him up off the floor and throw him towards the back of the stage.
This whole spectacle obviously went down like shit in a hamper on the crowd who started shouting and hurling pieces of the bark which covered the floor of the main stage there at Punk Rock Holiday. NOFX had to stop in the middle of their song (reeko) and apologize for everything over and over untilthe crowd were placated and they could continue.
This story, along with our over exposure to the Australian incident when couple with the description of an abusive relationship creates a far more damning picture of NOFXs actions than anything I've seen (most stories seem to have ended with "and everyone lived happily ever after"). What is so wrong with these performers that they need to lash out at the very people that keep them fed? Do they hate punk rock kids that much? If so they are really in the wrong career. Are they tired of doing shows and the bullshit and only doing the shows still to get paid? well then they are again in the worst place to try and sell out. Should they be allowed to dictate the way a group of young punk rock kids acts at shows? Punk is always been for the kids and old men telling the younger generation how to act and behave is the exact thing we all rebelled against when we bought our first NOFX albums.
In conclusion NOFX may have been given another free pass after expertly managing to beg forgiveness but why not just keep an eye on them. If I'm wrong this type of headline will disappear and I'll happily hang my judgmental head in shame. However I'm willing to bet 50p that it wont be the last time and maybe it'll be time for them to hang up their torn converse before they irreparably damage their reputation with more fans than just me.
One thing I was determined to get on board with was saving the SouthBank undercroft. The Long Live South Bank campaign was something it was my very great pleasure to have been a part of. I wrote letters to MPs and National Heritage and promoted the issue using this very blog and any other means I had at my disposal. The real heart of the campaign too was fought tooth and nail by the volunteers who took up the fight. Even the website on it's own is a beautiful thing, filled with passion and love for the cause. Celebrities were endorsing their fight, it was in huge amounts of media and they endured slander and relocation propositions and rejections until even the London Mayor himself endorsed them and helped sway them to victory. This victory was not easily won and despite all they made it happen. I look back on it all and smile knowing that I helped in the little ways I could and that the core campaigners never let the end goal slip, even when people called them pests and unreasonable and tried to rub their reputations through mud. The alternative scene took a collective stand against rampant gentrification and held their own against big business.
I have "researched" the Denmark Street closure and the most I can find online is a petition to stop with with 28,000 odd signatures (compare that to a similar one for the LLSB campaign that garnered almost 71,000) and a smattering of pieces in the BBC, talking about it going like it already had. I couldn't find a website or even a dedicated facebook page to the cause. I know there are a group called Save Denmark St but I can't tell you about their exploits or what they did to try to save things. I'm not saying that they did nothing I'm saying that there is nothing they have to show for it other than a few half assed articles and too many separate petitions knocking around.
Earls Court is going soon too, I went to a bunch of conventions there but it's not something I did regularly enough to be any more than mildly annoyed about it, however there are places like the New Cross Inn and Birds Nest that I frequent regularly and perform at and my patronage is hopefully what will keep these places alive. I know I will move mountains to keep them as they are should the need arise. We can't save the whole world, but when someone threatens something that is a part of our lives and history in a big way we should kick up so much fuss that people just have to pay attention. Even if we lose we should have to be taken down kicking and screaming with a shrine to our struggles against higher powers left for people to view and improve upon next time someone with a big budget and re-dveleopment plans tries to pave over history.
