Vibrating Vessels

It's only seven seconds long, but it's one of my favourite videos ever and I love reposting it.


Filmed back in 2009 at a sunnO))) ritual at Corsica studios in London, it's beer bottles riding a sonic wave to get off the stage.

News To Make Your Head Explode: WINTER To Play Roadburn 2011

Legendary doom pioneers Winter, along with Earth, Scorn, Beaver, Aluk Todolo, Menace Ruine, Hooded Menace, The Secret and Atilla Csihar’s Void Ov Voices, have been confirmed for Sunn O)))‘s curated event at Roadburn Festival 2011, set for April 15th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

THEE CLAW says: WHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

More ?!?!?!'s to follow soon!

UGH!

Post Sunn show pic, London, early hours of 23rd Feb 2009. Take me back there please.

SUNN O))) To Curate Roadburn Festival 2011

As seen on roadburn.com

Roadburn festival is thrilled to unveil the curator for the 2011 edition of Roadburn: Sunn O))). The band, to be specific Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, has agreed to curate our festival on Friday, April 15th, 2011 and host a special event.

As curator, Sunn O))) will personally select the bands that will play during their special event as well as perform a headline show. Sunn O))) will be Roadburn’s fourth curator, following David Tibet in 2008, Neurosis in 2009 and Triptykon’s Tom Gabriel Warrior at this year’s festival.

Right now, Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley are gearing up for two major Sunn O))) events in September: performing Altar with Boris at ATP New York and Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple, but you can expect to hear from them in the future with respect to their thoughts on the 2011 Roadburn festival and Sunn O)))’s performance.

We are overjoyed to join forces with Sunn O))) for the upcoming Roadburn festival. Their metal-based drone experimentations have proved groundbreaking and hugely influential for an entire new generation of musicians practicing the art of avant-garde metal, drone, post rock and psychedelica. Sunn O))) is also widely acclaimed for their eclectic collaborations with everyone from musicians Attila Csihar, Masami Akita (Merzbow), Boris, Steven Stapleton, Justin Broadrick, Oren Ambarchi, Ulver, Joe Preston, John Wiese, and Julian Cope to filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and visual artist Banks Violette.

Greg Anderson, who is also Goatsnake’s songsmith and the entrepreneur behind Southern Lord Records, and Stephen O’Malley, a prolific improviser and composer who is well-known for being involved in Burning Witch, KHANATE, KTL and DACM/Gisèle Vienne theatre-works, have performed in different guises during various Roadburn festivals over the years, which is exactly why we felt they would be the ideal curators. Both of them consistently push the envelope musically, and one of our steadfast goals has been to make Roadburn a festival that explores the cutting edge while celebrating the familiar, too. With that in mind, we could think of no better spiritual guide for 2011 than Sunn O))).

We are truly looking forward to the new ideas and visions that the crossover drone duo will bring to the festival next year. When asked to sum up Roadburn in one word, “progressive” would be a fitting choice. Evolving and improving are part of this. The festival is a tribute to the open mindedness of its bands, curators and audience. The joy comes from expanding musical horizons, and with Sunn O))) acting as our curator we’ll definitely be in for some artistic surprises.

Roadburn Festival 2011, including Sunn O)))’s special event, will run for three days from Thursday, April 14 to Saturday, April 16 at the 013 venue and Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland. There will be an additional afterburner event on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

Sunn 0))) vs Norway (Round 2)

Forgot to mention! Me and my lady went to Norway (AKA Land of the Eternal Winter) last week for a short city-break in Oslo. It just so happened that SUNN 0))) were playing a couple of gigs in town at the exact same time that we were there. I mean, what are the chances, right?


The show was held in a place called Chateau Neuf, a seated venue. The auditorium were the show was performed reminded me a lot of the Zion Arts Centre in Manchester or the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in London.

The show was pretty long (and slow), SUNN played pretty much the same set as they did at Manchester Islington Mill back at the start of December. This was a set of material to promote the "Monoliths & Dimensions" record. How they are able to keep playing the same set of prolongued drone material night after night is beyond my capacity. This show lasted til sometime after 1am.

Naturally, my girlfriend was VERY happy about me taking her to the coldest country on the planet with the intention of sitting in the dark to observe a drone act do their thing for 4 hours. Very fucking happy indeed. I now probably owe her many thanks (and possibly a trip to some place warm) for putting up with my crazy "Hey honey, let's go to Norway so I can go and see a gig!" antics. My hat comes off to you baby. (But not for long... after all it's 6 below zero in Oslo right now and I've got no hair.) Cheers, Queen!

Check out this short video clip I took with my phone... this is was the setting for the show. Yes, total darkness! I had a good time though (RINGNES beer ist krieg!) and regular readers of this page will already know that me and Patchie are big fans of Attila Csihar's famous "didgeridoom" impersonation.



Oh and Oslo is a pretty nice city too. Almost forgot to mention that, haha.

Sunn 0))), Islington Mill, Manchester, 8th December 2009

Sunn 0))) - Europe, October 2009

17 oct. SUNN O))) @ LUFF / Lausanne
18 oct. SUNN O))) @ Feierwerk / Munich
19 oct. SUNN O))) @ Kantine / Koln
20 oct. SUNN O))) @ Tivoli / Utrecht
21 oct. SUNN O))) @ AB Box / Brussels
22 oct. SUNN O))) @ Manufaktur / Schorndorf
23 oct. SUNN O))) @ Berghain / Berlin
24 oct. SUNN O))) @ Ut Connewitz / Leipzig (w/ Daniel Higgs, James Blackshaw)
25 oct. SUNN O))) @ Unsound Festival / Krakow
27 oct. SUNN O))) @ A38 / Budapest
28 oct. SUNN O))) @ Teatar Ltd / Zagreb
29 oct. SUNN O))) @ Interzona / Verona

Supersonic 2009

Hello from Birmingham!

Well, not Birmingham really - more like a motorway services just outside Brum. We're here on the road again, on our way from Superonic to London for tonight's show at Scala with The Accused, Thorr's Hammer and Corrupted. Right now everyone in our group is pretty hung over and needing more sleep. Rock and fucking Roll or what!

We've already been through 2 days of Supersonic, Fri & Sat, and it was a good event for sure. Lots of top bands played, and we were there to check em out on your behalf. That's what we're here for, after all. The first night (Friday) included performances from ATOMIZED, KYLIE MONOISE, SUNN 0))), VENTIAN SNARES and more. Yesterday (Saturday) we checked out ROSE KEMP, IRON LUNG, THE ACCUSED, THORR'S HAMMER, CORRUPTED and a whole host of other good shit that I can't recall right now (or can't spell even haha).

Really enjoyed catching up with all of of friends from around the UK, including the boys from BLACK SUN (Russell is a legend), THEY ARE COWARDS (all of them!), plus others.

We checked out a couple of Q&A sessions that were held in the Supersonic cinema space (perfomance space even), including one about the state of the independant music scene in the digital age. later on there was a great half-hour interview with the guys from Sunn 0))) and Nick Bullen (he of NAPALM DEATH and Grindcore renoun). A great excuse to sit down in a darkened room for 30 minutes and get an education about the roots of the music that we know and love, all being told in the home of metal, Brumingham.

Okay, time to get back on the road. Only 150 miles (or so) to London now, and guess what, I'm the damn chauffeur. Haha, big mistake! Once we get to the hotel down the The Smoke then I'm hoping they will have some in-room internet access. If so, photos to follow.

One last note - if you are a fan of cider, see if you can track down agreat brand called Hogans. Fucking lovely stuff.

Vibrating Vessels

Only 7 seconds long, but that's more than long enough for you to get the idea. This was a loud gig.

Sunn 0))) - Euro Tour, May / June 2009

As seen on SOMA's blog:

Shoshin/Grimmrobes 2009 EU

22nd May Riga / Viestarts festival @ Anglican Church
23rd May off
24th May Berlin / Prater Theatre
25th may Rotterdam / Arminius Kerk
26th May Leuven / Predikheren Kerk
27th May Paris / Sonique Villette festival (w/ Jesus Lizard & Bohren)
28th May off
29th May Barcelona Primavera
30th May off
31st May Dudingen (SWI) / Kilbi Festival
1st June Cesena / Teatro Comandin
2nd June off
3rd June Vienna / Arena (w/PITA)
4th June Prague / Sacre Coeur

I guess that the London gig just wasn't enough for them!

sunnO))) - Corsica Studios, London (22-F-09)

sunnO))) and their live rituals are heavily interwoven in the story and reasoning of Thee Claw.
We have, after all, travelled all over Europe to experience them, and their unique, one-off shows gave us the impetus in the early days to do a bit of travelling and be part of something special.

We didn't get a chance to see them at all during the last twelve months, so when the chance to see the original two piece Grimmrobes lineup of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson in a gallery space in London came up, we jumped at the chance.

Skum, SJW and I travelled down from the North early on Sunday morning, listening to some Jon Lord fuelled rock and roll on the way down. We made good time and even had enough time to hang around for a bit doing the whole tourist thing before meeting up with the lads from They are Cowards, who had done an in-store in the capital on Friday night, for a few pints and something to eat.
A little stroll over to check out the venue and it was back for a few more pints before the gig.

The venue was nice and small, with the performers being raised on a stage at one end.
This was the eighth (I think) time I have watched sunn, and was the first time I wore earplugs.
I have a family now and I want to be able to hear the music my children are listening to before I ridicule it.
Some of the other venues I have seen sunn in had no need for ear protection, but here I was right up against the stage and to be honest, it actually enhanced the performance for me.
Sunn, stripped to a two piece (Tos was also with them earlier in the pub, but wasn't visible onstage) instead of the usual guest ensemble, played their trademark slow, punishing drone that Les Paul would never have believed could come out of his beloved invention. The feedback and low, low rumblings are heavy metal stripped down to the most primal level, wave after wave of cyclical riff.
Near the end of the set I took my earplugs out and it's there again, the utter chaos that was there at the start of Thee Claw's adventures, all through the past two years and into the future.

sunnO))) scare Tony Iommi.

Sunn @ Corsica Studios, London (02/22/09)

1) DRONE
2) THEME
3) THEME 2
4) DRONE
5) JUIBLEX (R)
6) A DRONE
7) EARTH
8) FEEDBACK
9) EPIC RIFF (L)
10) ISENGARD
11) D DRONE
12) DRONE
13) BWYTCH
14) MUSTAINE
15) BW
16) ETC.

Many thanks to Stephen & Greg for photo accreditation.

Sunn To Play London Again

It's been a while since we saw Sunn play a gig now.


December 2007 in fact. That was the last time I think, in London when they played a special show with Boris & Earth, that was the night they played the material from Altar.

Well O'Malley & Anderson are in London again on Feb 22nd (a Sunday) and guess what, it's another one-off concert, this time being held at a place called Corsica Studios. As of yet I have never been to that venue, but from what I hear it's quite small (a capacity of 200 or so people) which is about the same size as the venue where I saw Sunn for the first time in Liverpool (a now defunct club called Roadkill). That was "small" as well... not really that small to be truthful, its just how I like my gigs to be in fact.

This year THEE CLAW has changed its priorities, we've made a decision to take our collective foot off the pedal and let things happen without forcing it. That's pretty much how we kept things for 18 months at one point, non stop gigs. It sounds like a ball, and it surely was, but we aren't professional journalists and we're not backstage luvvies, all of our gig tickets were paid for out of our own damn pockets and we travelled to venues across Europe under our own steam, no freebies here. And after a while we realised that we had put gigs first and everything else was left to rot. There's only so long that you can do that for.

BUT - you can't deny the call of the claw for very long. We have fucking missed being deaf for too long! We're live music junkies. And what better fix is there than to go to London and listen to doom drone via tube amplifiers? Fuck yeah, we need some of that.

February 2009 Gigs

1st: Wolves In The Throne Room (Manchester / Star & Garter)
12th: Testament (Liverpool / O2 Academy)
16th: Cannibal Corpse (Manchester / Academy)
17th: Judas Priest, Megadeth, Testament (Manchester / Apollo)
22nd: Sunn O))) (London / Corsica Studios)
26th: Metallica, Machine Head, The Sword (Manchester / M.E.N. Arena)

We probably get along to all of these shows, but hey that's life right? Still, 6 gigs in 1 month, that should be enough to go on with for the time being!

Sunn 0))) - Dømkirke 2xLP (At Fucking Last!)

"Last year sunn 0))) was invited to perform at a ancient cathedral in Bergen Norway . The performance was captured via 24 track mobile recording and the resuluts were pressed onto double 180 gram vinyl. This recording will be available exclusively on vinyl only. There will not be a digital release (cd or downloads). Pure analog! The 0))) lineup for this performance includes Attila Csihar (Mayhem) on vocals, Steve Moore (Earth, Ascend) on the churchs' legendary pipe organ and Norwegian native Lasse Marhaug on electronics.

The packaging for "Dømkirke" was designed with the utmost attention to detail and quality that perfectly compliments the audio content. Each 180 gram vinyl comes in a heavy stock, full color inner sleeve that features stunning photographs from the performance. The cover of the gatefold jackets feature exclusive art by Tanya Stene (Burzum, Ulver, Darkthrone).

The jackets themselves are ultra-durable extra thick cardboard stock with thick, luxurious lamination. These were modeled after the Impulse! labels' LP jackets from the ‘60s. This package is durable, built to last and serves as the perfect shelter for this archival release.

Behold the glory!

Nicholas Mollerhaug, the festival curator, wrote these liner notes for the album:

"Our idea behind this concert was to commission a piece of music from Sunn O))) referring to the gothic gregorian hymns of the Late Middle Ages. Hymns that flourished Bergen Cathedral in its earliest years: The age of the Great Famine and The Black Plague. The gregorian hymns of this time reflected the despair, the terrors and darkness of the world. Musically the hymns consisted of long slow lines of unison melodies. The unisonity, the dark mood and the slow melodic development are all elements that also can be traced back to Sunn O)))'s musical universe. These parallells between Sunn O))) and the medieval times gave birth to this commission - premiered at the grand final of Borealis Festival 2007.

The Bergen Domkirke is dedicated to the Norwegian king and patron saint Olav (995-1030). The church was built around 1150. In the 1240s it was given to Fransiscan beggar munks. After fires in 1248 and 1270 the building was extended. With the financial help of king Magnus Lagabøte (1263-1280) the church got its present form and was finished in 1301. The very same king is buried in the chansel of the church. After the reformation the church became the cathedral of Bergen. It was then again struck by fire in 1463 and 1702. A cannon ball in the the church tower is a reminisence of the Battle of Bergen Bay in 1665.

This record documents what happens when aesthetic openness and lack of prejudice rules in a medieval cathedral.

Without these values inhabited in the legendary kantor of Bergen Cathedral- Magnar Mangersnes - this concert would never have been possible.

- Nicholas Mollerhaug"
SUNN O))) "Dømkirke" Live in Bergen Cathedral 031807

1) Why dost thou hide thyself in clouds? [15:08]
2) Cannon [18:05]
3) Cymatics [15:46]
4) Masks The Ætmospheres [15:15]

- All Gray Marble vinyl orders come with free sunn 0))-Dømkirke poster (while supplies last)

- Limit 2 lps per customer (per color)

- All orders will be shipping approximately Sep. 29th and 30th. All orders received before this date will receive a sunn 0))) - Grimm Robes/Shosin tour
2008 poster!

$17.77
***ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PACKAGE WITH THE SHIRT FOR A DISCOUNTED PRICE"

Ordered.

Grimrobes - U.S. Tour

O))) USA Oct 08 29 07 2008

With honor SUNN O))) is announcing four live performances in the United States, to recognize the 10th anniversary of SUNN O)))'s creation ... and to coincide and the recording of our first album: "The GrimmRobe Demos". We will be playing material from this album exclusively. It will be a return to our primal origins, and approach respecting a concept of shoshin, the beginner's mind, the yet undyed pure wool, the clarity in initiation upon the untraveled.

The attitude of embodying the basics precisely, point by point, line by line, with an immovable faith in the teaching, experience and of beyond the possibility. Of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when approaching, even with much experience, just as a beginner would upon the initial impetus and thirst to seek the path.

And so, with this mindset that we will be approaching these live concerts. Pure, raw, uninhibited invocations featuring 0)))s core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson ONLY. No guests, no vocals, no keyboards. We hope you will join us....

sunn 0)))- presents: Shoshin / GrimmRobes USA tour 2008

**Oct. 10th Los Angeles, CA. @ Safari Sams w/ John Weise + guests TBA) ALL AGES http://www.safari-sams.com

**Oct. 12th Portland, Or. @ Berbatis' Pan (Fall Into Darkness fest. w/guests TBA) all ages w/bar. http://www.berbatis.com

**Oct. 15th New York, NY. @ the Knitting Factory (w/ Tony Conrad, Thou) http://ny.knittingfactory.com

**Oct. 16th Philadelphia, PA. @ the First Unitarian Church (w/ Thou + guests TBA) ALL AGES http://www.r5productions.com

Brutal Truth, Manchester Feb 2007

So there's another little adventure over.
On Monday Morning we flew out to Dublin and after a bit of wandering around we spent the afternoon in Eamon Doran's listening to Satyricon and Megadeth before we went across the Liffy for Total Fucking Destruction, Narcosis and Brutal Truth.

Total Fucking Desctruction were awesome, the highlight this first night was "Let the Children Name Themselves", Narcosis I had never seen before and I was blown away.
Totally OTT and sick as fuck, searing vocals and very talented musicians.
One to watch.
Brutal Truth were fucking great, they seemed to be having a great time up there and it was great to have a little windmill to the likes of "Walking Corpse".
Windmill?!? I've never fucking windmilled in my life before that, and hopefully never will again!

After the show it was hang around for a bit and then we went off to a dance club to rave all night, but that's another story for another time.

We flew back home on Tuesday and drove up to Manchester for the next date of the tour, arriving too late to see the extra group(s?) that were on before TFD.
TFD weren't as good as the night before for me, although the cover of The Exploited's "Sid Vicious Was Innocent" was an absolute belter!!
Narcosis were all over the fucking place (that's in a good way) again, and I'm amazed at how they can play and sing like that two nights in a row, never mind for a full tour!
Brutal Truth were, for my money, even better here tonight than in Dublin.
I dunno whether it was because they were able to smoke on stage here but they were intense and it was the most amazing pit I've seen at a show, ever, full stop.
Constant, all the way through.
I really wish I could have been to more shows on this tour but I could only give myself two days off that week.
Oh well, here's to Bergen Domkirke and Sunn O)))!!!

New In The Post

The new Sunn "ØØ Void" double disc from Japan's Inoxia Records. It looks very nice indeed and the second disc is all previously unreleased stuff.

This Week's Playlist (Ste)

Albums currently gracing my ipod nano:

Abigail (King Diamond)
Advance And Vanquish (3 Inches Of Blood)
Altar (Sunn & Boris)
Cold Lake (Celtic Frost)
Flood (Boris)
God Luck And Good Speed (Weedeater)
Heavier Than Thou (Saint Vitus)
Painkiller (Judas Priest)
Rock Dream - Disc 2 (Boris & Merzbow)
Snail On A Razor (Hototogisu & Prurient)

Check out that last one , it's completely off it's head.

http://rapidshare.com/files/23075670/Hototogisu_and_Prurient_-_Snail_on_a_Razor.rar

Earth, Boris, SunnO))), London 11th December 2007

Sunday

I suppose the tale starts here. I was in work on Sunday, not really paying any attention at all to what I was doing, and suddenly six o'clock rolled around and I was out the door like a shot, and went straight up to my parent's house in Halewood, as this is closer to Ste's and is therefore better for both of us.

Ste knocked off work and we went out into Woolton for "a quiet pint"... we all know how that dance goes, as we've all danced it before. The last thing I remember about Sunday night is drinking sake in Ste's living room and then knocking all kinds of stuff over in the kitchen trying to make a cup of tea.

Monday

The first day of travelling starts off the way that all mine and Ste's trips away this year have done; with Ste slapping me around the face saying "Patchie! Get up you lazy twat we're late!" and late we were. The coach I'd booked (the luxury, leather seated behemoth with a half hour break in Birmingham for a smoke and a leg stretch) had left ages ago. I knew that sake was a bad idea, but it seemed like a good one at the time. Cut a long story short, they charged us extra (on top of the extra we'd paid for the luxury coach) to travel on a shitty one all the way there with no break. I got my own back by booting a cup of tea over in the aisle though. Cunts.
Anyway, arriving in London, there's been a car crash in Golder's Green and the scuffers have closed off the road. Deciding that ditching the coach here, and leaving my mobile phone on it, then making our own way to the meet-up would be a good idea, we do just that.

Four hours later, we have walked all the way from Golders Green to Camden.
We walked for four hours. Still, we saw some cool stuff. I can't remember what most of it was, but we must have done because we weren't killing each other by the time we arrived at the World's end in Camden. Crossing the road outside the venue, we bumped into Tom (who he hadn't seen since the Supersonic festival in Brum this summer) and his mate, and off we headed for a pint. I popped outside for a smoke, and look up to see a guy with a long beard squinting at me. It was a friend of ours, Radokaz from Slovenia who we met in Norway earlier this year. So we go back inside to catch up and drink some more, and then Jonas appears from nowhere. Well, from Stockholm actually, but you get the drift. This is weird, it's the five of us who hung out together in Norway for the sunn gig in Bergen all drinking together in London for the sunn gig there. Anyway, we go downstairs to meet people from the messageboards we all use on the internet, then it's more fucking walking to get to the venue.
Earth are on stage first, they play well and sound great, but I'm not really that big a fan of their newer, epic-country-and-western-soundtrack style. Give me Phase 3 or Extra-Capsular Extraction any day. Now it gets a bit mad, as far as I was aware this show was something along the lines of sunn and boris present Altar; with special guests Earth. Now to me, that implies that Earth are the support band, and that sunn and Boris will then come out together to play their Altar album together, right?

Wrong.Boris come out and play a set that is basically their Flood album. Boris live are amazing, this is my third time of seeing them, and I am absolutely convinced watching them that I am witnessing the kind of thing people who saw Pink Floyd in 1971 got to see, proper out-there one of a kind type music being played by great musicians. Half way through their set I start to get excited because this must mean we are going to get to see a full sunn set too. So Boris finish, the crowd are happy with the set and the roadies clear the stage, setting up sunn's backline.

We had heard from friends who had played at and had been in attendance at the previous day's ATP festival in Minehead that sunn members had a fight on stage, so we were just wondering exactly what was going to happen tonight. Smoke fills the stage and one by one the members of tonight's lineup come out on stage. And then, mine and Ste's favourite Hungarian comes out, Atilla Csihar. And he is in the biggest mind-fuck of a costume ever, like the king of the evil forest or something, and I am so glad that I haven't taken any drugs. No picture can do it justice, but I'll have a go:
The set is awesome, this is the fourth time we've seen them this year (and sixth overall) and I must say that their live performances keep getting better and better, especially the theatrical elements of it all. Wave after wave of drone with the bass making your chest vibrate, and banks of fog with Atilla swaying inside them, can't be beat. It seems a pretty short set though by the standards I'm used to from sunn, but I suppose the main event is yet to come.

(and no, they didn't have any on-stage fisticuffs)
The stage is again, swathed in smoke, and bathed in red lights, and sunn, boris and Jesse Sykes come out and play The Sinking Belle. Jesse's vocals are absolutely haunting, Ste shot a video of it that he posted on youtube and it's since made it's way onto Stephen O'Malley's personal blog.
They don't play all of Altar, but Atsuo's drumming on Etna and for most of the show are astounding, he bashes the shite out of the gong so much that roadies have to come and hold it steady; then he crawl over his drumkit and falls backwards into the crowd, getting passed to the back of the hall then back up onto the stage again. Total class, we left feeling happy that we'd travelled all the way to London (again) to see a gig (again).
Afterwards, we walked to a hostel and sneaked in, staying in the warm TV room until we could leave for the second part of the adventure at 4am.....
Tuesday
After a night of squatting, we left the Hostel quietly at 4am and walked, GPS system in hand, to the train station. It's 70 minutes and £12 each to Gatwick on the train that will get us there in time to check in and leave the country, the 4.45am. Neither of us have had so much as a wink of sleep since those few alcohol addled hours on sunday night, and to say that the journey to the airport was one of the trippiest times of my life would be an understatement. Luckily, the gods are smiling at us and at no point does anybody approach us with a demand that we buy a ticket or pay the £25 each penalty fare. Result, a warm hostel for nothing and a free ride across the city to the airport.
I slept in various places of differing levels of comfort, and we arrived in our hostel in Dublin around 1.45pm, checked in, went on the internet for a bit, then slept til teatime. Bliss.
We'd made plans to return to Eamonn Doran's, the scene of many a drunken jukebox-and-guiness-fueled Dublin night out for me and Ste, but the need for sleep and the subsequent need to eat from Subway took over I'm afraid, next time then. We made our way to the venue, Whelan's, and proceeded to get stuck with some guy from New York who was convinced we were Scottish. Anyway, we thought we were in the venue, but we were actually in the bar next door. When we got to the venue it was absolutely packed, seems that Pelican and High on Fire are quite a crowd puller over here.
I used to be a massive Pelican fan, right up until they released City of Echoes and then I sort of went off them for a bit. Watching them in Whelan's had me kicking myself; live, they are absolutely amazing. If you have never heard Pelican before, they fall into that instrumental, post-rock type category, but they are heavy live, exactly what it is that makes them heavy is difficult to put your finger on though. Sort of like Capricorns with less Motorhead influence.
High on Fire are brilliant. Last time (the first time) I had seen them in Manchester, I had literally just stepped off a plane from Las Vegas and had a week's worth of Jetlag catching up on me, and to be honest, I couldn't tell you a single thing about that gig except that I was there. At least, parts of me were. In Dublin though, they are rocking. We met a Ducth girl called Matilda who's friend had brought her along on the premise that High on Fire sound like a mix of Black Sabbath and Motorhead. She is bored by the band so we buy her a drink. Meanwhile, the crowd are going ballistic to High on Fire, and their scuzzy, fuzzy metal goes down a storm.
We leave, boozed up, to eat at a 50's style american diner. Staffed by Mexicans  In Ireland. Three hours later we are back up and on a plane to merry old England.