Karohemd's World

Nothing much to report because I was feeling mostly dead to the world. The only excitement was the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra gig Saturday evening.

robinbloke picked me up and drove us down to Redbridge where we took the tube to Kentish Town. After a quick snack at Subway (I had even failed to cook early dinner), we wandered down Kentish Town Road trying to find the Bullet Bar. The map I'd printed from google maps didn't seem quite right so we turned back until we finally found some numbers and realised we had gone in the right direction after all and only would have needed to go to the next corner to find it. It's a nice bar with plenty of seats around the edges, a well stocked bar, classic Rock'n'Roll/Rockabilly blaring from the speakers and a good number of Rockabilly types in flattops and equivalent female dos in the audience.
The live setup, on the other hand, was a bit rubbish. The small stage wasn't that much of a problem (normally, at least, the TCO were stacked three deep) but there were basically no lights (just three weak spots on the right that only reached half of the stage) and they cranked up the system so high that the output was not only painfully loud but also horribly distorted. Two notches lower would still have been enough to hear without pain...
However, their set was a lot of fun, despite the cramped conditions. It was tricky to get anyone into a photo except the singers and occasionally one of the saxophonists but I think I made the best of it. Click the thumb to go to yesterday's photo post.

After a break which we spent outside to get some air and normalise our ears a bit, there was a skinny stripper (who was billed as a "Burlesque dancer" but both the music and the act were wrong) and after another short break Vince Ray and the Bone Shakers (g, b, dr) came on. They would have been good but were possibly even more distorted than TCO so we left after two songs as we couldn't stand it anymore. Tube and drive back was easy so I was home by 1:30 but couldn't sleep because my ears were buzzing like an angry hive of hornets.
Therefore, Sunday was spent in bed til early afternoon and then I only had energy to go through the photos and watch DVDs/TV. Still feel rubbish today. :o(

The Bullet Bar is a nice bar but a rubbish live venue. Not really a stage, just a corner, no lights to speak of (left half of the stage was basically in the dark, Slimelight was bright as day in comparison) and the sound system was cranked up so high that most of the speaker output was utterly distorted. Two notches lower and there wouldn't have been any distortion and everybody would still have been able to hear.

Still, the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra put on a great gig despite the cramped stage (14 people!) and the crowd went for it, too. Then there was a break, then a "dancer"/stripper and then "Vince Ray and the Bone Shakers". We only listened to two of their tracks because we couldn't stand the distorted noise anymore. Would have been good Rockabilly on a decent system, though.

A few photos tomorrow.

I was utterly exhausted so only got up around mid-day and as usual, brunch ran on for far too long so I feared being too late for the photoshoot in Bethnal Green. As I walked down towards the railroad bridge, I spotted some brightly haired people (a bit unusual in Hackney) and sure enough it was alixandrea with other band members. We walked to the studio where I discovered that the other tog was Taff's wife (how small is the world? And I didn't know she was a tog, either). I spent quite a long time chatting and waiting for people to put makeup on before I started taking headshots of those who were ready. The light outside was ideal so that worked quite well.
After everyone was ready, we took various solo and group shots under one of the arches which formed a good backdrop, much to the amusement of the occasional passer- or driver-by (the one taxi came past twice for a second look) who hadn't expected a bunch of loonies in scary makeup and, in case of the women, skimpy costumes.
It was a lot of fun and the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra are a really nice bunch (and from seemingly everywhere around the world) so I had a fun time and even produced some cool photos, I think. The band leader, Daniel, was a good director, for which I was glad because I still suck at that sort of thing.
I was flaking towards the end, though so I was glad when we stopped. I watched them rehearse a new tune (Low-Budget Monster from B-Movie Hell) and I definitely need to see if I can get to their next gig.
The following photo should give you an idea of the madness that went on: