I won't give you a blow by blow account of my Sunday. I'll cut to the chase. The gig in the evening.My day was spent having a slight fall out with a very important friend which I'll let lie for a while, get back to and ensure we resolve it at a later date to both of our satisfaction.
Some friendships are important. Fundamental. Sometimes it's important just to let things rest for a while intil the dust settles and you can talk rationally together. This will happen.
Otherwise I prepared for a Monday where I was very busy. Teaching throughout the day. A bit of preparation. A bit of preparation for the paperwork I need to do to keep those slightly above me on the food chain smiling.
I called mum and by half six darkness had fallen and I thought it time to make my way across the Quayside to Cluny 2 as I had a ticket to see Tapir!, a band I rate playing at Cluny 2 on the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle. A venue I love.
I didn't feel like going out if I'm honest. It was cold and dark. And I had a cold that seems to have settled on my chest. All the way down the cold Quayside and up the stairway to the busy ring road and the slow descent into the Ouseburn Valley.
I find myself muttering to myself, 'Do I really want to be here. Wouldn't I rather just be at home watching Godfather 3?' Not the best of the series but at least you get to see how right Sophia Coppola was to go into film directing rather than perservering with the acting thing.
'But what good is sitting alone in your room ?' as someone sang once. It's better to try to do stuff than curling on your bed into a foetal ball I reckon. , Anyhow I find myself at the door of Cluny2 where I've seen Courtney Barnett, Aldous Harding, Bill Ryder Jones, Dream Syndicate and other completely terrific fare down the years, It was entry time but the doors weren't open.
A cute young Chinese girl who seems to work for the venue, with a camera round her neck shuffles up and we have a brief chat about how good Tapir! are. I ask the standard question 'What kind of music do you like?' It's a stupid question. An impossible question.
We have a great chat. It's nice when this happens at a gig. And it happens at gigs in Newcastle a lot. It's why I love being here so much. She mentions Fletwood Mac. I know immediately she means the Stevie / Lindsay incarnation. They're a band that seem to mean a lot to a lot of young people.
In return I talk about what Peter Green means to me. I grew up in Richmond and Teddington. And Green was homeless and living on the streets. Lying in disarray in deep sleep in long coats with long dirt encrusted fingernails. The greatest Blues guitarist Britain ever produced. Clapton ? PLEASE !?!
She's interested. It's a nice chat. Downstairs I get myself a coke and sit in the front row of shallow amphitheatre rows at the back of the square Cluny 2 venue. Look at my phone. Wait for the support.
When they shuffle onstage and I prick up my ears immediately. I've been to a lot of gigs down the years. Listened to a lot of music. I know instinctively when something is playing which wull return investment and focus. Don't we all.
Ardent, for it is they. No not Argent ! That was something else. Only their third gig but they make a fine noise. Shoegaze meets Grunge Lite. Some muffled banter between songs. A certain diffident charisma which in time could become swagger, Ones to watch. .
Turnout is good. Though its not a sellout. Tapir ! Have taken strides forward since I saw them supporting The Golden Dregs on a fine night a couple of years back. Since then they've released an excellent debut album on Heavenly and toured extensively raising their profile, winning friends and influencing people.
I take a place bu the side of the stage so I've got a good view. Tapir! shuffle on and start to play. they're a rather lovely band in many respects. The first is that they've talked together about what they want to do. Plenty of bands don't and as a result don't make much of an impression.
But Tapir! have. They have an image that seems to me to be based on the mythic. Their influences are not easy to trace and that's unusual. They talk to the audience and they play a charming set that makes you think they're craftsman of an ancient and treasurable stripe.
Then they hang around at the merch stand afterwards to talk some more. Now how do I make up with that friend of mine. I head off for my bus.
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