This Is Not A Democracy

For those of you not following my Twitter - I met 3/5 of Misery Signals today. They are really sweet dudes.

We wandered down to the venue in the earlyish-afternoon to just try to say hi, because it seemed kind of rude to be 20-25mins walk away and not take the time to, given the whole Fuck City thing (especially being a mod and stuff; it's not a huge or particularly important 'job' but they put their trust in the five of us, which is cool of them). So, we got down there and there were a few people about (and three completely INSANE teenagers braving bitterly cold weather to be first in line), and we just waited a few yards down from the stage door until Stu, Ryan and Branden (whose name I CANNOT PRONOUNCE without it sounding like 'Brendon'; which was lucky, almost, because it usually comes out as 'Bradley' when I try to say it) came out on their way to get lunch.

We said hi, and I introduced myself, explaining that we'd come down to say hi because we couldn't afford to make it to the show but we wanted to check in anyway and without missing a beat, Ryan said, "Not if you're on the list."

I explained that oh, no, no - we weren't, we'd just stopped by and he and (I think, Branden) immediately offered to put us on the list. Which made me feel awful for about 5 seconds, and protest that we hadn't meant to come down and guilt trip them or anything, and Stu was all, "Oh, well you'd be the only ones on it, it's cool." (Bless him, he looked really sleepy; and waaaay taller than he seems in pics.) And they kind of insisted a little bit (not that we protested that hard, if I'm really honest, but they made us feel like it really wasn't an inconvenience at all), so with some fumbling for a pen, Ryan took my name in to put on the list and we stayed outside talking to Stu and Branden about how the tour was going and stuff. They have SO MUCH travelling to do in the next couple of days; tomorrow they'll be home for literally a few hours before they fly again.

It turns out that they've been to Brighton before, and Ryan totally knew where the restaurant I was going to rec to him was - he literally said, "We're heading up to Red*Veg" which was both hilarious and awesome. If we'd driven down there we would have given them a lift, because it's kind of hardwork walking that far into town from the Concorde when it's so cold. But alas, we have no car.

We wandered down to get a coffee ourselves, and went slightly mad from the cold when we had to wait around outside for an hour (it was honestly that cold). When we finally got inside (Julie being quite excited because she'd never been on a guestlist before) we went over and stood on the left hand side of the venue, inside the random little rail, outside the old lift was (because I'd left my coils in and I didn't want them ripped out of my ears in the mosh pit itself), and after about ten minutes, Stu (completely accidentally) came and stood right with us there. I didn't say a whole lot to him because I'm horribly self-conscious around cute boys but I thanked him for their getting us on the guestlist and stuff and we exchanged a few words; nothing deep or meaningful. He did keep getting cuddle-jumped by other dudes, though, which was kind of adorable. Then, a bit later on, the pit just kind of crashed back on us, and this little old lady (who I think was someone's mum) ended up pushed all the way back against him, giggling delightedly, and we just kind of shared this look of amusement because seriously: go that old lady for getting in the pit.

Stu ended up standing a couple of feet behind us, and Ryan took his place, so I had a chat with him for a bit, between the second and third bands. He's such an approachable, nice dude. We talked a bit about Brighton and how it's a really veg*n/organic/gay-friendly place, what I (don't currently) do for a living, the age of the crowd, how Karl is fairing after his sickness last year... doing laundry... just really chatty stuff. He was just really friendly, and I totally appreciate that from someone who has barely any idea who the fuck I am.

When they got on stage they were really awesome (although Kyle is so tiny - by normal standards, not FOB standards - I could hardly see him from where I was standing, which was both funny and a pity). The crowd were singing along as if they were the headliners, the pit was insane, and people were mostly much more gracious and nice than you'd usually find at the gigs I go to.

Karl was wearing a Shai Hulud shirt, which was hilarious because I only really know them as being Neeraj's band and it was one of those weird moments when I realised that I have friends who all grew up in the same scene, but who I barely associate with that at all. I'm not exactly BFFs with Neeraj, I mostly know him through Jay and HRE, but y'know: I've been out to lunch with the dude from the band the singer from MisSigs has on his shirt. WHUT.

Sometimes, my life feels so strange. Like there are things about it I should be going, "Holy shit!!!!1!!!" about and yet I mostly just kind of go, "Huh? Oh." about. Personally, I think my way is far more apt. If the last couple of years have taught me anything, it's that EVEN IF THEY'RE AWESOME DUDES - THEY'RE JUST DUDES. (And, possibly, that if more people accepted this, a lot of the bickering and in-fighting in bandom would stop...)

Edit: I'm a twit - it was HRE's drummer, Tony, who was in Shai Hulud (and also in Rise Against). I've met him, too, but still.

But anyway.

Julie wasn't feeling too great, and it was fucking freezing, so after Architects had finished, we headed outside and just caught Ryan and Stu to say a quick goodbye. Ryan actually came over and gave us both hugs or his own accord, and Stu put down his equipment (but not his beers!) to follow suit, which was really sweet.

I didn't get to meet Kyle or Karl, unfortunately, but the boys I did meet were so, so nice. On stage, Kyle told everyone to go and download their last album, Controller, and you should definitely do that if you're at all into heavier music.

I definitely intend to be down the front next time I see them. Totally worth it.

After the epic faildom of the Respect condom advert, Durex show us (quite literally) how it should be done.

This is the best advert you will ever see.

Oh my God. I have a new favourite TV programme.

Infomania. ♥

It's like a satire of all the celeb and movie news programmes, but with references to boners and the mocking of comicbook geeks in Fanboy Focus, from the POV of geeks in general.



It's fucking astoundingly awesome. And I would totally date the guy doing Fanboy Focus.

Troll baiting. I could conduct a masterclass.

XD