(Continued from Part 1 , here.)

OPEN HOUSE.

So, Bo Ningen would be last band I’d see ‘live.’ That was back in 2012, coincidentally around the same time as I stopped writing for Artrocker magazine. (I had some time earlier interviewed Bo Ningen for a three page feature.)

Artrocker specialised in new music, art and fashion. The featured music, as the name would imply, tended towards ‘artrock.’ Bands I recall who were magazine favourites of the time were Art Brut, Young Knives, Good Shoes, Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors, We Are The Physics and The Victorian English Gentleman’s Club.)

With one exception perhaps, those were not what you’d term ‘household name’ bands, but the pre-digital, paper version of the magazine achieved monthly sales in the region of 35,000. It was also stocked by some retailers in New York. So it was a well respected and much read authority on what I suppose you’d call modern underground music.

At the same time, my Loud Horizon blog was focused on breaking and new bands / music, so everything tied in very neatly. (The blog now concentrates on underplayed, underground sounds of the ’60s and ’70s … kinda niche, huh? 😉

I was credited as being the Artrocker‘s Scottish correspondent for about six or seven years, and was given pretty much a trusted and free hand to review new music I considered a fit for the mag. I’d also suggest bands (not just Scottish) to feature in articles and interviews.

It wasn’t a paid position, but did afford me ‘guest list’ access to just about any gig in the country involving bands whose music fitted the Artrocker style. For many years I’d go to at least one show a week, frequently two. Some day, I may attempt to list all the bands I can remember seeing play ‘live’ …

I cringe now when I recall some of the early interviews I did. It took a while, but practice makes, if not exactly perfect, then better. I did become more comfortable and the ‘interviews’ progressed to being easy-going ‘chats.’ Without exception, all the bands were most appreciative of being featured either in the magazine or my Loud Horizon blog – any positive exposure for a band seeking a breakthrough was hard to come by.

Life ‘on the road’ is tough for those aspiring bands though. It’s certainly not as glamorous as I had always imagined. Days are spent in cramped, beat-up transit vans travelling from city to city, arriving in time for an early sound-check. The band will then hang around, possibly for a few hours, waiting for their headline, forty-five minute slot at about 10pm, before hauling their gear back into the the van, offering up a prayer in the hope it will start, and then find some place to get some sleep.

Both our sons played in gigging bands, so my wife and I knew how hard (though also fun) this lifestyle could be. Which is why we opened up our house to bands playing Glasgow.

After the show, invited bands would drive the fifteen miles from the city centre to our home where we’d offer then clean beds / sofa / floor, showers, breakfast, and more importantly, pizza and all the beer / spirits they could handle!

Boy, did we have some fun nights! 😀

Most of the bands, I’d had previous contact with either via the magazine or blog: Vancouver band You Say Party! stopped over three times; The Hot Puppies from Wales, twice (maybe three?); The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club, The Duloks, The Fight, Science vs Romance, and Swedish band rockers Green Orange also stayed with us. (Before they left, Green Orange traveled back up to Glasgow and returned with a lovely ornamental vase as a ‘thank you’ gift!

The visits weren’t always planned either. Leeds punks Guns on the Roof had nowhere to spend the night after their Glasgow show. I’d never met the lads before, but a quick phone call home to my wife, and they were sorted! Another great night was had, but because the night was unscheduled, Diane and and I had to stagger out to work the following morning.

We left the lads instruction to feed the cats, told them to stay as long as they liked, gave them the house keys and just asked them to lock up behind them! 😀

I’m pleased to say, I remained in contact with all the bands who stopped over, and many others too. Even now, some fifteen years later, fifteen years that have seen marriages, births, deaths, divorces, band splits / reunions, I still speak with many, even if it is only via the occasional comment on social media.

(You Say Party! The morning after and with a long drive ahead of them. 5th December 2010)

(Part 3 – ‘Thank You & Goodnight’ continues tomorrow.)