iForward, Russia! Great Scott Allston 20061127

So if you didn't go to see Forward, Russia last night because Snowden cancelled then more fool you. Snowden seem to be a pretentious bunch of prima donnas. When they played Boston last time Brad of Bradley's Almanac recorded the show with his normal disclaimer about removing it, the standard of his bootlegs are moderate and muffled at best. But snowden thought this was too much of an infringement and got the show recording removed. Last night mid-afternoon Snowden contacted Great Scott and cancelled as they didn't want to play with jet-lag. What a bunch of wusses. Read Yellow were a welcome and able replacement
We got to Great Scott early last night to catch the sound-check. After it seemed many hours (OK 45 mins) they actually played a couple of songs. Interesting and not a waste of time in my book.
I managed to talk to each of the band while waiting around. Forward Russia are so intimately linked to Dance To The Radio a indie record label which supports Leeds bands I was very interested to talk to them about what was going on.
Tom, the singer is an interesting character, if you start to listen to Forward Russia the obvious question is what the heck is he singing about. You might eagerly grab for your copy of the Cd to decipher and understand- WRONG! If you start to read the lyrics you will end up with way more questions than answers. I did ask him exactly what drugs was he on- he was rather indignant saying he didn't take drugs- which begs the question what mind flow puts down such elegant, obscure and wonderful lyrics with absolutely no external chemical assistance. But more to the point he did say the point of the lyrics were pretty ordinary things but enunciated in a more intersting manner than just singing ' I went down the road today to the store'.
Ok - revamping this- points
Tom hates his vocals on the demos and cant listen to them any more
Don't be a doctor will probably be released on a limited 10".
FR, Yes Boss and the Pigeon Detectives will all probably do a Dance to the Radio show at SXSW.
FR are dying to get into the studio early next year to record the new songs they have been writing and hope this wont be a problem with SXSW.
Katie seemed to like the chocolates I brought her.
Tom noticed I was visible on the photo on the flyer for the forward Russia show.
We discussed the fact that American music basically sucks and had a friendly disagreement about whether flaming lips sucked at SXSW ( I think they did).
Rob turned out to be a real sweetheart.
Whiskas says he is still hands on with DTTR (too much) and says that the first compilation will not be rereleased as the bands dont like the quality of the songs. He suggests we just find some place to download them.
Also found out that iliketrains are signed to beggars banquet and will also be at sxsw.

Read Yellow put on a decent set, then FR started to put on the signature t-shirts. when Whiskas finally changed, the set started. Whiskas did review the night here
I had forgotten just how insanely animated Tom is while he performs. As he sings he wraps teh mic wires around him, around his neck in a almost self flagellating way also bringing to mind poor Michale Hutchence and his foibles. He bites at teh wire and generally pulls teh poor wire to a fairly harsh extreme at teh same time emoting to teh extreme. Behind him Katie, whiskas and Rob provide a strong wall of sound that rocks to the N'th degree. Despite it being a late gig I ended up dancing like crazy and dripping with sweat. You have got to love this music whilest hating 90% of american dross. So why were'nt you there?