OUR NEXT SHOW

Right folks hope this Monday sees you well, the sun is shining where I am and I’m about to go off for sushi which is never a bad thing really. I managed to drive roughly 1,200 miles and play 2 gigs, watch 1 gig, work a bar shift, DJ a wedding and get drunk with Pabs and Jamie Thursday – Sunday so am feeling a wee bit spaced. All in all a very cool 4 days. There was however 1 exception to the good times which I’m gonna have a wee rant about as it’s really annoyed me.
Now I’m not the sort of person to hold a grudge or dwell too deeply on petty things but some things just piss me off. With Tim back in London for his help a Buddha meeting on Friday myself and Pabs had a rare evening off in Edinburgh. So we went to see Phil play with our mates Unknown Hagana in a new venue on the cowgate called Sneaky Pete’s. Mid way through the set Phil did a Phil trick and jumped up on the bar with his horn. The barman or ‘Bar Manager’ as he referred to himself tried to get him kicked out halfway through the set for doing this. The doorman looked fairly embarrassed at being asked to do this and I lent over and had a quiet word with him explaining that Phil was just in a zone and would say sorry if any offence had been caused after the show. The bouncer was cool with this and the show went on…
After a cracking show I went and spoke to Phil and explained there had been a bit of a situation and he should prolly go say sorry as he’d managed to piss the bar guy off all be it totally unintentionally. Phil having a heart of gold went and tried to apologise (despite being a tad confused at what the issue was). The bar guy was a total prick about the whole thing and was acting as if Phil had punched his mum or something. He stated that in 8 whole months of being open they had never had an outrage like it. I mentioned that quite a few bands I have toured / played with (including The Mad Caddies) use the ‘horn on the bar’ trick as part of the show. He was once again an utter prick about it.
Now to the moral of the story: Very few people join bands to be sensible. If you get into music especially live music and are dealing with bands with good energy then try not to act like Hitler eh? Phil is one of the best live performers I have ever seen and having worked with the likes if Slipknot, Muse and Machine Head this praise doesn’t come lightly. Also if yer trying to set up a live music venue in an area with a load of good music venues in it already (Binkies, Bannermans, The Bongo, Cab Voltaire etc) then don’t hire staff that want all the bands to behave like New Kids on the fucking Block.
Big Hand will not be playing this venue or going to see anymore gigs there, I’d also advise any other local bands to avoid it until they hire staff who understand Rock n’ Roll a bit better. In short Fuck You ‘bar manager’!