I want this shirt!



Fabulous Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin' Chain have sponsored their home city's football strip with a unique shirt design, complete with a gold chain round the collar.

Check it out.

Respect!

RIP John Peel


One of the finest DJs in the UK has just died of a heart attack while on holiday in Peru.

It's thanks to John Peel I got arrested by Loch Ness in Scotland!

We were on tour and stopped off for a night's drinking in a pub by the famous loch. John Peel unexpectedly played our song on his show so we got completely drunk and tried to break into the pub later on for more supplies.

We failed miserably and ended up in a gift shop instead, nicked a load of sporrans, deerstalker hats and cuddly 'Nessies' and were promptly arrested.

John Peel played us again the week after saying, "what's next this time lads, The Crown Jewels?!".

Diamond geezer. A real music fan. He'll be much missed.

John Peel BBC page

London rain...



Lordy! Thing are extremely hectic right now, so this has to be a short update..

On Saturday, we hit the fabulous People's Republic of Disco at the Windmill. The Actionettes were dancing and the beer flowed. Liberally. Check out my photo report here

The week before I was wielding my new man-sized Nikon D70 camera at the Water Rats in Kings Cross to record an evening at Sophisitcated Boom Boom, hosted by the Actionettes, Dusty and the Action Men. Check out the photo report

I've been working hard at organising the next Offline party night at the Dogstar, Brixton. It's on Thursday, November 11th, from 9-2am. As ever, admission is free and we've got some ruddy great acts lined up. Make sure you come along!

There's been quite a few updates to the site, with an obscure page about a forgotten railway halt , a page on the old Ram Jam Club in Brixton and a piece about an abandoned station in Usk. Wales

Wet and windy day in London
Autumn's here and I like it!

I've always loved the golden melancholy of autumn, taking walks through leaf-strewn parks with Innocence Mission in the headphones.

I'm currently enjoying a coffee in the Photographer's Gallery in Leicester Square, checking out a new exhibition of beautifully executed black and white photographs from Algeria, shot in the early 60s - it's well worth a look!

As soon as I've wolfed down my coffee, I'm going to take a look around the National Gallery and maybe - if I get time - go kick some leaves in Regent's Park!

Le Tigre rock!



The venue may well be one of the suckiest, most corporate, most soulless places to be found in London - it's named after a fucking beer for Chrissakes - but tonight the fabulous Le Tigre managed to rock the shitty Carling Academy in Islington.

After heading to the icy wastelands of north London, we grabbed a beer beforehand at the Salmon and Compass in Chapel Market, N1. The name sounds crap, but it's a fine old boozer that's been tarted up into a DJ bar, serving beer till 2am in the week (with free entry!) with the usual £5 charge for weekends.

A quick pint later and it was on to the ghastly US-style shopping mall experience of the Islington Centre (or whatever it's called), a huge concrete monolith replete with the usual selection of faceless brands.

The first time I visited the venue, it was busy desecrating the good name of The Marquee, trading off the reputation of what was once one of the finest clubs in the world.

This new, business-orientated, lifestyle-enhanced version of the Marquee was truly horrendous - bland, posh, squeaky clean and about as rock and roll as an uptight vicar's tea party. On a rainy Tuesday.



Three years on and the new owners have at least made some effort to make the place welcoming (they now serve pints!), although it's still a shit venue - the floor doesn't slope so it's hard to see the band, the loos are miles away and the choice of beers are Carling, Carling, fucking bastard Carling and Grolsch. All shit.

But what the hell: Le Tigre are onstage and the sound is superb! The set kicked industrial arse and the crowd were fantastic: mixed up, dressed up, straight, lesbian, gay, blokey, on the pull, drugged up and drunk. And all going bonkers. Fantastic.

If you only get to see one more band this year: make sure it's Le Tigre!

Castell Coch feature



I've just posted up a photo feature on the fabulous Castell Coch, a rebuilt Gothic fortress in south Wales.

Refurbished by William Burges, the interior is pure Victorian Gothic fantasy, lavishly decorated with elaborate wooden panels, carvings and gilt.

A feast of new panoramas on the site!

I've been swivelling about snapping photographic panoramas, and have just got around to adding them to the site.
(Please note: panoramas need Java to be installed to work and may weigh up to 200k)

Six new panoramas from lovely, lovely Wales!
Redbrook Village, Wye Valley
Old Tintern railway station
Twyn Square, Usk, Monmouthshire
Cardiff Bay
Oval Basin, Cardiff Bay (with Pierhead and Millennium Centre)
Castell Coch, north Cardiff

Two from central London
Piccadilly Circus at night
Tottenham Court Rd/Tottenham Street, W1

And four Brixton panoramas
Ferndale Road, Brixton
Brixton tube station, 2000 (refurbished version of old pano)
Ritzy/Prince of Wales/Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
Coldharbour Lane/Atlantic Rd, Brixton

And in case you want to know how they're created, check out my Panorama Guide here!

Santorini photos online!
It's been a time-consuming job, but the new Santorini Photo Gallery is now online, featuring over 100 photos of this spectacular Greek island, with a few panoramas lobbed in for good measure.

Oh, and I'm not talking about the football....sob.....

Nervously spinning on the decks this week....
Currently can't get enough of:
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself
Killers - Hot Fuss
Razorlight - Up All Night
Costello - This Year's Model
Dexy's - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
Peter Gabriel - 3

Why nervously?

How else couyld I feel with Wales playing arch enemies England tomorrow?!
I'm suffering a mix of dread (humiliating defeat) and euphoria (surprise victory)!

COME ON WALES!

Offline triumph!

I can't say I really enjoyed myself until the night was nearly over (way too much stress!), but our first Offline club night at the Dogstar was a raging success!

Normally, there's only about 30 people to be found in the pub on a Thursday night, but we managed to ram the place - both upstairs and downstairs - with a great, up-for-it crowd.


upstairs cabaret room at the Dogstar

I spent most of the night in the Coldharbour Cabaret Rooms upstairs putting on a great bill which included Vic's Cabaret Corner, Helen McCookeryBook the fabulous Actionettes, the awesome Jack Blackburn and a host of poets/ranters.

It was the first time that the upstairs room at the Dogstar has been opened for years and it was good to see the place coming to life again.


downstairs dance floor at the Dogstar

Downstairs, an excellent DJ line-up kept the floor moving, although I managed to miss the first four sets - but by 1am I was making up for my hard work with a veritable lager frenzy (although the lager drinking may have been a little more frenzied had the Dogstar not woefully under-estimated the expected crowd and run out of beer glasses by midnight!)

By 2.30am I was wobbling about upstairs trying to unravel the long fairy-light cables we'd decorated the place with before heading home very, very drunk and very, very happy!

A big 'word up!' to all the performers who gave their time for free, a big thanks to Offshore for sorting out the DJs and cheers to all those who came along to support this new event!

See the photos here!