OLD ROCKERS

Feliz me ol' mates,

I have just returned from a hearty couple of days in the heart of the City. London City. England, Europe.

In London there is a place called Camden and I recommend it to you folks most sincerely. Camden, as you may know, is the heart of all that is indie rock in the UK. It hosts the bands that everyone has played at including Barfly, Good Mixer, the Palace and many more. It is - in short - the UK's daily equivalent of Austin. Only in camden the market is better and so are the enourmous Doc Boots that hang on the walls of the shops.

I love Camden.
I met my Missus there and I have been to more mental events in that place than anywhere else.

Apart from Crouch End. Which has no indie pubs but loads of watering holes that have been known to sell me an intoxiacting beverage or two.

Anyhow, I met up with Mark Wilson - he of the guitar slap - and his manager to have a chat and a few pints. They had just come from making a TV show for Sky and Mark was looking a bit wobbly. At first I thought it was the beer, or the TV studio but it turns out he is to become a dad. Well done! So a few whets of the babies head later and MArk has gone home to the wife. Then along comes Ray "Thunderbird" Fresh from a tour with Seasick Steve and the Gemma Ray Ritual and then along comes Steve who has just been in Brisbane and NYC with Darren Hayes (Savage Garden) so all up it was a good old night. Steve's band - THE GREAT STATESMEN - played a show at Dublin Castle with some blokes called Spencer McGarry. Not keen on them but maybe that was becasue I had been through the best part of a gallon of John Smiths finest Ale by the time they came on. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it though so lets leave that there.

So the night was going great guns. I was perched on a table chwing the fat and slopping the ale when I stopped gibering for a moment and looked up. The room wasn't quite spinning but there was certainly a flashing blue light going on inside my head. You see as I looked about I realised that the 3 blokes from Warners weren't there anymore and that everyone else was at least 35.

Oh shit! I was just another old rocker watching another band in a pub in Camden and kidding myself that I was still out there at the cutting edge. But I wasn't was I? And neither was anyone else. We were all just going through the safe rituals that we know and trust. We were the music worlds version of a golf club committee. Fuck!

So, my bretheren I ask you to repent your sins and come join with me on a quest for the new and important. This rock n roll thing isn't just old its positively venerable. When the big shows are all aimed at the 60 plus age group and the cutting edge is attended by 40 something blokes in black jackets you know that the absorbtion of youth culture into the mainstream is complete.

It is a shame really. I know there is new talent out there - like these guys I saw the other year. He is a bit ofthe blurb about them:

"The Flairz is made up of three 11 year old rockers from Perth, Australia. They are John Mariani-guitar/bass/vocals, Scarlett Stevens-drums/vocals, and Dion Mariani-guitar/bass/vocals. Their brand of no nonsence rock and roll has gained them many fans in western Australia while opening for many big name bands including The Living End. They have also played to an audiance of thousands at Perth's famous Rock-It Festival in March 2004. The Flairz released their debut CD-EP on November 15, 2004."

They are young talented and I am sorry to say stuck with Dad's dreams of superstardom.

What the hell is the next thing?

Someone tell me please because I honestly have no fucking clue and with a hangover like the one I have today it is not something I am likley to figure out any time soon.

Catch you later