use Perl

Bleeding Hearts

On Saturday night, Nicole and I went out to see out mates Bleeding Hearts. They had their album launch party, both for the new album and the compilation album of the last 10 years. The venue was a great little haunt near the Jewellery Quarter, just off St Pauls Square, called The Actress & Bishop. The place was rammed. Speaking to Nick on Monday I dicovered that it was a sold out gig, even though a few extra people managed to persuade the doorman to let them in :)

The Bleeding Hearts played for nearly 2 hours (the support band, The Gaskins, played for a good while too) and i think everyone had a cracking time. Songs old and new, including a spot featuring the original bass player, Nigel, who is now their roadie! As it was an album launch party had come up with a few raffle prizes. Unfortunately a few people actually thought they were going to get some decent prizes. To give you an example, second prize was "A chauffeur driven trip around Birmingham, taking in all the sights" ... a number 11 bus ticket (the 11A and 11C (anticlockwise & clockwise) are the outer circle bus routes, which according to wikipedia are "longest urban bus routes in Europe." The other prizes were along the same lines :)

We had a great night out, and even some of the Ark fans came along. Seeing as Gel, the bass player in Bleeding Hearts, was also in Ark, that perhaps makes sense. My partner in crime during my Ark days, Mikey (guitar tech), was there too. It was great to catch up with them all as I haven't seen some of them for 10 years. The only problem was, once people recognised me, I kept getting asked when i was going to update the website! The Ark website doesn't get a lot of hits, but I get a steady trickle of email with suggestions and questions each month.

KMFDM

Another gig I feel I need to mention, even just for my own point of reference ... KMFDM. A couple of weeks ago, JJ and myself headed over to Dudley, to the club called JBs. Ark played here years ago, so it's always nice to go back as a punter. Plus it has to be said 3 bands for £12 wasn't a bad deal. The first band on were local and were pretty good, but the second band should really have been on first, even though they have been the ones to get bigger attention on the tour details. I was a bit worried that KMFDM would not be on top form, as the attendance tonight wasn't the best I've ever seen. However, I shouldn't have been concerned, they let rip from the word go. Lucia was having a great time playing up to the cameras of those at the front. They played some classics and loads of new stuff, and generally had a great time. It was good to hear that they intend to come back again on the next tour as well, as this is the first time I've ever had the chance to see them in the UK. JJ hadn't heard them before and only came on my recommendation. Thankfully he was impressed and enjoy his night out :)