Day 2 Rockaway Beach 12/01/19

Piccadilly Records in Manchester, which tends to be my guide these days, have been raving about Menace Beach so will hopefully be a good start to the day. After an age waiting for them to soundcheck their array of analogue synths and vintage guitars they burst into life. Amazing synth sounds, thrashing guitars, driving bass, and dual female vocals: great stuff. Not sure where everyone else is but have advised they come and see the band on our What's App group. My new Fender ear plugs seem to be working after I've got used to them, really takes the edge of the sound without losing quality. Really big crowd for Menace Beach as well.

Menace Beach

I watched Spare Snare with Russian Jay who, according to Wikipedia, are a lo-fi band from Dundee who have made 13 albums. I'm a bit surprised as I've never heard of them but they charmed the crowd with their Scottish self depreciating humour. The bass player wears a Can Tago Mago t-shirt (Google if you don't know, it'll be worth your time) and he has some amazing bass lines. The melodica even appears for one song which I love due to my dub reggae obsession. Been really lucky with the bands so far as not been a bad one.

Spoke too soon: Algiers are not my cup of tea at all. Everything is technically fine but it all feels a bit soulless. Prepare to see them supporting U2 in the near future.

Algiers

 Barry Adamson was great and he's a natural front man. He plays the Magazine song The Light Pours Out of Me as a tribute to Pete Shelley as he contributed to writing it apparently. That got a loud cheer. The Orielles were great as well and it's hard not to fall in love with the singer who is incredibly pretty. I refused to watch Gary Numan so went back. It's starting to chafe being in this chalet with four other people and want to go home now.

Barry Adamson