MADINA LAKE JOURNAL JULY 07 July 17th 2007 / UK Camden Barfly London by mark von sound DAY ONE AND ONLY ... GODZILLA FARTING AND BELCHING Well not really on the road more of a one-off show ... and this time hired in by the legendary heavy metal label Road Runner Records for one of their bands called Madina Lake from America ... The adventure starts when I get to Nottingham train station at lunchtime to wait for the express train down to London ... as I walked onto the platform I was greeted by a gentleman wearing a Megadeth T-shirt listening to his cassette Walkman held together by cellotape ... so what you think? But he had a broken leg and played air guitar on his crutch ... I found him very entertaining and nearly missed my train as I was hypnotised by his performance ... I don't believe drugs were involved just simple mental illness ... My high spirits were soon dampened by the carriage I chose becoming invaded by a million screaming kids ... the noisy f*cking bastards ... and I had the pleasure of having them going through all their ring tones to chose their favourite ... they didn't just listen to all and chose the best one ... but to be certain they would make the correct decision they used a method of elimination to lose one each time they listened to all ... at this point my Ipod was in my ears and full blast ... if I shut my eyes I could just pretend they weren't there ... First job on arriving to London was to check into my hotel which was located close to Euston station ... as I entered the room I looked at the carpet thinking the pattern was urban camouflage ... on further investigation it wasn't a pattern at all ... it was actually the stains of the many previous occupants ... not nice ... but with free high speed internet I didn't care ... there were also tea and coffee making facilities ... unfortunately though it took over twenty minutes for the fun sized kettle to boil the water ... On the television I watched the BBC news to see in Brazil an aeroplane had aquaplaned off the end of the runway skidding across a road into a fuel depot ... everyone on the plane and everyone on the ground were killed in a blazing fireball explosion of a death ... a particularly nasty way to go ... just imagine the last five minutes in the lives of the passengers ... a true worst case scenario ... Next task to get to the venue ... The Camden Barfly ... my second time in just over a week as I was previously there with Ruarri Joseph ... Not long after I arrived the band showed up ... four guys from Chicago I believe ... this was a special show for competition winners from Kerrang! Magazine and XFM radio station ... apart from this show the band were over here for just press and promotion for their full tour in September ... On first impressions they are all short ... I'm not tall but I towered above them ... the singer and bass player are twins with bleached spiky hair looking identical to the old Kajagoogoo singer Limhal ... I mean no ridicule by this as it's obviously not a compliment merely an observation ... but the whole band were very pleasant friendly respectful people which obviously made life easier ... All their equipment arrived in a Mercedes van from the local hire company John Henrys ... unfortunately the venue is upstairs ... so myself and the stage manager had to load it all in between us ... I swear I had nine heart attacks doing this as the band don't have pocket sized speaker cabinets and amplifiers and drum kit ... I didn't enjoy this chore at all but what kept me going was knowing I wouldn't be around for the load out the next morning ... cue a Mutley hunched shoulders laugh ... following sound check it was dinner time ... wonderfully next to the venue is a Nando's restaurant ... my favourite UK food chain ... supplying a delicious Portuguese dinner ... and my dinner guests were old friend Louise and the bands booking agent Ross ... the Nando's people got my order wrong as per usual but I don't mind as the food is great ... Then back to the gig ... what did distress me in the venue was that all the competition winning kids must've thought I too was a one of them ... not a bloody chance ... so I hid in the corner discussing zombie movies with Ross and Lou ... I had Death Metal Zombies recommended to me which I must track down ... The crowd were a strange mixture of shapes and sizes ... as the doors opened to the venue room the kids rushed to the front to get a prime position to rock out with the band ... at the front of the stampede a girl dressed from head to toe in dayglo bright pink ... she was throwing people aside as if her life depended on it ... when looking at her slightly closer you'd see one leg was much thinner than the other then the penny drops and you realise it's a false leg ... respect for fighting the masses ... I hoped she'd unhook it and start beating people with it as if it was a baseball bat ... the show was suitable nuts and hot and sweaty ... at one point the singer threw water out into the crowd ... unfortunately it came straight back at the stage ... the band ran a keyboard backing track from a sequencer next to the drums ... with the addition of water the noise which came from it wasn't a beautiful twinkly keyboard but instead made the noise of GODZILLA FARTING AND BELCHING ... but we made it through to the end of the show without anymore disasters ... following packing their gear up I returned back to my camouflage stained hotel room slumber for rest and recuperation before my train back the next day ... that was my day July 17th