Down & Out and Dirty Fuse live in Athens January 2011

- I love you pumpkin
- I love you honey bunny

This conversation is what first came to mind on the 6th night of 2011, when I first heard Dirty Fuse playing at Six D.O.G.S.

Incredible, but true. A Greek band playing surf tunes! That's what I thought back then anyway... And of course, the next line from Pulp Fiction that comes to mind is "Zed's dead baby... Zed's dead" because at that moment during the movie is when Bullwinkle is played, the tune that Dirty Fuse played that night.

All in all a very pleasant surprise, bearing in mind that we had gone to Six D.O.G.S. to see Down & Out. The band that we had already seen in December at Gagarin when they played support to The Sonics. Two of their members would later go on to form The Big Nose Attack, and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know who THEY are... 

They had already played gigs all over Europe and their highlight was playing support to ZZ Top abroad...

So, it was a night that apart from good company also had lots of rock, lots of beer, lots of blues (albeit performed by white guys :LOL:), and of course the usual (should I call it obligatory?) cover of Prince's Kiss.

And as we can see from the following photo the audience was very keen on them...

The venue was great (it was my first time there), as small as was needed for such a gig and the ticket was only 7 Euros.

It even had a back yard...

...and also hosted exhibitions.

(By the way, whoever disses Kelly again will have to deal with me. Enough is enough! Go back to Brenda!)

MOAN loves you @ six d.o.g.s.

I was so dumbfounded when I saw MOAN live for the first time back in May when they supported The Stranglers (where we met the singer's mother AND grandmother in the audience), that I knew I had to see them again. Their "Debut EP Release Show" at six d.o.g.s. in the beginning of October where their first EP "Breaking Bad" would be on sale was the perfect occasion.

Upon arriving there I caught a glimpse of them being interviewed in the next room for MTV Rise and I had the chance to watch it the following week. When watching it, I learned that one of their favourite songs is "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen. So, once again it was proven that Bruce is everywhere. And "I'm On Fire" is probably Bruce's favourite song among Greek artists!

After that short pause I headed straight in,  in order to secure a copy of the CD. My first thought was "15 Euros? That's a bit pricey!". And when I got the disc out and realized it was not a CD but a CD-R then I thought "It's definitely pricey!". However, when I got a better look at it the following morning under the light of day I changed my mind. If one takes a look at the whole packaging, what's featured in it, the amount of work that had to be done in order to create this, combined with the fact that only 150 copies were made I realized that it was probably worth it. (Hey, there'e even a lollipop attached to the front cover!) What's more the money will be going to a new band who had just offered me a free gig! I was not obligated to buy the CD. You can judge for yourselves in these photos. (And you can listen to and even download for free the whole EP here)

Back to the gig, it was opened by Smacking Lips which have a harder and more raw sound that MOAN. On MTV Rise I heard that they too are preparing their first album so we'll probably have a chance to hear more of them in the future.

 

Then it was time for MOAN, and their set started in exactly the same way as their Stranglers support set. Opening with "Trapped Between Her Hips" (my favourite) followed by "Remember That Night". After that it was of course a different story since this was their own gig and they had all the time to themselves to play a full set.

With that, I headed home to enjoy (and examine) my new CD hoping that they will release a full album soon. With MOAN we are confident that we will hear more of them in the future. And as they themselves say, MOAN loves us. MOAN loves you. That means you!

Meet Restless Ocean

When I went to see Mamma Kin back in December of 2013, little did I know that this was going to be their last gig ever. Sadly Mamma Kin have now disbanded. Their singer though is in a new band called Restless Ocean and back in June I was happy to attend their first ever gig.

The night was opened by Violent Cartoons and you can check them out for yourselves since a few days after this gig, they released their debut EP which is free and you can get it here!

Restless Ocean went on next. On their BandCamp page they describe themselves as "Influenced by both older and contemporary bands, their music is an alternative mix of garage rock, blues and 70's punk". I am confident that we can expect a lot from them in the future since they are apparently working on their new album now. Meanwhile, on that night they gave us an enjoyable 11-song set.

One more important thing to note: There was another band, Bad Treat appearing after Restless Ocean. Unfortunately, I could not stay to see them since I had to hurry in order to catch the last train and bus home. I promise I will try to attend one of their gigs in the future. The funny thing is that looking back to the poster from that last Mamma Kin gig I just realized that Bad Treat were also due to appear on that night but for some reason they didn't... Oh well... So, one more time: I promise I will try to attend one of their gigs in the future...

SETLIST:
01. Your Addiction
02. More
03. Lose Our Minds
04. Pieces Of Me
05. Going Down
06. See You There
07. Rainy Days Revisited
08. Not The Same
09. Down To The Ocean
10. Valley Of Death
11. Let Me Be

I'm not a big fan of weddings, but I'm a fan of The Wedding Present

I admit it, I feel uncomfortable at weddings. Not the small civil ones like one of my best friends had a few years ago, but the big budget ones in churches where you have to act in a certain way, dress in the same way and party afterwards in a certain way. (And I really enjoyed it when a friend of mine took off his tie before his wedding, making me feel ankward that I was still wearing mine). I'd rather be at a rock concert as you've probably guessed. I think. Wedding presents are another thing. They are probably the most difficult present to give, since you have to choose something that the newlyweds want, but, at the same time, it is nothing that another guest has already chosen. So, I'm not a big fan of wedding presents either except for this one: The band fronted by David Gedge, who once released one limited edition 7" single every month for a whole year. (And that was in 1992 when the 7'' single was almost extinct and the CD single was the dominant format).

I finally saw them live in Athens last March, having missed them the last time they were here. They venue was six d.o.g.s., a small one, so it was one of those "intimate" gigs that I got to watch from the front of the stage.

Among the songs we heard that night, was "Blue Eyes" from "The Hit Parade" (the album compiling those aforementioned 7 inches and their cover versions b-sides), "Kennedy", "Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft" from "George Best", "Two Bridges" (their latest single) and even some from the band's alter ego Cinerama.

Finally, it was all over, after they warned us that they never play encores. The guitarist is still wondering however where his beer has gone...

SETLIST:
01. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
02. Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
03. 524 Fidelio
04. Meet Cute
05. Two Bridges
06. Mars Sparkles Down On Me
07. Runway To Seatac
08. Go, Man, Go
09. Drive
10. Kennedy
11. I Wake Up Screaming
12. So Long, Baby
13. Blue Eyes
14. Bear
15. It's A Gas
16. Crawl
17. My Favourite Dress
18. Dalliance
19. Dare
20. Bewitched

Dirty Fuse + Down & Out @ Six D.O.G.S.

- I love you pumpkin
- I love you honey bunny
Αυτή η στιχομυθία μου ήρθε στο μυαλό μόλις πρωτάκουσα, το βράδυ των Φώτων, τους Dirty Fuse στο Six D.O.G.S.

Απίστευτο κι όμως αληθινό. Υπάρχει Ελληνικό συγκρότημα που παίζει surf! Και βέβαια, η επόμενη ατάκα από το Pulp Fiction που έρχεται στο μυαλό είναι το "Zed's dead baby... Zed's dead" μια και σε εκείνο το σημείο της ταινίας "πέφτει" το Bullwinkle που οι Dirty Fuse παίξανε εκείνο το βράδυ.

Ευχάριστη έκπληξη λοιπόν, αν σκεφτεί κανείς ότι εκείνο το βράδυ πήγαμε στο Six D.O.G.S. για να δούμε τους Down & Out. Tους οποίους είχαμε ήδη δει το Δεκέμβριο στο Gagarin όταν έπαιξαν support στους Sonics. Και αν νομίζετε ότι τους κάνω απροκάλυπτη διαφήμιση από αυτό το blog... έχετε απόλυτο δίκιο μια που στη παρέα μου ξέρουμε τον drummer!

Έχουν παίξει επίσης support στους ZZ Top στο εξωτερικό, έχουν παίξει σε συναυλίες στην Ευρώπη...

Ήταν λοιπόν μια βραδυά που εκτός από καλή παρέα είχε άφθονο rock, άφθονη μπύρα, άφθονα blues (έστω και από λευκόύς(εντάξει, το παράκανα μ'αυτό το αστείο, το ξέρω :LOL:)), και φυσικά την (να την πω καθιερωμένη;) διασκευή του Kiss του Prince.
Και όπως μπορούμε να δούμε το κοινό ήταν ιδιαίτερα ενθουσιώδες...


Ωραίος ο χώρος (πρώτη φορά πήγα εκεί), όσο μικρός χρειάζεται για μια τέτοια συναυλία και εισητήριο μόλις 7 Ευρώ.

Μέχρι και έναν κήπο στο βάθος έχει...

...και εκθέσεις φιλοξενεί.

(Όποιος ξαναπιάσει στο στόμα του την Kelly θα έχει να κάνει μαζί μου. Άντε μη σας πάρει και σας σηκώσει και εσάς και τη Brenda σας!)