garrison part1
This was originally written on 09.02.2002
Last night was great, and though I felt pretty awful when I woke up this morning, the music of the show still ringing in my ears, things were much better after I showered and scored some cereal.
Yesterday afternoon was a rainy mess and after fighting with awk and sed all afternoon, I almost couldn’t be asked to go all the way to Glasgow for the show. However, as Iain and Marco were going going home to the ‘Deen for the weekend, I definitely didn’t want to be alone in the flat. So, Rob gave me a lift to the bus stop on the way to taking Marco to the train station. I hopped the 6:30 bus for Glasgow after phoning Brooke to make arrangements to be met at the bus station.
The bus ride was uneventful if not a little boring. It was dark so I couldn’t really see the scenery and was feeling a little nauseas from all the stopping and starting of the bus, but I arrived unscathed. Brooke met me at the station, and we walked towards the club. If Edinburgh weather is bad, Glasgow weather, being on the west coast, is 10 times worse. We were more than a little wet by the time we made it to the 13th Note Club. So we sat around talking for a while. Her stories of drunken craziness weren’t quite as good the second time around, but the conversation wasn’t bad. She reminds me a whole lot of kids I grew up with, and sharing anecdotes from small town PA is like revisiting my adolescence albeit from the other side of things. I always like kids who have a wild nature to them, and at least she seems like someone who keeps things under control, despite a penchant for misadventure. The doors opened and we checked out the first band. They were pretty lame. Young kids playing mediocre rock music with all the influences of your run of the mill MTV stock. I wasn’t suspicious because the local opener of the Cave-In show was of an equally (if not worse) caliber. However, as I looked around, the other kids in the place were not exactly the scenesters one would expect at an emo show. Inquiring at the bar confirmed that the Garrison show was at the 13th Note’s other venue, the 13th Note Cafe. No problem they said, the show had probably only just started over at the cafe and, get this, they would refund my cover! I had heard that the 13th Note had just recently weathered some financial difficulties, and now I know why. They’re too damn nice! Definitely support these people if you’re ever in Glasgow. So, we walked the five minutes to the cafe hoping that we hadn’t missed too much of the show.
When we got to the show, a more than decent Scottish melodic punk band was playing and Marius and Lauren greeted me at the door. A short digression is in order to explain the small, small, world relationship that hooked me up with these kids. Lauren went to high school with my former housemates Steven and Katelynn. In addition, she met my friend Dana while Dana was studying in Edinburgh during the fall. Marius is a friend of hers whose info I also got from Dana. A small, small world indeed. So in between sets I chatted with them a little about upcoming shows and asked Lauren for news about the Sweet Life. I felt kind of bad since Brooke didn’t know any of them, not that I really did either, but I’m really glad to have a loose network of aquaintences here. It makes living in a foreign city much easier.
The next band to play was an emo band from France. I don’t remember what they were called, but I liked them a lot. They played run of the mill new-emo, but did it really well. Strangely, their drummer was their lead vocalist, maybe because his command of English was the best. It was funny to see their caricature of American rock institutions with their guitar posing and devil horned drumstick grips. Awesome.
Garrison went on at about 20:30 and they were pretty rocking, although abit full of themselves. I think that I liked the French band a bit better, but Garrison played a good set. The space was crowded, and the kids were down, so it was all good. Garrison also plays a new-emo sort of music, though it has some interesting idiosyncrasies to it. They’ve released a split with UK post-hardcore favorites Hundred Reasons, and a new full length entitled “Be A Criminal” on Revelation Records. I snapped some photos of their show which I will get around to developing some day.
After the show, despite her objections, I walked Brooke part of the way home. I wasn’t trying to be chivalrous, but I wasn’t sure how well she new that part of town, and I’ve heard from some people that Glasgow can be a bit dodgy. On the bus ride home from the Cave-In show, Marius told me how he had a close encounter with a would-be mugger, and he’s a fairly big guy so I guess it pays to be careful. We walked back to the center city before I bid her adieu and headed for the bus station. I had missed the midnight bus so I waited around for the later one (damn I wish there were cheap inter-city busses in the states that ran late at night) and read my copy of Fracture that I had got at the show. Fracture is this free UK fanzine that, from my limited exposure, features some really great personal anecdotes, interviews, and record reviews. Standard, zine stuff, I guess, but I thought it was good. The most interesting thing was getting a UK punk perspective on America, and in particular the whole 9/11 disaster.