Specialist Subject Mega Tour, Day 2: Deadpunk

Wandered downstairs and sat in the living room for a bit, listening to the sweet sounds of El practicing for Dear Everyone’s set. Jay is ill with a throat/head thing that he feels is spreading down his back, which kind of sounds like he might be dying (spoiler: he’s not dying). The rest of us head over to the Stag whilst he goes on a mission to find a day clinic. He’s wearing a Lemuria patch so hopefully that means he will ‘get better’ (looool).

It’s only a little before 1pm when we get to Deadpunk and there’s already a billion (spoiler: not actually a billion) lovely familiar faces milling about including our mate Sammy working the door who we don’t get to see much. We managed to catch the last few Grand-Pop songs then went to find lunch. Nicola insisted she take a picture of Dean and I climbing on the shop front of Dick’s Climbing before we ducked into a sparse, union jack-clad cafe called Andy’s Sandwiches where we had what could loosely be described as ‘food’.

Got back to the Stag to see Jesus and his Judgemental Father play. We saw a few standard blokes leaving shaking their heads during ‘Cis White Noise’ which was kind of apt (JahJF were pretty chuffed with that when we told them later.) Colour Me Wednesday were great as per and Dean and Nicola snagged an EP. Each one has an individually handmade collage cover, Dean’s one features Buffy and a potted plant, Nicola’s one a beach.

One of the main downsides I’ve always found to playing all-dayers is the temptation to drink seventeen beers before playing. Somehow I managed to resist that urge, opting for one before and one during. I was unexpectedly nervous as shit and I think that made it all the more enjoyable. I honestly think it was one of my favourite shows ever ever ever. Everyone in the room was on point and I spotted some friendly faces including Zach Potentials and Laura Ankles down the front giving it large. We played our super special secret cover too and it was fun as fuck.

The finer details of the rest of the afternoon are a little hazy because beer, but I remember Personal Best and Caves killing it. Also the Arteries were insane; we don’t have a bass (did you notice?) but if we ever needed one (we won’t so bassists please stop writing us) it might have to be Jamie… I’ve never seen someone flail around so maniacally whilst still hitting all the notes with such precision. Oh and there was a dude in a Buffy t-shirt and Sammy and Dean were so jelly that they both hopped on Etsy and bought the same one. I wonder if he’ll get commission?

In summary, Deadpunk was great and Dave Campbell (nee Brent) did a pretty remarkable job as always, running the whole thing like a well-oiled machine whilst just about keeping the vein in his temple from exploding. After it all ended we went back to Warren’s and sat around talking about accents and admiring the cat. Jay told us of his 2 hour wait to see a doctor only to be told that he’s fine. Then we went to bed.

10am: Dean is saying “We went to get veggie patties yesterday too, they were dope, shout out patties.” Nicola is saying “Is my outfit too cliche?” – she’s wearing a Bikini Kill shirt and a tartan skirt and she looks ace. Liverpool today but Kino breakfast first. Tour is great.