Tuesday 19 April 2011

Hammerfest 2011


Driving in the afternoon to pick up my brother Dero and his mate Ryan (CampBELL) from the new train station in Newport, we were getting excited for our journey to Hammerfest 2011, held in Prestatyn, North Wales. After leaving way after schedule we drove round in circles from Cwmbran to Newport. With a broken satnav and without a map we had to rely on Dero's navigation skills (which are usually really good). Unfortnutaly hunger kicked in and we got agitated, resulting in a brotherly argument for the most part of the journey. Finally we found a petrol station in the middle of nowhere and bought a map leading us in the right direction (by this point we had got all the way round the road we were supposed to be on). This whole fiasco added another hour onto the estimated four hour journey. Once we made it to Pontins in Prestatyn, at around 11pm, Stu and Orius came to greet us. They were pretty wasted to say the least but it was great to see them. We made our way to chalet where there were many fellow metal heads partying. As soon as I saw Baggy he offered me to drink from "The Bucket". The Bucket is a cocktail comprising any alcoholic beverage at the party. This time it was a concoction of Jagermeister, cider, beer, apple sours and some other stuff - it wasn't actually too bad to be quite honest!



Apparently Lucy had already passed out by this time, which is pretty hard to believe because she's a party animal! So I decided to go and pay her a visit, whilst Orius and me tested out the bed (Don't worry it wasn't as bad as it sounds :P). Surprisingly she was "awake", however very dozy (she doesn't remember seeing me at this point).


Moving on out, we went to see some bands. Unfortunately we weren't as drunk as the other 'Nam Crewians so we decided to head to the car and get a few cans in. I think we were pretty knackered at the point too so got some sleep in before we went to see MetallicaUK - A Metallica tribute band. They turned out to be really good!

The next day I was the last one to get out of bed (I managed to get the entire single bed to myself somehow, as Orius wanted to stay up). The first drink of the day was a nice cold beer followed by sitting outside in the sun, overlooking Prestatyn's mountains, which reminds me; driving through the mountains on the way to Hammerfest felt like we were driving into Mordor! (What's a Legolas!? Sorry, inside joke). The day was very chilled out, with cups of tea going round and bacon sarnies made by no other than Baggy. As the day progressed we consumed more beer and went to see a bunch of bands. Writing this now, it's hard to distinguish what we did on which day because it all seems to blend into one!




Later this day people were walking around in warpaint chanting: BATTLE! METAL! This was in honour of Turisas who played in the evening. I have to say they were pretty entertaining and definitely fulfilled the words, BATTLE METAL! After Turisas there was a woman who had a shaved head and this really confused Orius. So he walked up to her and says, "Excuse me, are you a man or a woman?" *SLAP!* That moment was priceless (She slapped him in the face by the way). On the way back to the chalet, I heard some guy yelling at me. I was thinking, "Who is this guy??" Turns out he thought I was the singer from Holy Grail and wanted to know where his chalet was. Turns out he's the drummer from Revoker! So I invited him to party at our chalet - and we did just that. What an epic time! Also met the rest of the band and went to see Accept. It wasn't long before saying's such as "Tuna Baguette!" and "Alright BUTT!" were going around. Also buckarooing took place. Buckarooing is where someone passes out and you gather anything you can to put on top of them. Orius got buckarooed hardcore! The next day we did pretty much the same thing and the big finale was seeing Evile who closed Hammerfest. Also on the Saturday, everyone was watching the rugby (after almost being kicked out of Pontins for littering...) so Orius and me decided to look for some fun bikes. We started singing "Buggy, Buggy, Buggy, Baggy Baggy Baggy!" Completely random, but funnny as hell! You say 'Nam, I saw Crew!

Thursday 14 April 2011

Meeting Bowling For Soup!

Yesterday I traveled from Newport to High Wycombe to Oxford to meet and greet Jaret and Erik from Bowling For Soup! Frantically rushing and losing our way, we thought we weren't going to make it. Luckily (and after a KFC and Subway) we reached the venue and it turns out everyone in the queue had already been waiting an hour to go in so we hadn't missed anything! It was a pretty cool set-up inside - a small stage with many acoustic guitars and an awesome back drop of Jaret and Erik. We were also handed a poster of their new album on the way in. Shortly after we queued to meet 'em, get the poster signed and get a photo - it was sweet! Definitely worth it being my sixth time seeing them live. Afterwards we enjoyed four hours of music by Bowling For Soup and Jaret n' Erik's other bands (including Linus of Hollywood).

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Guy Kawasaki Keynote

On Monday night I travelled to Tottenham Court Road in London to attend a keynote by former chief evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki. This very inspirational talk included information about how to start a business, enchant people and become successful. Topics ranged from how to create a unique product to how to give the perfect hand shake - there was a formula for it and everything! As well as informative and inspiring, the keynote had great comedic value as Guy told Apple jokes and also showed us some of his photos from his day and a half in London. Fortunately I was able to meet him at the interval as I purchased his book, "Enchantment" and he signed it for me. The social element to the evening was great too! I met a few people and went for a beer with two guys after the show. Unfortunately on the way home I was so engrossed in Guy's book that I missed my train stop... So my brother had to come and pick me up and then we had to drive all the way to another town to pick my car up - I'd say it was worth it though!


(04/04/2011)