British Sea Power and Toronto and Reading

[Juan Albion]

Went to work in sunny Toronto for only the second time in a month today (hey, they keep paying me whether I turn up or not) and bumped into a girl who knew I was from England. "BTW," she says, "my husband's cousin (or something like that) is going out with a British guy from a band called British Sea Power. Ever heard of them?" Well of course I had, courtesy of you lot. Pretty damn good, I reckon.

Anyway, I came across this quote from the NME...

"The city of Reading fell (possibly 'about laughing') within weeks, at which point BSP suddenly realised the place was actually a boring shitehole full of violent pissheads ripped to the mantits on Red Bull and bad speed, and they set their sights on new territories. Next they would take Camden-By-The-Sea.

"We had to leave Reading because it's got no culture or band scene or anything", Yan explains. "Brighton seemed the best place to move to because it's close to London but by the sea. There's lots of places to play in, the workings are there."

 

[tinx]

Shame Coppell doesn't see it the same way

 

[Wilts]

Oh... we don't have a band scene, but we have two of the most famous music festivals in Europe.

Apart from that, there's the carnivals that go on in the city centre all the time. Jamaicans and the like.

The problem is that everyone in Reading is into dance/RnB music, hence the lack of venues for rock bods. Tis true. When you have such an ethnic community then you'll know exactly what I mean.

 

[tinx]

I always find that so wierd that the Reasding Festival is brilliant and should setup the town for being a haven for bands and Rock music in general but it seems to fail so miserably.

Amusingly Brighton has a fairly good Live music scene but they ar eno longer allowed to host their three day event that used to take place in stanmer park because of the local council.

Kind of says it all really.