10 Reasons To Live, The Purple Turtle, Camden, London - 30 June 2007

UPDATE:

On Monday, like the ever faithful groupie fan, I sent David a message on Myspace querying whether he had gotten into trouble for his drunken antics and his reply was:

“From: David
Date: 03 Jul 2007, 10:24
I must admit babe*, i was a little worse for wear, it aint gonna happen again cos i got told off from the band! ha. hope you had a good night though! x”

So I’ll let him off his performance for now (not sure if Matt has found it within himself to forgive him for the snakebite incident). ALSO, pictures of those in attendance have ended up on their website, check it out:

Ian & Kat, click here

Me & Stu, click here

David on bar, back of my head (bottom right hand side corner – am I balding??), Sathish to my left and Matt by the bar to David's left (unconfirmed whether this was taken before or after the snakebite incident), click here

Munhoy & her friend Gemma, click here

Full set of pics from the night here

*He calls everyone babe to save him from remembering all the girls' names. I'd be offended if I didn't think he was quite fit

ORIGINAL POST:

It was the eve before England became smoke free and I had managed to persuade a few unsuspecting people to follow me to the 10 Reasons To Live ("10RTL") gig at The Purple Turtle in Camden. Poor sods. Matt and I had caught them a few months ago at the Carling Islington Academy and I wanted to check them out again (because if you knew me, you're probably aware of the fact that once I like a band, my OCD kicks in and I try to see them as many times as I humanly can. See links to U2 and Kasabian). So, between Katrin (who had been wanting to check out 10RTL) and myself, we gathered the crew at The Purple Turtle on a cold and rainy Saturday night.

Some of the unsuspecting crew, L - R: Kenny, Ian, Stu "Pirateboy" North, myself and Sathish
Katrin & I
Matt "Watch Me Pout" Taylor & Stu
Free plug - check out Stu's and Ian's band When Kisses Become Scars
10RTL were headlining and were only due to come on at 11.10 p.m. There were 3 other support bands; The Heys (we walked in halfway through their set and they sounded good), DORP (they sounded good until their singer started singing) and Ghostcat (they were really good, highly recommended).

As I stated earlier, it was the eve before smoking would be banned in all enclosed public places in England. All the smokers were therefore taking full advantage of their last night of freedom, as evident from the following pictures (NB: Matt quit smoking a few years ago but felt compelled to jump on the bandwagon for one night only): -




Having enjoyed 2 of the 3 support acts, we waited for 10RTL, all the while getting hammered. I spotted the band setting up onstage, although their lead singer, Mr David Wilcox, was by the bar getting tanked up on booze and feeling up a blonde. By this point, Kat and I had already decided to be good groupies fans and stand at the front of the stage when 10RTL came on. Not wanting to seem too lame at the prospect of doing so, I had to bribe Matt and Stu with one snake bite black ("snakebite") each if they would stand at the front with us for one song. Sathish, being a man comfortable with his sexuality, did not need bribing. Kenny and Ian could not be persuaded.

Stu & Matt were ecstatic to be at the front
The band was finally ready to begin and a now very drunk Mr Wilcox took to the stage with Stevie (guitar), Paul (guitar), Johno (bass) and Toby (drums). Now, it'd be interesting to see if 10RTL manage to recruit new fans after this gig. The venue was not packed to capacity, which did not go unnoticed by Mr Wilcox as he remarked that he had slept with more people than there were in the room (probably true, he's been in the business for awhile now). The people at the front were mostly girls and 10RTL's faithful friends and fans. David tried to beckon the people at the back to come to the front but this request fell on deaf ears. Not to be defeated, 10RTL kicked off with "Come Alive". The band sounded tight and David's vocals were strong and clear. The groupies fans at the front danced away. However, David's drunken antics may have gotten him into a little hot soup. I sensed that wanting to make an impact on the crowd, David jumped offstage and worked his way through the crowd (at one point even grabbing me for a quick and un-coordinated dance and getting up close and personal with Katrin, hilariously causing Stu to declare to me and Kat that he wanted to punch David in the face. For the record, Stu didn't punch David in the face). David's signature move of the night was to jump up on the bar and sing, which perhaps did not go down well with the bar's management, although I think where David did get into trouble was when he flung his beer into the crowd (me and Kat got slightly soaked, not cool) and some guy in a suit who I assumed to be the big kahuna of The Purple Turtle immediately went up to David and had a few words.

Matt had decided to park himself by the bar to drink his snakebite and continue watching the band. So of course he was taken by surprise when Wilcox jumped up onto the bar, mid-song, crouched down, took the pint off Matt and proceeded to gulp down almost half of the snakebite before handing it back to Matt. Taking Matt's drink from him without his permission is almost as bad as taking his chocolate away from him so, feeling bad for him, I poured him half of my snakebite into his half empty pint (At Matt's insistence, he wants to be quoted as follows: "You do not take another man's pint without his permission").

10RTL played a number of their songs which will appear on their soon to be released first album, including "Money", "Killing Me" and "She LIkes It". Noticably absent (well, to me anyway) was "Breathe", which is my favourite song of theirs, and which, in my humble opinion, is probably their strongest, so I was surprised that it was left out.

The band encountered some technical difficulties towards the end of their set, with Wilcox having to urge the sound man to get his act together. The sound man, from what I could tell, may have done a runner. Finding himself in a position where he had to fill up a void, Wilcox tried to get one of the bartender's attention but to no avail, as Wilcox was ignored by the bartender in a way only a bartender knows how when it involves a drunk punter. It occured to me at this point that if Wilcox wants his band to get publicity, he should cause some hell raising havoc Axl Rose-style. Any publicity is good publicity. The band ended the set with their soon to be released first single "Pretty Girls".

Performance-wise, the band did give a solid performance and Wilcox did sing well and he is certainly living up to the bad boy of rock image he has now fine-tuned. It was thouroughly entertaining. Notwithstanding that, I'm inclined to believe that this gig will not be remembered by the band as one of their better ones. But hey, all bands starting out are entitled to an off day or two. My two cents worth on this would be for the band to concentrate on their strengths i.e. the music & their looks! I'll be checking them out in Leicester again at the end of the month so watch this space.




The end of "She Likes It" with Wilcox singing on the bar
Hoe had turned up at the beginning of the set and at the end of the set, I turned around and all of a sudden, she is holding a drumstick! I turned back to the stage and true enough, Toby the drummer is drumming away with one drumstick and his hand!! How much fun can a group of drunken people have with a drumstick? Quite a lot actually as the following pictures prove: -






Matt & I had to leave before 1 a.m. to catch the last train. As we staggered out of The Purple Turtle, who should be outside but an inebriated David Wilcox and his father/manager of 10RTL, David Wilcox Snr. I gave David Jnr a hug and congratulated him on the show and told him that he had upset Matt by drinking his snakebite. David Jnr looked genuinely sorry as he said to Matt "Sorry mate". I then held up the drumstick, which a few minutes earlier had been up Stu's arse, and asked David Jnr if I should give it back to Toby. David Jnr said not to bother and that I should keep it. I then spoke to David Snr and congratulated him on having a fit and talented son and asked why the band did not play "Breathe". David Snr said it wasn't the right crowd to play "Breathe" to and "Killing Me" was more appropriate. I beg to differ. I then told David Snr that I had been messaging with David Jnr over Myspace and that, in my opinion, a band like 10RTL could potentially be huge in Asia (the Asian market is kinder than the Western market - look at the likes of Tommy Page, Michael Learns to Rock etc). I said I could try and see if I could sort them out with a contact or two and David Snr wrote down his e-mail for me (does that mean I pulled a Wilcox?). I found David Snr to be a rather lovely and charming man! I then got in some photo opportunites and for some reason, this girl with short hair kept appearing in the pictures!!

L - R: No idea who this girl is, David Jnr and me (note the drumstick in my hand)
Me cuddling up to David Snr
L - R: The girl who wouldn't go away, David Jnr, moi and David Snr
After saying our goodbyes, Matt & I trudged off to get the last train from Waterloo, me feeling quite proud of my groupie-like efforts and Matt still complaining about his snakebite.

10 Reasons To Live - Carling Islington Academy

(Photo Source: Channel 4 - SlashMusic)

The lovely David Wilcox & me
The lovely Johno & me

Snippet of "She Likes It"

Snippet of "Breathe"
Believe it or not, I have a new favourite band!! They're called 10 Reason To Live ("10RTL"), they hail from Liverpool and yes, I do believe they're going to be huge! They have a single coming out in the summer called "Pretty Girls" (they've just wrapped up filming the video) and an album shortly thereafter.

I came across them on Myspace (click here for theirs) and was hooked after the first listen of their track "She Likes It". Basically, if you like stadium rock style bands (think Aerosmith, U2, Guns & Roses, the Stones, Goo Goo Dolls etc) with their hard hitting guitar-strong songs and power ballads ("Breathe" is gorgeous, listen to a snippet above), this is the band to watch out for. Matt and I managed to catch them at the Carling Islington Academy (where they were performing as second headliners) a short while back and they blew me away. 10RTL consist of 5 guys (David Wilcox - lead singer, Paul Garrett - rhythm guitar/songwriter, Johno - bass, Stevie B - lead guitar & Toby Smith - drums) although unfortunately, Paul wasn't well that night and couldn't therefore be there. Yes, they are a bunch of good looking blokes (which does not hurt when it comes to recruiting female fans) but there is no denying their musical talent. Toby drums with military precision and great force and if I knew the proper musical terms to describe how brilliant Stevie B and Johno are at playing guitar and bass respectively, trust me when I say that I would articulate it on this blog! Although Paul was absent, I must commend him for his songwriting talent; he clearly knows a thing or two about catchy tunes and heartfelt lyrics!

As for David Wilcox, what can I say? With lead singers, what you're looking for is talent, stage presence, charisma and someone who knows how to work the crowd, amongst other things. Mr Wilcox ticks all of those boxes, and then some! I am therefore not surprised that he has been likened to "a young Mick Jagger", as stated on the band's record label's website. And he looks better than I do in eyeliner!

After the gig, Matt and I managed to have quick chats with Johno and David, who, along with the rest of the band, were having drinks in the outside area and mingling with the crowd (and presumably their family, friends and long-established fans). They were really friendly and sweet and it is such a refreshing change to meet a band that makes time for the people who come to see them.

I haven't been able to catch them in concert again but trust me, like with U2 and Kasabian, this is a band that I will be checking out over and over again and I have my fingers crossed for their success in the charts. Do yourself a favour and go check them out too. Details of their gigs, tickets, tracks etc can be found on their Myspace and official website.