Robin Black Tour

In the spring of 2006, Disarm had their first "proper" tour, supporting Canadian Glam Rock band Robin Black. I thought I'd try and do a bit of a diary. I pretty much should have done it at the time, It would have been better.

Nottingham - Junction 7 - Friday 7th

The Tour started pretty badly for us. Van loaded up, everyone looking forward to it, the excitement, the alcohol... We were all ready. For once we were all prepared with loads of time. So I jumped in the van, pushed the key into the ignition. Wrong Key.
For about half an hour I wiggled the thing about, but there was no way it was budging. so eventually, I decided to get the claw hammer. The key disintegrated, leaving the metal stem still firmly in the lock. Out came the hammer and chisel, and I had a word with it. Some brute force and a smashed steering lock, and we were on our way.
We still arrived in good time and got about setting up the backline in advance of the arrival of Robin Black. James and Michelle arrived with loads of food and beer, shortly followed by Robin Black and six bottles of Jagermeister, which were ceremoniously presented to Disarm. Six hours later five had gone.
As they all got aquainted, I was surrounded by a sea of leather, denim, tatoos and eyeliner. I felt out of place and a little invisible.
Disarm played a really good solid set, following our good friends, New Generation Superstars. Robin Blacks set was plagued with technical problems.. mainly down to our backline. I felt gutted. How often do Marshall Cabs let you down? I wasn't completely impressed with Robin Blacks performance, It seemed a bit rusty, and the technical problems certainly had an effect. That said, Robin was a complete professional, and held the crowd through the difficulties. I was convinced they had more.
Everyone got pissed. Except me.... just for a change. yeah right.



Bradford - Rio's - Saturday 8th
On to Bradford. Great Venue. Very dirty. The kind of place you stick to the carpet. The last time we played the venue, I thought the sound engineer was a complete tool. A good engineer, but a bit of a cock. This time I changed my mind.. He was polite and very helpful. Just shows you how you can get people wrong, he's really a nice bloke. We actually got a full sound check!
Teenage Casket Company made the journey up from Nottingham and opened the show. It was the first time I saw them and I really enjoyed their set. Disarm played well, and then Robin Black won me over. They were excellant.
I treat myself to a good portion of one of Ky's specials, and stretched out on the backstage sofa, sinking slowly into oblivion. Ten minutes later I was rudely rapped on the head by that bitch Michelle , and booted out of the backstage area. I then had a ten minute giggling fit with Noddy at the bar, and desperately tried not to appear a stoned wanker when talking to Jo from jaeger-music. I failed miserably.
Jamie appeared with a skimpy pair of knickers, instantly starting at trend that became a tour sport.
Great gig.
There's a review of this gig on Hard Rock House
To save you the enormous effort of clicking, I'll quote the bit about Disarm.

Moving on to the second band of the night band, Disarm. Now I've been told that I saw them alongside Roadstar on New Years Eve, but to be honest I can't remember - must have been a good night then. Having received a glowing report from fellow HardRockHouser Steve Atkinson in a recent 'Unsigned Bands' review it was interesting to see how the band transferred their recorded output into a live situation. Although musically superior to Teenage Casket Company, Disarm somehow failed to establish the same connection with the audience and only frontman Brad commands attention whilst the other members of the band somehow blended into the background. Whether this is a result of Brad's all out assault is up for debate but it does seem almost a one man show in many respects. Songs such as 'Faster Faster Kill' and a cover of the Sex Pistols 'Pretty Vacant' showcase a strong, punchy sound that was more professional than many larger bands I've heard. It appeared that the band had brought along some strong local support and based on this performance it was well deserved.

Dudley - JB's - Sun 9th
JB's is massive. It's really big. Way too big. Disarm played to about 80 or so people, who were lost at the outer perimeter of the room. I think it took them the whole of Disarms set to walt to the stage from the bar.. just in time to catch Robin Black. They gave us some nice curry though.

After the gig I met a very nice young lady who was sat on Tez's knee.. she showed me a Very interesting video on her phone.
Sadly, she didn't have bluetooth.


Brad, Noddy, Tez and Jamie were dragged off to a Party by the rather wonderful Jay from Skandal, but only after promising not to teach his parrot to swear. Apparantly they broke a toilet, drank some furniture polish, and put Brad's sneakers in the fridge.


I slept in the van, looking after the gear. It was freezing. The curry made a second appearance, sometime around 4am. The following morning I went to Tesco, and had a very cheap, but very rubbish cooked breakfast, then I went up town and bought Rocksound. It really wasn't worth the trek up the Hill. Dudley isn't all that interesting, and the review in Rocksound was a joke.
I waited. And waited.
and then waited some more.
Eventually they turned up and we went home.


Ashton - The Witchwood - Monday 10th
Robin had flown back to Canada or somewhere, to film his TV program, so instead of playing the Cavern in Liverpool, we were at the Witchwood in Ashton. The Robin Black did a set without Robin. It was great anyway. Even though the crowd was virtually non existant, it was like a big party, well, actually small party. But we all had a good time. Sally turned up, which was nice.
Rather than sleep in the van, we decided to drive home.

Crewe - The Limelight - Tuesday 11th
We got to the venue pretty early. No-one around. The limelight is a pretty cool place. Seems like there are a million rooms, including a little cinema and what looks like a OAP's day rooms complete with conservatory.


Its got its own cafe.. which was great. Except I chose wrong, and spent the entire meal looking jealously at Brad's all day breakfast. There were no local supports, and the crowd was sparse. the venue itself is like a late 19th century theatre, which is probably what it is. It was great to see our good friend Jim make the journey, along with his sister and her partner.
Apart from that, I can't remember much about the gig.

The second sport of the tour was "invented" on the way back from Crewe .. Impersonating the members of Robin Black. It has to be said, that this was only attempted when completely drunk, and the skill of the band members did vary somewhat.

Hull -The Adelphi - Wednesday 12th
It was the first time we had played the Adephi. For anyone who doesn't know the venue, it's a place steeped in history .. some amazing bands have played here. Its hot and sweaty, and run by a man who cares passionately about live music. Its also the dirtiest venue in the world.
Basically its the end house in a row of terraced houses. From the outside it looks like there is no way on earth it is a venue. We arrived stupidly early, and as usual ended up waiting around for a couple of hours. Luckily Ian (the promoter) turned up with a couple of beers.
The gig was great. A great crowd, and both bands played exceptionally well. The bra and pantie count went up substantially. A top gig!

The toilets in here are worse than that one in trainspotting, but it didn't stop ****** from **** **** just after she had **** ****** (you'll just have to ask me)
and some of it is on video
Tez seemed completely intent on introducing me to girls, and I spent a few minutes convincing one that I was married and not about to mis-behave. Pretty much a good decision, as I managed not to end the previous call with "she who must be obeyed", and she heard the entire conversation. Having managed to avoid divorce narrowly, we drove overnight to Winchester. You know, drunken fake Canadian accents get a bit tiresome after a few hours. Brad managed to keep it up until somwhere around Newbury. Although it has to be said .. he had John, Robin and Starboy off pretty well. Apparantly they were doing the same, in their luxury tourbus, on the way back to their five star hotel
There is now a guy in a petrol station who thinks I drive all over Europe with a canadian band who have a liking of Ginsters sarnies and Razzle.

Winchester - The Railway - Thursday 13th
Winchester was a strange gig. If i'd have wrote this straight away I'd probably remember more. We arrived at the venue, after an all night drive, at about 8 in the morning. The hunt was on for breakfast. How difficult should it be to find somewhere to get a decent breakfast. Sometimes I wish this place was like America. Not very often. Eventually we gave up and went to Macca D's. It was shit. What a suprise. Back to the van and some sleep. I probably slept longer than i needed to, as the van was being gently rocked by the gentle motion of a certain band members self-pleasuring. SO wrong.

Winchester is a nice town, and I passed a couple of hours walking by the river. Disarm passed a couple of hours in the pub. We considered a visit to the cathedral, but quickly re-considered when we realised it was about six quid to get in.

The gig was hard. The two supports had decent crowds, which promptly left before disarm played. They were not particularly energetic for Robin Black, a fact which meant this was the only gig on the tour with no encore.

Mexborough - The Civic - Friday 14th
Back home to our very own venue. Robin and the crew descended on my house for dinner. God knows what the neighbours thought when the vans pulled up. Courtesy of my mum, we all had a traditional Sunday dinner, roast beef, yorkshire puddings and veg. Awesome.
My mum is still astounded at how little Ky eats.
The Gig was great, and it was nice to sleep in my own bed.

London - The Camden Underworld - Saturday 15th
LONDON!
Disarms first London gig. An early start ensured we were at the Underworld in bags of time. We loaded in and I was off to meet Josh and Lynda at the market. I'd forgot how busy Camden is. I spent way too much on a crappy meal, and then it was back to the underwold.
Great promoter (Mick). Shit Bouncers (Dick, Dick and Dick).
I know they have a job, but why do they need to be so damned aggressive.
Fuckin awesome gig. Great crowd, and nice to see thirty or so friends who had made the trip from home.

Nottingham - Junction 7 - Sunday 16th


not finished is it