Musical adventures into words

I didn't realise it would go in that direction, but the plans for a new rail link round Tottenham Court Road tube in London means that Metro gig venue will go. It's happening in January it sadly seems.



I'm sad because it was often an ideal spot for catching new bands, usually four of them for a fiver, and I've spent many a drunken gig night there. The bar staff were surly and mean ("Get your bag off the bar!") and the security even more sour ("You're not allowed to sit down. Stand up." Else just eyeing you coldly, or shunting the rope gates into you as if you weren't there and shouting at you that "We're not open yet!", despite the poster on the door stating otherwise), and drinks cost four times their value, but... I still kept going there and it was a cosy dark sweet basement place where you could bury yourself in waves of little known music of all stripes. And for a time between 2005-6, after a hard day's slog at work, or to escape abhorrent excuses for housemates, it provided ample refuge and solace. I loved the way you could sink into the shadows unnoticed, the toilets were an uncomplicated journey away, and if the night was naff you could console yourself with nearby noodles or a McDonald's double cheeseburger. Endless waits in what was then Virgin Mega store over the road or in next door's branch of Waterstones killing time before the electric excitement of live music. You never knew what kind of bands you were going to run into, but there was always worth in the discoveries. A particular favourite was The Kicks, whose soaraway guitar melody melding recalled peak Mansun for me, and I promptly added them on Myspace, and was their first ever fan, so you could catch bands in their absolute infancy. The best thing about club Metro was how hot it was on accepting demos and giving bands their first exposure, no bullshit or networking attached, not sure that roots level pureness is prevalent and paramount in other London venues. And let's not forget the Blow Up club nights. DJs that bother to play your records. One night in particlar comes to mind of hotstepping like mad to Toots and the Maytals' Pressure Drop, with The Clash version whizzing in my head, oblvious to the original's slowness, dancing my Docs off to the punk version in my head with an important boy. And the irony of the words "Blow up Metro" emblazoned behind the bands playng never failed to make me smile. Ah I'll miss this place, and where does it end? The Astoria is to go too, something that many people long battled against.

A thing of beauty is the archive of acts who've played at Metro (though it's nowhere near definitive and doesn't help me fill in the myriad of blanks in my gig history, it's still useful)...

http://www.blowupmetro.com/acts.aspx?sort=date

Bands I have recollection of seeing: Colt, The Indelicates, Kicks, Levy, Love Ends Disaster!, Mikabomb, Moving Units, The Sailplanes, Tahiti 80, Work, Zo Sushi...I must get this list completed...