Soak me down in whiskey

New Year's Eve would normally be a special Klub Kaofanney event, a night when we have just local bands playing, letting their hair down, crowded, chaotic, noisy, with a whole lotta dancing going on. Last year, full of optimism, the tag line on my poster for the gig was "All I want is 2020 vision". Obviously my vision didn't include viruses.

New Year Eves of years past

This year we are in tier 4, (I told you it would all end in tiers) and our New Year's Eve gig isn't going to happen, so second best, here is a video collection for you, some of my previously unpublished clips from earlier New Year's Eves, to trigger some memories and hopefully to brighten up your evening while you look forward to 2021.

A million miles is more in metric

That New Year Eve video features a part of Self Help's set from New Year's Eve 2017. I filmed the whole of their set, which was live-streamed at the time to their fans and families, and they used the footage the following year in a very creative way in the hyperactive video for their song "Million miles per hour". If you haven't seen it, here it is:

Images of Christmas

2020 was a year when people had to adapt to new ways of working online and at a distance. You knew it was bad when even MPs resorted to meetings on Zoom, apart from Jacob Rees-Mogg who ordered a new fleet of carrier pigeons. Musicians adapted too, with many embracing live-streaming, and here is an example of one of our local bands, Dada Paradox, playing at an online gig just before Christmas.

Ian and Liza (who you might have seen performing at Klub Kakofanney as Tracy Island, or playing in the Mark Atherton and Friends line-up) are based in Oxford. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, their drummer was playing from his home in Kent, whilst the bass player was strumming away in the Netherlands. They were using software called Jamulus to enable them to play together across their broadband connections.

Smoke on the water, fire in the pipes

Bagpipes are pretty well guaranteed to be heard on tonight's Hogmany-themed shows, but less likely to put in an appearance at a rock gig.... unless you go to see a band called Celtica. Here they are, playing in a market square in Croatia, a mixture of tartan and Deep Purple, fishnet and kilts, a demonstration of scorching showmanship, and a fitting clip for the last night of the year. I love the high-impact drums in this clip.

Going out in style

2020, a year to forget, and yet we never will. Here is a boisterous piece of music and a great piece of visualisation that I am using to mark its closure. It comes from the roughneck Boston Irish band, The Dropkick Murphys,... and yes, those are bagpipes you can hear in there too, just for good measure.

Take care everyone, stay safe, and Happy New Year

31st December 2020
The Lockdown Letters
Klub Kakofanney