We recently enjoyed a visit from the Great Cole Coonce. We laid on a rehearsal while he was here so that he could get a flavour of the Wilson thing, and it actually turned into something of a private gig. Much fun. Cole duly set off for a cycling tour around Tuscany (oh, he's fit for his years) and we set about preparing for our return to the Soundhaus, report below:

We hadn't played the Soundhaus since our very first show, so it was pleasing to get the invitation to come and play there again.

The evening took an early turn for the weird while we were still soundchecking, when we lost Mr. E. Wilson after some chronic misunderstanding with the local promoter in re. beer. He had managed to get hold of the wrong end of a number of sticks, but it had all made him so angry that he just packed up and legged it. The soundcheck passed without further drama and we repaired, along with sonic technician Stevie Ward, to Shakespeare Villas to watch England's game against Slovakia.

At half-time England were trailing by a goal to nil, but we had to set off and do our thing. After a pleasant stroll round to the venue we went in to find the first band, Ambience, already on stage. The audience? Oh, we were the audience. By the time we took to the stage (announced by MC Bot as "the Wilson Five") a few brave souls had abandoned their tellies and showed up to watch. What they got for their trouble was a 30 minute blast of guitar-heaviness, with Stevie G. on record-breaking form.MC Bot was probably fortunate that the place wasn't too busy: otherwise his persistent shouts of "GAY BAR!!!" might have been misunderstood. But hey - we were always going to like the Electric Six. They are our kind of people having fun.

The audience was small but appreciative and the set rushed by, hitting the wall at the end of Buffalo Sniper with a mighty slap, while maniacal laughter rang out through the feedback. No time for mutual fan-club action, though, for we had to clear our shit away to make room for the headliners, an agreeable quartet from Nottingham called Fin. Their style is a bit all-over-the-place, but they play very well and Jamie, their singer, definitely has the looks and the charisma for the job. We got on well with them, for they had seen our set and declared it "f***ing brilliant".

Afterwards we walked our kit round to Misery's place, just a hundred yards (eighty metres, Euroreaders) from the venue, before heading back to Shakespeare Villas to party with Johnny P and Will Carruthers, who were over from Rugby Town, and to listen to the new album from British Sea Power (it's the last track you want - all 15 minutes of the fecker!). Will was on top form, winding up everybody in sight. It being midweek, we shut down at around half past two after a very pleasant evening.

Oh, and England came good in the second half, with two goals from Michael Owen bringing in the essential three points.

The Stone
xxx
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