Almost a year on the Captain returned to Marty's homelands with a mind to rock the badgers off Belfast Uni's Speak Easy, The Fort in Dungannon and Dicey Rileys in Strabane. By the time we made sound check in Belfast we were pretty knackered from the early flight and by 9 o'clock we were wondering if any one was even gonna show up. Turns out the Irish dont even put the first band on till 11 which meant by the time the crowd tunred up, everyone was leathered and up for the craic. Monsters played the best set iv ever seen em play, tight and with a precise sense of sincerity. WThe Captain was still buzzing from the Mono gig so Belfast's rowdy crowd got us going and we squeezed out a fairly ballsy show considering we were using borrowed gear (Cheers to Dermy from Stereo War Favourites and Ian from A Plastic Rose btw you proper sorted us out!)Tapasia showed their true colours to us on their home turf and bust out a cracking set, solid and almost effortless. After the show we staggered to some random hovel...i mean...house where it all got a little fuzzy with what seemed like a million people crammed into a fairly small room. We eventually ended up at Omar's though and the scramble for the beds happened about 6am.
Friday was a chance to check out Belfast and get a fry up and a pint before the mad rush to get the gear, load the van and Pete prepared himself to drive us to 'Dung'annon. There is Literally nothing in Dungannon. nothing. There's the Fort and a road with a chinese, an offy and a bunch of people driving round and round the same roads for something to do. Or at least thats what i saw. Turned out it was only just up the orad from the Common Rooms where we made our debut on our first visit. Despite the same old 9o'clock paranoia, the Fort started filling up about 11 like the night before and Foreced Out Vision opened for us with a theatrical buyt skilled set, the drummer was tight as fuck and the guitarist battered out some killswitchesque riffs. We followed them playing to all Marty's mates wrecking down the front with the original captain himself. It was wicked like. Mayhem continued with Tapasia's set which seemed a bit more furious than the previous night (probably all that Buckfast kickin in). Monsters got headline slot for this one and the sound was bang on. I spent the entire time flogging our albums with a little help from Ross's sister who even took it upon herself to sell her body in exchange for £2. The deal was you got her to do all your domestic duties, sleep with her AND get a copy of our ep, a badger badge and a sticker!? sounds like a good deal to me ;) The drive back was a fairly sober affair with a fundamental lack of sleep kicking in. We ended up leaving WIll behind in the capable hands of Omar and Darren who all went off to Graham's house in the middle of no where. They had an intense fight with plastic cups and cardboard boxes. i saw the video. vicious. We'll upload that one soon! We kidnapped Marty's mate Dominic who tried to blag a lift 20 minutes down the road from the venue but for some reason we drove him back to Blefast with us. We got to Omar's house, cooked a fry at 4am and went to bed.
Saturday dawned and I had managed about 6 hours sleep before Omar's mom woke us up banging on the front door looking for a pair of trousers of all things?! managed some more sleep before Martin tortured my soul. We stopped off in town and i gave in to the consumer pressures of tourism and bought a pitchshifter pedal. Even managed to get some time to have a fiddle with my new toy through a tiny ornage combo at Ross's house courtesy of the Beard. Our man Chris drove us to Strabane. Much props for hitting 70mph (Pete couldnt managed it). This journey was a bit more lively. I crossed a line with Marty, using his hood as an ash tray the whole way down with the hope he would put his hood up and spray ash over his freshly showered head. it was funny like. he didnt think so though. like i said, i crossed a line. we sampled the local burger and fries, got a carry-out, loaded in and got pissed before the end of sound check. the usual wait and the place got busy. then it got busier. Monsters opened this time, battling with a mischevious loop pedal but they pulled out an angsty edge to their usual reflective mood and it kicked off in the venue. It felt like people were really into their music in Strabane and supportive of their local scene so the crowd was animated and just buzzing. Tapasia took second slot in Darren and Omar's home town and the place went mental like. people were singing along to the majority of their set and the vibe was dope! It was getting well late by the time we went on, especially as the clocks went forward which meant that technically we went on at 2.30am. The set was one of my favourite Captain gigs to date cos people were wrecking it while we played and the venue was so intimate. at one stage i had a dude on his hands and knees next to my pedals, smacking the floor shouting 'ITS FUCKIN LETHAL LED!!!!' that will never happen to me again im sure. Marty burst his finger open on the first song and sprayed rock juice all over Darren's guitar. darren refuses to wash it off. Tapasia invaded our stage mid set and bust some improv at the end of Bad Teeth. i think they thought it was our last song but we had two more to batter out before the bouncers literally kicked everybody out. The party carried out onto the street and then on into the van as we made a hectic drive back to Belfast with singing, pissing, shouting, drinking, and chuffing most of the way. props again to chris for putting up with that shit man. i dont know what we looked like through sober eyes lol! we ended up staying up till 8 in the morning at Ross's house before we literally passed out. Jerm missioned it off to do some crafty graff in a descreet part of Belfast called 'condom alley'. nice. Todd slept in Curry's bed haha!
Sunday = 2x Breakfast + Taxi + Flight + Bus (Home) = sleep.
Ash x
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