Steve Lamacq hasn't
eaten for days. The money he gets as a daily allowance goes straight from
hand to fag shop, completely bypassing anything approaching food. His body clock has long since
stopped trying to keep up with sleeping in a minuscule bus bunk and waking 300 miles away from
where he initially laid his head.That said, he couldn't be happier. "It's bloody brilliant and I never
want to go home," he barks pre-gig, an hour away from the last show in the four-date Evening
Session Tour. "I thrive on this."
You can understand why. As well as the bands going out live each night--X-Files-inspired
chartists Catatonia, Glaswegian glam marauders Travis, and current lower-division Lamacq
choice Idlewild--there are bus-based, afternoon-recorded sessions to add a pleasasntly off-beam
twist to this jaunt. In Birmingham, techno dafthead Fuzz Townshend banged a few tubes of
Pringles in the name of non-art, while Glasgow saw all seven of Belle & Sebastian surface
briefly to play new song "Wrong Love."
Tonight, though, it's Newport homeboys 60 Ft. Dolls who are squeezing themselves into the
improvised bus/studio for their necessarily stripped-down acoustic performance. After raising an
eyebrow at such intimate conditions, Richard Parfitt and Carl Bevan turn in "an acoustic version
of an electric version" of "Summer's Gone." While Richard plays the more accepted busking
instrument, an acoustic guitar, Carl sports two egg-like shakers that have been gaffer-taped to his
hands. "It's crap innit?" he shrugs, after claiming the idea came to him in a flash of inspiration the
previous night. "I don't know why I bothered."
As Steve rushes from the bus to the stage to inroduce Idlewild, most of the crowd are still in the
bar, eager to fill up before entering the Lamacq-unfriendly, no-drinking-no-smoking gymnasium
venue. Meanwhile, over in Catatonia's almost regally appointed dressing room, Cerys is showing
off her latest acquisition, a small Spanish classical guitar. This she bought off Travis's Fran Healy for £20 (he'd bought it for only a tenner just days before)
and it gives Cerys Matthews ample opportunity to replay the soft, Spanish folk songs she touted
as a busker, while simultaneously warming up her precarious voice.
This is almost a hometown gig, but the signs of tour fatigue are becoming apparent in a band
that's been on the road non-stop for three months and won't finish for another two. Guitarist Mark
Roberts lies sleeping on a nearby couch and voice are kept down accordingly. There is little of the
jubilation they displayed the week "Mulder And Scully" made the Top Five.
In direct contrast, Travis appear to have drunk deep from the can of happiness
and walk onstage holding hands in single file. Fran, having presumably made a few more lucrative
used-guitar deals, is positively beaming, unable to get out the words to "The Line Is Fine" without
smiling. Following his lead, the crowd answer back with equally vast grins.
By now, senior Radio One executives have arrive to gauge reactions, clogging the already full car
park with BMWs and Saabs, and the hall is heaving with Super Furry Animals and Manics
T-shirted teens temporarily shifting their provincial allegiances to a group of Scots. After a quick
firing of "All I Wanna Do Is Rock" (dedicated to Steve Lamacq "because he's cool") and
"Happy," towels are thrown in to the crowd and mikes proffered to the first few rows in an
attempt to delay Travis's exit. When they finally do leave the stage, it's with the
happy knowledge that they've managed an absolute triumph.
Select
June 1998
by Sam Upton
Evening Session Tour, Newport Centre: Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq abuses
his body on tour with Catatonia and TRAVIS.
