Deaf Havana - live in Manc, CD signing

Today I met the heroes of which make up Deaf Havana. Had a brilliant time so thought, hey…what not blog.
 

                So the day started out getting up later than planned (having the day off work= instant refusal to get out of bed before 9:30am) and catching the train into Manchester Victoria. I’ve been looking forward to this day for some time but it never even registered in my head that ‘hey Carys, you don’t know Manchester at all, why not look up the address’… but luckily the extremely chatty man in Starbucks gave me wonderful directions (I don’t do directions well at all – or maps – so well done Starbucks man!)

            After getting to HMV way too early, the time between then and the acoustic set was spent buying headphones, drinking bobo tea and meeting up with people who are going to Uni in the city – all in all pretty productive, but let’s move on. We returned back to HVM at half past four to try miss the flow of traffic that would be turning up at five and queued for a half hour. One of the greatest things I found about people who listen to Deaf Havana is that they’re so friendly. I didn’t meet one rotten person in the que/inside. Everyone was lovely and helped each other out (a big thank you to Aiden who let me stand in front of him so I could see). Going in alone was the most terrifying thought but I met two other people on their own and we stuck together and chatted as though we had met before. Lovely!

                To get in, you basically used Deaf Havana’s new CD (Old Souls) sort of like a ticket, you showed that you had it on the door and went into the little staging area. It was such a cute little space so the acoustic set really did feel pretty intermit. I absolutely fell in love with James Veck-Gilodi’s stage presence just by the way he talked between songs.

                Happy to say I have a few half decent pictures and videoed a few songs. You can really tell when my arm starts to go dead in all the video’s I recorded, but the achey arm was definitely worth it to get a little memento – especially seen as they played one of my favourites (Hunstanton Pier).

                The signing was great, my cd case now looks all decorated. And talking to the guys while getting it signed was wonderful. I love when bands really interact with their fans and they really did seem so humbled by the amount of people who actually came to buy their album. It’s always refreshing to see that people still care about the music they produce and about those that listen to it.

I’m glad I didn’t say anything too awkward, though. I’ve met guys from bands before and blurted out the uttermost bollocks that has just pooped into my head. The most I said was ‘I really don’t know how to talk to you, little awkward’, in which James responded ‘HEY ME TOO! Hence my ramblings between song just now’. I politely asked to take pictures and BOOM, the day was over.

           The Ringmaster Festival of which I was going to for my birthday got cancelled this week so I’m really glad I managed to get to see Deaf Havana today (seen as they were in the line-up for next Friday). All in all, pretty happy.

18th Excitement

I’ve never been one for birthday celebrations. I don’t know why exactly, it just never appealed to me. So much so that I used to say ‘I don’t like my birthday, it’s too much fuss over what is essentially just another ordinary day’. I think I really did have a hatred for my birthday at one point. I’ve never wanted to grow up – much like the female peter pan. I want to be as young as I am for as long as I can – impossible, though I can always dream.

But this time it’s the ‘big one’. My 18^th. I don’t think that it’s much of a big deal over in America with the drinking age being at 21 and all, but over in England it’s definitely the biggy. I don’t know though, so if I’m wrong and it is a big thing, I’d love to hear about it.

So as expected, I have everyone at work, all my family members and my few friends asking the question: ‘SO WHAT HAVE YOU GOT PLANNED?!’. Until now, nothing. It’s seriously not really even crossed my mind that I might actually do something. At one point, I kind of gave in to the guys at work and just let them plan a night out and I’ll just tag along and we’ll all say it’s for my birthday. That’s how all my nights out go – I’m not much of a planner.

Though lucky me, I managed to come across a website for the Ringmaster Festival which just so happens to be the day after my birthday and include a line-up which I’m in love with (featuring bands such as Deaf Havana, The Blackout, Hadouken and We Are The Ocean). I managed to coax a friend into coming with me and camping and I have to say I’m dead excited. I really can’t wait for my birthday to come around and it’s a wonderful feeling.

I really had forgotten what it felt like to be genuinely excited for something. And it seems as though all the things that make me happy are coming in leaps and bounds. I’m in love with music so my next few months are packed with bands, gigs, and appearances which I’ll be sure to blog about and document because hey…it’s so much easier to write about something you’re passionate about/enjoy.

I’ll leave some links bellow to some of the things I’m going to just in case anyone out there wants to tag along too.
·        Thursday 19th September – Deaf Havanaacoustic set and cd signing
·        Friday 27th September – The RingmasterFestival
·        Tuesday 22nd – Shinedown, Alter Bridgeand Halestorm (Manchester)
·        Saturday 15th – A Day To Remember(Manchester)