The Music

I saw Hope of the States a fair few times back in '04. Never once felt compelled to listen to them since. But now is the time!

Had an urge to play 'move on' by jet the other day and have been blasting through the whole album since. Such a good fun record that first one.

Jet were harmless pub rock but fuck me their level of popularity was bizarre.

Had a listen back to Hope of the States. Agree with JP, the debut stands up. You can tell they had a lot of time and money to record it - the kind of budget a new indie band could only dream of today. The production is sharp. I really dislike a lot of 'epic rock' but Hope of the States were ahead of the game on that front.

Jet's debut reminds me of a very specific time in my life..

I was 18 and still nursing a slightly broken heart after my first girlfriend and first love had dumped me (I mentioned her earlier in this thread when we were talking about The Thrills' debut) It took me a while to get over, but at the point this album was released, the finish line was in sight and I'd started seeing another woman (not a girl, an actual woman, she was 33 or 34)

She was nothing special; short and a bit fat, but quite pretty in a way. She had 2 kids which I didn't know until knowing her for about a week. I'd gone back to hers after a night out, absolutely steaming drunk. Woke up at about midday the next day to 2 kids jumping on the end of the bed asking me my name - she'd been out and picked them up from wherever they'd been and they'd come upstairs while she was in the kitchen cooking me a fry-up. That's when I realised it was all a bit weird, and too much for an 18 year old.

I continued to use her for the old in-out for the next couple of weeks then had to stop 'cos it started getting insane and she was talking about me moving in and adopting her kids. At the time, I was working in a terrible factory, on a production line, making ready meals for supermarkets (not sure if this was mentioned in the other post, or if anyone cares) and it just so happened that loads of the women who worked there were this nutters friends. After I chucked her, I was the most hated person on that factory floor for about a month. It was nuts how despised I was! But, being 18, I didn't care too much what a bunch of middle-aged looser's thought of me, and spent most of my shift with my headphones in, listening to the Jet debut.

This was also the time in my life where me and my best mate took a lot of ecstasy and smoked a lot of weed. We used to go out clubbing on a Saturday night and get into all kinds of mess. My mate would generally stop at mine, and there was a period where we'd always end up going to a local car boot sale with my Mam. We'd get in about 5am where my Mam would be be getting ready to head out to said carboot sale (she liked to be there early) so we'd just tag a long. It wasn't uncommon for us to pop another pill before leaving and drink cans in the car on the way there. We'd spent the next 2 hours bombing around this huge car boot sale, then on the way home, we'd get stoned in the back of my Mam's car (she allowed it because she also liked a toked herself) listening to the Jet debut.

Just had a listen there for the first time in ages and boy did it take me back!

can we turn this thread into tucker's tales from the early 00s.

I hope this thread is alive in 10 years time so he can tell what moment of his life did the Virginmarys soundtrack and he cries out loud again about the SanFran tale of the mum and the poor child.

brilliant story

Great story

I've also been to a car boot sale high on pills after a rave, so I too know the thrill of hunting for antiques whilst buzzing your face off.

Haha, this is great.

Getting spangled at a car boot sale 😂😂😂 that sounds fucking amazing tbh

Maybe I'll write a book! 

Chapter 4: the hairy chip-shop girl, the datsuns and other revelations

Funny how should mention chip shop girls and The Datsuns because I have a story about each actually...

When I was 16, I went to a mates 18th birthday party which was held in a rugby club.  It was a pretty rundown place in a not-so-nice part of my town, but the drinks were cheap and they had absolutely no problem serving people at the bar who were clearly underage.  At said party, there was a girl who worked in a chip shop, probably the most famous chip shop in our town.  It was the first time I'd met her, and she was actually pretty fit.  I was definitely interested in making a move but she had an older brother who was a fucking psychopath and loved to fight.

As the night went on, I flirted a bit with the chip shop girl, and the more pints I sank, the more I didn't care that her brother might punch holes in me for violating his sister.  She was obviously getting drunker too because my flirting seemed to be paying off.

The function room of the place the party was being held had a stage, I guess for rugby presentations and stuff.  On the stage were tables that were stacked 3 or 4 high.  Everyone being pissed, people obviously decided to climb on these stacked up tables and dance.  I wasn't so keen on the idea because, despite how drunk I was, I was never much of a climber.  Then I noticed the chip shop girl motioning to me to climb up and dance with her, so climb I did.

The stacked tables remained steady while she danced in front of me like a filthy whore, grinding against my crotch.  Eventually, the people working in the rugby club decided that lots of drunk teenagers dancing on stacked up tables was probably bad for business, so everyone got down, even the chip shop girl.  But not me.  I was having the time off my life up there, even without the sister of an absolute nutter grinding against me.  I guess I'd gotten a taste of danger, and it was a taste I liked!

Then, without warning, the tables began to wobble a bit.  I panicked and tried to steady myself but the tables fell, and I fell with them. 

The next thing I remember is waking up with a crowd around me and my nose absolutely pouring with blood - I'd hit my face, mostly my nose, on the floor, from 4 tables high.  The most concerned person out of everyone was the chip shop girl! She looked after me for the rest of that night.  And by looked after, I mean she spent the rest of the night with my tongue down her throat and my hands in her pants.  It was the best.

After that night, we never crossed paths again but I did spent many weeks absolutely shitting myself that her mad brother was going to stab me or smash my face in with a brick, but he never did.

The story about The Datsuns pales in comparison, but I'll tell it anyway..

Me and my mate were drinking cans in my room, browsing the internet, listening to their debut album when something went wrong with the PC - it was still on but the display had stopped working.  I couldn't figure it out so called my Dad in and he got under the desk where the tower of the PC was and started messing with plugs and wires.  As he did, MF From Hell came on.  It started rocking pretty hard when BAM! The PC went off and smoke started coming from the tower.

Obviously, my Dad's tinkering had caused something to blow, but, to this day, me and my mate tell ourselves that MF From Hell rocked so fucking hard that it made my PC blow up.

this book is going to be a classic.

Haha

Tucker, your stories are genuinely wonderful, littered with intricacies like above that add great character.

fuck me, these are great

One final story to end the night with, this one partially as a result of me getting mocked for liking Kings of Leon! 

So this will have been not long after Youth & Young Manhood was released, you know, when Kings of Leon were actually pretty good (at least I think so) I'd taken a day off from the truly horrible ready meal production factory I worked in, and a few of my mates had a free sessions at college so we decided to hit-up the town centre, which basically involved looking in Home Bargains to see what booze was on offer, popping into Iceland to talk to another mate who was legitimately trying to make a career for himself there and planned to work his way up to Store Manager (it never happened) then spending some time in the only music shop we were lucky enough to have in town.  Not a HMV, or a Virgin Mega Stores.  No, we had SOLID SOUNDS! Thinking about Solid Sounds actually reminds me of another story from when I did jury service and spent my days listening to Damien Rice & The Strands, but that's for another time...

Anyway, yeah, this was the day I bought the Kings of Leon debut album.  A lot of my mates were big into nu-metal shit, which I did like for a bit, but I was always more interested in indie/rock.  My best mate, thankfully, had a similar taste in music to me.  He was still very much stuck in his ways and not wanting to seek new stuff out, but he liked the stuff I introduced him to well enough. 

That night, the parents of one of our friends had gone out meaning she had a free house, which by law meant we all had to go round for a bit of a piss-up.  It was summer, so the group (maybe 12 of us) ended up splitting into 2 - half of us in the garden drinking AND smoking weed with the other half, the ones who didn't approve of the weed smoking, drinking in doors.  I still had my Kings of Leon CD with me, and there was a little portable CD player outside plugged into an extension lead coming from the kitchen and out of the kitchen window.  Most people had made their way outside now and the girls in the group had some terrible dance music on, fucking Clubland 7 or some shit.  I decided that enough was enough and put Kings of Leon on.

It was met with groans and jeers, and comments like "oh, great, fucking stoner music" and one of the girls in the group, Clare, was particularly unhappy.  She was the sort who just loved going out clubbing, getting wrecked and getting banged off whoever was willing to go there.  At least 3 of my mates had a go on her, and I also tried once but she was too wrecked to even reply to my advances so I gave up and never tried again.  

So Clare, she was really unhahppy with my choice of music and started giving me a lot of shit; an unnecessary amount, truth be told.  She was one of the crowd who didn't approve of the weed smoking, and because she knew I did, started telling me I was a lazy bum who'd amount to nothing and have mental health issues, etc.  I tried to tell myself it was just that she'd had too much vodka or whatever, and to let it lie, but I couldn't just stand there and take her barrage of assault.

The thing about Clare was that she has a lazy eye, the sort of thing that Gabrielle has going on.  She even copied off Gabrielle by covering her lazy eye with a big stupid bit of fringe which actually drew more attention to the fact that there was something wrong with her eye.  We all headed back inside were the insults continued and she started getting personal, calling me a fat fuck and whatnot.  So, I thought the best thing to do would be to fight fire with fire, and said that I may be fat cunt but at least I don't look like fucking sloth off The Goonies.  We were in the kitchen at this point, and that comment didn't go down well with any of the girls there, and especially not Clare.

She picked up the nearest thing to her which was an egg off the worktop.  She launched it at my head but missed and it smashed against the kitchen window.  My best mate wasn't happy that she'd chosen to attack me so declared war.  He calmly stared looking through some cupboards and found a fucking MASSIVE potato which he proceeded to launch in her direction and score a direct fucking hit.  It was absolutely glorious.

Things sort of calmed down a little bit and a bunch of us were in the dining room.  Clare was also there and a bunch of were ribbing her about her generally stupidity.  I went to the kitchen to sort myself a drink out, vodka and cherryade if I recall.  It may seem odd why I remember such a detail, and it's because when I returned and tried to sit down, Clare moved the chair away from behind.  I hit the floor and swilled not only myself but the cream carpet in the dining room.  As I was getting up, and I shit you not, the parents of the girl whose house we were in walked into the dining room.  Instead of them going absolutely mental that their cream carpet had been ruined by the antics of a bunch of pissed-up teenagers, the mother of the girl comes out with; "Oh well, I was after a new carpet anyway"

We left not long after this.  One of my mates had not long passed his test so some of us piled into his car for a lift home.  Clare was also begging for a lift, probably scared that she was so drunk she'd end up sucking off a taxi driver.  My mate pointed out to her there was no room in the car, and because none of us were gentlemen, nobody wanted to give up their spot.  My mate jokingly said she could get in the boot which she was having none of but we eventually convinced her it was a good idea.  In the car, we discussed how much of a cunt Clare had been and decided that a fitting punishment would be driving round town for about an hour with her locked in the boot and doing donuts in a huge empty car park. 

When we finally got to her house, we bickered a bit over who was letting her out and having decided that her ordeal had gone on long enough, I was the one to step up.  I felt bad that we'd basically kidnapped her for a bit.  I opened the boot, and instead of her jumping out and being furious, she was just crying and covered in her own sick.

i was reading a queen q magazine special during my jury service.