Category Archives: GDFAF

(Birmingham bands are in bold) GDFAF #1 Man In Fridge – Overplay GDFAF #2 The Tates The Bleak – Overplay – MySpace GDFAF #3 Distophia – MySpace Polysics – MySpace GDFAF #4 A Day Called Desire – Purevolume – MySpace … Continue reading →

This is a first draft of the introduction page for the Going Deaf For A Fortnight zine. A bit of background, then, to put the rest of this zine into some kind of context, just so you know where I’m … Continue reading →

This is a rough draft for the back cover blurb for the Going Deaf For A Fortnight zine. For two weeks in November 2005 Pete Ashton set himself a challenge – to go to a randomly selected live music event … Continue reading →

GDFAF #14, the last in this series of sequential gig going, was at the Actress and Bishop in Birmingham’s Jewelry Quarter. This was my first visit and it’s quite a nice little venue. Above what appears to be a standard … Continue reading →

GDFAF #13 was at the Flapper and Firkin for the same new local bands evening as last Thursday. There are at least three tiers of bands on the small gigs circuit. First are the bands on national tours who probably … Continue reading →

GDFAF #12 was at the Barfly again on what can only be described as an arsingly cold night. I mention this because most venues tend to be somewhat on the warm side and I’ve noticed a few American acts commenting … Continue reading →

GDFAF #11 was back to Bar Academy where I feel like I’m spending rather a lot of time this fortnight even though this is only the third visit. Read into that what you will. It’s kinda interesting going to the … Continue reading →

GDFAF #10 was supposed to be at the Glee Club in Birmingham to see Jose Gonzalez, King Creosote and Paul Curreri in an event put on by Twisted Folk which seemed pretty keen and different from everything I’d seen this … Continue reading →

For GDFAF #9 I was sailing blind. Wanting to cover as many small gig venues as possible I phoned up the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath to see if they had a band on on Saturday. Yes, the bloke … Continue reading →

Continuing the genre dance, GDFAF #8 was Anti-Folk. What the hell is Anti-Folk, you might well be asking. At least everyone I’ve spoken to about this gig responded in that way. I guess it’s like Alt-Country in that it’s an … Continue reading →

Well, I could go to bed, I thought to myself, or I could record a podcast featuring a selection of music from the last seven gigs.

GDFAF #7 took place at the Flapper and Firkin round the back of Brindley Place in town. I’m not familiar with the strategies of whoever owns the Firkin chain these days but I was under the impression that all those … Continue reading →

I was accompanied for GDFAF #6 by Andy and Doug from Una Corda, a Birmingham based post-rock band the members of whom have been around the local scene for a while now. As we entered the Custard Factory in Digbeth … Continue reading →

And so it was for GDFAF #5 that I returned to Bar Academy for my fifth gig in this series. It was raining hard so rather than cycling I put on my leather jacket and took the train, which was … Continue reading →

GDFAF #4 fell on a Monday and Mondays were always going to be a problem. No-one goes out on a Monday and pubs, clubs and venues treat it as their weekend but here I am, going to fourteen gigs sequentially, … Continue reading →

Before I go any further with GDFAF #3, a public service announcement about the Barfly venue in Birmingham. You know that door with the huge “Barfly” flag hanging over it on Digbeth High Street that often has a queue outside? … Continue reading →

The first thing that happened when I got off my bike at the Jug of Ale in Moseley was I discovered for the first time in my life I had pins and needles in my bollocks. It’s a very strange … Continue reading →

Okay, this is the start of a 14 day series of posts, Going Deaf For A Fortnight in which I go to a gig in a small venue in Birmingham every night to see bands I mostly have never heard … Continue reading →