...I said 'no, Im rock and roll'
I did say my next entry would be talking about when I went to see Kimya Dawson, so here goes.
I went with Sam and we got there much earlier than we had planned so we sat in the park outside it and read magazines for a bit, before being shouted at by some random chav men who were quite a bit older than us which was scary. It's not even like they were drunk, they just had nothing better to do...freaks. So we moved over to the steps outside the building where there were other people around and no scary men. The Venue was the Union Chapel and its gorgeous!
Doors opened after what seemed like ages and as we were the first few people there we got front row which I liked very much. There was some little guy walking around selling ice cream so we each got some of that before the first support act came on. His name is Angelo Spencer, and he's actually Kimya's husband. We only figured this out a little while after he'd been playing and at exactly the same time which was weird. He was quite odd, a bit different so in many ways a lot like Kimya except not in the same way. I liked him.
Next was Karl Blau. I really liked this guy! He sounded a bit folk/country which I'm not usually a fan of, but he mixed a bit of every genre in. He was extremly clever in creating the sounds he played, which I'm sure sounds odd but I've no way to explain it as I know nothing about technology in music ha. One song of his I really did like was called 'Thats how I got Memphis', I think I like it for the lyrics more than anything. It's this one here:
He told us how on their tour it was him, his wife and thier child, and Kimya and Angelo with their little girl Panda. Panda is the most adorable name for a toddler ever, sounds odd but if you see or hear Kimya and Angelo, it's not for their child at all. He made the tour sounds so sweet I started to wish I was on it.
He left and not long after Kimya came on. She must be at least mid 30's but she's so cute. I wanted to take her home. She's short, quite plump in a 'she must be amazing to hug' sort of way, has dark curly hair that looked almost plaited down and the sides to leave her with a tiny mohawk, snakebite piercings, tattoos up her arms of cartoon robots and other creatues and the words 'LAFF LOUD' tattooed on her knuckles. She's beautiful in a way. Her voice is almost childlike and the way she sings so fast sort of puts you in a trance as you listen to her frankly honest lyrics over her guitar. From her lyrics alone you can tell she either has an amazing imagination or has lived one hell of a life, and although I cant always find them relatable, I could listen to her for days on end.
The whole gig has such a homely feel to it down from the lighting to the way Kimya and her two backing musicians, who were boy and girl twins of about 19 or 20, had to tune between every few songs as theyd not had time to soundcheck. It finished about 11 and we needed to be back in time to get our last train so unfortunately didnt have time to meet her, which I was gutted about but I shall try to next time she plays the UK! Also, on the way home some had killed themself on the Victoria Line. This is the second time after a gig and the third time in total this year that Sam and I have been travelling to London and someones gone under. I think we're cursed!
