Carling Academy: anything more to say?

Carling Academy Islington N1 Centre 16 Parkfield Street London N1 0PS

There is nothing more exciting and entertaining that unplanned nights. It´s been a while since I realized about this for good, but I´m nothing but confirming it here in London. You may have a huge pub crawl organized with your best friends and their she-friends and, of course, the outcome of the night will be a bloody pain in the ass. In the other hand, meet some but not too many friends in a pub for a chilling evening with nothing else than having some Staropramen in mind, and you end up discovering there is a club in London called as your nickname. And with good music, good mood and fairly cheap priced beers.

So we started, Juanfran and me, in a pub called the Camden Head, but not in Camden, but in Ingliston, an area I didn´t know at all before coming to live here and that fortunately is an endless source of Pintofcarlingplease posts. When you meet in a Friday at 7pm you know what the outcome is going to be, of course: a more blur and funny world, at least for that night. And so far so good, with several drinks and another five friends on board conforming a fairly international crew (four Spaniards, a French and Welshman), we started that such a Spanish thing consisting in wasting half of the night in order to try to decide which is the next place to go. Not this time, as Juanfran proposed a club he remembered wasn´t too bad around the corner: the Carling Academy. Of course, with that name it was a compulsory thing to try, even if it was just for a one-off. And I reckon it will not be a one-off, as we all enjoyed the place all the way through.

Carling Academy, unfortunately, is a chain... yeah, I know, this is supposed to be an authenthic blog and bla bla bla bla. You see the cross, there, in the explorer, up in the right? Just press it, is it such a complicated thing? Hehehe, just kidding... there are Academies in Oxford, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, and so on. I´ll talk about the one I know: the Islington one (there are another two in London, in Brixton and somewhere else).The club is just a typical London club, with two different rooms: an 80´s and a 90´s one. The 80´s, smaller, is more like a bar and they play classic 80s stuff: Van Allen, Aerosmith, etc etc etc. Packed with nice looking chicks, it is good fun.

However, the one I liked more is the 90´s one. Bigger, this is a real club indeed, with DJs playing music and random groups of people scattered through all over the place. They play classic 90´s stuff, that is, the kind of music they used to play on the radio while I was a teenager and I started to go out. Oasis, Blur, Green Day and all the usual suspects altogether, those guys up there know how to make you shake your ass with the music. The place is big enough (800 people is the official capacity, but I guess more people than that can squeeze there) to allow you to lose your friends for a while if you are interested on that, and, just in case you feel the music is becoming a bit cheesy, you have always the pretty enjoyable 80´s room. A good deal, hence. And if you are lucky enough, you may assist to a great gig as well. Bands as The Cure, Prodigy, Franz Fer or Muse have played there since its opening at 2003.

About the drinks (and we had quite a lot), there are obviously spirits and two beers: Carling and Carling Extra Cold . Just joking, but almost everybody drinks Carling over there. They give you custom Carling Academy glasses with just one problem (but a big one): plastic glasses. I know this is a common thing in most clubs in London (while you don´t get straight the can without glass), but I still can´t get used to it.

Prices fair, cheap even. A Carling was less than 3 quid, which is very likely the cheapest you may find in a Club in London. Not too sure about spirits, but I guess those were quite overpriced, as the cloak room (2 pounds to leave your coat there). I cannot remember how much was the door cover, but I want to remember it was around 6 pints. Again, affordable. And enjoyable, which is the actual point!

The trendy Foundry

84-86 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3JL

What an unexpected surprise. Right in the middle of Old Street (not just the area, but the bloody street itself), the Foundry is one of those places you may have passed besides quite a lot of times in your life, specially if you live in London (as I do), you go out frequently in Old Street (as I recently do, as most of my friends live in that shithole) and you fancy trendy looking buildings (as the Foundry one is).

Of course, from the outside it looks just as another Shoreditch dive, with the aggravating point of looking ´modern´ (in the worst meaning of the word). Back in Madrid, when you have to decide if you wanna live for long or if you wanna die early and leave a nice carcass because all the booze you are having is just piss, well, at that time you (I) decide that going out in Malasaña is not an option anymore. When you are asked for a preposterous amount of money for a drink, and right after you get the first sip you are paying for as fucking gold and you realize it is pure biohazard stuff… well, then you, again and again, decide that going out in Malasaña is not an option anymore. And that place, the Foundry, definitely looked like from the outside as one of those again and again places.

By no means. Luckily, London is not Madrid, and Old Street is not Malasaña. In fact, Old Street is more the ´Huertas´ type of area, with an incoherent of bars mixing techno (Aquarium, opened until 11am, but that´s another history), rock, brit pop or whatever you have in mind without involving Bisbal (if you are planning commiting suicide just visit his fan club and jump) or Spanish crap. And luckily too, I can assert the Foundry is a great place, and for quite a lot of different reasons, indeed. And I am quite sure that I am (funnily) not too sure which one would I select, if I had to. Maybe its so cool deco, completely stuffed with second hand furniture randomly distributed around the place. Or maybe its so many old screens and ancient monitors and computers, playing random images sometimes poetic and sometimes just absurd, but funny and interesting nevertheless. Or maybe, just maybe, the toilets, where graffiti is allowed and everybody seems to help themselves: not a single inch of floor, ceiling or wall can be found without a clever message or a smart drawing, or, hell, the same bullshit about racists and punks blaming each other you may find wherever loo in the word you end pissing in.

The lecture room is also pretty good stuff. The poetry room they call it… well, whatever they want. Just because it has some shelves and books on it is not a good reason enough to call it a poetry room, but, hell, who am I to complain? With plenty of places to sit down and enjoy a drink and a good conversation with friends, the Foundry is, as a conclusion, a great place to go.

As I´ve said before, this place looks right this sort of place you overpay for everything. Not the case, though. A pint of Carling is just 2.60 quid (an awesome price in London in a late opening pub), and Stella is only slightly more expensive than that, 2.90. Top up that with a good looking and nice waitress who seems to enjoy her job more than she should, and you have the perfect cocktail. At least, the most perfect one you can afford with 2.60 :).

About the people, well, an incredible mixture of the classic trendy crowd and bike couriers outside enjoying a well deserved pint. Thankfully, not too pretentious any of them, and some even funny, as the self styled DJ who asked silence to everybody just to wish all of us to enjoy a great night. Everybody wears whatever they want, which by the way is not really something special anywhere in London , and everybody seems really pleased to have met themselves. Good for them all, long life for the Queen, and good for me while I can have a big mouthed laugh about how crazy sometimes they are.

Finally, the music. Sometimes is hard electronic stuff, I´ve heard, which doesn´t make much sense under my opinion as most people is just sit down and talking. Both days I´ve been there the music was sort of chill out, quite aloud but bearable all the time.

I´ll be back.

Congratulations!!!

We have another potential twitter/bloger in the world (thanks to sbs and Elena), and this is something to celebrate!! Congratulations my friend, I'll have a pint on you three!!

And my best desire is Jorge will comply with this quote I read yesterday:

"The cure for unhappiness is happiness, I don't care what anybody says!"
Elizabeth McCracken, Niagara Falls Over Again.

Spot the differences

It will not be possible to spot the differences... I was trying to find a picture of 'Castellana 45' (my former job colleagues back in Madrid know quite well what dodgy place I am talking about) and my new desk... 7 differences would be too many, I´m afraid:



1. Now I have light and sunshine (yes, even in London)
2. My own desk. Everyday.
3. My own PC (I hate laptops everyday a little more)
4. My 45'' wide screen (yes, it is actually mine and nobody else's :D )
5. Snooker Gran Prix semifinals in my 45'' wide screen
6. My mug, my plant and my telephone. Even if I´m not a manager
7. Leaving it while it is still daylight outside (again, yes, even in London)

Que viene el Koko!!! (Koko´s coming :D)

1A Camden High Street, London, NW1 7JE
I know it´s been a long time since the last post. I have been busy (and you know what I mean ;)), sorry about that.

So Koko. This is just a great place to enjoy a night out. Apart of the problem that going to Camden involves if you are not around (we spent quite a lot of money going and coming back by cab), the real thing is it worth it the trip. And I can effortlessly recommend it to everybody who comes to London, for a month, a week or just a night out.

It didn´t look like it was going to be an amazing night, though. A friend from Madrid came to visit me, and we spent the best part of the evening having some drinks in the City (you know I love Fleet Street, don´t you)? After that we went to a pub in Old Street, where we were supposed to meet Oscar&Oscar, and so we did. And luckily for us, they where in the mood for a long hard party night, and we were too. And Victor, and some of his Portuguese and English friends as well… where to go? Koko. Just remember it. Koko.

It is an old theatre that opened for the first time on 1900 and is located just in front of the Purple Turtle (a Reading´s classic that has its bigger sister here in Camden). The queue as we arrived was certainly scaring and discouraging, but you know how it works here in the UK: everybody keeps the line, nobody jumps the queue and in a fairly civilized way you are in. You pay a quid for the wardrobe, you try to get cash from the ATM (and you are not successful at it), and you go deep in it. And as soon as you get through the main corridor, you are right in the middle of an amazing old fashioned theatre, with its 7 different floors (where the stall seats are), with several bars scattered around them.

Of course, as proper tourists, the first thing we did was going til the very last floor, so we could say ´aaaaaaaalaaaaaaaaa´ (ghossssshhhhhhhhhh, if you wanna translate it in a quite poor way). It is really impressing the view from there, even more if there is a gig going on the lower floor, as it was the case. For those who read this from Barcelona, just imagine La Paloma, and add 7 floors with seats, bars and people partying around it. Just enjoyable.


I cannot remember the band playing that nite, but they were good enough to enjoy a couple of songs and bad enough to realize at the third one that what we had to do was moving forward to the bar (any of them) and get some drinks. I had to queue quite a lot to get’em, but sometimes it seems you are supposed to wait. The waitress was nice, but clumsy. And I am one of those who prefer an efficient waitress to a good looking one… but that´s another story.

This is quite probably the only reasonable problem the club has: prices. A can of Red Stripe is 3.50 (fair enough), but spirits are clearly not affordable: over a fiver the double. Therefore getting fucking pissed before getting there is quite a good option. Listen to me: just enjoy for a while the different stalls and boxes, be a naughty guy if you have a nice chick in your side and, if you don´t, go downstairs as it is right there where the party is. And the girls. And the music. And the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums…

As Susana reads this blog now I will not be too explicit :). But I have not ever been in a place with such a good nice-to-not ratio girls. Quite a lot of Spanish and Italians (it was bank holiday back in Italy), but also Nordics, English and wherever you wanted to select. As I am in a relationship the experience was just like being in the theatre (again)… admiring a very good piece of God´s work.

Between all this, Victor´s always crazy friends (I cannot ever remember their names) helped to contribute to a reckless night. Nevertheless, it seems to me this is one of those clubs you can have a good time whoever you go with. Again, while you don´t drink in the bar, but before you get in…

The music helped as well. Not the most famous songs, but mostly indie and indie-electronic music, with an DJ evolving from Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers to more Britis stuff, like brit pop and so on, and, of course, the always colossal closing for a night the ´Last Nite´ (Strokes) is. Can you really ask for something else? Yes, an Euromillon winning. That was an obvious one, dude...

Armani Metal

Remember how excited I was about the Metallica gig I went to in the O2?
Well...

Live music at the Dice Club

Old Blue Last 38 Great Eastern St, EC2A 3ES

The first rule of the Dice Club is anybody speaks about the Dice Club.

:D

This interesting event is one of those itinerant clubs here in London, broadening music perspectives of all those who have what it takes to go out on Sunday. As my friend Victor works everyday but Sundays, for me it is a great chance to go to several gigs at least once every two weeks, which is when the club gathers...

Well, this sound as a quite stupid thing, doesn't it? We had pretty good fun. First of all, the place: this last time, at the Old Blue Last, in Shoreditch. Shoreditch, in the borough of Hackney (East London), is one of those buzzing areas in London that so easily you can love or hate. Ugly, dirty, with loads of petty fried chicken takeaways, it also hosts some of the most interesting clubs, bars or pubs in London. Quite close to Old Street as well, it is a great place for start the night out and move to the latter later on when the clubbing moods are high.

The Old Blue Last is a nice place to enjoy a night out. It has a couple of floor, the ground one where the pub itself is and the first one, where gigs take place. As an advantage compared to most places with this structure, they have a bar in the fist floor, so you can enjoy the music and have several Becks pints at the same time. And I say Becks because of the three different beers I tried, I have to say that one was the only really drinkable, I'm afraid.

The sound quality was average, even bad I'd say. That didn't matter too much, as we were there for fucking-loud-and-punk music, but maybe for a different type of concert it may be a relevant problem.

What about the bands? Here we go...

1. Joy-Rides

Awesome band, the most punk thing I’ve been into for a while. Joy-rides do not play punk music, though. Indeed, they do not play music. They use noises, loud instruments, in a weird and difficult to describe mixture. They used a megaphone in several songs, so the frontman was able to go and blend with the crowd, offering his sweat for free to everyone who wanted to be around.

All the instrument were quite discordant, and melody is a word they have to learn yet. But Energy is not. The singer transmitted really a lot every single time he pushed through in any song, specially in the anthem ‘I do what I like!’. This mate, covered in black plasters, completely wasted and trying to guess which was the next song every time, and the very well-looking bass player (she was completely drunk), were incredibly good inspiring the audience. They had a song the drummer was not good enough to play (as he was drunk as well), so they got the Guillotines guitar player to perform it… they seemed to be very good friends, both bands.

As stated, they did not play good music. They are mind blowers. But we all enjoyed the show. And that is the point.



2. Vile Imbeciles

Vile Imbeciles proved to be good musicians, lack of real spirit. Quite noisy as well, they did not really generate a big impression, even while they were much better musicians than Joy-Rides.




3. The Guillotines

Great band, and a cool mixture of both previous bands best elements as well. Good music (Great Music, indeed) and loads of energy. The very beginning was a declaration of principles: they asked the crowd if we where drunk. Nooooooooooo, we answered… so they got a scotch bottle and they started to pure booze in the front rows thirsty spectators, me one of them.


After feeling the hot stuff in our throats, everyone was ready for a great gig, and they didn’t hesitate to perform their best. The guitar player and Joe Coles (the singer) where brilliant, but all the other guys where really good as well. Bass player look (Heidi Heelz) was kind of the Crow Medicine singer, and, at the end, everything finished as a great huge punk party. Really good stuff...



Complains? Well, the delay all the gigs started with, granting me a bad hungover the next day. Such a hard life...