Gig report: The British IBM @ Stockton Calling Festival, Stockton-on-Tees

Band: The British IBM
Venue: Stockton Calling @ The Vaults, Stockton
Date: 07/04/12
Audience: Busy, awesome
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Dirty Little Cannibal, The British IBM, God's Front Porch, Animal, 3 Years, Guns, Washing Machine
Notes: Although it's bloody miles away, this was our third gig in Stockton in less than a year. The reasons why we keep going back is simple; we love it, and they like us, and I'm sure those two things are related. Also, our manager - a complete legend of a man called Matt, is a big part of their scene. Arriving in good time to sign a band postcard for the lady on reception at the Travel Lodge and to pick up some more bargains in That's Entertainment (the store we frequent everytime we're in the area because it's so cheap...my purchases this time were all DVD-based; The World Of Lee Evans (the original series from back in the day when I liked his stuff, in a Mr Bean kinda way), both Steptoe & Son movies and three Steve Coogan releases...the whole lot came to £11, that's just daft), we arrived at the venue a couple hours before our set. The Stockton Calling Festival is a one day event across several venues in close proxomity, a bit like Brighton's Great Escape Festival or Wish You Were Here in Cambridge. We did this one acoustic with congas, like the last tour, which made things very easy logistically at least. The venue was busy, sometimes absolutely rammed, with audiences coming and going between venues to see whatever band took their fancy in the programme. Our set was decent I think, I fear I may have damaged my thumb as it seemed to go blue during the gig, but it seems to have gone down a bit now. The newer material isn't perhaps locking in as well as some of the more established songs in the set, but the only way around that is to gig them lots of times because they are some of the strongest material Aidy has ever written - we're tight enough with them, but perhaps we're not playing them with that swagger we have with the material we've gigged and toured with over the last year...give it a few months and they'll be absolutely cracking though. The audience were fantastic throughout, and as usual 'Washing Machine' saw us leaving the stage on a genuine high. After the obligatory mailing list run straight after the set, in which new friends were made, CD's and t-shirts were sold, and my cuddles were pimped out, we were reminded just how much we like playing in Stockton. The people are just so nice. Matt our manager legend then took us on a brief tour around the other venues (including their stunning arts centre) and if anything we were just a bit jealous about the music scene they have up there, but more on that in a second. We then popped back to catch the end of The Broken Broadcast's set - this is the third time we've shared a bill with them now (twice in Stockton, once in Leeds) and they're lovely people, really good to catch up with them afterwards, I like them a lot. Anyway, back to the 'scene' thing. I've never really been a fan of the term 'local scene,' - simply because I'm not sure it's always needed. Surely, at the end of the day if a band is that good, willing to travel, willing to put the hours in and has a bit of luck on their side, where they come from is irrelevant? Point disproved this weekend when, shortly after the excellent Sam Forrest (who is also the singer of 9 Black Alps, and all round friendly person - but yes, pretty much everyone I spoke to on Saturday was friendly, IT WAS A VERY FRIENDLY EVENING), I popped over the road to one of the other venues to catch Young Rebel Set. Having picked up a cheeky promo copy of the band's debut album last year, which I enjoy a lot, I just wanted to catch them live for a few songs to see if they cut the musical mustard. Matt himself is also a fan so joined me, informing me that 6-piece have been going for 10 years now and are heroes of the Stockton scene who are now gaining national acclaim (they do seem to be everywhere at the moment). The venue itself was heaving - absolutely rammed to the doors, with everybody in the room passionately singing every word, hugging, accepting and embracing strangers simply due to the fact they too were into the music. In an odd kind of way it reminded me of some kind of musical revolution, like the footage I've seen of the early 2-Tone gigs. This was more than people simply turning up and enjoying a band, it was like they were supporting a football team. It then occurred to me that the buzz I was feeling had been evident for a lot of the evening, this little town just outside of Middlesbrough is absolutely vibrant; Matt informed me that people in the local area would much rather go to see a live band than to a nightclub, it's just the way they are. They have a scene. It's an exciting one. I've always assumed that music scenes I've read about (Manchester in the 80's, Leeds in the 00's etc) were just exaggerated pieces of lazy journalism because one or two bands of note have emerged from the same city or town at the same time. Wrong, Paul. Scene's do exist, and on Saturday I witnessed one for the first time in real life. After that I returned to The Vaults to see Bluetones frontman Mark Morris play a brilliantly intimate headline slot. We were literally a few steps away from him, it was all a little surreal seeing somebody you admire that much perform a generous selection of hits so close, it was like he was playing in your living room. He was in fine voice throughout, witty and handling the slightly rowdy audience with the confidence of the professional he is. Aidy, Matt and I even spent a while chatting to him afterwards, well - Aidy had met him earlier in the evening and they clearly got on, I shook his hand and stood awkwardly and laughed along with any banter. A brilliant evening, fueled by free beer throughout, concluded with us picking up the regional dish; a Parmo, it was good to try one of those at long last. So - another out of town gig with Aidy and Dave. Another long-ish journey listening ironically to the Simply Red compilation, another shared room in a Travel Lodge, another couple of trips to OK Diner, another hangover. Another lovely audience. More of this please, thank you.