Added on Tuesday 8 Jun 2010

West End Volume 40

Like a blow to head, it hit me. Actually it was a blow to the head as the simple matter of replacing the roll bar bushes on the Bluesmobile had led to the collision of a 27 mm diameter steel bar with my real, actual and very organic head. Back to the story, you fool. I should also stop talking to myself. Or at the very least, I should be polite to myself.

Sometime after the blow to my head, I had been listening to one of my favourite drinking songs - "Drunken Than Satan" by Horatio Lee Jackson in case you were interested - and a moment of philosophical analysis overcame me. Drink (the strong stuff and not mineral water, Tizer or anything called a smoothie) and music are closely intertwined. Those infernal music festivals that run during the summer season are sponsored for the most part by drinks companies and stories of alcohol abuse - a bottle of Jack for breakfast, anyone? - abound amongst our musical heroes. Admittedly, most of them get a bit dead rather quickly when they decide to avoid the Weetabix option.

So, I'm in the Liquid Ship to see Brigid Kaelin, Butch Ross and Reptile House. Ms Kaelin immediately blames me for introducing her to Lagavulin on her previous visit to dear old Glasgow. Personally, I think I did the right thing as I could have introduced her to Buckfast instead. And who else happened to be there? The guy that sells Laphroaig in the USA (10,000 miles a year selling malt whisky in America AND getting paid for it?) was there too. It's all coming together in my head.

Get to the point (and stop talking to yourself) Drink and music are intertwined. It's the natural order of things. Much as I like mineral water - oh, no you don't, says a pantomime horse on the bar stool next to me - it would be wrong for something strained through ten thousand kidneys (you don't actually believe it comes from beneath super pure volcanic rock do you?) to be allowed anywhere near the creative process. You can take the moral high ground if you like but I'll be the bar with the musicians. And I'll be blaming my sore head in the morning on a 27mm diameter steel bar.

Brigid Kaelin - /www.brigidkaelin.com

Butch Ross - www.butchross.com