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Oh holy mother of god. I could actually just end this post right here because those five words pretty much sum up last night. But then again, you all know me better than that…
Running on Italian time as per usual, Inggs and I arrived at The House of Rasputin (yes, the strip joint) about an hour and a half late for New Holland’s CD launch thingy, which I have to admit, was brilliantly organised. I hadn’t even gotten my bearings before a staff member thrust a glass of red wine into my hand. I should’ve taken this as a general foreshadowing of where the night was headed.
As can be expected at these shindigs, all the cool kids were there, sipping on free wine and watching the strippers displaying their best skills with, I mean, ON a pole. Oh god, whichever way you say this it sounds dirty. Inggs also very cleverly pointed out to me that the stage was shaped like a dick. She’s got a dirty mind, unlike my squeaky clean one. So back to the strippers… Strippers in python skin. Strippers in leopard skin. Strippers in black. Strippers in white. Strippeeers. Are you getting the general picture here? And despite New Holland’s takeover of the venue, it was very interesting to see the German and Korean “clientele” looking at all of us and wondering what the hell was going on.
It was nice to catch-up with people I haven’t seen (or if I have, haven’t spoken to) in a while. After a bit of banter, New Holland did a nice little mishmash performance with old and new songs, but I was standing right next to a Bundi amp that was on top form, so I wasn’t exactly able to fully appreciate the tunes. And for the amount of people that had been invited, the room in which they played wasn’t able to properly accommodate everyone. In retrospect though, I actually quite enjoyed New Holland’s set, there’s nothing like a little bit of pop tart goodness every now and again. Plus all the songs they played off ‘01’ evoke good memories of legendary summer escapades in Stellies. But it was around the point where TeeJay stripped – okay fine, so he only took his top off – and started singing “Fuck me like a Hurricane” off one of the new tunes aptly titled ‘Hurricane’ on their new album ‘Exploded Views’ that Inggs and I lost interest and went to get a drink.
The rest of the night is a blur. And I lost my bank card. And woke up at 2 o’clock with a horrendous handover. Goddam free wine.
And if you haven’t noticed already, New Holland are everywhere. They’re on 5fm, on MK and quite soon at a-venue-near-you. I have no doubt that they’re going to gain a significant amount of commercial success with this album which I (regrettably) do not yet own. Good luck boys.
Highlight: Seeing a buddy of mine I matriculated with working at The House of Rasputin as a waitress. She’s a legend. And remember, “If you take photos of the dancers, they’ll break your camera.” Yeah. Thanks for the tip.
TeeJay at Wilgenhof Kwod earlier this year. Good times.
