The Monkey Bar (formerly the Globe Nightclub) has come up nicely. The old Globe part hasn’t changed much, but the new bar at the back looks good, with lots of windows and a warehouse vibe. It’s one of the few band venues that doesn’t look like a concrete bunker from the inside, but this does mean you get some noise coming in from the Amplifier* when the music is quiet.

Kat and I rocked up at about ten pm, meaning we missed Chrism+Fenris and Steve Parkin, but we did get to see the Tigers and.. who were those guys? Adam Said Galore. It was a funny lineup choice putting those two bands together, because they sound very alike. They both have a kind of Indie, noodley, not-much-lyrics thing going on, but the Tigers also have a keyboard / trumpet player and a really nerdy psycho-lookin’ lead singer, so they came off a bit better. Nothing against Adam Said Galore - they’re very good - but I prefer the Tigers. I can’t listen to two bands of the same genre in a row anyway. I’d laugh if they put Ten Speed Racer after that - then ASG would have been the ones who looked interesting and innovative.

While we were there we bumped into Gabby, who’s getting a PhD proposal of her own together to study creative writing. She wants to do a collage of politically correct feminsm and sado-masochism. I imagine Gabby’s take on that would be quite confronting, if not downright terrifying, so it should be an interesting bit of literature :) We also saw some people from Murdoch, Chris from C+F, and Natalija of the Stolen Typewriter who was helping out on the door. We didn’t stay around too long, but it was good to get out and see some bands. I only just realised this, but with a few weeks’ respite from loud music my ears have lost that little ringing sound. Now, like a biomed researcher off to the bottle-o, I’m going back for more abuse.

*Amplifier still sucks. It’s way too lound, the drinks are too expensive and there’s nothing to sit on.