j-day @ albert park, auckland

This was part of a worldwide protest against cannabis prohibition. I thought it was a good cause, and people I knew were going, so I headed down to Albert Park to meet them.

I came, I met, I sat down amongst the large crowd in front of the rotunda, I was shocked and disappointed to find out that none of the people I was with had a lighter. But anyway, we soon solved that problem and then we all sat around not talking and listening to the pretty music.

Jesse James & Sista Mystic were playing. They sounded pretty cool, I remember that much. Maybe they were Reggae, maybe something else. They had nice voices.

And then out of nowhere, I saw someone I recognised walking up to me. I couldn't for the life of me remember who they were. It was pretty damn trippy, and then I clicked. It was Danny from Daemon, and he was a long way from home.

He stopped and chatted with me about how he was on holiday here in Auckland; about how things in Nelson were pretty fucked up since the big drug-raid on Xanataph's place some time around New Year's; about how there might not even be a Nelsonian Black Metal Sabbat this year.

I still couldn't get over how trippy the whole situation was. And then King Kapisi came on stage. This guy was fucking hot. Him and his DJ were really blowing shit up when the sound cut out. But not to worry, they continued on, his DJ backing him up as a human beat-box. It was magical.

Then it started to get colder and darker, King Kapisi finished his set, and everyone took off home. And I had no choice but to go too. But you know, it was a pretty mellow day. I'm sure it didn't do anything to help the cause, but maybe one day...

counteract @ kings arms

Well, the Anti-Kati boys invited me along to see Counteract because their friend Unique is in them. I decided that it might be fun to go out for once. So we turned up to this ridiculous pub, deliberately late enough not to have to see all the other bands on the bill. We pulled up some chairs near the front and waited. DJ D>Form and their other friends were all there.

Eventually they came on. It was ridiculous. They sounded like Korn. The bass player even played his bass down real low to the floor, just like the Korn bass player, especially once he broke his strap. We sat through this 90s metal for a while, then something fucked up with the bass amp or something, so we got treated to some accapella and some free-style from Unique. When they got going again he took off his shirt. This rammed the point home. Angry young white boys. Playing metal.

When it wound up we headed off to The Box for [regular club night] The Realness, but the hip-hop dancefloor was practically empty. I went home feeling more than a little cheated.