The little fella

Despite two fairly big Minx-assisted clear outs - firstly packing for the move home and then again while unpacking - I still have a lot of clothes. I don't think I buy a lot more that most people, it's just that I never throw any away.

Consequently, I have clothes for pretty much every occasion. I can do black tie, smart business, corporate casual, informal, Nordic police detective, scruffy, as well as Man Whose Running Gear Appears To Have Shrunk In The Wash. Plus, at the risk of sounding immodest, I think I usually get my outfit appropriate to the circumstance. Tonight, though, was not one of those occasions. 

Dan had asked me to take him to see a band called Milk Teeth, who were playing at The Courtyard in Birmingham, this evening. So while Abi went out with the Minx and miniMinx, Dan and I set off down the M6. We had an enjoyable trip, listening to and chatting about music, which was only interrupted by some extraordinary flash storms, which slowed the motorway to ten miles an hour and left us driving cautiously through newly born yet short-lived rivers. 

We found the venue without any problem, which turned out to be the back hall of a pub called The Rainbow. It was at this point that I realised that for once I had got my clothes all wrong. There were plenty of (much) younger people, all dressed in black. Then there was a generational gap whose far side was populated by lots of gentlemen around my age wearing faded black t-shirts declaring their love for The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers et al.

Reader, in my corduroy jacket and blue and white striped M&S cotton shirt, I looked like the tragically uncool guy from the record label. 

Still, Dan didn't seem to be embarrassed to be sat with me as we had a drink in the bar before going back through to the venue. We stood for the first act, Half Asleep, who were rather good, in that way of young bands whose DNA is suffused by The Pixies, Nirvana, Blink 192, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Muse, and so on. The drummer was particularly good - which seems far more in evidence in young bands - and I liked the bassist who reminded me of Graham Coxon. Only the singer's between song banter let down the band, which was awkward and passive-aggressive.

Then there was a gap before the next band and we moved over to some terraced seating I'd seen - just a couple of big steps, really - and I waited while Dan went to buy a Milk Teeth t-shirt and then disappeared to get changed. He was happy enough sat with me but when the next band, EatMe, came on, he wanted to go and stand in front of the stage. The hall wasn't that big and not yet that full, so I was happy enough for him to do that.

The band themselves, were good: the same family tree as Half Asleep, for sure, but a little more experimental, a little more sure of what they enjoyed doing. I'm basing that on what was left of the set after I had recovered from the lead guitarists apparently unironic sporting of a sweat band around his head, which gave me flashbacks to Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. 

Another break, during which the hall filled up for Milk Teeth. It becomes apparent that Dan intended to return to his spot in front of the stage and I must admit to being a little more nervous, this time. He's six foot tall but stick thin, and also, I was pretty sure, the youngest guy in the venue. I wasn't sure what the older and 'cooler' kids would make of his unabashed enthusiasm, cheering and clapping.

I needn't have worried, though. He positioned himself just on the edge of the informal mosh pit and, as things got rowdy, proved adept and retreating to the point of safety. And things did get lively as Milk Teeth got into their set. Dan's played me quite a lot of their stuff, which ranges from the kind of head-down heavy guitar, bass and drums typified by the support acts through to a couple of pieces that reminded me of the work that Polly Harvey did with John Parish. 

You can see Dan in the middle of the photo, in the red and black checked shirt he was wearing over his new Milk Teeth t-shirt. At this point it was all still calm and I watched as Dan intently studied what the guitarist were doing. It was only towards the end as people started stage diving that I got down from my seat and moved to within three or four yards of Dan, but I needn't have worried; he was safe enough.

I must say that I enjoyed the gig and also that the support bands were more enjoyable that most of the ones that I see when I go to see bands that I like. Dan loved it, though, the whole evening, and was great company all the way home. I'd like to take him to more gigs like this - and try to avoid the larger venues - but next time I'm going to dig out my 'Being Boiled' t-shirt!