Sinister: Has He Ever Seen Dundee? Yes, He Has.

[Krister Bladh]

Dear sinister,
I came back after spending two weeks in my favourite country – Scotland – a week ago. I was going to tell you all about it sooner but I’ve been kind of busy settling in since I got back to Sweden. Sorry.
Anyway, me and my family took the ferry from Gothenburg to Newcastle (so we could bring the car). Driving to Edinburgh we stopped in Kelso on the way up. I was mostly interested in seeing Edinburgh and Glasgow, but my parents don’t care for big cities. So unfortunately I only got 2 ½ days per city
  In Edinburgh I managed to get away from the family and met up with Niko from a long-forgotten b&s-related mailing list called “Sinister”. You might’ve heard of it. I thought there would be lots of sinister folks in Edinburgh, but as I said I only met one. He was really nice though. Showed me around and provided me with me loads of mp3s and chocolate. He also took me to some record stores, a café (with a suspiciously Swedish name) and the uni buildings. The latter kind of disappointed me – grey looming concrete structures from the 60s – seeing as the rest of the city is one of Europe’s finest architecture-wise. And I was thinking about studying in either Edinburgh or Glasgow next !
 autumn
 you can see which it’s leaning towards. I picked up some great records at the Avalanches – This Poison!, Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes, Boyracer and a Shop Assistants/Chesterfields flexi from 1985. Impossible to find in Sweden. Oh, I looked up the flexi when I got home
 turns out it’s called The Legendary Golden Subway Flexi (impressive, huh?).

Then we headed over to Glasgow, where I was going to see b&s at the The Arches. That day will be hard to beat! I started out talking the bus from Dennistoun where we were staying. Not a nice part of the city
 I met up with Stacey who was kind enough to give me a proper b&s tour of the city. So, we were mostly in the West End, which I just loved. Sights included Stuart’s street, the former Grosvenor Café and suchlike. And I got to hear some gossip about Stu, who everyone seems to know around here. Judging from what I heard, I guess I’m glad I don’t and he can remain a somewhat mystical legend. We also went to Kelvingrove Park (which was almost as beautiful as the botanic gardens in Edinburgh) and the university. Of course we went to Avanlanche as well and I was bit surprised that this was the record store were Gavin had seen Tracyanne put up a poster asking for a bass player and Camera Obscura had come into being. We talked to Gav for a bit and he almost promised the band wou!
 ld do a proper tour of Sweden later this year! And I got my records a lot cheaper so I can see why they don’t want him working there anymore
 After lunch at Mono, Stacey went to work and I went into Monorail and had a chat with Stephen Pastel. He DID talk that slow in reality as well! I was going to meet up with some more people before the gig but I had some time to kill so I went over to The Arches to see if I could somehow get in to meet the band. I asked the guy at the reception and pretended I was going to see Stuart. I don’t know if it worked but he told me sit down and wait. After a while I got tired of waiting and I’d noticed this door which was marked “no entry”. But people were walking in and out so I thought I might as well go ahead. It soon turned out the other guys walking in and out were the support band (The Flying Matchstick Men) and I was probably NOT supposed to be inside. Anyway, no one complained and I got to see most of the soundcheck. I was a bit distra!
 cted though as my camera had run out of film and refused to rewi!
nd itse
 photographs I’d taken that day. Well, after the soundcheck most of the band went backstage but Stu stayed and was rummaging around in his bag. I was really nervous, but I managed to walk up to him and talk a bit. He seemed very nice and even let me give him a hug!

So, then I walked round the corner to Crystal Palace to meet up with the lovely Tara who had just come to Glasgow from Australia via Barcelona. After a while some other sinsters/bowlies turned up as well including idleberry and another chris. It was kind of strange going to the gig with people who’d seen b&s countless times. Both Tara and I had only seen them once before so we were really excited at least. It was a benefit show for G8 Alternatives so they didn’t play a full set. And it was all new songs, except for a few requests (Dog On Wheels, The Wrong Girl, Judy and Dream of Horses and Sleep the Clock Around – there’s a full setlist on bowlie). They were all good and I got to hear them twice since they had played all of them at the soundcheck! Kind of in the vein of DCW.

Then we went north and saw Loch Lomond and the Trossachs on the way to Isle of Skye. We were actually there on the exact days of the music festival, which featured Mylo and Idlewild among others. Should have known about that beforehand... The funny thing is, on the way to Skye I spotted a pink plastic sign by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, which read Mylo. Perhaps he had stopped to relieve himself and felt he had to mark out the spot? If you see it – don’t approach it!

On the way back we stopped at Loch Ness and Inverness. Inverness seemed like a nice town but we only spent one night there, too bad. We also went to some whisky distilleries including Edradour where you got a dram for free! And I got two because brother doesn’t fancy whisky. The next stop was Fife and St Andrews (driving through Perth and Dundee on the way). St Andrews was very pretty, though it seemed a bit posh. People were graduating from the university just that day, so that could be why everyone was so dressed up. It made me look forward to studying in Scotland, seeing all those people in their funny capes and everything. Marisa had recommended the East Neuk and a village called Elie by the coast. But due to wasting too much time in another village called Crail (parents can be stupid sometimes) we were only in Elie for a few minutes. The beach was lovely though. The last place of interest that we visited was Dunfermline, the old capital of Scotland (as you might know if!
  you’re Scottish), and then it was back to Sweden for me.

As I said I’ve been really busy since I came home. Only the day after I went to a one-day festival called Perfect From Now On and saw Calvin Johnson and International Airport but not Television Personalities as they cancelled two days before. To be expected, I suppose. Tomorrow I’m going to see Sonic Youth, Smog and Teenage Fanclub. Now I have to go to bed because I’m getting up at 2.30 am to distribute the morning papers.

see you and goodnight
chris

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