The Fierce And The Dead At The Moon Club

A day for stress busting ...

A day for catching up with an old friend ...

I was up early and off to Newport Wetlands for the second time this week. This time I was meeting up with my good buddy Nigel. I thought it had been a couple of weeks since I saw him last, turns out I haven't seen him since January, when we went to Slimbridge! (Where has this year gone?)

It was a glorious morning. The Savi's Warbler seemed to have moved on, although there were enough people hanging around to have spotted it if it was just being elusive. The highlight of the morning was a Marsh Harrier drifting up the levels. It was too far off to photograph, if we had been in the hide it would have been right in front of us ... ahh well. It is still a magnificent bird to watch.

Here's a couple of shots from the morning.

Pochard

Great Crested Grebe

Mating Green Veined White Butterflies

And possibly the best photo of a sheep I have taken ....

I figured you'd had enough feathered blips of late, so I went for hairy rock guitarist instead.

I went down to The Moon Club in Cardiff tonight for a bit of instrumental stoner and prog rock. I've never been to the venue before. It was an interesting place, but I kind of liked it .. reminded me of the Axe and Cleaver in Boston. I've never been to a gig where you have had to ask the guitarist if you could go past to go to the loo!

It was great fun. The first band up were called Thorun. Some really thumping stoner riffs and guitars that could not possibly be down tuned any lower!

The reason I was there was to see Matt Steven's rock band, The Fierce And The Dead. We first came across Matt back at Trinity Live, where he did his acoustic set with guitar loops. He's one hell of a guitarist and one helluva advert for Duck Tape! I've rarely seen a more intense forty minutes of energy packed into a single performance. Dead chuffed I saw them before they go into a bit of hiatus. I'll look forward to Matt's new projects, I suspect he is not a man to sit still and let the grass grow under his effect pedals.

The final band were called ANTA. A thundering Space Prog Band. It was all a bit cosmic and trippy at times, but I must admit I rather enjoyed it. It was a long old day, and my ears are ringing! But I am glad I made the effort to go down this evening, I almost didn't.

I have edited a few photos from the night and added them to this Flickr album.

Thorun/ The Fierce And The Dead/ ANTA

I will be adding more when I get chance.