"Look at Johnny Miner over there with the head torch!"

Yesterday Lonewolves played a show at the Tap 'n' Tin in Chatham. The show was an all-dayer with around 12 bands playing throughout the day. We were on at 6pm.

Leaving Norwich at 12pm, Smalls and I thought that would leave us enough leeway to arrive at the venue with time to spare and would allow for the potential hold-ups caused by any traffic we encountered on the way. Good job we did.

Upon hitting the M11 we became stuck in a traffic jam that was the result of a multi-car accident no more than 300 yards in front of us. We remained stationary for around 90 minutes, in which time we airdrummed to Baroness, decorated the car with some Christmas decoration smalls had found in the boot and both ate the food that we'd brought to lst us the day. Cabin fever is a bitch.

Anyway, we arrived at the venue just after 5pm and loaded in. AMS and Payne were already there and said we were on at 5.30pm so we leisurely set up our equipment and then played what turned out to be a really fun set. Maybe it was being stuck in a car for five hours, but all four of us gave it everything when we played and the reception we got from the 50 or so people gathered (a pretty good turnout for a Sunday all-dayer in my experience) was really positive. We loaded out straight after our set and managed to sell a fair bit of merch which is always a bonus when you've travelled quite a long way to play.

We stuck around for Almost Home as we've been scheduled toplay with them a few times but have had to pull out at the last minute on every occasion, plus they're really nice guys to we wanted to show our support. They played a really good set which made me feel a bit sorry for them in a way really. See, Almost Home and More Than Life both started at around the same time and I actually got the AH demo before I got the MTL one. Both bands play melodic hardcore in the style of Go It Alone, Stay Gold, etc and both do it really really well. It's just MTL are signed to a 'bigger' label and tend to receive a lot more recognition; which is a shame because Almost Home deserve their share of credit. That's hardcore I guess.

Anyway, thank you to anyone who watched us yesterday. Smalls and I were talking on the way home and we both agreed that one of the things we love about being in bands is driving for hours all over the country just to play a show. As a good friend of mine once said, "everything is ok when I'm behind my drums" and that's true. Try explaining to a work colleague that you drove all the way to Chatham, stayed there for just over an hour and then came home again and they probably won't understand your motivation or reasoning, but there's honestly nothing I'd rather be doing than playing music to a group of like-minded people. Those people who do make the effort to come and watch us play, especially on a wet Sunday tea time, they make it all worth it.

xo