#great big cow band

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Rhys Darby has ‘not an ounce of scaredness’ about son’s band dreams

NZ actor Rhys Darby and his musician son Finn interview each other. VIDEO CREDIT: David White/Stuff

Rhys Darby is proudly listing career moments - but they’re not his own.

He’s recalling watching his son Finn’s band, Great Big Cow, “absolutely rock” iconic LA venue Troubadour to sold-out crowds.

As a parent, “you worry about a bit of nepotism,” he admits.

“Are we just ‘yay, our boys!’ when really they’re dreadful?”

But, he says, the band’s indie folk rock is “brilliant”, and keeps getting better. And, he insists, people are paying attention.

“We’re shocked as parents a little bit,” he jokes.

The band, Rhys and I are nestled between a Street Fighter arcade game and a pinball machine, in a dark corner of Auckland’s Whammy Bar. The US-based teen band has been sound-checking for their first international show.

Rhys has donned weathered jeans and a plaid jacket - approved by Finn. His son is wearing Dad’s socks for the night. While Rhys talks, Finn pulls faces and shares quiet in-jokes with his band mates. There are plenty of laughs.

Finn, Paolo Pesce, Will Angarola and Wyatt Nash originally played together in a school jazz combo, and went on to form Great Big Cow in 2022.

Rhys Darby, left, watches his son Finn’s band dreams without “an ounce of scaredness”. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

Now, Rhys insists, they have a growing fanbase. Some of whom “[do] that thing where you dance really closely … Moshing”. He points to my notebook.

“Put down there that I did know what moshing is.”

Sure, Rhys Darby - one of New Zealand’s most well-known comedy exports - helped the band get bums on seats and lock in bigger venues, but they were also recently featured on LA public radio station KCRW’s Young Creators Project, can be found on Spotify and their mainstay is house parties.

“I think because I'm a bigger deal [in NZ], it might have been a little different. In LA, no-one really gives a shit about who I am,” he laughs, looking over at Finn who’s patiently had his hand raised while Dad spoke.

There are people and groups in LA that have helped the band too, says Finn, and he’s not sure those opportunities would have happened back in NZ.

“I would have got you on bFM for sure,” Rhys quips back.

He looks on at Finn’s creative path with, “not an ounce of scaredness”.

“Obviously as a child I had many different dreams, but at the base of everything was art and performance,” he says, describing his younger self as a “dreamer” who wanted to entertain.

Rhys Darby with son Finn before Great Big Cow played Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“When it comes to [my kids], I see different ambitions, but they have the artistic talent - I’m completely open to whatever they want to do. I’ll always be there for them.”

Where New Zealand has a bit of a reputation for tall poppy syndrome and an air of negativity, LA is hugely positive, says Rhys - especially for fostering young talent.

And it was in LA, at a house party, that Finn recalls being caught up in the “electric energy” of playing live.

“The whole audience was moving. And I think two people got lifted up above the crowd and surfed around above the crowd,” he says.

Finn’s not the only Darby putting in some work while in Aotearoa. Following Rhys’s joint 50th celebration with wife Rosie, he’ll be returning to the local stage, performing his Rhys Darby 25 Years stand-up show at Waiheke Island’s Wild Estate on April 3.

It encompasses the best bits from his previous shows, but performing it at Waiheke is “just another excuse to put on a show, really”, and to show his US mates another part of Auckland.

Rhys Darby, following a stint in the army and then university, kicked off his career with stand-up, before becoming a household name with an impressive TV and film CV, including Flight of the Conchords, Yes Man, The Boat that Rocked and Our Flag Means Death.

As for whether he still loves stand-up, “love is a strong word”, he laughs.

“I still enjoy it. But it's it's less of a thrill than it used to be.”

What he’s really loving is throwing himself into acting, and challenging himself with more dramatic roles - different to the very physical, crazy “shenanigans on stage”, requiring more focus for the comedian and “not just being a silly bugger”.

Plus, he’s 50 now.

“It’s much easier to do the stuff where I'm just sitting down,” he laughs.

Still, there’s no denying he’s been part of a movement that threw New Zealand comedy into the wider world, and he speaks proudly about his own work, but also that of other Kiwis such as filmmaker Taika Waititi and actor Rose Matafeo.

It’s a type of comedy, he says, that “has a signature” and can’t be copied.

Rhys Darby and son Finn at Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“I think it’s that positivity thing, which is ironic coming from a place with tall poppy syndrome. We don’t like each other but you guys love us, eh?”

It’s one of the reasons Darby is still living in LA, “still waving the flag [and] not changing my accent”.

And while Darby’s big break may have been the role of band manager Murray, when it comes to Great Big Cow he and Rosie “don’t want to be helicopter parents too much”.

“We're there when they have a question.”

And while Rhys says he can’t talk about any of his own projects, Finn interrupts with a quiet word about vague plans for a comedy musical theatre show featuring Rhys and the band.

Looking back at his own career, the highlight was breaking into the US market - name-dropping X Files and Our Flag Means Death as highlights.

“What's next? It's all peaks and troughs,” he says - mentioning Hollywood is turning to AI, but “thankfully, there's no one that can do a better robot impression than me”.

Still, the changing industry is worrying.

“People are losing their jobs, and AI is having a lot to do with it,” he says - dropping the quips and gags for a moment.

“After the strikes, I know, it's taken a while to get the industry back on its feet, but I'm hoping that it will get there,” he says.

“But it is worrying. It's really worrying the moment.”

Source: Stuff NZ

[kiwistede]

Rhys’ new insta-story

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

04/08/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Vico; GreagBigCowBand; New Weekly Event Calendar; Emmy Nomination Discussion with Adopt Our Crew; New Watch Parties; Vote for GLAAD! Fan Spotlight: Stede Quotes Polls; OurFlagMeansFanfiction; Cast Cards; SchadenFreude; Short Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika.

Hey crew, yeah the whole taxes down to the wire thing is kicking my ass so please bear with me when I'm late with these. Once taxes are done I should be in a better spot to be on time and attentive again.

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= Vico Ortiz =

Just some Vico at the most recent Them Fatale Drag Kings Event, holding... Stede?

Src: Them Fatale's IG

Somehow we haven't had many cast & crew sightings the last day so I'm gonna add some peripheral family/crew today!

= Finn Darby / Great Big Cow Band =

Rhys' son Finn is back in LA, and apparently killed it at their latest gig!

== New Event Calendar ==

New Caldendar this week! If you haven't voted for OFMD on the GLAAD fan favorites, please do! Did you know you can vote with multiple emails or even the same email? Well you can! Please click here!

== Uproar ! ==

Uproar's in more theatres!

Visit Blue Fox Entertainment's Linktree for times

== What Parties! ==

Join OFMD Crew, and @iamadequate1 this week for Flight of the Conchords watch parties! You can watch each day at 4pm PT, 7 pm ET, 11pm BST! If you don't have access, feel free to join us on the #RhysDarbyFaction Discord server, you can hit me up for an invite. Hashtags:

#FlagOfTheConchords

#OurFlagMeansDeath

== Taskmaster NZ ==

Series 1 continues Weds at 11am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm BST on any of the @saveofmdcrewmates socials.

#Quartermaster

#OurFlagMeansDeath

Taskmaster

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Adopt Our Crew wanted to clarify the Emmy nomination rumor that's been going around!

Full Thread

Game of Thrones Self Submitting Emmy

Voting Reform Widens Emmy's Embrace

== Fan Spotlight ==

Our friend @iamadequate1 is at the polls again! This time for Stede's favorite lines from OFMD eps 1, 2, 3 of the first season! Have twitter and want to vote? Head on over to their Twitter page.

== Our Flag Means Fanfiction ==

New Our Flag Means Fanfiction! This one's about OFMD Lore! Find them on their: Linktree

== Cast Cards ==

Tonight's card is Jeff 'Not a Single Toureen on Board" Lorch! @melvisik's catching all the extras!

== Schadenfreude ==

Looks like WBD is doing some restructuring. Don those clown noses or honks m'dears!

WBD Article

AdoptOurCrew Twitter Src

== Love Notes ==

My brain is couscous loves. Just know you are glorious, and wonderful and I believe in you whole heartedly. I forgot to include this several days back when Ruibo Qian had it on her Story, but it's my vibe today so I hope it brings you some smiles.

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Today's Theme: Sassy Arms

Darby Courtesy of @funforahermit

Taika Courtesy of @ofmd-ann

[shuttershocky]

I hope it's not much to ask but could you give me some details and the story about shining?

Like I understand she met Nearl and Liz and she was once part of a faction in Kazdel but I also heard that she has some kinda sword ability or something. What is her full story?

To put it simply, Shining was once a member of the Confessarii, a Sarkaz society with great arcane knowledge and wielders of Arts over life and death.

Shining was disgusted when the Confessarii conducted an experiment where they implanted a new mind into someone's body, who ended up being Liz aka Nightingale, and decided to leave them.

Taking Liz with her, Shining wandered out of Kazdel until she came across Margaret Nearl, the champion gladiator of the Kazimierz Major. Despite her victory at the Major and legendary status in her city, Nearl was sentenced to exile from Kazimierz over accusations that she was an Infected, and was essentially left to die in the wilderness.

The three formed a band of wandering healers for the Infected that called themselves The Followers, which is how they eventually ended up in Rhodes Island as medics.

As for her sword, inside her files there's a statement from an anonymous Rhodes Island operator that Shining is the strongest swordsman that they have ever seen (one big statement when Rhodes Island is home to some real freaks of nature), but the act of drawing a sword appears to disgust her. This operator claimed that Shining drew her sword to save them when they fell to an ambush and watched her wipe out an entire platoon in a single flash of light.

Shining claims that this operator was hallucinating while being healed by her arts, but in Near Light her simple presence causes an assassin to rethink their threats, cowed by the raw power they could sense from her.

Shining's little brother is the current leader of the Confessarii and is the Confessarius always seen being the personal advisor to Theresis, which means family drama is sure to result in future chapters.

[blueberry-beanie]

The New Cue #357 February 12:

Everything Everything's Jonathan Higgs

"We were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now"

At the beginning of next month, Everything Everything release their seventh record Mountainhead. It’s another brilliant album from one of the UK’s most imaginative and forward-thinking guitar bands, a quartet who never tread water and have been consistently honing, reworking and outdoing what’s gone before for over 15 years, always coming up with a new version of themselves without ever losing what makes them special. The pillars of their music tend to be a mix of danceable synth-y grooves and inventive art-rock, intricate arrangements constructed around big pop hooks and surrealist lyrics, frontman Jonathan Higgs’ vocal delivery emotive and exuberant at the same time.

Higgs is at the centre of it all, a creative dynamo who seems to sum up their idiosyncratic approach and who has the ability to inject emotion into the bizarrest lyrics, lines such as:

“And no reptiles! Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties, Waiting for the flashing green man Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know”

That one is taken from Get To Heaven’s epic standout No Reptiles.

Or this, which somehow sounds poignant when Higgs sings it on the electro-pop banger Arch Enemy:

“Fatberg you smile, with your grave wax eyes, will you consume me?”

Or how about this oddball corker, from the euphoric electronica of Raw Data Feel closer Software Greatman?

“Maybe I see Klingons on the starboard bow Maybe, I’m a cat inside a sacred cow

Higgs is at it again with this zinger from their excellent recent single Cold Reactor: “I sent you the image of a yellow face To tell you I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me”

That song, released in autumn last year as the first single from Mountainhead, has become Everything Everything’s biggest radio hit yet. It’s spent weeks on the Radio 1 B-list, a very uncommon position for an indie band whose members are all in their late 30s, but its success that sums up the vibrancy and relevance of Everything Everything in 2024. Even better, it probably meant Radio 1 have had to get their heads around this blurb from Higgs on what the new record Mountainhead is about:

“In another world, society has built an immense mountain. To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A ‘Mountainhead’ is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit. The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.”

Well, you don’t get that with Catfish And The Bottlemen. A few weeks ago Niall – that is me, I am The New Cue’s resident Everything Everything nut in case you hadn’t guessed – spoke to Jonathan over Zoom about the mad concept around the new record, the dynamics of being in a band in 2024, his favourite Liam Gallagher tweet and more. I’ve made this playlist of my favourite Everything Everything songs to listen whilst you read,

Hello Jonathan. I love the new record, it feels different to Raw Data Feel, a bit looser… Yeah, it’s got a lot more freedom and it sounds more like a band playing a lot of the time rather than the rigid, more computerised stuff that we were doing before. We made an effort to make it feel a bit more real and laid back.

Was there much overlap? No, partly because we put everything we made for Raw Data Feel on that record, we didn’t leave anything in the banks. We did the opposite with this, we actually went back and looked at some old demos and brought them back to life because we were looking for some kind of angle that we weren’t going to stumble across, we wanted to go back to our youngest selves and go, ‘What was that thing we were doing?’.

That’s interesting, how far back did you go? I think it’s sessions for A Fever Dream, or it might be Re-Animator, so five or six years ago. Some of the songs on this are from that time, or at least elements of them are or a little demo was made and then thrown away and then we went back and said ‘Let’s explore this and breathe new life into it.’

When you’re seven records in and you start to look back like that, does it feel like different versions of the band? Yeah, definitely. There’s definitely been eras, we’ve never got stuck in one way of doing things. There’s an evolution, for good or for ill, since our first songs to now. I can find myself very quickly thinking in those terms when I hear a song from then, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was trying to do this’ and that stuff changes over time and I’m glad it does because otherwise, you just make the same record again and again and no-one wants that.

Yeah. Without naming any names, for some bands it ends up becoming a process of survival and maintenance. Yeah, thankfully, we’re not in that position. I know what you mean, this idea of being a nostalgia act does not appeal very much, partly because we were at our peak three albums in so we can go back and feast on Get To Heaven-era but I have no interest in going back to Man Alive and trying to recreate that partly because we were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now, it wasn’t the glory days by any means. I’m immensely proud of what we did back then but I’m not going to try and retread it. This is an odd thing to say having just said that I went back to some old demos and put them on our new record, but those demos were rejected for reasons that I find interesting now. And I don’t feel that we need to play the games we were playing them because we’re so good at writing successfully now, I think.

Something like Cold Reactor, I didn’t labour over it and I knew as soon as it was done, it was great and I knew that would that would carry us through. It allows you to feel a bit more relaxed about creativity rather than ‘Must get that radio single or we’re doomed!’, which obviously is the burning hot coal under our butts most of the time because it’s easy to take that stuff for granted, popular songs, but you’ve got to actually write them and they’ve got to actually be popular otherwise no-one cares. Basically, every album usually comes down to one, two or three songs and if none of them have any interest, then people just go, ‘Did an album even come out?’.

Cold Reactor is a good example of the band right now, it seems to sum up all that’s great about Everything Everything and it’s become this mad radio hit. I know! We’ve watched a lot of friends’ bands struggle in this period we’ve had, 15 years now. There is a tendency to rest on your laurels or try and repeat the thing and it’s very difficult to not do that. Sometimes, I’ve done it myself when I’ve sat down and written a song and then I get to the end of it, I go, ‘Well, we did that better with X song on Arc’ and it’s like, ‘I could do this and our fans will really like it because it sounds just like us, it sounds just like Arc’ and then we’re like ‘No, into the bin with you, let’s try and take that same sensation but do something new with it’. That often comes down to the production. I think if you were to strip all of our songs of their production, then you could probably find something I’ve written now very similar to something I’ve written.

There’s a simplicity to a lot of the songs on the new album, nothing is overloaded and it makes the more outlandish stuff more potent. That’s been a big thing to learn over our careers. You’ve got the ability to do outlandish stuff, and you’ve got these players who can play really well but that isn’t enough to just present all of those things at once and expect people to go, ‘Wow!’. Some of them will, and that’s how we made our name, the prog dads, as we used to call them, that came to our shows in the very early days and just stand there and go, ‘yes, this sounds like Yes!’, and that’s fine. But that I felt like it wasn’t really a challenge. It felt like being a music student still, trying to dazzle each other with complexity and emotion slowly rose through all that and they all just fell away. I was like, ‘No, that is the hardest thing to communicate’ and that’s the challenge. That’s what the greats do is, they get your emotions and you can’t manufacture that and you certainly can’t bamboozle that into people, you have to start with a strong, simple, true, or as close to true as you can manage, emotion and then you can start having fun with it. I think that’s the thing that took us the longest to learn.

Everything Everything’s work has grown more emotional with every record. You’ve got these big concepts around them but that disguises the fact they feel a bit more personal and vulnerable each time… I think that’s what happens to humans. Twenty-three-year-olds are a strange breed to look to for sustenance when it comes to art, there’s a rawness to being that age, it’s an age of discovery. And that stuff is very exciting but there’s no real reason why someone older would create like that or go to that well, it actually gets quite sad when people try to go to that well. Now I’m older and I’m more of an emotional person and I’m less about fireworks and more about volcanoes! I don’t know how to put it, there’s something much deeper now when I create than when I was a young punk.

On that note, rather than me crowbar into an incredibly long question, why don’t you sum up the concept of Mountainhead? It’s extremely simple, a one metaphor fits all type-deal. I knew I wanted to sing about capitalism but not put too fine a point on it. I mean, it’s not a very subtle metaphor. But I knew there were certain elements of it that I wanted to get across, namely the Sisyphean sort of feeling of it being pointless and also, the fact that there’s this trade-off between building the mountain but having to live in the dark, which was a big touchstone for me when I read Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, this sense that our lives are getting worse in some ways, that the more we progress we’re becoming more isolated and we’re shutting off large parts of our humanity in the search for this goal of ever expanding and growing our economy and trying to climb the ladder. It’s simple enough that you can’t really fault it, I’m not saying this is exactly how we live, there’s not enough to it for it to fail. It’s something everyone gets straight away.

A lot of the lyrics touch on that theme but which of the songs is the most personal to you that veer away from the concept? Probably The Witness, that’s definitely not really related to the concept. That’s pretty personal. There’s a line in there about this… I shot this bird with an air rifle when I was a kid. I walked into the shed and I saw it, this cute little chaffinch or whatever and it just sat there looking at me and then I picked up the air rifle, I knew where it was and I killed it.

You bastard! I know, I’m telling you this now cos I felt bad, I’m not saying it was a good thing! For some reason that came back to me. During the very early sessions on the album, we’d all gone away somewhere and when we got back, Alex went up to his studio at the top of his house and a pigeon had got into the room and thrashed and thrashed to get back out for four days, there’s like blood all over, feathers everywhere. I was like, ‘Guys, this is a sign… we’re gonna call it The Pigeon!’. Obviously we didn’t but birds do get into it - Canary obviously is a song there - and this thing about that bird and it flew into my head. That’s very personal. But then the rest of the song is about some fucked up stuff that happened to me in the pandemic that haven’t properly been able to talk about in these situations because it’s a bit too personal, basically. A lot of Raw Data Feel was about trying to deal with that as well. I should’ve called it Raw Data Deal. That’s the only moment I’ve given over to that thing on this newest album, the last song. I haven’t actually been able to listen back to it because it makes me too emotional when I think about what it’s really about. But that’s not for public consumption, it’s not needed.

Fair enough. Tell me about the dynamic between the four of you, because that seems like a really important point in your longevity. Apart from a very early line-up change, it’s been the four of you the whole way. Yeah, it’s great. We’ve settled into our roles over the last 15 years. Alex [Robertshaw, guitarist and keyboards] is very much the producer now and by way of that, he’s ended up writing a lot of the guitar and keyboard parts, which I would usually write more of in the past. I’ve become completely consumed by the emotion of getting the message across in the lyrics and stuff like that, as well as obviously writing songs. But in terms of how they sound, I’m less and less involved or concerned, that’s Alex’s playground more. Mike [Spearman, drummer] and Jez [Pritchard, bass] are very good at taste-making. Me and Alex do 98% of the composition and then those guys are much more like, ‘Well, I feel like this is a good way for us to go or this is better than this one,’ things you can’t really tell when you’re the creator and you think everything’s great. They’re also really good at the whole business side of the band, which is the less romantic end but incredibly important. So talking to accountants and they’re having meetings with the labels and Mike’s producing the videos, getting organised, all the stuff that me and Alex being “the creatives” are terrible at because we have the luxury of being terrible at them. Those guys fill in the gaps and they’re really, really good at that. Jez is really good at meeting people and all that kind of shit, so it works really well. You’ve got at least one person covering every possible angle. I’m doing a lot of the visual stuff now. I’m designing a lot of the visual side of the band, basically most things that we’re tweeting or videos is all being done by me. As a unit we could basically do this by ourselves... if someone gave us loads of money, which is how we operate.

My last question is a random one but it’s been on my mind. On Christmas Day, you dug up a four-year-old Liam Gallagher tweet where he called the producer Dave Sardy “Dave Sardine”, and I wanted to know how your Christmas Day mind had been drawn back to that. Haha! Well, when it happened someone tweeted it to me and I thought was funny and I retweeted then. Then recently, I remembered it and I went to see if it was still there. It was and I was like, ‘I’m gonna save that for Christmas Day’ - it wasn’t related to what I was up to. It’s just like, right, ‘Christmas Day, time to tweet my favourite tweet’. It will always be my favourite tweet because it’s how angry he is about Dave Sardine. It’s so good.

The full article is available on substack.

[endlessdreamerxoxo]

New friends, Same Boyfriend

I would like to think if Chrissy would've lived, went to college, and did long distance with Eddie, her new college friends would be shocked when Eddie comes to visit for the first time. 

I imagine she would talk about her boyfriend a lot because they would still be in the honeymoon phase and she misses him. She uses the payphone in the hallway of the dormitory at all hours of the day in between classes and meals and before bed if it’s available. Laura just refuses to get her a landline for her room in the hopes that she can curb their interaction and Chrissy could find a boy with a real future.  She also has a lot of polaroids with him and her friends back in Hawkins  (so the Party, the Hellfire Club, and some of her cheerleader squad) on her walls.

So her friends at college would know she has a boyfriend, but I just wonder if they would put two and two together and think Eddie was her boyfriend?  

Especially when I don’t know if Chrissy would described Eddie how everyone else would. Like I could her saying things like this:

“He is like really really tall and has these big brown eyes like a baby cow”

“He created the D&D club back at our high school and he is a great Dungeon Master”

“He is like the goofiest and sweetest person I ever met’

“His favorite book is Lords of the Rings”

“He plays guitar for his band”

I don’t know if that description would prepare them to witness as a van parks outside of the dorm and a giant & scary looking metalhead covered in tattoos, with long hair, and smell like a little weed comes out looking for her.  And Chrissy just comes out and runs into his arms so happy.

 Everyone else is stun.

[manicpixie-dreamguy]

Tom Bombadil (Artwork by Ullakko)

"There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, stumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard; his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. In his hand he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies."

Book 1, Ch 6, The Old Forest, FOTR, LOTR

[electricgaunt]

Live Blog of Interstitial Infinity #9 - The Casino Car, Pt. 2:

the energy from the start!!!

Al and Audrey, both having that experience of, "oh fuck, did I overshare??? I think I overshared, fuck"

money on my motherfucking mind!!!

the "wink wink" from a (presumably??? idk) eyeless aloe plant hell yeah

shadow (to the aloe guy): say something real and true, or else, you absolute fuck

if everyone's screen cheating, it's basically a fair game!

god, what would Al's favorite type of music be?? is it, like, classical or big band music? and then what does post-train Al like (if he lives to be post-train...)

picturing that dramatic uno sports anime parody or the prozd cow card game, during this rock paper scissors card game

Foes At The Table

rock paper scissors actual play, and it's good!!!

audrey recognizing komaeda, LFGGG

audrey recognizing komaeda from tumblr, LFGGGGG

I genuinely thought the komaeda plane crashing comment was going to do a specific call back thing, and I did an out loud, "oh no," in preparation (to reiterate, I truly know nothing about danganronpa)

this conversation amongst the teens is sooo much, I love it

komaeda mentor link with trish???

the vibes from this komaeda kid are real sad huh

uhhhhhhhh

oh fuck

they're here aaaaa

oh no mob is 99 mode and being betrayed aaaaaa???

TRISH UNA!!!

komaeda what is your fucking deal!!!

tf when one of your leaders is super dead but you don't know it yet

NOT THE CALICO CRITTERS

laughing at the now very distinct "before and after" section of these notes lol

imagining Audrey and Al still with the glitter and glowsticks during all this, god

I see we're following the trend of only horrifying deaths for simon

ahHHH HOW MANY OF YOU ARE IN THERE!!!!

I feel overstimulated like Al at the casino for the first time, in a great way

simon feeling like a dad denizen with how much he's dying and being brought back

SHADOW T. HEDGEHOG!

this show!!!! AAAAA

okay gonna stop now and then listen to last ep tomorrow morning, my brain is on fire, really really really good, thank you and good night!!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 aaaa

[spirker]

hi i'm too overwhelmed to watch rhys's murray cameo and i was wondering if you know of anyone who's posted a transcript somewhere? or if there's any chance maybe you would be open to telling us the best bits/highlights of the cameo? (thank you for your post about it with the fotc bloops video btw!!)

Oh hey! No problem, I’ll do my best.

So, Rhys is wearing a very cute Murray style ensemble for this one - beige shirt, Aotearoa themed tie, brown blazer.

He opens by calling ‘band meeting!’

First question is ‘where is Murray now?’

Answer - he’s been working hard, managing a band called Great Big Cow and getting them in to perform at the Troubadour in LA. The room sold out and the band played very well - a big achievement for Murray!

After that, he’s returned to New Zealand. He goes between NZ, LA and NY. FOTC was his heyday.

(I’ve written this next bit in full because I think it is excellent advice)

Life advice to note down: when you find yourself in a scenario you didn’t expect - don’t fret! Could be awkward, could be weird, you might be upset for some reason. Could be job you don’t want to do or could be some place you don’t want to be. But just think in the back of your mind - something good can come of this. The old silver lining.

Murray’s silver lining was that a couple of ‘cool-looking idiots’ turned up on his doorstep. They had a band that needed managing and Murray flourished in this new role!

They brought amazing comedy and music to the world, and there was a sense of sadness when it ended and they had to go back to NZ.

(Rhys gets briefly distracted by a plant in the background)

People related to Murray because he showed ‘fake it til you make it’, make use of any skills you have to level up - life is a ‘big theatrical escapade’, we have to put on a character everyday and pull something out of nothing to achieve in this world and Murray was the embodiment of that.

Murray is awkward, doesn’t quite fit in, but being like that you can still make it. Having a sense of humour is a big one, but you always have something unique about you.

Everyone has a sense of humour, some have a natural gift for it, but everyone has a certain set of skills to utilise.

(Then he talks himself out of giving advice - personally I love his advice and I always want to hear more but I think he started doubting himself here!)

Then he talks for a bit about improvisation in FOTC - a lot of it was improvised! They had so much fun.

Murray’s office particularly was always improvised - they had a goal to get to, a reason for the scene, but you could work anything into the scene. It was hard to stop each other from laughing!

Some highlights: arguing in front of the map, ‘I get ridiculed all the time’, ‘on your way to a dick meeting’, the dad guitar bit, ‘you’d have to be deaf to hear that’, ‘you could have a little bit of hay coming out of your mouth’ (🤣)

Rhys really enjoyed watching it back and he’s really proud of it.

Then he talks for a bit about band meetings and how Jemaine was always corpsing - he would be first to laugh and set Bret off. B&J would often have to leave the room and Murray would do the band meeting to two empty chairs because they were laughing too much.

Rhys would still hear them laughing down the corridor by the monitors so he’d call out ‘I can hear you! You’re gonna have to go back to your trailers!’

FOTC worked so well because of the connections they all had together as a cast and wanting each scene to be as funny as it could be.

You don’t want to rely too much on stuff you’ve written in a script, if you can do it (not everyone can) then improvising can be when you’re funniest. When Rhys gets a script he likes to do a run through where he adds his own stuff and people can see if they want to add in something different that he comes up with.

He then sings ‘Leggy Blonde’ as a thank you. He misses FOTC dearly and hopes they can get together again one day and do something.

(He includes all the parts of Leggy Blonde, including Jemaine’s rap, which had me in fits of laughter)

Wow that was long, I hope that my recap isn’t too overwhelming either! It was such a fun video and brought back so many memories of watching FOTC when I was a teen.

<3

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Seven

I adjust the cat ears on my head for the fourth time, despite only being there for ten minutes. They’re a bit slap-dash, the construction isn’t great, because I made them by following a YouTube tutorial on my laptop the night before the party with bleary eyes and a bit of a tension headache. Izzy let me borrow her glue gun so that I could attach triangles of white foam to black and curl the ears around an old plastic hair band I had that I had lying under my bed, but I’ve been finding myself pulling glue strings off it constantly.

“You look nice.” She assures me now, dressed as a pirate. “Very cute.”

I feel too cute for Halloween. Everyone else is dressed either scary or funny, while all I’ve done is paint whiskers on my face, the result being that I’m neither, I’m just lazy. The tight pleather skirt and corset that I never gave back to Marnie after I borrowed it two years ago makes me feel naked and self conscious, too uncovered, too done up, like a little girl play-acting like an adult. Nobody else is even wearing high heels, not even Claire, who’s in a witch costume from Dealz, and I feel ridiculous in mine. It’s only Shane’s house anyway, Shane’s friends, who I don’t know, and are certainly not bothered about the fact that I can balance in five inch heeled boots that come all the way up to my thighs and have me paranoid that my mother will somehow appear and ask me to change. 

Shane is dressed as Darth Vader, helmet under his arm, because when he’s wearing it he’s not able to eat or drink anything. Someone already got a video of themselves trying to shove Doritos through the tiny mouth slits to no avail, and now there’s crumbs all over the floor that nobody will take responsibility for. Every time he walks into a room, be it the kitchen or the living room, somebody chants “Shane-oooooo” and then all the boys make these weird animalistic sounds with the grace and decorum of gorillas at the zoo. He just grins like he’s used to it. 

“Eviiiiiieeee.” He musses up my hair as he saunters by, as if to subtly remind me that while I might have made an attempt to be sexy tonight, I’m still perpetually twelve in his eyes. He’s also been drinking, and Shane, on account of the rules of the football team, is not allowed to drink. We’ve all been warned that if his coach finds out he’ll be in trouble, hence why nobody is allowed to take a picture of him with a beer in his hand. I’ve seen the scene play out about three times already. The flash of a digital camera and then him, waving his hand around. “Nah, man, delete, delete.”

I think it’s been three years since I’ve seen him this way, and while he’s the merry kind of drunk, I can’t help but wonder if all of this has anything to do with the argument I accidentally overheard between him and Claire earlier this evening. I haven’t asked her about it, as she will deny it, but as I watch her from across the room, her body seems wound tight, tension emanating from her like an aura. Even as she’s laughing with the guy in a cow costume, I can tell her heart isn’t in it. I know her fake laugh from her real one, when she really wants to be somewhere and when she’d rather be at home snuggled in blankets and watching Say Yes to the Dress. 

I wander into the kitchen and take a moderately warm beer out of a box. The fridge is full up with lunchboxes of chicken and rice meals and eight litres of milk, a carton for each of the four guys who lives here and refuses to split one with anybody else. I go into the living room but vacate soon after I come in, as some lad with a big square UCD head has cleared the room by trying to show everyone how he can rap the song from the end credits of Men in Black without looking up the words.

Michelle and Simon are just arriving, and are unloading a shopping bag full of mixers onto the cluttered counter when I return. They wave me over when I wander in. “Are you drinking Galahad?” Simon says in a voice caught between outrage and disgust. I stare down at my hand. I suppose I am. 

“It’s all that was going for free.” I admit. “I didn’t bring any of my own drink.” I’m too cheap. And trying not to drink, clearly unsuccessfully.

“You like that shit?”

“Um.” I crack it open for an experimental sip. “Not really, no. It’s not the best.” 

“Oh, have some of ours then” Michelle says brightly. She lightly grabs my forearm and pulls me closer to them, out of the path of another man in another obstructing helmet who cannot see where he is going. I realise, as she’s rummaging in her giant handbag that there’s actually something quite disarming and pleasant about her. I never thought she seemed particularly friendly before, there’s something tough and no-nonsense about her, but now for the very first time she seems rather sweet. 

She yanks out a bottle of El Jimador Tequila and my palms prickle at the sight of it. I didn’t really intend on diving right into spirits tonight, but something about the way that droplets of condensation are clinging to the outside of the cold glass bottle while the can of Galahad warms even further in my hand makes my mouth feel twice as dry. 

“You alright with tequila?” She asks, reaching around for a few plastic cups stacked on the counter. 

I shrug. “I’ve no issue with tequila.”

“Grand.” Michelle unscrews it and starts pouring glugs into a cup. “I know someone who vomits at just the smell of it, which is why I asked.”

“Great image to have while you’re serving it up to me.” I comment, and she laughs. “Sorry, yeah, I just can’t really think about tequila without thinking about that.” I help her by reaching for a nearby bottle of orange juice. It’s what Marnie and I would always mix it with when there was nothing more sophisticated to be found. As I pour it into the cup, Simon gets distracted by someone nearby and strikes up his own conversation, and I take advantage of my moment alone with Michelle. 

“Hey, sorry if it’s awkward, but I was talking to Jude the other day…”

She nods, still looking at the cup. 

“…and he was wondering if he could have your new number. He said you’ve changed phones or something? He didn’t say why or anything, I just told him I’d get it for you.”

Her eyes flit to mine. “Oh yeah, no worries. You have your phone handy?”

“Uh, yep.” I wrestle it out of the tight waistband of my skirt, embarrassed by the imprint on my skin on the screen. She taps in her details, then I offer his number to her, and transfer the details from one phone to the other. The middle man, just here to facilitate whatever weirdness this is without any insight into why. 

“He didn’t say anything to you about Jen, did he?” She asks, a tinge of vulnerability behind her words, and I blink. “Um, no, he didn’t. Not really.”

“Alright cool.”

“Should he have?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing, like, I was just wondering. She hasn’t replied to my messages in a few days. I thought maybe he might have heard from her.”

“Isn’t she coming tonight?”

“I doubt it. She was invited, but she didn’t respond to the invitation, as far as I know.”

“Oh. Well, Jude didn’t mention that he heard from her, but I have a feeling he hasn’t. I didn’t think they were talking at all.”

“Yeah, well, they’re not not talking. She’s just a bit off the grid at the moment. He said something to Pamela once that pissed her off, but honestly, I can’t really keep up with everything that’s been said or not said…” She fiddles with the torn collar of her zombie school girl costume. “I just hoped that since she’s not replying to me she might have replied to him.”

“Well you can ask him yourself now.” I say with a smile that I hope says please don’t involve me, which prompts her to smile back. A wide, even smile that calls to mind a photo I saw in the depths of her facebook profile before where she was wearing braces. I wonder if Jude’s dad was her orthodontist. They’ve made her look very pretty, but even with crooked teeth I think she’d still be. As if somebody like Jude Turner would have ever settled for anything less than the prettiest girl at his school. As if he’d ever have to. 

She looks down at her phone, staring at his number in her contacts. “Yeah I’ll text him tomorrow, or he’ll text me, I suppose. Whichever. It’s honestly a bit weird to see his number in my phone again, but…” her eyes flick to mine. “What’s the story with you two anyway? Jen said you liked each other, or you’re together or something?”

I bark out a laugh, surprised. “No, well, I fancied him once, and he didn’t like me back. That’s all, nothing really happened.” 

She frowns. “Oh right? Because I-”

“Well, okay, that’s a lie. We kissed once.” I blurt out. “Twice, actually, but it was like, I heard he kisses all of his female friends so it’s a bit classic, you know? I know it didn’t mean anything.” I bury my nose into my cup and take anxious sips from it. I probably shouldn’t have said that. She probably doesn’t need to know it, but her face softens into a smile. “Right. I know how he is. He can get a bit swept away.”

“Right, because you were together… how long?” I say, even though I already know the answer. I’ll have to do this dance, regardless of how stupid and awkward it makes me feel so that I won’t have to admit that I scoured her Facebook page with the kind of intensiveness that could only be rivalled by a full time private investigator. 

“Eleven months. We broke up when he got into that Berlin school, he just didn’t want to do long distance with me, so,” She shrugs, pouring herself a drink. “It didn’t feel great but I got it. I get it. You either have the personality for it or you don’t. Maybe I could have done it, but he couldn’t.” She exhales a laugh. “He definitely couldn’t. He needs too much contact with people. I think he’s a bit ‘out of sight, out of mind’.”

“Still, mustn’t have been easy.”

“No. I liked him a lot. It just felt really hard to understand why we broke up at the time, like there was nothing wrong with our relationship and it felt like he was just chucking it out and that pissed me off for ages.”

“I get it, like if he was your first-”

“Oh, no.” She interrupts. “We weren’t each other’s first anything. He was just my friend who became my boyfriend and then all we ended up doing was making things weird for Jen when we split up. The whole thing was a stupid idea, honestly. I was just young and I was…” She trails off in search of the right word. “Enticed by him.”

“He’s enticing.” I agree, and she nods.  “He is. He’s always had that specific american brand of charisma, we all used to make fun of his accent and stuff when we were younger, I mean, to the point that he tried to disguise it, but actually it was one of the things that made him interesting. You know?”

“I do.”

“And if it means anything to you at this point, I mean, I don’t know how much you even care, Jen told me that he fancied you once.”

“Hm?”

“Ages ago.” She waves her hand dismissively. “Like, years probably. I forced it out of her when we were hanging out, I dunno why, like, I suppose I was feeling self destructive or something, I asked her if she knew about any other girls and she’s so bad at keeping things in, I knew she’d eventually just tell me, and she said that he liked this girl he met on the beach.”

“Oh.” I say with deliberate neutrality, “Well, it was so long ago, I suppose it hardly matters now.”

“Bit late, yeah?” She says with a laugh. “But I think it’s nice to know those kinds of things. It’s good for the ego. I was mad jealous, by the way.”

“You were?”

“Yes of course! I looked up your Facebook page and everything.”

“Oh God” I shield my face. “The state of my Facebook page back then. I bet that made you feel better about yourself.”

“No! I was raging, you were so pretty.” I roll my eyes but she insists. “There was this one picture I remember fuming over, where you were standing by the edge of a swimming pool, and I just thought ‘for God sake, her legs.’”

I stare down at my legs now, poking out of the bottom of this pleather skirt, and they look perfectly average to me. Paler than average, maybe, but that’s about the extent of their uniqueness. “My legs?”

“Yeah obviously. They’re perfect. I almost cried looking at you, like, knowing that he’d never want me again when he’d already wanted someone like you. Then we ran into you that time at that horrible cocktail bar and I had to pretend not to recognise you, I was so scared that you’d somehow figure out what I’d been doing.”

“God, Michelle, that’s so crazy. I did the same thing as you. When I found out who you were I stalked your Facebook for hours.”

“You didn’t!”

“I swear to God.”

“What did you think?”

I tell her, and we laugh about how silly we were, and how much cleverer we are now, and all the things that used to fill our heads and ruin our days, and it’s the most strangely healing thing to know that I wasn’t the only crazy girl, and even she, the sharp, intimidating person I pictured, was unravelling on the inside just like me. 

When I finish my drink she pours me another, and I find myself warming to her utterly. She’s funny, she’s honest, she’s charming, which only makes me feel worse about the horrible, envious thoughts I had about her years ago. Eventually Simon rejoins our conversation, so we pivot to other things, like art and film. The party swirls around us and the music gets louder, and eventually, by the time Macklemore’s Thrift Shop is on its fourth rotation and my cup has been filled and emptied twice more I excuse myself and head out to the front steps for some fresh air.

Beginning // Prev // Next

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

turns out @rhysiedarby and his son @finndarby have some serious musical talent under their belts 😲🎵

Source: The Edge Afternoons

[kiwistede]

From Rhys’ new Instastory today.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

03/26-27/24 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Great Big Cow Band; Leslie Jones; Vico Ortiz; Guz Khan; Kristian Nairn/Con O'Neill; Rachel House; David Jenkins; Watch Parties; Kudoboards; Trans Day of Visibility; Fan Spotlight; Cast Cards; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Never Left - Podcast; We Need to Be a Lighthouse Pixel Art; Articles; Supportive busineses; love notes; Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika;

First of all, tonight I wanted to say thank you, I received so much love yesterday when I cancelled the recap. I still haven't gotten to respond to all the messages, although I promise they are coming! Thank you for giving me so much love, it really meant so much. The last few days have been rough on me personally for various reasons (not because of the recap) so I appreciate all the love, it got me through the day! 😭🫂

PS: This is going to be a Long Post is Long so I'm gonna throw a break in here so I don't kill all your feeds!

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= Rhys Darby =

So many Rhys Sightings!!!!

Source: Rhys' Instagram

== Great Big Cow Band ==

For those of you not already aware, Rhys' son Finn's band Great Big Cow debuted in New Zealand yesterday! Rosie posed a picture with commentary on being a proud band mom!

Source: Rosie's Instagram

== Leslie Fucking Jones ==

Are you in New York, NY? Wanna see Leslie Jones in person? She'll be at The Comic Strip at 1568 Second Ave. (between 81st and 82nd st) on March 30, 2024 at 8 pm! For tickets call 212-861-9368!

== Vico Ortiz ==

I can't remember if this has been announced before, but just in case, Vico will be at the Phoenix Fan Fusion May 24-26 2024! Get tickets at Phoenixfanfusion.com! Source: Vico's Instagram

= Guz Khan =

Samba's keeping our friend Guz Khan hyped! If you're in Los Angeles (Apr 24) or New York (Apr 26) you can see Guz Khan in person! For more info visit @guzkhanofficial

== Con O'Neill / Kristian Nairn ==

Con and Kristian together again 😭 Con O'Neill's Instagram

== Rachel House ==

Photo shoot with Rachel House for DenizenMagazine/SundayMag! Just some fun pictures of one of our pirates! Source: Rachel House's Instagram

== David Jenkins ==

I ran out of image slots so took a screenshot, please visit @ofmd-ann's post here.

== Watch Parties! ==

Join SaveOFMD crew for another watch through of These Thems! It's free to watch on youtube!

When: March 28 7:30pm GMT/ 3:30 pm EDT / 12:30 pm PDF Who: Via SaveOFMD Crew On Socials Hashtags:

#CoolPirates

#SaveOFMD

#TheseThems

== Kudoboards Reminder! =

Thank you to @sharpenyersword on Twitter for setting up ALL THE KUDOBOARDS! The rest of the Kudoboard's will close on the 31st. 

Go send the cast and crew some love folks!

David Jenkins

Nathan Foad

Con O'Neill

Ruibo Qian

Leslie F*cking Jones!

Matthew Maher

Vico Ortiz

Samson Kayo

Alex "Ass Tonight" Sherman!

David Fane

Gypsy Taylor

Kristian "Wee John Wondays" Nairn!

Samba "BTS and Baking King" Schutte!

Fellow OFMD Fan Crew!

== Trans Day of Visibility! ==

Save OFMD Crew is celebrating Trans Day of Visibility on the 31st by highlighting trans and nonbinary creators, activists, cast and crew, and allies as well! Wanna celebrate someone? You can use this graphic by @snejpowa and give a well deserved shoutout! Please use #CoolPirates! Trans/Nonbinary creators-- please us the hashtag to promote your platform! Save OFMD Crew will give a you a boost!

== Fan Spotlight ==

= We Need To Be A Lighthouse! Pixel Art! =

Our dear @blueberreads is back to having heart palpitations with Alex Sherman and Samba sharing their latest pixel art vid on Instagram! Congrats <3 Want check out the whole amazing video? Visit any of these places! Tumblr / Twitter / Instagram

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction! =

Are you ready for another episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction? The podcast is available on Spotify below! This week is The Steddy Hands Episode!

= Never Left! =

Another episode of the Never Left Podcast is up! The third part of Beautiful Princess Disorder is up! Please visit their Linktr.ee to check out their new episode!

Art Source: @AmysBirdHouse Never Left Instagram

= Cast Cards =

More of our extended cast from @melvisik! I'm behind a few days so lots at once, with our beloved, gone too soon, STEAKY! John Bartholomew / Widow Ellen Conroy / Steak Knife

== Articles ==

Not specific to OFMD-- but it's about Rhys' son's band!

== Supportive Businesses! ==

So I ran out of room for images! So I'll to make a separate post for this, but Bank Square Books in CT put together a really cool list of books they'd recommend to various OFMD Characters. Obviously we've got some crew members on their staff! Even cooler, they do book bundles so if people are interested you can get lots of books for reasonable prices! OFMD Character Recommended Book list (note this link doesn't include which characters they're recommended to, you can check out their twitter link for the images / recommendations per character)

Twitter

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies! @blakbonnet was kind enough to explain to me the little lovely letter game going on here on tumblr, and I think it is the coolest and sweetest thing! 😭😭😭 I'm trying to participate too but i'm gonna be a little slow! Sorry for the delays! Today got away with me!

But seriously, how damn awesome are all of you sending love like that!?!?! You're just opening up and sending and receiving love, and I feel like it's 100% what we all need right now (and helping some folks normally nervous to get some love!). It's just incredibly heartwarming, and I wanted to say how happy it made me to see it.

This post is getting insanely long so I'm gonna cut off here tonight, but I wanted to share something lovely our lovely Pirate Queen Ruibo Qian shared on IG. -- I adore all our mutual weirdness and imperfections and there's no other people I'd rather be weird and imperfect with than you all :) Good night and good day lovelies!

Original Post / Ruibo Qian's Instagram

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's gifs suggestion submitted by @brainfugk ! As you can see, the theme is "Shake Weight"... and "ARMS". Src of twitter post that was sent my way was: @snejpowa (I pulled tumblr gifs cause I wasnt sure how to transfer them from twitter, sorry for any confusion!

Darby Gif courtesy of @fandomsmeantheworldtome

Taika Gif Courtesy of @nero-in-a-petticoat

[mon-ster-chen]

💫 The Band Manager/Great big cow

Rhys -> instagram

[in-death-we-fall]

24 Hour Party People

Things are getting messy on the Stone Sour/Murderdolls UK tour. Welcome inside their world of drunken orgies, comedy pissing and pickled cow’s hearts…

(google docs link)

Photos: Tina Korhonen

If you ever find yourself in the same building as Corey Taylor, the frontman with the most Tourettes-like speech patterns in rock (no mean feat in an arena where swearing is both big and clever), the chances are you’ll hear him long before you see him. A couple of hours after his band Stone Sour’s first UK show with fellow Slipknot-affiliates the Murderdolls, the singer is drunkenly ping-ponging off the walls of a corridor backstage at Nottingham’s Rock City, beaming and gleefully bellowing Electric Six’s ‘Gay Bar’ at top volume before tumbling into his dressing room for the umpteenth shot of Jack Daniel’s this evening.

The backstage area is teeming with young women who have miraculously acquired passes along the way. More incongruously and to Taylor’s obvious confusion, there are also random semi-naked men flitting about. In the next room, Murderdolls’ Nikki Sixx-coiffed bass player Eric Griffin is entertaining two ladies — one of them, dressed as a sexy nurse, currently occupied with snapping on a pair of surgical gloves. Tonight is clearly going to get messy. If everyone involved in this tour comes out of this thing unscathed, it’ll be a miracle.

“I like the fact that we’re just five fucking guys who stink and love music. I love it, that’s real, fuck that dumb shit.”

    Rewind a few hours, and an infinitely more coherent, if chronically hungover Corey Taylor is fumbling his way into a minibus to join his bandmates on their way to an in-store signing. While, along with guitarist Jim Root, he spends his time worrying America’s parents and poncing around in a mask in Slipknot, it’s quickly obvious that Stone Sour offers the chance to show his often-gurning, surprisingly clumsy human side. The side that has dumped all attempts at being enigmatic for the person whose big ambition in life is to appear in a cartoon (“I can picture Bart Simpson going to a Slipknot concert,” says Jim. “It’d be great, you’d hear, like, a note between bleeps.”), who has been terrified of sharks since his mother took him to see ‘Jaws’ when he was three, who has an obsessive love of British comedy, and revels in tasteless, decidedly un-PC jokes. A random example: “What do you call the worthless skin around a pussy? The rest of the woman.” Classy.

    All of which is good news for the scores of fans who have turned up to meet the band today.

    “There are guys out there who would pick their eyes out with a fucking coathanger and go, ‘Aaargh! They’re for you!’,” grins the singer as one fan thrusts a giant dildo at him to be signed. “But they’re all great. Anyone that listens to us is pretty fucking cool. And little kids are really into it too. You take the time and you fucking talk to them and shit, that’s a fan or (sic) life. Get them young, like the tobacco companies say!”

    Over at the venue, the Murderdolls — all similarly hungover, bar iron-livered frontman Wednesday 13 — emerge from their bus in a flurry of red and black hair and leather to be met by fans bearing gifts of Boris Karloff action figures and teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.

    Perhaps inevitably, because of the way they look, their unashamedly cock-rock outlook, their gang mentality and the way that there’s genuinely no-one like them at the moment, the band have inspired a tribe of similarly-attired devout followers who you can spot a mile off. Many of them are female, which is curious given the off-the-scale testosterone levels that shape the band.

    “We had a group of four girls here bawling their eyes out, really shaking,” says Joey Jordison, struggling to wake up. “I don’t really think it’s too weird. We give them something to believe in, some escapism from maybe some of the hard things in their lives.”

    “It’s insane,” grins Wednesday. “You hang around us for a day you’ll be crying to get away from us.”

    It’s a strange kind of devotion the two bands create. While both are surprisingly approachable some people still go to unnecessary extremes to get their attention.

    “A girl came to an in-store signing with her arms completely slashed up, with every guy in the Murderdolls’ name cut into her arm,” says Joey. “She brought me a cow heart in a formaldehyde jar with my picture in it, and said that that was her heart and it belongs to me. And she gave me a book of a hundred poems that are all about me.’

    Is that not a little disturbing?

    “No, I just think that some of these kids need a little bit more attention. We’re a fun band, we want the kids to have fun, and I don’t want anyone taking their aggressions out on themselves. Life is really not as bad as they think it is. That’s why we come over here, because I know we’re important to these kids. I could easily be at home right now sitting out on my porch drinking a beer and not giving a shit. But I’d rather come over here and tell kids thank you for giving me a reason to live as well.”

    By the time showtime comes around, Stone Sour can be found in their dressing room “spanking the bottle of Jack”, a strange pre-show ritual that seems to achieve little more than earning Corey a new blood blister on his finger.

    One set of anthemic rock and one set of fantastically ludicrous glam-rock stomping later, and it’s time to get the alcohol flowing, bring the prettiest girls backstage, and for certain members of this touring circus to behave very badly indeed…

“Oh Jesus.”

    Corey Taylor is suffering. The last anyone saw of him last night was when he was taken to support band Elviss’ bus for a little drink. Today, he’s paying the price, big time.

    I remember getting onstage,” he says, trying to piece the previous evening together. “I remember doing a great show, coming offstage, drinking about 12 Jack and Cokes being pulled onto Elviss’ bus and them pumping fucking absinthe down my goddamn throat trying to kill me. Fuckers. After that it’s a blur. I remember eating an ignorant amount of fucking lamb steak, just shoving it in my face. It was fucking gross.”

“We go apeshit every night.” -Joey Jordison

    This, apparently, has nothing on what went on in the Murderdolls’ tour bus last night, where one stunned witness hazily recalls someone attempting to use the on-board toilet, only to be met with the sight of a certain lanky member of the Murderdolls inserting “objects” into two girls.

    “We are a fun rock ‘n’ roll party band in every sense of the word,” says a wary Joey Jordison the next day as the band roll in to the Birmingham Academy. “You can draw about every conclusion you ever heard about the traditional rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle from the ‘80s, that’s pretty much us. But I don’t want to make it sound like that’s cool. I don’t endorse it in any way.”

    Joey, Corey, and Jim Root have, of course, seen and done it all before with Slipknot, so it’s fair to say that, bar the heroic alcohol consumption, they may have a certain amount of detachment from the mayhem surrounding them these days.

    “But all that crazy shit happened a long time ago,” Corey insists, grimacing through his hangover. “I don’t really recall! I’d be coming offstage, having a glass of milk and eating cookies.”

    Because the two bands are about such vastly different things — with Stone Sour it’s about bringing things down to the simple elements of their songs and connecting with the audience, while Murderdolls are on a mission to bring the biggest, trashiest, glammiest, most X-rated party to every town they hit — there’s little in the way of rivalry between the camps. The only competition seems to be with putting on the biggest, loudest live show.

    “If anything I think it’s healthy if there is,” Corey concurs. “It just makes you want to give that bit fucking more and go for it. At the end of the day it’s all about the kids, fuck us. It’s all about whether they’re having a good time or not.”

    “There’s always that little competition,” Joey says. “This is our last run before we go back to Slipknot, so I’m not worried about it too much. But we put on the same show pretty much every night anyway. We go that apeshit every night.”

The first thing you’d notice on entering the Murderdolls’ dressing room is the detritus: clothes, make-up scattered everywhere, not to mention drummer Ben ‘The Ghoul’ Graves — the cause of most of last night’s very worst behaviour — stretched out on a sofa and spilling, somewhat unpleasantly, out of his stage costume of a PVC thong while loudly “making room” in his nose. The second thing you notice, half a second later, is that it stinks in here.

    “My clothes smell like a cat litter box,” Wednesday says, wrinkling his nose. “I got my pants out of our wardrobe case, and they’re still soaked from the show because I was sweating, but I swear they smell like piss. I think someone could have pissed on my pants. Our stuff was packed up, so I’m not sure what happened, unless someone is trying to play a trick on me.”

    This, of course, is what happens when you stick a load of men on a bus together for months on end and deny them the rights to proper laundry services.

    “Most bands rely on special lights and effects,” Wednesday continues, as Joey and Corey work on new Slipknot material down the corridor. “But we come to the people in Smellovision. We bring all the senses out. Whenever you come to our show and we haven’t come onstage yet, you can go (sniffs), ‘Oh, something smells like shit! They’re getting ready to go on!’. We’ve got an intro smell instead of an intro tape.”

    Tonight’s show makes Nottingham’s insanity look like a warm-up. It’s so hot in the venue you have to wade through the air, and after Stone Sour incite a mass singalong of ‘Bother’, the Murderdolls trip down the stairs, making last minute checks on their hair, before they explode onto the stage. By the time the encore comes around, Acey has rather gruesomely lost all his clothing from his lower regions, the rest of them are running around the stage as if they’re being chased by killer mosquitoes, and Stone Sour are bellowing their approval from the wings. Nothing here is about angst. It’s all about living larger than most of our lives.

    “Rock stars should look like they’re from outer space or something,” Joey says afterwards, as they pack up their make-up kits. “When I was growing up seeing Alice Cooper and Kiss and shit, when I went to a show I could be like, ‘Okay, that’s the fucking dude in the band’. That’s the way it should be. Even with Slipknot, our image and the show goes with the music. Music and imagery go together, and it just makes it that much more fun for the live show.”

    And while Stone Sour head off to deal loudly with the latest booze-related crisis (their bus driver, who is supposed to be driving them to Scotland in an hour, is passed out drunk, so it’s time to fire him), Joey prepares himself for the long, but no doubt eventful journey ahead.

    “I intend on having a hangover tomorrow,” he says. “The plan for tonight is the same for every night. The reason bands get so fucked up and drink a lot is because all we do is the same thing every day, and it’s the best fucking lifestyle. We have no responsibilities. You’re on this bus, nothing can fucking touch you. You’re meeting cool fucking people all the time. It’s much more fun-orientated and more of a free-spirited vibe with this band than any other band I’ve been in.”

“I liked the ‘Fuck’ song!” The fans’ verdict on the Stone Sour/Murderdolls face-off…

Name: Riannan Davis Age: 19 From: Mid-Wales Well, what did you think?: “Excellent. I love Stone Sour and Murderdolls.” Which band comes out top?: “Stone Sour. I just prefer them and I get bored of Murderdolls after a while. Stone Sour are good over and over again.” Highlight? “Getting promised to go backstage in five minutes!”

Name: Andrew Gordan Age: 14 From: Oxford Well, what did you think?: “It was amazing, really good.” Which band comes out top?: “Murderdolls, definitely. I just prefer that type of music, it’s really good.” Highlight?: “‘White Wedding’ by the Murderdolls. I love the Billy Idol version, and I love the Murderdolls version.”

Name: Natalie Reynolds Age: 15 From: Bristol Well, what did you think?: “I’ve had a fucking amazing time!” Which band comes out top?: “Murderdolls! They rock, because Ghoul’s in the band. He’s so fit! He’s just the drag queen of my dreams.” Highlight?: “Seeing Ghoul in a thong!”

Name: Chaz Boswell Age: 18 From: Wales Well, what did you think?: “It was fantastic tonight.” Which band comes out top?: “Murderdolls, definitely. They’re more fun than Stone Sour, and I prefer their music. My friend lost his shoe.” Highlight?: “Finding the shoe.”

Name: Hayley Lamb Age: 14 From: Lemington What did you think?: “I had a great time.” Which band comes out top?: “Murderdolls. I just love the way they dress and I think their music’s great.” Highlight?: “I liked the ‘Fuck’ song with the umbrella, that was great.”

[emometalhead]

Aftershock Day 2 Recap:

Yesterday was incredibly awesome and incredibly hot. It was 95°F/35°C, and I definitely felt like I was dying at some points, but it was entirely worth it.

We started off the day by seeing Fire From The Gods. I don't know their music super well, but I've enjoyed everything I've heard. They were great live! The singer's microphone was cutting out through the first couple songs, but after they resolved that issue the show was great!!

Next up was Memphis May Fire. They were SO GOOD!! I am really sad that we only caught about half of their set, but we wanted to get close for The Hu. They were the first band of the day to have pyro, and in addition to the good music that was cool to watch! Some bands struggle live, but these dudes sounded even better than on recording!!

This was my second time seeing The Hu, and it was even better than the first. Last time they were on one of the small stages, but this time they were on the big stage with a huge crowd! The crowd was super into the show, and there was lots of chanting. The band has such a cool vibe. Their energy is amazing, and I'm grateful to have witnessed it again. On another note, I've never seen so many crowdsurfers get dropped 😭. Idk why people kept trying after seeing so many people go down 😭.

We hung back in the shade for Skillet's set. I love Skillet, but we were all so damn hot that we needed a breather. I sat in the shade and vibed. They were fun just like last time! Plus I got to hear Psycho In My Head for the first time! We did end up leaving their set early to head over to Bad Omens.

Bad Omens had a huge crowd by time we got over there. It was so stinking hot, but I was jumping as soon as the first song started. It was so much fun!!! They are incredible live. If you don't listen to this band yet, check them out!! It was funny when the band came out, because they were all wearing black hoodies and masks. The crowd was like "they're going to die if they try to keep that on" lol.

I'm not lying or exaggerating when I say that seeing Limp Bizkit live was a highlight of my life. Their set was so damn fun. The energy was so high. A very high percentage of the crowd had never seen them live before, so we were all keeping each other hyped through this shared experience. Words can't describe how much fun I had during Nookie lol. Also they started AND ended the set with Break Stuff. It was awesome! Fred Durst was dressed as a cowboy, and did some weird hip thrusting dances lol. At one point the crowd chanted "no", and he asked if we were calling him a hoe. He also requested that no one flash their boobs because he is "allergic".

Holy cow Godsmack did not disappoint!! This was my second time seeing them, and I had a blast. I was jumping and headbanging like crazy the entire set. My friend and I managed to get really good spots. We could see the stage, and we still had space to move around + jump! They always put on such a great show. I also got horns from an older metalhead, and that was super cool. At the beginning of a song, I screamed really loudly and started jumping. This older woman looked at me, smiled, and put up horns.

My brain is kind of mush. I am very tired, but incapable of sleeping in beyond 7:30 lol. I am having the best time despite the exhaustion and heat though!!! The first picture is my wristband + bracelets I was given. My aunt made the FOB one, and one of my friends made the Aftershock one. Both glow in the dark!!! The next two pictures are Limp Bizkit. When the band came onstage, they had "nu metal cowboy" on the screen, then Fred Durst came out wearing a cowboy outfit 💀. The last picture is from Godsmack's set.