Elliot Minor: One More Time?

I love these guys: (from left to right) Ali Paul, Ed Hetherton, Alex Davies, Dan Hetherton, and Ed Minton

Saturday the 29th of March 2014 is a day that I will never forget for many reasons, and a day that I thought may never happen again. However, for a day that I wanted to be absolutely perfect, it certainly didn't start that way, as I woke up incredibly late (anybody who knows me won't be surprised to hear this!)! Still, I knew I had plenty of time and that the exciting things were going to happen late in the day. I left my house just before 4pm - yes, I really left that late for a concert - and headed for the town centre. My best friend, Pete, was kind enough to take me into town, so I bought him some late lunch/early dinner (chicken fillet bites and chips, thanks for asking!) and said goodbye. I walked off to Reading train station, thinking to myself, 'I don't think I've ever been on a train on my own, let alone into London by myself.' I bought myself a train ticket, an energy drink and some chewing gum, and boarded a train at 5:53pm. Within 1 hour and 15 minutes I had gotten a train from Reading to London Paddington, navigated the London Underground to get to Camden Town station, and was enjoying a cold, crisp, delicious cider at the bar in the Camden Underworld (the music venue where Elliot Minor were playing) - it's pretty cool living not too far from one of the greatest cities in the world!

I briefly bumped into one of my Facebook friends, Susan, who I met thanks to this phenomenal band. I went through to watch the last support act, Fort Hope, who were great and had a whole bunch of good pop rock songs, and then I waited patiently, like everybody else, for what we were all actually here for: Elliot Minor. Allow me to digress for a bit, though, for those who are unaware of the band: Elliot Minor are an incredibly talented British rock band who I got into around the time of me getting into rock music, discovering their awesome demos, and loving it when I saw their first single, Parallel Worlds, appear on the music channels. Their music is mainly guitar-driven pop rock that incorporates a lot of minor chords, beautiful vocal harmonies, piano and, sometimes, the likes of a violin! Between them, they are capable of playing guitar, bass, drums, piano, violin, cello, double bass, clarinet and saxophone. It was a joy to see their singles go into the official UK music charts - I was a fan of the charts, and pop and indie music at that time - with songs such as Still Figuring Out, Jessica, Parallel Worlds (re-release) and The White One Is Evil, charting at 17, 19, 21 and 22 respectively. After around a year of releasing singles, they were finally releasing their self-titled debut album on the 14th of April 2008, and I saw them live two days prior to this, headlining at the London Astoria (I had also seen them support McFly at Wembley Arena), which I still say is one of the greatest nights of my life! Finally having my hands on the CD of their debut album was a sweet feeling because of how long I had already loved this band. I already knew the 4 singles, plus I had heard demos of all of the 7 other songs on the album - not that that mattered because I already knew how awesome these songs were; plus, the demos are raw, mainly just guitar-driven pop-rock, whereas the album versions are majestic, with perfect production, vocal harmonies to die for, and some epic orchestral arrangements (the same can be said for their second album, too) accompanying the guitars for a sound that is incredibly unique, exciting, and often stunning. This is why when you see them live, it feels like you're hearing the demos more than the album versions, which is pretty cool, in my opinion, because it's nice to hear different versions to what you listen to all the time. I'm not sure if anybody else has ever compared them to this band, but I think that parts of some of Elliot Minor's songs remind me of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO: famous for Mr. Blue Sky, which has appeared in movies, commercials, etc., and so you probably know it even if you don't think you do!). To me, their debut album is nothing short of a masterpiece, and I'd even rank it in my top 5 favourite albums ever, which would be: My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, Green Day's American Idiot, Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue, Elliot Minor's Elliot Minor, and All Time Low's Nothing Personal.

Their second album, Solaris, was released on the 19th of October 2009, and is also absolutely brilliant, whilst not being as good as their debut album (I won't list my favourite Elliot Minor songs from both albums, but, instead, recommend that you check out the YouTube videos on this blog entry; you could play them whilst reading this blog!). They then released an acoustic version of Solaris on the 15th of November 2010, before going quiet for quite a while, making fans fear they were going on hiatus or, even worse, splitting up. Ali Paul (keyboard/piano player) announced on the 28th of August 2010 that he was leaving the band after the end of the tour, to go study law at university. This didn't help the speculation about the band going their separate ways, and, very soon after, it had been announced that Dan Hetherton (drums) had created a new band, The Dead Famous, with the former lead singer of GO:Audio. Ed 'Teddy' Hetherton (bass) and Ed Minton (guitarist, and second vocalist) both went off to study, and Alex Davies (lead singer, and guitar) ended up creating a new band, Spirits, all of which made a comeback seem very unlikely. However, on the 30th of November 2013 - after almost 3 years of inactivity - the band started to post teasers on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, merely saying things like "2014" and "#EMonemoretime", leading fans to speculate as to whether this was one more concert, one more tour, one more album, etc.!? We found out on the 7th of December that it would be one more concert, at the Camden Underworld on Friday the 28th of March 2014! Tickets went on sale on the 9th, but little did they know how much their passionate fans still care about them, as the 500 tickets sold out in 30 seconds, leading them to announce a second date for Saturday the 29th, which also went and sold out in 30 seconds! I was at this Saturday show thanks to buying a ticket off of a lovely, honest Elliot Minor fan, Rhiannon, who was selling a ticket at face value! They announced a third date, this time at the O2 Islington, and staggered the selling of the tickets. I knew the next three months would seem like they were going on forever, but I had something huge to look forward to - something totally unexpected - and I was just glad I was able to obtain a ticket, no matter the means! (Now you have some perspective on how much this band mean to me, and how much this concert would mean to me, I now head back to the original premise of this blog: the concert day!)

Some epic music began to play - the theme from the movie Inception - and Elliot Minor (just to stress: all 5 of them came back for these concerts) took to the stage, met by screams/cheers of delight due to the sheer excitement of this concert for any big Elliot Minor fan. Dan fires off on the drums for the start of Jessica, before the guitars roar in, the crowd sing along, and you just know this is going to be something special! In the minds of Elliot Minor fans - including me - they have no bad songs, and there was no way that any song would get a bad reception; after all, we thought this day may never come again, so we were sure as hell going to enjoy this to the max! Even I was nodding my head and singing at the top of my lungs, and, yet, I'm normally pretty shy in public! As amazing song after amazing song came and went, the intimate venue got hotter and sweatier, but, still, hearing my favourite songs live - some for the first time, as I had never seen them tour their second album - was sending a shiver down my spine! Running Away always gets the crowd jumping, with its infectious guitar riff and catchy chorus. For me, getting to hear songs such as Shiver and I Believe for the first time live was really special, the former having one of the most epic outros I've ever heard in a song: a mixture of guitar solos, piano solos, and violins! I Believe has an epic orchestrated bit in the album recording, which is imitated well on stage. More of my favourites included Last Call to New York City (you can see the version that I saw live at the Underworld, in the video below this paragraph) - an incredibly epic rock ballad, with awesome chords and fantastic drums - and Parallel Worlds, which is quite simply one of the best pop rock songs I've ever heard, with a killer guitar solo, and it, of course, never disappoints when performed live! I swear I could talk about how all the songs had the crowd singing along like they didn't have a care in the world, enjoying every second, and it felt so brilliant to be surrounded by people who enjoy these songs as much as me. It was amazing how well they performed together after none of them having played as Elliot Minor for over 3 years; they seemed perfect together, like no time had passed at all. It was just such an epic concert, with all the songs being killer, an unbelievable crowd, and an epic vibe/atmosphere! I genuinely couldn't believe how fast it seemed to be over - 15 songs, 8 from their self-titled debut album, 7 from Solaris - but there was always the afterparty...

The ticket that enabled me to have one of the most memorable nights of my life

Everybody left the venue having had an unforgettable time. I messaged with another of my Facebook friends, Kelly, and we met up outside the venue, discussing for about half an hour about how amazing the concert was, how our days had been, etc., and it was lovely to be chatting with somebody I had never met in my life but who I felt I kind of knew thanks to sharing a love for EM - it's also scary to think I may never again see the EM fans I met on this night, but hopefully that's not the case. I went into The World's End pub, that is above/next to the Underworld, for the afterparty and grabbed myself a cider. Firstly, I saw Ed Minton chatting/hugging/taking photos with fans, and I managed to get a photo with him - even if this had been the only member of EM that I met, I would've still been happy because of how I'd never met any musicians before, let alone from a band I idolise as much as EM! This did, however, turn out to be the first of 4 photos I got with the members of EM, and I soon had my second because I got a photo with Ed Hetherton. For this photo, I handed my phone - which is what I was taking the pictures on - to a complete stranger, loving the fact you could just trust people that you didn't even remotely know, because of how everybody was there to have a fantastic time with one another! As the pub was connected to the music venue, the type of music they played in there was all rock orientated - Green Day, Blink-182, Bowling For Soup, Wheatus, and Head Automatica being some of the bands I remember hearing - and having everybody sing along to songs such as Stacy's Mom, What's My Age Again?, and Basket Case, will be a moment I will recall for the rest of my life! I saw another Elliot Minor fan, Vicky, and we hugged and chatted for a bit, as well as seeing each other off and on whilst we were both at the afterparty; she also took the 2 photos that I managed to get with Dan Hetherton and Alex Davies whilst outside the pub. I genuinely couldn't believe I had got photos with 4 guys who are heroes to me, from one of my favourite bands of all-time (shame I couldn't get the fifth member, Ali Paul, as well!), and that I even chatted to Alex for a little bit! I was on a massive high (legally, of course!), and stayed at the afterparty for so long that problems began to occur...

                                          

Ed Minton and I

Me and Ed Hetherton

Me and Dan Hetherton

Alex Davies and I

I left the afterparty at about 12:30am, knowing I had to get back to Reading - in hindsight, I should've stayed at the afterparty and stayed in London for the night, then none of the following problems would've happened. The first problem I encountered was that Camden Town Underground station was now closed, meaning I had to figure out how to get buses back to London Paddington train station, walking the streets of London, in places I had never been before. 2 buses later, I arrived at Paddington bus stop at around 1:15am, being told by some nice guy in the street that there were no more trains - I was sure that trains between Reading and London ran through the night, no matter how infrequent, so I walked over to the station. A guy in a security box outside the station told me what I kind of already knew but had tried to deny: there were no more trains! I now believe the last train left at 1am, although it just so happened to be the night the clocks went forward by an hour, and a Sunday morning, so I'm not 100% sure as to when the last train really was, but I knew I was unlucky (trains on a weekday run through the night for people who have to go to work at very early times). I phoned my dad with 3% battery - having killed my phone taking pictures and recording video at the concert, and keeping up with football/cricket scores throughout the day - and my phone died without being able to explain the full situation! I must've chatted to about 10 people around Paddington, explaining my situation, but not many people are willing to let you use their phones - would you let somebody use your phone in a similar situation? I'd like to think I would trust the individual and do the nice thing. I went into Paddington train station, which must be one of the busiest staitions in the world during operational hours, but the place was like a ghost town: a few people who had decided to sleep and wait for the morning train, and a few workers dressed in fluorescent coats, but nothing more. I found a payphone and called my dad (again) at what was now probably 2:45am (including the clocks going forward), but the phone ate my money so quickly; the payphone began to ring, and my dad had cleverly called back the payphone. Fortunately, I still had about £50 in my wallet, so it was decided that I would head for a taxi and see if that money could get me from the centre of London to the west of London, which is closer to Reading and, therefore, easier for my dad to pick me up. The taxi driver was such a great guy, letting me use his phone on 2 occasions, and confirming that he would do the trip for £40 - admittedly that's £40 I shouldn't have had to spend, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I saw the meter when the taxi driver dropped me off in west London, it was closer to £50, so I thanked him hugely and gave him a tip. Dad picked me up from west London at 4:15am, we headed home, I thanked my dad in a Facebook status (written at about 5:30am, after I had got home and charged my phone!), and was grateful to be in my own bed, for what was left of the night (and quite a bit of the day!). Fortunately, I have the best dad in the world, otherwise this night would've ended very differently!

My Elliot Minor merch that turned up recently: a signed (and creased!) EM poster, and a very soft EM T-shirt, which I wore with pride yesterday (at the time of publishing this blog)!

So, it was an unbelievable day/night for many reasons, and a day that will live in my mind forever as one of the most eventful, memorable, and stunning days I've ever had! Of course I would want another tour, another song, another album, etc., but if this concert (and afterparty!) is a goodbye to Alex, Ali, Dan, Ed and Ed - a.k.a. Elliot Minor - then I can't think of anything that could've been more perfect.