The first of the Fest finds. I'm pretty sure we spent half our time there watching bands we'd never heard of in the hope of finding our new favourite band, or a record that would change our lives. There were a lot of bands to choose from, and we knew they'd all be pretty good. When they put out the Fest samplers on bandcamp in the weeks before the festival, I made a list on my phone of the songs that really stood out. I found some pretty cool bands that way and made sure I checked them out. However, some bands I just wrote down the name of and forgot about.
I think the last band of the whole weekend that we properly watched was Restorations in Looseys'. There'd been some decent bands beforehand and I was too tired to bother going anywhere else. I'm glad I stayed, Restorations blew me away. Like I said, we'd seen a lot of good bands that weekend, but not so many I couldn't still be impressed (thankfully). I'd already spent a small fortune on merch that day (the No Idea yard sale combined with a weak dollar made for excessive purchases) but I figured another record wouldn't hurt. I bought the LP on a disappointingly black vinyl while Sarah bought a split or an EP, I can't remember. Hers was cheaper, mine was $15 (a whole $5 more than most of the records I bought that weekend!). The first time I saw Sarah after coming back she commented on how unimpressed she was with her Restorations record, while I really liked mine. I think we'd both come back and listened to the records by our "new" bands first, hoping they' be the discovery we were after. I guess hers wasn't.
However, the important thing is, mine was and is awesome. I think the difference must be that I really like The Constantines, and they sound a lot like them. I heard that The Constantines live are like a totally different band to record (something the Daytrotter session confirms for me). To an extent the same can be said for Restorations - the live show was immense, and the record misses that a little. But that's fine. Sarah was expecting the blistering punk-rock we saw, I quite like things that are a little indie. (I realise that all these comparisons between mine and Sarah's enjoyment could be that they're simply very different records. I've not listened to the one she bought, and vice versa. I'm going to go with it anyway. I can see how they are different on record, but I like it.)
So what's to say about the record? Track two is incredible. There's this keyboard part in the background when he sings "sometimes nothing happens" that never fails to out a smile on my face. Sideways House is another massive tune. Lovely "oh oh ohhh"s on the closer. The whole thing is pretty awesome. Nice gatefold sleeve and the lyrics, black vinyl as I said (upon getting back to the hotel on the Sunday night we were admiring our purchases from the day - Sarah had got some awesome colour vinyl, while a large number of mine were black. Not that its a big thing, but some crazy coloured vinyl does please me greatly). No mp3s so at some point I'm going to have to make a digital version. Its quite a short record, but I do like putting it on quite often.
There's a few bands we got records by who are clearly tiny bands over there and have no plans to tour the UK, or would love to but its just something that'll never happen. It's a shame, but then it makes me glad we got to see them. When I got home I rediscovered the list I made on my phone and saw that I'd written down Restorations but forgotten make a point of checking them out. By some brilliant coincidence I ended up watching them anyway, and I'm very glad I did.
Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 8
Cost: £9.80 new
Bought: Fest
When: 30/10/11
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
