If you lived in South Wales shortly before I did, there's a very good chance you knew about The Take. I moved there in September 2007, half a year after The Take played their last-ever show, so to me they were simply a band that everyone talked about. I think for the years they were active, they were quite a cornerstone of the Cardiff music scene, or at least that's the impression I got. People certainly liked to talk about them fondly.
This record came into my collection a year and a bit after I moved to Cardiff. I'd gone to Funky Buddha Bar with some friends to watch an open-mic night. My friend Amber was living in Cardiff by this point too and I think her housemate Adriana and boyfriend Ioan were both playing. I think we were also there with her friend Hannah, and maybe a friend of hers too. There was a surprisingly large number of us there either way. Anyway, Hugh had been to a gig and met us in there on the way home (Funky Buddha was basically at the end of our road, so it wasn't much of a detour). He'd brought me a gift from the gig he'd been at, which was this copy of Dolomite. He was keen to point out that it was only £1, as The Take had long broken up and whoever was selling records that night wanted rid of them. He'd decided that I needed to have a copy and for £1 it would be rude not to. I'm glad he did take such an interest in my record collection, because The Take had some tunes (Sample Life, Hand Over Fist and Handshakes are all highlights here). Worth checking out if you're a fan of Jawbox or Piebald.
Reminiscing about this particular event led me to wonder what gig Hugh had been at, and it turns out it was Le Pub's Stars in Their Eyes, which was a bi-annual event where local bands played short sets as other bands for the night. I have no idea why I wasn't there; I used to love Stars in Their Eyes. You could guarantee it was going to be a good night, and I certainly remember having some great times at Stars. That night apparently featured Paramore, Killswitch Engage, Bruce Springsteen, Backstreet Boys and Meatloaf, which I can imagine was pretty fun. The open-mic night was probably fun enough, but Stars would definitely have been better. (I had to dig around on the South Wales Massive to find this information out, which is fitting because it gets a mention on Awake for Hours on this record. I can't imagine The Massive made it into many other songs!)
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £0 new
Bought: gift
When: 13/12/08
Colour: White
Etching: Side A: "I'm not a demon / I'm a lizard / a shark / a heat-seeking panther" Side B: "I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion"
mp3s: no
