I really had no intention of buying this record, or seeing Broadway Calls, but Banquet Records had other plans.
In December 2011, they put on a show in The Fighting Cocks featuring PJ Bond, Great Cynics, Into It Over It and Broadway Calls. Tickets were £8, or if you bought a copy of the Broadway Calls EP Banquet were putting out for £10, the ticket was free. Since I wanted to go to the show, I decided that £2 was probably worth it for the record and picked up a copy instead of just the ticket. Broadway Calls aren't a bad band, but they do play very generic pop-punk and it doesn't do much for me. I played a song when the show was announced and decided I wanted to go anyway because the other three bands were a great line-up as it was.
We'd seen PJ Bond play a great acoustic set late night on the Friday between Koji and Make Do and Mend in a bookshop; Great Cynics played all the time, but always put on a good show (that said, the show they played at Fest remains the best Great Cynics show I've ever seen, and ruined all future ones - if they're not playing to a room of Americans all going nuts then it's underwhelming in comparison); Into It Over It had released a split with Koji and we'd heard good things, so wanted to check him out. The headliners then were the only band I had no real connection to or desire to see.
It hammered with rain that night, and I got pretty drenched on my walk over from Surbition, but I was new to the area and still enjoying being able to walk to shows in general. I remember really enjoying PJ Bond, and enjoying IIOI's stories (turns out, I enjoyed those more than the songs). I've seen Great Cynics so many times in Kingston it's hard to recall a particular time. I don't really remember much of Broadway Calls, but definitely stayed to watch them.
The EP is fine. The title track is by far the catchiest, but still not really my thing. If I'm being critical - and it seems that I am - the singer's voice is a bit annoying. But maybe it's just a pop-punk voice and that's what I don't like about it. The last song is the obligatory acoustic number. I've not played it a huge amount over the years, but for £2 I don't mind too much. My fiend Sarah opted for the £8 ticket without the record - I guess her thinking was that she didn't need records in her collection that had no purpose being there; clearly I'm more of a hoarder of any vinyl I can get my hands on. It's not an important or interesting record, but it reminds me of that gig so I'm happy enough to hold onto it.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 6
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 06/12/11
Colour: Transparent blue
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
