Gigs and ghouls

On Monday evening, after my meeting with my Master’s Project Supervisor and rushing home to eat some pre-made pasta, I made my way to the Talking Heads to see a band I’ve been wanting to watch for years. Fortunately for me and my busy timetable, this pub and live music venue is only a minute walk from my student house – literally just around the corner!

The band in question were Tesseract, who play a type of music called ‘djent’, which is a sub genre of metal characterised by rhythmic complexity and skilled musicianship. They were supported by two instrumental bands; the first was an extremely talented solo artist called Navene K and the second a djent trio lead by guitar virtuoso Tosin Abasi. All three acts were brilliant and, as a guitar player myself, it was incredible to watch these highly technical players perform only a few metres away from me – although I was a little deaf after the show!

The Talking Heads is a great local venue for live music; the shows are very intimate and you often get the chance to talk to the support acts once their set is over and they have packed their equipment away. As well as seeing Tesseract there, I also went to see a British progressive rock band called Anathema at the end of Freshers’ Week in September. They are one of my favourite bands, so when I first heard they were playing so close to me in Southampton I couldn’t quite believe my luck!

Anathema’s ethereal music was fantastic to witness in person.

Coming from a medium sized town, I’m not used to having bands playing on your doorstep – I used to have to go into London or to festivals if I wanted to see a particular act. However, being in a bustling city like Southampton  with numerous live music venues, there are always bands playing in and around the city. In fact, there are another two gigs that I want to go to this month!

Apart from the gig, this week’s main event was, of course, Halloween. My Halloween celebrations started on Wednesday with a spooky themed Art Society (ArtSoc) session, where we indulged in some Halloween arts and crafts by making and decorating origami pumpkins. I opted to go for a traditional orange pumpkin, but others went for black or even pink with moustaches! We were provided with a whole array of different materials and decorative items, which really reminded me of doing art in junior school, where you tried to use everything you could and you didn’t know when to stop.

Who said pumpkins can’t have style?

In the second half of the session we began to paint our own and each other’s faces in preparation for the social that was planned for after the session. We began the social in the University’s pub, The Stag's, where I got to meet some new faces, before we made our way down to a local nightclub. The night ended with an impromptu late-night curry in a local restaurant; the perfect treat after a long night of dancing! I followed this up by attending a Halloween themed gathering at a friend’s house on Friday, where I dressed in a creepy clown costume that I put together myself.

No one can blame me and my friends for not making an effort!

As I mentioned at the start of this post, alongside my Halloween celebrations and gig attending, I have been hard at work with my Masters’ project, which is really starting to take shape. Although it’s quite a large workload, the satisfaction you feel when you make progress or get some good results makes up for the hours that you put in. The past month has been very busy, but also very rewarding and I have no doubt that November will be the same.

James