EDIT"KRAFTWERK-BIRMINGHAM HUMMINGBIRD JULY 1991 ….."

Kraftwerk-Birmingham Hummingbird July 1991 …..

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Everyone on the Kraftwerk group has a starting point. The part where the interest in a band becomes slightly obsessional or the interest deepens. For me the story of Kraftwerk in my life as a major part was sealed by the policy of the tape libary of Kenilworth Libary. It was 1988 and I had a list of albums I wanted to hear, I went down with a list and found myself picking this slightly strange yellow tape(computer World). Obviously it was an excellent album to start with and I was fascinated by the structure and composition on the songs. The drum sounds were unique and everything was in its correct place. In 1989 i had an intrest in industrial bands so I went to see Front 242 and Front Line Assembly as well as other acts. Waiting to see Kraftwerk was like the impossible dream, there was talk in the press that two members had left and initially there was an artcile in the November 1990 issue of select magazine outlining they had performed live.
When it was announced they were playing live it was really hard to get tickets in a straight forward way. I thought the bigger chains in Birmingham like HMV would sell it. They had contracts with the other major venues. The Hummingbird was a reasonable size venue but it was not the Birmingham NEC. In Birmingham at the time there was Richer Sounds(hifi shop) and a comic shop next door. The most unlikely place to get a ticket was a shop selling comics.
I was told by an old school friend that if I could get a ticket could I buy two as he wanted to suprise his sister. However when it came down a week before she was trapped by university and as a result my friend came instead. He was like completely unconverted to Kraftwerk.
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The Hummingbird itself was just out of town and was a medium size venue. Although the concert was advertised in the adverts of the music press the queue oustide the venue was long but not excessive. When going into the venue the bands equipment was all set up behind the curtain. I recall a red and black feel to the curtain. Which I thought was in keeping with their designs. The mixing desk was more at the back at the venue and their was music played , but the changing of the music was not good. So there were times you would hear a track and then there would be silence for a good 5 minutes until they put something else on. When I saw Front 242 the premusic played before the gig was stunning, stuff like Nocturnal Emissions ‘No Seperation’ played through a large PA system. With Kraftwerk the band might have had a hand in the decision to have no support act and little music. If anything although I thought it weird at the time it meant when the band started you were ready. The crowd was getting rowdy at one point. Then about about an hour of waiting the lights dimmed and then their was a projection onto the curtains. ‘Numbers’ started as the curtains opened , with no band on the stage. Then they all came on to a massive applause.
The sound was stunning but in the first track I was left of the stage by the speakers. The sound of the numbers being sang in the song came out almost sped up and muddled, but also low and slighly high pitchedin frequency. The sound of that was really loud , almost to loud so I went more to the back and centered. As I was hearing the mix(excuse the pun) more left sided rather than central. I can wax lyrical about how every song and note was played to perfection. But in reality there was a sort of difference between the clarity of the albums which i had listened to over and over again. I remember at the time I thought that they were obviously a little rusty as they had not toured for so long.
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In terms of track the highlights were ‘Computer World’, ‘Trans Europe Express’ and ‘Musique Non Stop’. Which was not the complete album version. Other tracks like ‘Numbers and ‘the robots’ were not the best. But it was still good to hear them in a live setting.
The band itself were quite animated. Hutter and Scnieder were like the teachers , Schnieder almost gave the impression that he did’nt want to be there and was resisting eye contact with the audience and other band members. Fritz and Abrantes were more outgoing. I have read articles about Kraftwerk at this time, especially on the youtube videos from the 1991 tour. Abrantes was animated during Pocket Calculator but it was Fritz who was the more outgoing and smiling a lot.
The finale was almost like a track you did’nt want to end. The sound itself is only what I can describe as surround sound. But I’m not sure if it was intentional as it could of been due to the venues acoustics. I always liked ‘Musique non stop’ but it was almost hypnotic. When the song finished the audience stayed for a while expecting an encore that never happened.
One last thing i remember was that I was expecting the band to have an audience that was going to be full of people in like rave gear and tracksuits, which was a common sight at raves. What struck me about the audience it was probably about 60/40 male to female ratio. Alot of couples and not really the audience I was expecting, most of the audience was in that 20-40 age range. That was an over riding thought I had at the time that the band had obviously influenced a new generation but they stayed away.
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I think why the concert was so important to me. Was it was a vindication that my interest in computers and music was becoming more consuming. I was gaining a massive interest in Computers applications like Databases, Speadsheets. So I had a band that were touching on issues and showing a way forward. At that time you were aware they were touring and possibly doing new material(well you hoped) and you felt like the best was yet to come.
After leaving the concert I remember waiting at the train station and there was loads of fans of the band called It Bites(Calling all the Heroes). So there I was with short hair and wearing black and there was all these long haired almost hippe types around me. Then a group of them starting to sing It Bites songs, that train journey was the longest I have ever known.
After the concert I think I went from being a fan to knowing I would have a lifetime interest in the band. It also shown me that their vision of the future , even though it was 13 years previous was still just as relevant , if not more so.
The conceptual albums were artistically stunning but it was the sonic nature of their sound that set them apart from their competition.
 EDIT"SPOTIFY 1989."

Spotify 1989.

Its actually quite good now. As I am starting to move into the music that has followed me through to the present day. At the time the guitar based scene was flourishing with help from John Peel at the time. What I was noticing at the time was that it was the music he played from further away from the UK that was holding my interest. So for instance I was following Skinny puppy(Canada), FLA(Canada), A grumh(Belguim). It was a like their were bands from most european countries that were releasing groundbreaking electronic music.
Also worth noting there was a dance scene emerging from the clubs and the raves, so you had the industrial side of dance, alongside a more modern upto date version of dance music. So you had bands that were appearing like S Express and Inner City. Then you had this harder edge of music. I was lucky I had a friend with aspirations to be a DJ and as a result was buying his old 12″‘s and buying industrial and electronic. What I was wary of was music from say two years previously(Blast First for example) had already dated. I was interested in music that was something I could listen to later on.
The biggest turning point musically was visiting Rough Trade records in notting Hill, london and the music video exchange site near by. I was discovering and buying records through main stream HMV for example. But alot of the bands I wanted the records had to be ordered from mail order. Going to Rough trade records was real eye opener. It was almost like the shop was spilt into sections. I think I spent about 2 day going through the racks and taking in all the bands and imports. So when I returned home I had a new list of musical output to try and find and research.
The other shop of note was the music video exchange. What I liked about that shop was that you could buy masses of vinyl and to be honest a lot of it was poor, but sometimes you could find some real bargains. So I think that’s where my interest in buying and selling started.
Personally music had been a sociable thing in that you would try and find the latest guitar band to research and listen to. But you start to find your own path and musical direction. I think my interest in Gothic rock and electronic music, preceeded the electronic music I subsequently followed.
Other things that were going on at the time was the rise of football fanzines(when Saturday comes) , there was a real scene around the country. It was almost like football had its own alternative scene. The other thing was the interest I was developing in the Kraftwerk albums called ‘Computer World’. The amount of flak I got at the time for liking them was untrue. Even I did’nt like ‘Pocket Calculator’ much. But the sonic nature of that album got me hooked, all though it would be two years until I saw them.
For some reason as well I seemed to end up career wise for a short while working in a record shop. Now it was OK but I think working there made me realise what a musical snob I had been. As part of the daily ritual would be playing the latest albums. So at the time there was bands like Prefab Sprout(Protest Songs), The The(Mindbomb) repeated listens meant that music I had originally dismissed I was growing to like.
 EDIT"CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCIES – AN UNEVEN AND UNFAIR SYSTEM."

Credit Reference Agencies – An uneven and unfair system.

Now Im not one for trying to push forward my own political agenda onto people. So in this article I am not pushing the blame at any one politcal party as this problem has been there for some time. looking at facebook I can see people have entrenched political views and that stems from upbrining, background and life choices. My biggest problem has not been with any political party in the UK, it has been with the system itself. Now what is a credit reference agency, well you would think it is an impartial organisation that gives you a decision based on certain factors. In some ways that is correct it will make decisions based on a persons background, a process they call credit scoring. The problem is with this system is that you have to have good credit to begin with. But how do you get it?
The system itself bases a decision based on being able to ofset a risk against a gurrantor. So in theory the way to get good credit is to try to take out a slow attitude to credit. It might also take two years from beginning to end to achieve the result. Most people think that their household bills generte good credit, apart from british gas I cannot think of any utilities that check the information. Basically my advice for good credit is to create one or two saving accounts and keep a balance active in your bank. So for instance you save 1000 in two savings accounts and then in your main account use a balance but always keep a float. Thats how to build up credit.
now you may ask what is my problem with credit reference agencies? I feel they are flawed , its a deeply rooted thing in my pschye in that at the age of 20 I had worked for three years with bank statements , no overdraft facilities used. I went to university and mainly a bank in the Uk called Natwest really affected my opinion of banks, credit. Now on the whole Natwest were a responsible bank and I never had any arguments. But what I found was there was people starting at univerity at the same time. They would be with the same bank but would have additional facilities. So I was the same age, with a working background, no adverse credit. So ultimately the decision of credit was linked to a family member.
On the other hand in 1996 I changed bank and was given a credit card and bank account with no main checks(HSBC), so they probably got around the credit system to hit targets.
So basically my first point is basically fianancial oragnisations can alter credit decisions when they enter the applications. So all though a individual has done things right there end, a organisation can alter the information to suit there targets. So in some ways people get credit that are not truly expected to get it. But on the other hand companies can make reprentations to agencies knowing that they will not get credit but the organisations will hit a targets.
My second point is that financial organiations like experian as an example are linked to other companies. I am sure but might be wrong here, but experian was linked to the great universal cataolgue group who in turn where owned by Argos. All though I understand that might have now changed. So people would be applying for credit with said companies and be rejected and have their files affected.
The thrid point is that I feel a sense of injustice to the whole thing about credit, a few years ago I was working in a holiday camp a couple were saving left right and centre trying to get their own home. Combining their income and savings, they keeped on getting rejected. This comes down in part to the property system, but ultimately the property system is linked to the credit reference system. So its almost like an exclusive club for the wealthy.
This is where the real crux of what I am getting at. A person with no credit history can with the reight decisions get an umlimited amount of credit, with little income. Where as a couple with a combined income of say 25000(2 lots of 12500) are not able to obtain credit. This just strikes me as completely and utterly mad.
On a personal level I have to state that my resentment of credit companies does not stem from rejections in the past. Its an over riding concern and annoyance I have had going on for 30+ years. It started at university in that I could see a ‘have and have not kind ‘of banking system. So when I finished university I did not want to go into a mortgage vs job scenario. Luckily my wife feels the same, all thought owning a house outright is a dream. We know the systems that are in place do not help and realitically there is no chance.