Hello, there. I’m Darren, and this is a collection of stuff I’ve written over the years, mainly about music but there’s some other stuff too, such as film, TV and merch. You’ll also find the odd bit of promo for videos and music I’ve made. Thanks for dropping by.
What better place to meet George A Romero, writer/director of the original Dawn Of The Dead, than in a shopping mall?
Yup, it’s Collectormania time again. This morning, I made the trip to Milton Keynes’ trendily named thecentre:mk - lower-case, of course - in the hope that I’d beat the weekend rush (the ‘mania’ of the event’s title).
And, hey, what d’ya know? Everything seemed to be proceeding at a leisurely...
My damned tinnitus is playing up at the moment. I’ve actually had an okay time of it this year. The discomfort in my ears - the blocked feeling - is always there but it’s not something I’ve thought about much; it’s settled into the background. I’ve only noticed the condition when, like now, the noises have kicked off.
When the hammering first started, a couple of years ago, I wondered whether it was ever going to stop. It sounded like someone was continually flicking my eardrum. It irritated me all day and kept...
Oh, my daily postal delivery… how I’ve missed thee. With the Royal Mail strike, for the past week the familiar sound of mail hitting carpet has been, well, not quite so familiar. For now, though, there’s some respite, and my joy at receiving a package just 30 minutes ago is overwhelming. A padded envelope from Play.com could only mean one thing: a region 1 DVD of Someone’s Watching Me* was in my mitts at last.
Call me greedy, but when Old Crow Medicine Show announced a second London show a few weeks back, I couldn’t resist bagging a ticket. I suspected that they’d play a different set from the KCLSU gig, as they strike me as a band who do whatever they like on any given night.
In an attempt to give myself a different visual experience, I arrive in plenty of time and snag a spot at the front left. I didn’t see much of Kevin Hayes last night, and I intend to make up for that - as...
Ketch Secor is introducing the members of his band, beginning with guitjo player Jim Royle. The crowd whoop and clap. I know he’s on the opposite side of the stage from me and I’ve not had a good look at him all night, but I’m sure that the guy playing the guitar-banjo crossbreed is Kevin Hayes. Next up is stand-up bassist Armitage Shanks, and the penny drops. By the time guitarist David Beckham and banjoist/guitarist Basil Brush have soaked up the applause, I’m on the phone making an...
As I write this, I’m being force-fed a banner advertising The X Factor. Dannii Minogue, Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh are staring at me - an act of intimidation to which I refuse to succumb. Give up. I ain’t buying, folks. To steal and twist a line from rock poet Jon Bon Jovi, you give a pop a bad name.
'Course, in my day, it were all fields 'round 'ere and pop music was tummy-turning, rather than stomach-churning, which is why I’ve found the recent commercial success of...
I’ve just seen the remake of Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie. I’m a big admirer of Zombie’s last film, The Devil’s Rejects - the chap clearly has talent - and I’m not adverse to the concept of horror remakes, but this one disappointed me.
John Carpenter’s 1978 original earned its reputation as a genre classic with an autumnal, Halloween-night atmosphere, a brooding sense of suspense and a handful of well-executed shocks. As with so many horror...
I’ve just got back from the flicks, where I saw Death Proof, the new Quentin Tarantino movie. The film, an homage to '70s exploitation cinema, was designed to play as part of a double bill with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror - two movies within one three-hour epic called Grindhouse that came complete with trailers (directed by the likes of Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright) for faux horror films such as Thanksgiving, Werewolf Women Of The SS and...
The post-gig piddle is usually a good chance to overhear some opinions. Men’s mouths are never freer than when they’re standing side by side with their comrades in urination, having just drunk beer and witnessed live rock ‘n’ roll. If Prime Minister’s Question Time was held in the bogs of the Camden Underworld on a Wednesday night, we’d get to find out what...
Terry Anderson, leader of the Olympic Ass-Kickin’ Team, has a great song on his 2001 album I’ll Drink To That called Stay Away From Your Heroes - a warning that they’ll let you down. He’s obviously never crossed the path of Mr Tom Baker.
As a child of the '70s, I was in thrall to Tom during his years playing the lead in Doctor Who. In recent years, I’ve been enjoying his performances in the show...
