A Day in My Life at Guys Hospital

What is coming up is an explanation of what has been going on in my life. As a few of you might know my mother has been in hospital with spinal problems for the better part of 4 weeks. Whilst there have been days where her pain, certain people and other circumstances have made things extremely difficult for everyone at home but I am happy to report that treatment is progressing really well and should that continue she will be out of hospital any day soon.

Formalities dealt with the true purpose of this entry is really a diary of what I would describe as a normal day when I go to Guy's Hospital to visit my mum. As a template I shall use yesterday, February 28th, a Monday for those who sometimes, like me, lose track of what day of the week it is. It is going to include events, thoughts about music that I have been listening to on journey's to and from the Hospital, thoughts that have been going through me head plus a mixture of interesting things I see.

9:00:

F**K my life.

This has been the 5th or 6th day in a row that i've been awake until silly o'clock in the morning and woken up at what ordinary people call late for work/lectures. I stayed awake but wrapped up in bed.

First thing to mind, apart from my complaints about waking up, is my mum of course but also on a secondary level my choice of music for the journey to the hospital. I think the choice of music for any journey is very important for many reasons, improving a mood all the way to actually timing how long the journey lasts. For this journey I chose the album I reviewed in my second ever blog: 'Immersion' by Pendulum: One of my favourite albums of all time.

11:50

Out of the door with the opening song 'Genesis' playing and timing to perfection making it to the train station by the time 'Watercolour' had started playing. After a short wait I got onto the train and ended up at London Bridge Station during 'The Island pt 1'.

The music was a most cathartic experience. It relaxed me amidst the worry of coming to the hospital and not know what to expect when I get there.

I got to my mum at approximately 12:40, just as 'The Island pt 2' was getting towards it's final drop to say hello. Timed almost to perfection (because I am nerdy and like that kind of thing) the first thing I should hear are the words 'I'll take you in'.

1:40

While heading back up to my mum's ward after we went outside for a cigarette break I noticed someone walking by us with a flat bandage where their nose should normally be. Now I tend not to the kind of person who stares at things and makes comments in an obvious manner but I could not help myself this time. My thought process was , and I quote, 'S**t! What the hell could have happened that made losing their nose possible?' I managed to catch myself before it was made obvious but it made me think to myself that while things can get bad for anyone, things could always be worse for you.

3:15

It was nice to see Sherie, a neighbour and family friend, come and visit the hospital. While she can be loud on occasion she has always been nothing but a very good friend to us all and if nothing else it was a very good laugh having her around for the time she was there.

3:30

After Sherie left and a trip to the hospital shop via another smoke, my grandmother came to visit. She is the only person who, for various reasons, has been at her daughters bedside as much as I have but it is written all over her face that she is tired and needs a rest.

4:15

A visit from a Greenwich based social worker temporarily see's me sitting outside the ward on my own. With my Ipod charging and with no company with which to have conversation with I occupied my time by actually starting to write some of this down by hand in my pretty new journal and wondering how long that conversation would take.

I had to use my time to watch the staff of this part of the hospital with utter admiration. Whereas the staff at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital looked stressed and run down and were really quite horrible and bitchy, the staff at Guy's on the whole have been nothing but friendly, courteous and have give my mum nothing but the best medical care we could have ever hoped for. I would recommend Samaritan ward to anyone in need of the care that it provides.

4:35

Alone again after Mum and Nan made a visit to the ground floor prayer room. A Metro newspaper to my right and my charging ipod on the other side of the bed on my left and all I can think about is the noise. A hospital ward can be an incredibly noisy place. It's not an obtrusive noise like listening to a bad dubstep song or a loud and boring person talking in your ears but a noise that is a cumulation of a lot of quieter noises including things like, other visitors and patients talking, the faint applause of Deal or no Deal from the bedside television or Nurses discussing...whatever it was they were discussing. A hospital ward almost sounds like a living thing which I suppose is a good thing because if it were to be deafly quiet it would feel weird to be there.

Like it was dead.

5:20

Nurses came to do Mum's blood pressure. She is a new nurse and from what I have heard it is her first day and she will have been working from 8 in the morning (putting my complaints into perspective) until 8 at night which is a massive shift. Obviously there seemed to be some nerves about getting everything right but she did everything correctly which makes me think she will be just fine.

On a side note I saw what some people would refer to as a 'rude boi' on the latest episode of Come Dine with Me. I look forward to seeing what he cooks and how he approaches the whole week. I want to make it clear that I do not like the hat he was wearing.

On another televison related note I have watched a lot of Jeremy Kyle and it has made me realize something about the show that I had never really noticed or even considered:

The people who are on the show (the guests I mean and not the audience) more often than not don't have anything else in their life apart from living in and as such talking/arguing about the increasingly bizarre and ridiculous situations which can very easily and logically be solved and as such make me lost faith in the human race. When there are real problems in the world and all those people care about are the stupid and petty situations there find themselves in where generally in someway they are bound to be in the wrong about is quite frankly pathetic.

6:05:

Failed at a Sodoku in the Metro...FFFFFFUUUUUUU

6:20:

Hospital food = epic fail.

They always say that if you want to know what a pub or a hotel is like you should try the food as that would probably tell you what it is like better than any review of the place. If that were also true of hospitals I'd shut the vast majority of them down. The food on the ward is the one weak spot. It is absolutely dire to be brutally honest.

One thing I have realized in my time here is that it is more interesting to be slightly nosy/rude and listen to what the various are saying to each other and the other general noises around the ward than actually watching the 6 o'clock news. It's so boring and, at times, really f**king depressing.

7:15

Just had a massive conversation with my Mum concerning probably the biggest decision of my life. I'll explain more about what this decision is in my next entry at some point more than 12 hours from this point.

7:30

After catching the second half of Emmerdale back at the ward me and my nan decide it is time to head back. Waiting 16 or so minutes for the train at London Bridge cost me 4 songs on Immersion and the album finished one station before we got off the train which was annoying. No matter, the journey was completed with a little help from As I Lay Dying and Iron Maiden.

8:20

Back home and onto the laptop. Not going to reveal all this until I have checked for grammatical errors and made sure that I finish this at a suitable time.

In all seriousness today has been a bit of an eye-opener. Not because of things to do with My Mum's recovery or the conversations that we had at the time but actually what it is like to be at the hospital day in, day out with very little, if any chance of leaving your own bedside.

So I hope you all enjoyed a look into how I spent Monday 28th February.

My next entry would be described in the world of entertainment as potentially a bit of blockbuster but anyone who is either living, or attending university in Colchester that I know really ought to read this.

Signing off till 6PM tomorrow.

Something weird...

A Man With Three Heads...



Not really that but this, while going on a subject which I do talk a lot about (that being music) but it is something that people whom know me well will be extremely confused about. What I am going to do is step out of my traditional music tastes (usually Rock/Metal) and have a look at a few songs from the grimey, disgusting and all around appaling world of general pop music. The sort of thing you are likely to find in a lot of the typical club nights you are likely to go to in the next few weeks.

Now you may all think that I am going totally mad (that said I am a bit jacked up on caffine today but that is not really the point...) but there have been some genuinely interesting new songs from what I like to call the side of the fence everyone else seems to be on. I'm gonna take this span as far back as about 6 months from me first hearing the songs and the fact that they are still being smashed around the radio like confetti at a wedding or alcohol in a student accomidation pre-drinking bender.

Firstly is one that I actually only listened to because of something I saw written about it in a Newspaper:



Yes your eyes and ears are not decieving you. It's the latest single by Britney Spears by the name of 'Hold It Against Me' and while it may not be as cringe-worthingly obvious as her last single '3' or the dancefloor classic 'Slave 4 U' but (seemingly like 95% of her songs) they are about finding a guy in a club and wanting to get some of his (here comes a Lady Gaga reference...sorry) 'Disco-Stick' away from the rest of the sweaty club attendee's.

At first you might think it's just typical garbage with a Nazi style marching beat for the vast majority of the song and Britney sounding as Monotonal and auto-tuned as ever and I agree. But I have selected this for this most odd of blogs for one main simple reason. Aside from the fact that it mostly uses the same dynamic reversal as Metallica's famous single 'Unforgiven' generally with the verse being louder than the chorus until the end one but also for the section I suggest skipping through to which appears at about 2:17.

...

...

Hopefully some of you have listened to it but that is (from what I know of Dubstep) a really well excuted and quite intense dubstep drop. I find it as (quite frankly) the most interesting piece of music to be found in a song concering Ms Spears. It's quite a big drop and from what I would imagine it would produce one of the most bizarre moments in any clubber's psyche (if they are still sober enough to think that clearly):

'Ok this is a beat I imagine being made from a proper Dubstep person not Britney Spears' record label... WTF!!'


This next song may have been around for a bit longer than I might think but I don't know. It's from a little British artist who does not have the loudest voice and could be seen as annoying and has released one or two of the worst songs ever in 'Stary Eyed' and 'Guns & Horses'.



Yes it's Ellie Goulding with 'The Writer'. First thing to say is that as a song it was my favourite pop song of 2010 along with her not quite so well known track 'Under The Sheets' ,which with a few minor tweeks (I know cause i've tried) makes a cracking Hard Rock love song, but does not qualify for this list as I heard it back in last May.

So why do I add 'The Writer' to this rag tag list of slightly more interesting chart hits? Well firstly the verse and middle section has a rather interesting time signature which (while trying to learn the song) has caught me out in several times to the tune of exclimations of profanities like 'F***' 'S***' and my new rather outrageous favourite 'F**knuckle'. It's a rather beautiful song really as it features a really great melody throughout vocally, a really effective piano part and a chorus which manages to be on the one hand to be calm and emotional but on the other hand (with the right setting and the volume turned up all the way) absolutely bloody enormous. Put that chorus in a big stadium and I have no doubt it would produce a huge moment the first time it comes around.

The next song comes from another realitively new song with not much in terms of a massive voice but has a habbit of some interesting little numbers like this following dubstep inspired ditty:



Yes it's the true club anthem which you are basically garunteed to hear almost every club night you go into. It's Katy B with her signature song 'Katy On A Mission'. Well first off it's different because it uses a style that was (at the time) still relatively underground and therefore was like a breakthrough. It is a song structured much like any other so I can not offer you any difference on that front but the lyrics are in fact the most interesting element to this song. Because it's not about what a lot (96.7%-ish) of pop songs are about, sex, love and variants thereof, but about something which connects to the same amount of, if not more people who are going to listen to the song. Going on a dancefloor and when the right song comes on going absolutely ballistic not caring how you look and just having a damn-good time whether you end up lip locked with a fellow dancer or just sweaty but with a feeling of utter euphoria. The lyric has become a mantra of mine when I go clubbing with the right combination of people 'Keep up with me as we lose control'.

Following on from these I'd like to be able to put a pop song by a male artist to rebalence the list back bring back some semblence of gender equality... but Male pop singers have slowly become the most samey-samey sounding bulls*** these days but now with my most interesting choices taken up I've litterally had to go on a bit of a research through the recent chart hits. To be as frank as I can about all this it has made want boil my own head as quite a large amount modern pop is truly, saddeningly, almost hopelessly appaling. With Simon Cowell's X-Factor machine and the increase of auto-tuning into alot of music and just the stereotypical lyrical content often makes me despair at how some people can be so blind and listen to these songs and take them as the best the world of music has to offer.

But before you think I am going to say that modern music is not as good as it was in previous decades I have one unfortunate thing to say to you:

The Previous 4 decades were no better




I say this because yes there are classic tracks from those decades which everyone will remember: Beatles, Stones, Led Zepplin, Thin Lizzy, Guns 'N' Roses, early Madonna, Abba, 2-Pac, Pre-drug abuse Eminem and many, many more that I can mention. These are the artists that will be looked back on as the memorable artists of those respective creative periods with hits that will live in memory until the end of time.

But a lot of these songs were beaten to the top spot by some utterly appaling pieces of s*** which people will choose to forget was the week long fads people liked at the time. Take this list of songs for example and my point will be proved:

Gnarls Barckley - Crazy
Crazy Town - Butterfly
Journey - Don't Stop Belevin'
(Who the F*** cares) - Agado ¬_¬
Cliff Richard - Misiltoe and Wine
The stupid fast food song
All of the UK's Eurovision entries for as long as I can remember
Lulu - Shout
Mungo Jerry - Baby Jump
And everything wirtten by Donny Osmand.

My point is proved and this would be an excellent way to end this entry.

However, my research did pay off and what I have coming up is as interesting as the songs I have already mentioned and actually, in my view, somewhat of a special song to me:



I will conceed that this song does not apply to either of the rules set I set to put songs in the blog and yes it is not even a very recent song. But Viva Forever by one of the most legendary Girl Groups that there has ever been in The Spice Girls is a song which a chilled out number with 2 or 3 absolutely sensational acoustic guitar solos. It was one of the last songs the band recorded with Geri Haliwell and was in fact released after she left the band so there is in fact a hidden story behind the song and even though I do not know the story knowing this song had a difficult inception makes it very special to me. It may be utterly ridiculous but this is one of my favourite of all time. It might be embrassing given my normal taste in music but it is.

Now we can end.

Next up after the pre-season testing ends I make my thoughts and predictions for the 2011 F1 world championship.

Wow an album review - Sum 41's Chuck

Before I get into this I must say sorry for not having any reviews on my blog recently. For this one I am not going for a new release but with an album that holds a special place in my heart, not because it's the best album I've ever heard but oddly it is what inspired me to write some of the music I have written over my time as a musician. The album is Sum 41's 2004 album 'Chuck'.

When a friend of mine lent me Chuck I was very skeptical of the album after he'd said that give a few of the songs some tweaks it would make a basic (in terms of technical skill) but good Metal album.

When I actually took the time to listen to it I understood as while (apart from some of the drumming and the lead guitar work) there is not much in terms of blistering technical skill he was absolutely right. Yes there are more 'traditional' pop punk songs but this, as a work on the whole, is actually fairly unique to the genre to this day. The closest any artist has come to making a pop punk/metal record is Madina Lake with 'The Dresden Codex EP' with crucial difference being this (in my view) is better in almost every department.

Lyrically a lot of it is typically 'pop punk' so really quite dull in some aspects. But some of the songs. Looking particularly at two of the singles here 'We're All To Blame' and 'Pieces' there is actually some deeper, more meaningful lyrical skill on display. I'm not saying it's the most genius lyrical work ever but it definitely shows some long term thought has gone into it.

Generally the lyrical themes displayed in the songs fits in with the music quite well. For example 'The Bitter End' and '88' fit perfectly and it makes the songs, in my opinion at least, flow exactly the way I think the band intended it to.

The singer is neither amazing nor terrible. But this album proved he could be versatile. In various songs he could turn his hand to delicate singing, shouting, screaming and even euphoric spoken word whenever the need takes him. It's a well crafted, mature and diverse record vocally.

Quick note: Now unfortunately I will go on to do what I always do, and meticulously (perhaps dully for some of you) go through each track and attempt to relate it to what I have said earlier

1) Intro - Does what it says on the tin but has the strange ability to fit in perfectly with more than one song on the album. 7.5/10

2) No Reason - Euphoric, partially apocalyptic and with some really good simple riffs. A very appropriate opening song to the album. Shows a maturity that runs through the record and is missing on the whole from everything else the band has written before or since. 8/10

3) We're All To Blame - Reversed stereotypical dynamics much like Metallica's 'Unforgiven' with the very heavy (almost Metal-like) verses and quieter choruses (until the third one) and very good lyrics. Almost like a follow on from 'No Reason' lyrically. 8/10

4) Angels With Dirty Faces - The first genuine surprise of the album. The Drop tuned guitars could have been an indication this song was going to be slightly different but the heaviness after the soft vocal intro and the proper thrash metal drumming in the chorus make this one of the albums stand out tracks. 9.5/10

5) Some Say - The best thing about the are the vocals. It's not my kind of song generally and seems a bit to much like generic 'pop punk' ballad in my view. 5/10

6) The Bitter End - I've heard many things said about this song: It's a rip-off of Metallica's 'Battery', it's a fake Metal song and it's just plain wrong. I'll admit it is structured basically identically and includes some similar phrasing but it stands out as it's own song. First of all it is a very convincing Thrash song as all the elements are there and it's put together in a very convincing and logical manner. Oh and the main guitar solo is absolutely incredible in my opinion. Yes it's not the fastest or the most melodic but it strikes a very fine balance which is important in my opinion. This is best song on the album in my view. 10/10 (yes i know it's frowned upon to give anything 10 but I've done it now)

7) Open Your Eyes - I must admit I haven't listened to this song as much as the others but it is a good song musically. Works really well with seeming maturity that has been hinted at with the music. Just a shame it's the worst track lyrically and it comes quite close to ruining the song as a whole. That said the Middle 8 is actually quite fantastic. 7/10

8) Slipping Away - The True Acoustic number of the album. This song takes pride of place on my chillout playlist on my computer. It's quite a beautiful song which is also structured not like a traditional song in the sense that it only has the one verse. Vocals shine out really well on this one. 8/10

9) I'm Not The One - Another very heavy song. When I first heard this song the intro reminded me very heavily of Linkin Park tracks like 'One Step Closer' or 'Crawling'. The actual proper screaming vocals in the middle section of the song are pretty remarkable and show a complete diversity from most of the rest of the album in terms of vibe and texture. 9/10

10) Welcome To Hell - Very much more like a traditional punk song from decades previous. It's a very short, shouty, fun song basically telling us to jump around like morons and it would be a very good song in the mosh pit. The Bass stands out on this track as being fast, spikey and, much like the rest of the track on the whole, just damned good fun. 8.5/10

11) Pieces - The rating for this song would be so much lower if it did not have really good lyrical content. I find the song incredibly dull if i'm not paying particular attention to the words as there is really not very much to the music that I haven't heard from 'Some Say' or 'Slipping Away' earlier in the record. 6/10

12) There's No Solution - Another song which I have not spent a lot of time listening to. There can be no doubt that this song actually has one of the best choruses on the album. It's almost like a big stadium rock track scaled down a bit. Just missed a bit of lead guitar would be my one problem with it. 7.5/10

13) 88 - The Schizophrenic song as I like to call it now. It contains all the styles present in the album. From a very punk rock-ish intro. To an acoustic verse, a massive chorus and the massive Metal breakdown towards the end. Had it ended on that big Eb chord at the end of the breakdown it would have been another 10/10 song in my view but there is simply the fact that the ending sounds strained and rather bizzare. Did not seem neccesary. 9.5/10

From the US the album ends here but the version I have houses 3 other songs, which I shall also take a look at.

14) Noots - Incorporation of keyboards is very interesting. It in keeps with the theme of the album musically and has a humongous chorus to go with it. Lyrically however it is a bit of a disappointment but not terrible. 7.5/10

15) Moron - What else could be said about this song other than it is, much like 'Welcome To Hell' is a very good laugh. It is almost as simple as music gets and it shows. What else draws me is actually a very good vocal performance which suits the song perfectly.

16) Subject To Change - This song has foundations in both the title track from the next album (the chorus) and in 'No Reason' (the middle 8). It manages to be the angriest song on the disc but while it is a very good song it doesn't quite flow as a lyrical concept and it is quite easy to understand why it was not included on either this album or the next. Pity really. 8/10

Overall rating for the album I would say has to be 8/10. I love the majority of it as it is a massive departure from the general direction of Pop Punk around the time and to this day. The Stand-Out songs are the heavier ones, not just as a fan of Metal but as a musician they are better musically in my view and it shows that this band. Even in it's new guise can pull off a largely convincing live cover of the classic Metallica song 'Master Of Puppets'.