Sept 6 Leeds UK Brundenell Social Club

Elliott BROOD --- Live at LEEDS !!

The GPS guides us once again through a largely Islamic section of town where the club is, like in Gent (and later Paris), It is a fairly run down neighborhood, reeking of deisel and oil, as there are many garages in the immediate vicinity. My favourite one is adjacent to the Brudenell Social Club and it is just a closed door with "Singz Garage" spraypainted roughly across it. Crude branding at it's free-market best. Once inside however, we take an immediate liking to the club, with it's great stage and sightlines, cozy atmosphere and good beers on tap.

The promoter here is Nathan, a early twenties former semi pro soccer player/coach. He has switched careers and to great effect, as he seems to live for promoting, putting his heart and soul into it. The man is always on facebook, and knows every band going right now. On the billboard out front are a certain bevy of Canadian talent: Black Mountain, Dan Mangan, Hot Hot Heat, Broken Social Scene, Woodpigeons. From the following night in Glasgow you can also add New Pornographers to that list, I feel as if there is a Canadian invasion going on here.

At one point, later in the evening our tourmanager Ryan joked that he could beat Nathan in a running race. The response was a challenging look that could have ended the race right there. "I'd F$%^& slaughter you!", or something similar came out of Nathan. All in jest, but also a great reflection of the truth, as our tourmanager was reduced back into his pack of cigarettes.

One more thing about Leeds. For dinner, Nathan said he knew of a pretty good place. He walked us around the corner to a little restaurant called 'Grove', Grove turns out to be a fantastic curry house, with traditional curries, and very friendly staff. I was beside myself, as I had been feeling a little under the weather and not really looking forward to a traditional English greasefest.