All that gadding about (see below) caused my frail body to fall victim to the dreaded man flu. Then again is there anything better in the world than feeling a little ropey but being able to snuggle up in bed, long after the alarm has gone off in the morning? When I did finally make it downstairs those nice TV people had put on some lovely old films to help me pass the day.

Hope to be back on form this weekend as we are heading up to London for a bit of mid 80’s nostalgia. The ICA is putting on a couple of gigs to mark the 20th anniversary of the movement that became known as C86. So on Saturday we will be watching Roddy Frame (although he predates that whole C86 scene), The Wolfhounds but most importantly Phil Wilson. Phil used to be the singer with the June Brides; in many ways to our way of thinking they were the quintessential C86 band. Fantastic pop songs played at high speed – guitars to the fore, wailing vocals and great little trumpet breaks – they looked great as well, if you like the classy nerdy indie boy look which we all (well me anyway!) aspired to. Short hair, early 60’s suits, and great shoes, how could they fail? In our small world they were stars, of course most people didn’t have a clue who they were.

By the time they released their album it was all over for them and most of the bands of that ilk. Strangely “indie music” turned into a very different thing and the moment was gone. A few years later “indie” was everywhere, of course we moaned that this wasn’t “real indie” but who would listen. Soon we had Oasis – the biggest band in the country being called an indie band, which I could sort of see, then anyone who played a guitar was indie, then dance music came along and blew all those indie bands away.

It’s great to see these people getting some recognition at last, compilation albums being released, amazing write ups in the press looking back on those halcyon days. Now the only question is this, should I wear an old suit or a black and white French style striped T-Shirt?