A farewell to arms... and rugs.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
written by originolly
Well, being as I'm technically no longer a member of the band, I thought it about time that I shared a few of my experiences as part of the glorious shag-pile that is Armrug* before I'm relegated to the guestbook (weep). (*n.b. type 'Armrug' into Google and, somewhere, you will find a link to an Armenian rug website!) What started out, I assumed, as one of Matt's crazy musical schemes (Salford Uni vets will recall Evil Ginger Emperor & The Monster Squad) turned out to be one of Jamie's crazy musical schemes, and Jody and I enlisted, hoping to out-crazy the pair of them. Armrug gigs were as rare as sales of our promotional g-strings (I do know of one proud owner) and our first incarnation was short-lived. However, the trip to play in Jamie?s beige hometown of Bath was a highlight. We were to record as well as play at Mole?s but ?the f**king Coral? got there first? and stayed for quite a while. Oh, and we were told by a one-handed drummer that his band needed a gimmick like Jamie?s armrug! Jody could no longer offer his bass-playing expertise so, after a brief sabbatical, Armrug II was born. Rather than attempt to replace the bashment bassman, we turned to the basic-guitar approach (two normal guitars played through bass-octave pedals) and decided that we?d all, at least, try to sing. The resultant, groundbreaking sound can be heard on the newly-released mini-album ?Everybody Loves??, written, performed, recorded and produced by the Rug. These are the tunes that made us one of Preston?s premiere bands based in Manchester (!) and we didn?t even include the only Armrug ballad, ?Love? (I look forward to hearing a recorded version one day!) I?m happy to say that I went out on a high ? ?twas my birthday after all. My last gig, fittingly, was at the Adelphi (in Preston!) and we got to do a Hendrix cover and a mega-prog ending to mark the occasion. I think I even remember parts of it ? was there really a band of zombies? So now, as I move on to pastures familiar (go to peacewiseandhomestyle.com) and new (look out for Rainbow Trout in the near future), Armrug enters it?s third incarnation (with Luke on guitar - a more-than worthy successor), and hopefully some other towns! May they receive many more e-mails from topless Danish girls, collaborate with Kanye, write a Bond soundtrack and continue to be the most punctual band in the History of Rock! Word, Olly