Chazzstock was kind of an album launch/wake/party kind of affair. You may or may not be aware of the band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, whose singer Charlie sadly killed himself back in August. The rest of the band decided to press on with releasing their debut album and then came up with Chazzstock to raise money for the mental health charity MIND, to celebrate the life of Charles Haddon and to celebrate the release of their album.
Anyway, I was already sold on the idea of going when I heard that Tony Hadley (yes, from Spandau Ballet) would be performing. So I got my ticket and went and omg, it was awesome. Loads of bands and artists I wasn’t aware of, a couple I was and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s album covered by every performer there. Well. Apart from Mr Hadley.
Stand-out performers of the night for me were MPHO, The Vaccines (and that guy from The Horrors), Mr Hudson, Tony Hadley and Ollie Wride. None of whom I had heard of, apart from obvs that guy from Spandau Ballet. MPHO did a cracking cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (although I’m only really familiar with the Placebo cover version). Ollie Wride was an incredible presence on stage – with the potential to have Pele Almqvist of The Hives’ level of stage presence.
The whole shebang was compered by Eddy Temple-Morris who made an impassioned speech on the importance of TALKING (especially for you boys out there) about stuff that’s bothering you. He blogged most of what he said on his Eddy Says blog and I recommend you check it out and then email the link to everyone you know. It really is important to talk about even the little niggles as for some, it’s a matter of life and death.
