Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 1
Chapter 1 – Tumblin’ Dice I’d seen the pub busy like this a thousand times. A local band with a bit of a following had organised their crowd with military precision. They’d made sure every other boozer in a 30 mile radius was free of goths, punks, Indie kids, metal-heads and anyone with a passing…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 2
Chapter Two – Bad Penny The first time I walked through the door at the top of the bar and into The Head, the place wasn’t yet called The Head. At least not officially. It was still a traditional market boozer with a traditional English Pub name. The Queens Head. I’d been cajoled along by…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 3
Chapter 3 – End Of A Century Lorraine, Daisy and Trace all arrived at the same time. I had been covering the lunch shift with Dan The Man and Little Steve. Double Steve was on the customer side of the bar with a drink and a bowl of chips. He’d been sharing the bowl with…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 4
Chapter Four – Pretty Penny It was six weeks since the shortest night out in history had concluded with my head, head-butting the head in The Head. I hadn’t been back at work long. There were still visible reminders of the pasting I’d taken. I had a wrist brace on my left hand from the…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 5
Chapter 5 – I Am The Upsetter Last night was hard graft for the crew at The Head. Sarah stayed down in the bar the whole evening while most of the guys who were at a loose end stayed around to help, even if they weren’t on shift. I’d asked Sarah before the doors opened…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 6
Chapter Six – Only Happy When it Rains Fat Joe’s was a terrific old bar in the market square in the center of town. It did decent quality food and had a stage of it’s own in what was once it’s coach house. This long low room was somewhere I’d seen a few gigs in…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 7
Chapter Seven – She Cries Your Name Darkness and warmth enveloped me completely. I was forty thousand leagues beneath the sea and wrapped in a warm soft blanket. There was no light. No noise. No movement. Not a thing. And it went on forever. The nothingness was wonderful. The void. I liked it. You’d have…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 9
Chapter 9 – If I Cant Change Your Mind It’s been a week since the news broke that The Head Must Die. The reaction among the folk on the music scene has been amazing. There are posters for all our upcoming shows on every flat surface in town. Barbershop windows, the college refectory, The Record…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 10
Chapter 10 – Doll Parts I’d spent the last few days in a dream. I’d seen Penny at every available opportunity. I’d seen her even when she wasn’t by my side just by closing my eyes. I was proper smitten and no mistake. Our second date was the day after that fateful band practice. We…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 11
Chapter 11 – What A Beautiful Day The article in the paper had been like a blue touch paper on a firework. In the days after it was published every ‘face’ we hadn’t already seen in the week since the news broke came by. They came to express their sadness, to drink with us. They…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 12
Chapter 12 – Up The Junction After the gig there was a truly riotous party. Penny and Trace encored at the end of Flying Toasters set with a duet. They did a ferocious take on Veruca Salt’s Seether. It was genuinely hairs on the back of the neck brilliant. The atmosphere turned more like an…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 13
Chapter 13 – Cemetery Polka Penny and I moved in together with her parents blessing. They helped us get together a deposit for the house. They helped us to buy furniture. The two up two down Sarah helped us find on Cemetery Road was the kind of love nest meets fixer upper in which you…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 14
Chapter 14 – On A Rope Sister Pain signed a deal with Deconstruction after the summer of switcheroos. A stint for me as a small time underworld stooge saw Mr Knickerbocker pay our rent every time I would hide a load from the back of Dan’s van in the basement of our house. Penny thought…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 15
Chapter 15 – Dancing On Your Grave November the 20th 1999 was our penultimate Saturday. One seven day weekend lay between me and unemployment. I’d been to see Rick at The Clock Tower a week or so ago. He said he’d be happy to have me “part time” but business had not been great and…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 16
Chapter 16 – Hide N’ Seekin’ The Replacements, Scruff would tell me, were the greatest American rock and roll band to never have a hit. They were constantly messing things up when they should have been heading on up to the big time. They started off making messy noisy squalor with records like Sorry Ma,…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 17
Chapter 17 – This Flight Tonight The day had finally come. Sarah was all packed. She was ready to go. The ephemera that had been cluttering up The Head since it started to evolve was being picked off by regulars, by staff and by light fingered Herberts who think they have a right to a…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 18
Chapter 18 – The Price I Pay I woke up with what Withnail would refer to as ‘A bastard behind the eyes’ This wasn’t just a hangover. This was a trans-dimensional malfunction which made colours too loud, the slightest sound stank like boiled roadkill and thoughts of catastrophe collided with a loss of basic motor…
Rock And Roll Valhalla – Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – Never Say Die Three members of the Local constabulary had visited The Head at around eight o’clock. They asked me some questions about head count, fire regulations and licences and I played dumb for most of them. I told them the Boss had popped out to get ice. Vernon recognised one of…
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Steve For The Deaf 