Thursday 21 January 2010

The Flying Pig, Vienna AU

Another one on the list of strange places I've played. Up until three
years ago it was a whorehouse run by the Croatian Mafia. They sold
guns and drugs and during the war the rival gang heads would meet
there and settle disputes. There's even a cell in the basement.

It's now a bar run by Paul, an English guy, and for the first year and
a half he was open the Austrian police still had the place under 24hr
surveillance from an empty flat across the road.

He still can't get a music licence so doesn't have many live shows.
They have to be acoustic and can't be listed, but for a Tuesday night
it was a fair-sized crowd. He gets acts over from England and has had
people like Frank Turner in, so my stuff went down well.

Paul also plays in a mod band and they've been in the charts here, and
I can get a gig supporting them next time I'm back. They've supported
Paul Weller five times.

It seems that quite a few countries have a mod-influenced band who
support Paul Weller when he's in town. In The Netherlands there were
my friends in Supersub, and in Spain I know there's a guy called
Cooper. It must be strange to be Paul Weller, the Modfather,
travelling around. And reminds you what an iconic period the early 60s
was.

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