We spent the week of July 8, 2019 in England doing a variety of things. We arrived on a Tuesday and caught some friends playing a club show at the Monarch Bar in Camden. Got our Nando’s fix in before and had a nice time visiting. Next day we were off to Nottingham to see Flogging Molly at Rock City. This venue is one of the most popular in the UK as its very intimate for a 1,900 capacity room. In typical Flogging Molly fashion, they tore through a 105 minute set and had the crowd in a frenzy. After the show, we found a local late night bar and had a few drinks with Matt, Nathan and Dennis.
On Thursday, we headed by train to Cheltenham. This is a cute town in the Cotswolds. 2000 Trees festival is held on a farm a few miles outside of town. This was my fourth time attending the festival. Its run by a James Scarlett, who I have known since 2012 when he was managing Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun. That’s a local Cheltenham band that had a nice run a few years ago but has been dormant for a few years. James, the band and I bonded over some very large whiskeys at the House of Blues in Boston and they performed at the first two festivals I attended back in 2013 and 2014. This years festival had a line-up that appeared specifically designed to attract our attendance. The first night main stage had Flogging Molly and then Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls as headliners. Friday, one of the tent stages was devoted to an Xtra Mile Recording takeover. Bands such as Oxygen Thief, Brand New Friend and Crazy Arm were playing as well as Skinny Lister, Jim Lockey (!) and the headliner, Mongol Horde in their first and last UK appearance of 2019. On Thursday, we mostly hung out with the bands. We were able to grab good spots on the side stage and enjoyed both shows. We then quickly fled back to Cheltenham in a taxi, as I’m much too old and soft to camp. Friday was great fun. We set up near the stage for the Xtra Mile day. All the bands were great. A special nod to Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun. I hadn’t seen them since 2014 probably. They played a great set, with every song I would have wanted. The local crowd was definitely behind them and their enthusiasm was infectious. I really enjoyed catching up with them after the set.
Skinny Lister and Mongol Horde closed out the day. Both were great. Mongol Horde is an interesting thing. It’s Frank Turner, playing a sort of standoffish punk rock icon in glitter and a silver vest, which was soon discarded. Matt Nasir playing baritone guitar and Ben Dawson on drums. Its kind of an over the top act, but while Frank’s antics are very interesting, I think the fact that Ben and Matt are playing some scorching punk rock gets overlooked. Anyways, the large crowd looked to really enjoy it.
Saturday, we did not know a single band, so we elected to head back to London after brunch with a friend that lives in Cheltenham. I was worried that waiting until Sunday and catching a train would be unduly risky with our flight leaving at 4pm on Sunday.
So we arranged dinner and cocktails with our friend Rob Sandall and his wife. He had a new bar that some friends of his had opened and he was confident that they knew what they were doing. And it tuned out they did.
The bar was called Murder, Inc. Its down a small street a few minutes from the Tottenham Court Underground Station. Its down a flight of stairs with this greeting you.
The bar was about half full at 7pm. The music wasn’t too loud and there was plenty of seating options. Service was impeccable. We had water in front of us and menu right away. They also sent out an amuse bouche of their on tap cocktail “Death in the Afternoon”. This was a bright green absinthe and champagne cocktail. It also had lemongrass, ginger and some agave. The absinthe was perfectly balanced and the cocktail very refreshing. Everyone else had an menu cocktail, all of which were excellent both in composition and presentation. I made my traditional inquiry about Plantation Pineapple Rum and of course they had it. I immediately went for the classic daiquiri and the seemingly standard bartender response of “great cocktail” was right there. They did an nice job on the daiquiri, keeping the sugar low enough that the pineapple notes in the rum and the fresh lime juice really stood out. Second round, I went to a menu cocktail called the M,inc Coat. It was a very nice gin cocktail with some similarity to a Last Word. Rob went off menu for a Walnut Vermouth Sour and at my suggestion, they added an ounce of Cherry Herring to the drink. Again, the cocktails were well done with great glass ware and garnish adding to the great tastes.
After two drinks we had to dash to our dinner reservation at Flesh and Buns. It was a Asian Fusion place with a very interesting menu. Each table also had an emergency Pisco Sour button that when you pressed a guy came over with his cart and made you a Pisco Sour. Very Clever.
After dinner we headed back to Murder, Inc for one last round. I went with the Old Fashioned Challenge, just to see what their technique was. I requested Rye and they had Rittenhouse 100 Proof bottled in bond, which is one of my favorites. The drink was excellent. I scored it 9.75 out of 10, with the only issue being that it was a fraction too sweet. Otherwise, the glass, ice, garnish and taste were top notch. I’m certainly going to return to Murder, Inc next time I’m in London. But I suspect it will be a lot busier as the word gets around.
