UK update and ramblings from Craig!!

Hey everyone,

So I thought I'd write a little update now that I've been in London a little while and started to settle in to life here.

So I've been here a month now, after a whirlwind week of the Music As A Weapon tour, then flying out literally 4 days after the Christchurch show. Saying goodbye to friends and family was tough, but it was so exciting going to the other side of the world to start taking over!

Thankfully I've got a wonderful friend here who met me at Heathrow and showed me how to get back to her place. She's been an absolute legend to me! Can't thank her enough...

So I spent the first couple of weeks sleeping on a couch, and going into town trying to find work. Made me realise how sweet I had it getting my last two jobs back home, haha! After a week and a half, I went to Paris for a couple of days with a couple of mates. Did all the touristy stuff, L'Arc de triomphe, the Eiffel tower, all that rad stuff. I think the highlight for me though was the culinary delights I sampled....Escargots and frog's legs. I gotta say, it was actually kinda bland. The frog's legs were kinda like the texture of chicken and tasted kinda like fish. so it wasn't so weird.

When we came back from Paris, I resumed the job hunt in earnest, as frankly, I was starting to run out of cash! Luckily in my travels I randomly decided to pop into Hamleys toy store on Regent street, one of the raddest toy stores I've ever seen! I just handed in a cv and thought nothing would come of it, but when I got home that day, my cellphone rang and it was Hamleys wanting me to come into an interview. Sweet!

So I got the job, and luckily now I've moved into my friends flat! So I'm pretty sorted now, just settling into routine, starting to spread the word about Redline, and soaking up the vibe. It's such a different vibe here, everyone's rushing around, and lots of people are just downright rude. But it's definitely got a strong live scene, and pretty much every night there's a good gig on. So far I've been trying to save my cash until I get paid (!) but the other night Richard and I went to Taste Of Chaos, with Atreyu, As I Lay Dying and Story Of The Year. No way was I missing that! Story Of The Year were amazing! I hadn't seen them live yet, but everything I'd heard was that they just kicked ass. And ass they did kick. Afterwards all Rich and I wanted to do was go play shows! As I Lay Dying were tight, but to be honest I personally would have preferred a bit of melody from them. It's not often I can listen to a band that's just all-out metal metal. But they were a good live act. Jordan, their drummer, was intense to watch.

Atreyu were absolutely amazing. I saw them earlier this year with Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine, but this time they were headlining, so they were way, way better! I was so juiced up after watching that show, now I can't wait to start playing shows over here. Which we will hopefully start doing soon!

So there we go, there's a rather lengthy update from me. I've got some photos that I'll get put up soon, some random touristy stuff, but you'll get updates anyways!

Chur to the chur!
Craig