Some quotes and comments (some edited) based on audience feedback to Whitehouse
Live Action 101 at Optimo
Club in Glasgow on 20 April 2003 (updated 4/03):
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"I for one was gutted that I wasn't able to go see Whitehouse. On record they've got to be one of the finest bands currently producing music. In the current climate of mass produced inane pap - be it painted by numbers teenypop or diestamped 'nu-metal', William Bennett and Philip Best are putting their hearts and souls into something that they believe in despite the obvious lack of appreciation and fiscal return it's going to achieve. In the words of one of their earlier tracks 'try and be grateful', otherwise fuck off and hand around outside Virgin waiting to get your latest Slipknot CD signed by some twat in a halloween mask."
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"And who didn't know that Whitehouse were playing - and didn't know what they're like?! Duh! If I wasn't stuck dahn saff I would have been there and lapped it up - I don't think anyone is supposed to enjoy Whitehouse anyway... "
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"I thought they were actually OK. However, their last tune was a load of shite. If it was Richard D James up on the stage playing that stuff there would't have been any booing."
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"That last tune was called Movement 2000 and is just pure white noise. It's probably designed to piss off. Whitehouse played a gig recently with Mr AFX I believe.
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"I know that when I say this it isn't just my own opinion that I'm expressing: Optimo really has gone up its own arse too far this time. ok the atmosphere by the end was great and people were enjoying themselves but a lot of the damage had already been done. I for one know several people who have had it with the club. Why? It's a fucking bank holiday weekend and people want to go out and enjoy themselves, not have to endure 40 minutes of two pathetic bitter old men trying badly to be abusive over unlistenable "music". I'm not against experimentation but this just takes the piss. Did anyone apart from the hardcore 5 or 6 fans that were in seriously enjoy it? The level of booing at the end and the cheer that the first record got answers that question. Even some staff in the dj booth were shouting abuse at them. This might be funny for some people from whatever clique happen to find this shit amusing, but for a lot of us its just boring and only harms the club's reputation. Perhaps whoever does the bookings for Optimo should think a bit more carefully before inflicting their own sick tastes on punters who have come to expect better. Wise up guys."
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"I heard that you and your mates want to dance to "listenable music".
But I was there. In 2003 when whitehouse played optimo. I was there..."
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"does that offend you? what if i call you a berk, is that less offensive?
but 'berkley hunt' = 'cunt', so what the fuck is that all about? you should
think about the ifs and whys of being called a cunt, cos whitehouse called you
a cunt to your face last night - i heard them"
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"being called a cunt by whitehouse wasn't half as offensive as the endless, deafening roar spewing out the speakers. not bad mind."
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"...i thought they were fuckin fantastic, cheers twitch..."
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"if you don't like it, don't go! if you don't know who's playing, check
it out first? i had planned not to go cos i wouldn't like it. No Big Deal. Get
over yrsel, sugar!"
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"optimo was started and continues to exist so myself and wilkes can have some fun. that is the ONLY reason we do the club. i have been listening to whitehouse since 1985 and for me, it was a dream come true for them to play my club. personally, i thought they were fucking amazing and if you didn't like them, well tough shit. you were warned what it would be like and no one forced you to come (there were plenty of other alternatives on offer tonight). but, you chose to come and i thank you for subsidising me seeing whitehouse.
get a grip, it was half an hour out of yr life. don't make an issue out of it. if you can't handle it, go somewhere else as we don't give a fuck about any reputation optimo may have - that's not why we do it. we do whatever we want to do and will continue to until the day that optimo dies (which is probably just around the corner).
please, i implore you, go somewhere else - we don't want you and yr close minded types there. in two words - fuck off and let me get on with disappearing up my own arse."
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"i really enjoyed whitehouse. well half of me did think it was shite..but for some reason i found myself smiling and enjoying myself by the end. well done twitch. this is what you should be doing and putting on...things which challenge people."
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"For somebody that's not against experimentation you're very blinkered. And can you name one truly experimental artist that also appeals to the masses. You can't. Because if they did, they'd be a pop group. It's the dj's that book the guests and it's poeple they want to see play at the club. It's people like you that'll turn Optimo into a club like any other, where people turn up week in, week out to hear the same big tunes. The staff (er me, Twitch and Wilkes, and one other) were booing but it was nothing to do with the performance. You're an idiot."
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"I wasn't (booing) and I shouldn't really speak for the parties concerned.
I do know that they weren't booing because of lack of enjoyment. Perhaps they
were booing the booers, perhaps they were hoping to increase tension to a level
where scuffling might take place. Personally, I found the whole event quite
entertaining, although it didn't make me want to buy their records."
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"you were all warned months in advance. read the posts, check the news,
if you don't know what they were like, follow the link to their website, download
a couple of tracks, listen, make your own choice. but i take from you post that
you didn't. you really have yourself to blame then."
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"hmmm, lost track of the amount of shit bands one has seen at optimo, still
only goes to reinforce what was said earlier about checking out the act, one
mp3 leeched by accident a few years ago was enough to convince me that Whitehouse
are indeed shit and to never insult my ears with their garbage ever again."
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"I thought maybe the reason for booking whitehouse was because they are
so mental! therefore optimo would not be massively overcrowded at easter, and
the old moan about queing would not start up on here again!
anyway, moral of the story = Find out about the band before going to see it. The whole point of Optimo is that they do things differently noh?"
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"Oooooh.. and there were some of us in cities far far away yearning to
be there....."
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