Cottage Industry – 1994ever

18th Dec 2022 – Merley Bird Gardens was exactly as its name. There was a courtyard outside the entrance building and I probably came at the invitation of our local youth club leader (guitarist in the band), looking for new things to do and perhaps even meeting new people. I don’t know where the rest of the audience came from. I still didn’t really understand how things around me worked but I do remember there being lots of pretty and exotic-looking girls here though I was still retarded by my ego and shyness, an ugly punk with a bad attitude constantly smoking rollups until they tasted like cabbage. Needless to say, I didn’t talk to anyone but enjoyed trying this ‘new thing’, though for the last time.

18th Dec 2022 – Cottage Industry was the country band (may have just been solo, not sure now) of our local (Holtwood) youth club leader.
As kids, we had lots of fun fucking around and fucking things up at the youth club, often getting ourselves banned for periods of time.
I guess I was trying to ingratiate myself with him in some way and was also a little interested in learning about things musical as a player so I blagged a ride in the back of his van with the equipment and helped carry it in and out of the venue. I was kinda amused to be in this place, still not quite of drinking age and seemed to enjoy the atmosphere whilst not being particularly interested in the music.
I had grown up through my very early years in the north of England with the local country music scene as my mum’s boyfriend was a guitar player that played a lot at the time. Mum also played folk music at home sometimes too. This Cottage Industry shit certainly wasn’t punk rock and that was all I cared about at the time.
I guessed I learned something from this experience but probably didn’t recognise it at the time.

Tag: Cottage Industry

Cottage Industry – Merley Bird Gardens, Wimborne, Dorset, UK – 15th August 1985

Cottage Industry – Parkstone Labour Club, Poole, Dorset, UK – 6th March 1985