Tonight was rather busy at the old Manchester Academy. In Academy 2 were My Morning Jacket (who me and Rich went to see), and occupying the 'Jackets normal spot in Academy 3 were the Spinto Band. Pretty much every scenester was at one or t'other tonight, which both Rich and I saw as an ideal opportunity for flyering. Handing out flyers to strangers is one of the down sides of promotions: It's a situation whereby you're forced to hand bits of paper to people regardless of whether they give a monkeys for your cause or not. It also has to be done NO MATTER THE WEATHER.

Anyway, about 10 minutes into our stint, once the Jacket fans had cleared and the Spinto ones emerged, a rather exasperated member of the tour crew ran up to me demanding "Have you seen anyone with a mandolin?!". Now, I didn't remember seeing anyone on stage with such an instrument, and certainly no-one was brandishing one when I handed them a flyer. I helpfully responded "no".

Cue more frantic running around, although this time with Spinto members. It turns out that a helpful scally had pinched their mandolin, and run off to put it on ebay. After much action resembling that of a coop of headless chickens, defeat was accepted by the band. It does, unfortunately, mean that the band will have nothing but bad memories when thinking of my beloved home, yet still it made the painful art of handing bits of paper to strangers more interesting. Ho hum.

MP3 The Spinto Band - Oh Mandy

MP3 My Morning Jacket - At Dawn

NB The above picture was taken during happier times for the Spinto Band at T in the Park this year.