So finally we had our long awaited Neph night.

We all wore black, except Karen who brought a white jacket which was nice touch in honour of the first time we ever saw the Nephilim.　

Before I go any further, I’ll explain how and why these nights came into being.　

As far as we knew back in 1988, we were the only Fields of the Nephilim fans in our local town. It’s a small place and it didn’t have an alternative scene that we were aware of, as far as we knew we were the only people who liked the band. Nor did we know of any pubs or clubs in the local area where we could go and listen to this type of music, let alone dance to it. So we started to go up to London on a regular basis to visit the various clubs there and go to gigs of these new bands we’d discovered, like The Godfathers or Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry.　

We were all working at the time, so we only went up at weekends, so you could say we were part time goths. When we couldn’t afford to go up town we stayed in and listened to music.　

We’d read somewhere that the Nephs were particularly partial to Vodka, which we found out later to be true , so we adopted the drink as our favourite and started to consume it in large quantities. I had the biggest room and more freedom because my father had died the year before, so my mum let me do more or less as I pleased. I was also the youngest of four daughters, the only one still living at home still and she was already in her sixties, so more tolerant than the others’ parents. 

Mum and I had a huge four-bedroom house to ourselves which meant my friends and I were left to our own devices, though Mum did occasionally put her head around the door and sometimes even joined in though she never drunk. She also called it Wodka, thanks to her accent, which always made us laugh, especially as she couldn’t hear it.　

Many a glorious drunken night was spent inventing cocktails and listening to music. As mentioned in my previous post, we even invented a Neph game based on interviews and trivia we knew about them. We also played Trivial Pursuits quite a lot and some other board games.

As you can tell we were real trouble makers. Spike Lee was seriously considering a documentary on us...　

It was also on these drunken nights that we’d plan our trips around the UK to see the band, choosing the B &Bs we’d stay in and working out the quickest routes to the various places they were playing. No internet back then so the logistics were complicated.　

We’d also plan our holidays. Mandy and I didn’t have much money so the four of usually rented a cottage in some part of the country we’d heard was nice or driven through. Karen’s dad was the leaflet man and he’d always have some information about the places we went to and if he didn’t he’d write off asking for some. Good Old Brian.　

So we’d spend a week, visiting old buildings, trudging up mountains or prehistoric sites then eating and drinking in the evening. And we took loads of photos. I’m so glad that I was obsessed with taking pictures. Thanks to this all our holidays and very polite craziness has been caught on camera. And the bizarre thing is that during this time I worked in photographic lab, but never once did I get anything developed there. Mandy and I either went to Boots or sent the films off to be developed.

It’s so lovely to see these bright, happy, young faces and remember the fun we had.　

Inspired by memories of these shared holidays we actually created an account a few years ago which we all pay into so that we can go off and do these things again when time and family allow. The Kitty as we call it paid for last night and has subsided quite a few nights out since it was created. Which leads me nicely back to the Neph night.

Lena arrived at 4 and we started then, mixing drinks and creating shots. By the time Karen arrived we’d invented a few new cocktails from the residue of previous cocktails nights and left over Christmas booze. Karen brought new mixers and to our surprise and dismay our taste had changed. Appletise with Vodka wasn’t as nice as we’d remembered. We think they might have taken all the badness out of it and consequently ruined the taste. So we added something to give it a kick. I think it might have been Galliano, though I added Penrod to mine which only I liked. Wimps.

We then settled down to watch an old Concert on the TV courtesy of the Amazon fire stick brought for such purposes. Mandy arrived late due to a domestic issue and then we got stuck in, trying and sharing shots and long drinks. From the cocktail list. The only problem was that we were all too busy talking and chatting for us to take much notice of the concert, which was reduced to back ground noise. So we put on the videos instead, then listened to The Nephilim. Still our favourite album.　

Eventually, after much in depth criticism of our clothing choices back then we decided to go see Carl in December and even planned how to get there. I still refuse to catch the last train home as we’d done so many times in the past. It means you often have to leave the gig early and then race down the platform and sometimes even throw yourself on board a moving train. We're old now and insist on a little dignity. Though we baulk at the cost, it’ll be worth it to save my knees.　

I’d dug out numerous old photo albums of those aforementioned holidays. There were some nice photos in there and we had a great time reminiscing. I think Mandy and I might do something with the photos because there were some really nice, quite striking ones. Though we were a little drunk at the time, so maybe they don’t look quite so impressive in the morning. I’ve yet to check.

Finally at 12, I had to call it a night as it’s only been a few days since school broke up and I was falling asleep. A lovely night was had by all and we’ve decided to do it a little more regularly and not wait another twenty five years.

I’ll put some old photos of the original Vodka nights up on the site as well some other photos so you can get an idea of the sort of innocent malarkey we used to get up to.

Drinks devised by teenagers at the end of the eighties: Caution, we thought it was a good idea at the time, testing would indicate otherwise.  

Shots to be drunk before entry allowed.

Vodka and grenadine

followed by Vodka and Banana liqueur

and finally, Vodka and melon liqueur.

For those who know their drinks, these equate to traffic lights.

It was something we invented when we were playing with shots.

Neph Cocktails

Vodka and Appletise = Paul Wright’s Delight.

Bitter lemon = Pete’s Treat

Black = Carl’s Brew (with lemonade is a lightweight)

Coke = Nod’s Hob Knob.

Cider/ or lager = Tone Def.

Red wine = Volcane

Cherry Brandy = Psychonaut

Cider, lager, Guinness = Neph Boot Leg (not sure of that one)

Peppermint/ crème de menthe and Lemonade = Moonchild (oh god, what were we thinking?)

Russian =　The Sequel

Lemon cello and lemonade = Reanimator

Blue curacao and lemonade = Blue Water.

Vodka and Orange = Summerland

Vodka and Lemonade = Dawn razor