england?

[Luke666uk]

Sounds very cool! Me...

Everywhere we go (everywhere we go)
People want to know (people want to know)
Where the hell are you from (where the hell are you from?)
We’re from Wolverhampton (we’re from Wolverhampton)
Lovely Wolverhampton (lovely Wolverhampton)
Colourful Wolverhampton (colourful Wolverhampton)

AR BAY A BRUMMIE ARM FROM THE BLACK COUNTRAAAAYY!

Good to see another Black Country Bloke on here mate!

 

[D.A.R.K.]

guess i'll chime in...
never lived there, only played there,
and was releasing material on emit records out of nottingham.
in my limited experience (20 years of touring full time, 30 countries and counting) england is by far the worst place to work.
it's a rip off.
you can sell out koko's and not have loaders....or water, unless to stipulate these things in your contract, and fight for it - cheapest promoters ever, by far. i recall selling out water rats and only getting 250 pound. i don't want to be treated like royalty, but basic amenities
for traveling parties would be humane. oh, also, horrifying db limit police in most places. i think people in the uk really like a good fight...
i will give shepherds bush empire big ups though,
it's like stepping out of england.
also, gotta give the festival culture some love, had great times at glastonbury, atp, and big chill...
also gotta love radio 1.... still in rotation there...
oh and the wire (the music publication!)
the only publication i will subscribe to...
best thing about england is you can take the tunnel of ferry and be in places like france and the netherlands who want the music and not the fight...

 

[becker4567]

Lets here it for Ockham, Surrey!!!! Yaaaaa!!!!

 

[SC Bassboy]

The beer is better than in the states! I spent some time in Denver and loved it - my brother lives in Boulder.

I always think of that Monty Python joke: Why is American beer like haveing sex in a canoe? It's F'in near water. LOL.

We actually have some world-class beers but they are all micobrews (small breweries). Sweetwater, Samual Adams, etc. My favs are mostly imports though such as Guinness & John Courage.

 

[EdHunter]

Fixed

Seethe, rage, anger etc.

But at least we're not Bolton or Wigan, a pair of towns and teams so dull I'd consider moving to Belgium a step up in excitment.

 

[MEKer]

Chiming in as a Yank who has been all over Scotland and parts of England. As I was on military business I was not able to do the music scene there BUT-I did go to the Tatoo in Edinborough with a great seat in the General's Box. Spent a lot of time at Stirling Castle and area with the 53rd Highlanders (and then went to Belgium --yes, it IS dull there-- with them). And down to Strensall in England via Jedburgh and therefore, of course, York (which I found fascinating) and then on to London and Southampton. Then over to France with the Home Guard from Hereford. Whew------
Been all over and absolutely loved the Isle and people.

Now--back to the regular program.....

 

[chrisisnotevil]

Hmmm, Manchester. Nobody's mentioned Manchester. For a town that think's it's the centre of the muscial universe, it's got the worst scene I've ever experienced. Pay to play shows with mediocre bands everywhere you look. There's a few people putting on decent shows but they're few and far between. I much prefer playing in Leeds, Sheffield or Glasgow.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Hmmm, Manchester. Nobody's mentioned Manchester. For a town that think's it's the centre of the muscial universe, it's got the worst scene I've ever experienced. Pay to play shows with mediocre bands everywhere you look. There's a few people putting on decent shows but they're few and far between. I much prefer playing in Leeds, Sheffield or Glasgow.

I have visited Manchester in the past and that's why I stay in London and Brighton!

Run-down buildings, people getting drunk all over the place - just horrible! England has got some nasty places and very boring places - but London is one the best Cities in Europe and although I wouldn't want to live there, it's always interesting to visit, as long as you don't mind the overcrowding!!

Holiday in Lake District, Cornwall and Devon - historic visits to Oxford,Cambridge and Stratford - but really the South East is the only place to live!

 

[BassyBill]

I have visited Manchester in the past and that's why I stay in London and Brighton!

Run-down buildings, people getting drunk all over the place - just horrible! England has got some nasty places and very boring places - but London is one the best Cities in Europe and although I wouldn't want to live there, it's always interesting to visit, as long as you don't mind the overcrowding!!

Holiday in Lake District, Cornwall and Devon - historic visits to Oxford,Cambridge and Stratford - but really the South East is the only place to live!

The main reason I wouldn't want to live in the South East can be inferred easily from this post.

Joking aside - I love London, but wouldn't want to live there, as Bruce says. The Lakes are beautiful (if you stay away from Windermere). Cornwall in some places is like a premonition of hell - try going out in Newquay on a Friday night out of season. Oxford's a great little town ("city"), but visiting there always makes me reflect on the huge social divide we have here when you compare it to some of the other places mentioned in this thread. BUT we can't go there... politics...

 

[Alexander]

I'm American, but have been living in the UK for the past 15 months - I work between my office in Reading and London each week. Great to be in the city, but not live there with the family and all. We moved here from Seattle.

Regarding cost of living, IME it is extremely high if you try to continue living like an American. We had a big house in the US with 2 nice cars and enjoyed a fair amount of disposable income. Here we have a house roughly half the size with only one (company) car. We don't have quite the disposable income, but make it along just fine. I'm a recruiter by trade and talk with lots of folks wanting to move to Europe but put off by the cost of living and fact that the earning potential is often not as high for the same work. Oh yeah, most American companies operating abroad can't for some reason tell the difference between a US Dollar, a British Pound or a Euro. So, buying anything American is generally going to cost you a 50% premium. Nothing like paying the equivalent of $40 US Dollars for a trip to McDonalds...

We love being able to spend Saturdays hiking through the hills and villages of the countryside with the kids and dog. We go into London for church and (on the Sundays I'm not hauling bass gear around) we generally spend the afternoon running around in the city. Lots of amazing places to explore and our friends here joke that we've seen more of the country they have. Brighton is a family favourite, especially in the summer.

Just IMO, the food & beer generally speaking is nothing to write home about. I've had some of the best food of my life here, but it is few and far between - 99% of the restaraunts are not that good and WAY overpriced. So, we don't eat out much. Upside is that the larger groceries tend to have really good, fresh stuff, a fair amount of which you'd have to go to a specialty store in the US for and it's not any more expensive than in the US.

As for the music scene, hard for me to say - I'm just trying to get out there. Tough to do when you're a "country, southern rock and blues" bass player...

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

So, buying anything American is generally going to cost you a 50% premium. Nothing like paying the equivalent of $40 US Dollars for a trip to McDonalds...

That's not the reason to avoid McDonalds...

(Which I have successfully managed for many decades!!)

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Thought I'd chip in as a Brit in the US...

The UK has lots of good music - you just have to go looking for it. Of course, London's the epicentre of everything, and you'll find all kinds of music there - make sure to check Time Out (www.timeout.com/london) for the gig listings. It's not the cheapest place to live, but most big cities aren't (take a look at NYC, for example - almost certainly more expensive than London too). Depending on your line of work, there's lots of well-paid work in London to sustain your music habit, and loads of other stuff to do - lots of good food, there's the West End for your theatre fix, and lots more. Plus, there's one of the world's best bass shops - The Gallery - in Camden Town. Paid gigs will be the usual function/wedding/covers fare - there's lots of places to play, but unless you're playing corporate gigs for big companies on a regular basis or playing in the pit for a West End show, don't plan on making a living from it. I do know quite a few people back there who *almost* manage it - they live in small flats or flatshares, work part-time and dedicate all the rest of their time to music. This is perfectly doable, especially if you're not living right in central London. For some other hints and tips, head over to Steve Lawson's forum - he makes a good living from playing and teaching, and lives a nice London lifestyle.

Moving away from London, Birmingham's got a growing music scene that's worth investigating, Manchester used to be a hotspot for music, but has kinda lost its way a bit (kinda rough now too), Leeds is great if you like rock/metal, Oxford's gorgeous and fun, with lots of music to listen to, Cardiff in Wales has a huge music scene (some are saying that Cardiff's the new London as far as music is concerned), Glasgow has its own little scene, Bristol's always been a good town for music (Portishead/Massive Attack/Tricky, etc)... the list goes on. A safe bet would be a town/city with a university, as they always seem to have good music scenes. All these places (with the possible exception of Oxford) will be significantly cheaper (and friendlier) than London, although bear in mind job salaries won't be as high in most of these places. To get a taste of the types of bands you'll find in each area, look through the musicians sections on Invalid Link Removed (more or less the UK equivalent of Craigslist).

The cost of living in the UK is maybe a little higher than most of the US (but not everywhere - here in NJ the cost of living is actually higher than the UK). Direct taxes (ie, income and sales tax/VAT) are somewhat higher, but there's a lot less in terms of capital taxes, such as on savings or property. You'll find the supermarket food's a lot better, you'll have better access to public transport, there's lots of places to go drinking if that's your thing, healthcare's free at the point of delivery, if you decide to buy a house there's no property taxes (just council tax that everyone has to pay, buying or renting), you'll be able to get out and walk a lot more than you'll have been used to in the US, Coke is made with real sugar instead of HFCS, McDonalds sell salads and relatively healthy sandwiches, and the scenery is fantastic.

In terms of accommodation, yes, the houses are smaller - land is at a premium in the UK compared to the US. But houses tend to be more solidly built - all masonry, bricks, slate and tile. You won't find any wood frames, vinyl siding or asphalt roofs in the UK, except on garden sheds. You'll be able to rent a half-decent flat within easy reach of London for £600-800 a month (more if you need more room). On top of that, your typical utility bills will be electricity, gas (if your boiler and stove are gas-powered), water rates and council tax (pays for rubbish collection, local roads, local police, etc), ISP costs, mobile phone (get a pay-as-you-go phone to start with), and your annual TV licence, which basically pays for the BBC - seven TV channels and loads of radio stations, all with no commercials and relatively high-quality programming compared to the commercial stations.

If you're intending to drive, motoring is very different in the UK. Apart from the obvious driving-on-the-left thing (just remember, you're sitting on the side of the car nearest the middle of the road), petrol/diesel is much more expensive, but you'll find most people compensate by driving smaller or much more fuel-efficient cars - you can get some cars with small diesel engines that get 70+mpg - who needs a hybrid? For the most part, only rich peple drive SUVs, and you'll hardly see any pickup trucks. On the plus side, because cars are viewed as a luxury rather than a necessity, cars tend to be better built and more lavishly equipped, car insurance is very cheap compared to the US, and you'll find motorway (highway) driving to be a lot less intimidating, despite the higher speed limit - people tend to have better lane discipline, actually use their turn signals, and trucks are limited to a maximum of 60mph so they can't scare the crap out of you by overtaking you in the fast lane.

Culturally, most Brits know a lot about US culture (we're inundated with it from an early age), but in my experience, most Americans know very little about UK culture, and most of what they do know is probably 30 years out of date - might be a good idea to read various British sites (BBC, any of our newspapers, etc) and get an impression of our culture, famous people, TV programmes, our sports teams and stuff like that. Learning about football in the UK is an easy route into a conversation with almost anyone you'll meet - they'll be impressed at finding an American who doesn't think football involves shoulder pads and an oval ball. We're also sticklers for British English - we all know the US terms for things (eg elevator->lift, faucet->tap, sidewalk->pavement) but we prefer you use the British terms, and spell things the British way.

Also, as a general guide to being an American in the UK, Brits generally quite like the guy who's in the White House now but we all hated the last guy, we're mostly quite secular and don't talk about religion much, and we don't have a lot of time for patriotism, unless England are playing Germany at football.

My personal recommendation? Don't live in London, but live somewhere where you'll have reasonably easy access to it - more or less anywhere in the Home Counties would fit this description (the "Home Counties" are Essex, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex). They're all within an hour's train ride of Central London, and cheaper and prettier than the city, with more space, so you can have the best of both worlds.

 

[basstotheface]

i completely forgot about this thread! 1st post after creating it! anyways, seems like you guys enjoy san francisco A LOT. i was thinking about england today and was wondering a) do people in the UK(including Scotland) impersonate our accents for fun like we do with theirs? and b) do they like our accents or think they are sexy as many americans do about theirs.

 

[basstotheface]

and since the living cost of london is so high does anyone here just live in small towns close outside of london and drive to london for a better job and when the need a big town fix?

 

[TheDarkReaver]

Yes, lots and lots of people. Commuting is fairly common.

I don't think I've met anyone who finds an American accent sexy and mostly heard people doing one when complaining about the tourists.

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Yes, lots and lots of people. Commuting is fairly common.

I don't think I've met anyone who finds an American accent sexy and mostly heard people doing one when complaining about the tourists.

You'll find most commuters don't dare drive into London - between the horrible traffic and the congestion charge, it's much easier to take the train, and use the Tube to get around once you're there.

+1 on the American accent thing... you'll run into some people who like it because of their favourite film star or something, but it's generally not considered "sexy". But, as ever, it's what you say, not how you say it.

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Also, if you want to take a look around, Google Maps now covers almost the whole of the UK with Street View - it's a great way to check out an area. For instance, here's a Street View link to the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing, as featured on the Beatles album cover: Linky

 

[TheDarkReaver]

You'll find most commuters don't dare drive into London - between the horrible traffic and the congestion charge, it's much easier to take the train, and use the Tube to get around once you're there.

+1 on the American accent thing... you'll run into some people who like it because of their favourite film star or something, but it's generally not considered "sexy". But, as ever, it's what you say, not how you say it.

Ah yeah, of course I should've said that. I didn't really click that he said drive. I imagine if you did that you'd go insane after a short while.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

You'll find most commuters don't dare drive into London - between the horrible traffic and the congestion charge, it's much easier to take the train, and use the Tube to get around once you're there.

Yes - I've been commuting from Brighton to London for work, for about 10-15 years and I have never considered driving into London.

Trains are quite fast and get you directly into the centre if you're lucky - plus you can sit and read a book etc

Downside is cost - so an annual season ticket is the cheapest way, but at over £4,000 a year and rising ... and they are crowded as more and more people commute - sometimes there are no seats and you have to stand!!

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

If you're interested in spending some time in the UK, you should go over and do a recce trip and check the place out - I'm sure there's plenty of UK-based TB'ers who can show you around.

Also, probably most importantly, if you decide you like it, you'll have to think about getting a visa to come and live and work in the UK - this can be tricky. You'll probably need a sponsorship from an employer and a firm job offer to qualify for a visa - the UK tightened up its immigration policy recently and ended several of its reciprocal policies with the US, such as BUNAC. There are other routes, such as studying in the UK, marrying a UK citizen or getting an intra-company transfer, or if you're extremely well qualified (ie, master's degree or higher) you may be able to get in on a tier 1 visa which doesn't require sponsorship or a job offer.