Local H's Scott Lucas In '02: 'Sometimes It’s Almost Better To Be Poor'

Scott Lucas seems pretty hungry these days. Not too long ago, he cranked out his solo debut, George Lassos the Moon, under the somewhat deceptive moniker Scott Lucas & the Married Men. And soon he’ll be turning his attention back to his true spouse, Local H, with a bevy of tour dates from mid-April through early June.

For posterity’s sake, here’s a Local H piece I scribbled in early 2002, around the release of Here Comes the Zoo. Here, the article finally sees the light of day online. As sarcastic and sardonic as you’d expect, Lucas also meditated on poverty and class struggles, the loss of hope – and “Big Momma’s House.”

—

Scott Lucas, the brainchild behind rawk duo Local H, is in your fucking face. Sardonic, bitter and downright hilarious, the Zion, Illinois, native is at one moment ready to tickle your armpit, then rip the rug from under your feet in the next. A sampling of song titles from his four-albums-deep catalog proves it in a nutshell: “She Hates My Job,” “ ‘Cha!’ Said the Kitty,” “All the Kids Are Right” and “Mayonnaise and Malaise” just skim the surface. In concert, the point is driven home even harder; at a recent pit stop at Los Angeles’s renowned club Whiskey, Lucas entered the stifling, sold-out venue in a massive gorilla suit. And he had it in mind to do the entire late-2001 tour in the thing, no less.

“A couple shows into it I realized it was a pretty stupid idea,” Lucas says in a recent phone conversation from his on-off Chicago base while taking a break from watching “Big Momma’s House.” “I was wondering how long I could do it until it didn’t become funny anymore, and keep doing it until it got funny again. That’s what I occupy myself with these days, those kind of thoughts.”

That and churning out some killer rock ’n’ roll music. Coupled with his indispensable sense of humor, Lucas is the creative genius behind a bass-guitar combo instrument which has allowed him to keep his Local H unit confined to himself and a single drummer – once the towering Joe Daniels, now former Cheap Trick drum tech Brian St. Clair.

But that’s not all, folks. With their indie cred permanently intact, Local H has accomplished a feat that, while seemingly brushed off by many, is indeed the ultimate-yet-unattainable aim for most. Read: airplay. “Bound to the Floor,” from 1996’s As Good as Dead (Island), became the sleeper radio hit of the year. The irresistible “Eddie Vedder” followed, granting airwaves one of the best lyrics to come out of the ’90s: “If I was Eddie Vedder, would you like me any better?”

The long-overdue Here Comes the Zoo also contains a swatch of tunes solid enough to nab the well-versed listener’s ear, but catchy enough for radio-philes: “Half-Life,” the first single, “Creature Comforted” and “Keep Your Girlfriend Away From Me.” Local H’s first release through former Island chief Chris Blackwell’s new Palm Pictures imprint, the 10-track effort might not reach the mainstream listener, but is a winner all the same. As for Lucas, he’s just happy to see the record – Local H’s first since 1998’s Pack Up the Cats – hit the stores … and without any corporate sponsorship to boot.

When Island was bought out by Universal, Blackwell quickly launched Palm and invited Local H to come on board. “I was ready to go there from the minute that that idea was brought up,” asserts Lucas. “He [Blackwell] has that kind of maverick spirit where he wants to beat the other guys at their own game, but wants to do it his way. And I really respond to that.

“I don’t feel like going to Palm was a step down in any way,” he adds. “We’ve got the resources that we’ve always needed. I don’t have to worry about someone swooping in and buying the thing. It’d be stupid for me to sign to another major-label corporation.”

Despite their new indie-label status, Local H managed to rope in another top-name producer for their fourth album – Jack Douglas of John Lennon, Cheap Trick and Aerosmith fame. Though he recruited Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars) for Pack Up the Cats, Lucas says he wasn’t expecting to land another legend. In an odd twist of circumstance, drummer St. Clair ran into Douglas at a wedding for Cheap Trick’s manager, who quickly agreed to produce Here Comes the Zoo.

What unique slant did Douglas offer to the album? “We wanted to make a record that was a little more rough around the edges and representative of what we’re like live,” says Lucas. “And some of Jack’s greatest records do that – the records he’s done for Aerosmith and Cheap Trick are very rough-and-ready. I don’t know what it is, it seems like people come to our shows and seem surprised at how we sound live. We were just trying to figure out how to get that onto record.”

Aside from the roaring riffage – furthered by visits by Queens of the Stone Age shredder Josh Homme and the Misfits’ rambunctious Jerry Only – Here Comes the Zoo is, lyrically, Local H’s bleakest outing. Says Lucas, “There’s some grim stuff in there. Not a lot hope. On all of our records, the last song always seems to give off a glimmer of hope. On the first record there was a song called ‘Grrrlfriend,’ it was a little cherry on top. The last record was talking about ‘It’s a lucky time with everything improving.’ And this record ends with a mass suicide.”

“What Would You Have Me Do?” is a 25-minute foray into a dark netherworld – the first half a creeping death, the second an atmospheric afterlife clogged with fuzzy, distant noise that furthers the macabre feel. Says Lucas. “I wrote this like it was New Year’s Eve 2000 and what was going to happen. I thought of all these people getting together in a house and drinking cyanide and killing themselves. That’d be quite the New Year’s Eve party.”

For the faint-sounding part two, Lucas and St. Clair held a microphone outside their studio window near Times Square, where they caught a variety of incidental noise: people buying Broadway tickets, a man clanging on a steel drum, cars and motorcycles chugging.

“If you listen real close you can hear me scream and shout,” Lucas says, “We wanted to do it for the vocals and see what we could get. We got sirens and a bunch of stuff by accident. We were listening to it and realized that it’d be really nice to have on the record. [You can] pretend you live in downtown New York.”

On a more socially conscious note, the last cut resonates with what Lucas signals as the album’s mission statement of sorts: “The whole record’s about selling out, getting old and losing your edge. What do you do, just give into that, or cut your losses while you’re still ahead?” “Rock and Roll Professionals,” for example, is a direct assault on bands more than ready to cash in their dignity for a Gap commercial appearance. The album title itself is a reference to Iggy Pop’s sarcastic jab “Success” from Lust for Life.

Though invariably linked with Local H’s transition from major to indie, the anti-establishment concept reaches far beyond just the music industry. “Half-Life” is about class struggle: “The upper class has a vested interest in the working class staying the working class,” Lucas declares. “The way beer commercials and everything is sold to poor people is to keep them there. Those people aren’t really given any handouts. A college education is so expensive, it’s not so easily obtainable. If you’ve got a station, your kids are going to be at that station, too. It just goes on and on and on. The only way to really get out of it is on your own.”

“Creature Comforted,” however, is a sharp critique on the self-made man. “If you climb that ladder and acquire all these possessions, in the end they possess you,” he continues. “You get fatter, older, you lose your edge. You don’t want to leave your apartment or house, you don’t want to stop watching TV. You stay inside the little cage you’ve built for yourself rather than keep yourself interested in what’s going on. And in that respect, I think sometimes it’s almost better to be poor, to keep yourself hungry. That’s better than getting fat and dying.”

Local H are slated to hit the road the day their new record is released – March 5. An eight-week tour will commence, followed by another potential headlining leg or opening slot. Per usual, guests will hop on stage to fill in with guitar solos, tambourines and toy pianos – instruments four arms can’t manage alone. Lucas sounds eager to hit the circuit again and perform in front of Local H’s typically mixed bunch.

“It’s really hard for people to get a handle on what our crowd is,” he opines. “I’m not really even sure what it is either, but I think the people who know the records inside and out are a diverse group. It’s nice when you see 15-year-old chicks up front toughin’ it out. I’ve never seen us as a macho-idiot band. It’s nice to have that reinforced.”

—

Somewhat-but-not-really-related:

• “Iggy Pop: ‘I Didn’t Want To Sell Out’ The Stooges
• “Iggy Pop Transcript, 7.18.03: ‘I Was Shooting Dope At The RIAA Awards When It Wasn’t Chic’
• Anti-Death-Penalty Hangman

[Via http://thebadpennyblog.wordpress.com]

5 Of The Best - Personal fitness tips

Published in Matchbox magazine

Matchbox brings you a very special Five of the Best this month, courtesy of fitness guru Matt Roberts.

In the depths of the last recession, Matt Roberts moved to London with an idea: he’d identified a niche in the market for personalised training, where athletes or regular clients could get tailored help in reaching their fitness goals.

With no banks willing to lend, he had to put in some hard graft to raise the necessary funds. But raise them he did and in 1995 Roberts managed to set up his first one-to-one training centre within a former art gallery. Today he owns four plush personal training gyms across the capital with a client list that boasts the likes of John Galliano and Naomi Campbell. The following are Roberts’s top tips on keeping healthy in 2010.

Interview with Laura Holt.

1. Staying Motivated

Set a distinct goal and a date by which you want to achieve it. Be crystal clear and devise a reward for yourself for when you reach that target – and a forfeit if you fail to make it. Your goal could be that you want to get into a certain size dress for a special occasion, for example. So buy the dress in a smaller size that realistically matches your target. You’ll have an incentive for getting your weight down – or you’ll have wasted your money.

2. The Fun Factor

The best way to avoid monotony in your routine is to mix up the intensities – with things like interval training – and by varying the activities. Part of the reason why triathlon has become so popular is because advocates can vary training up by going for a run one day, then a bike ride or session in the pool the next. It’s important to allow yourself a mental and physical break. Make sure you have different patterns you follow. Sit down on a Sunday night and plan your activities for the week ahead to help stimulate your workout.

3. Eating Better

The average female consumes between 85-105 grams of fat each day, when it should be no more than 60 grams. With men, the ratio’s roughly the same: we’re consuming 80 per cent more fat than we should be. Where possible, remove saturated fats from your diet (commonly found in fried foods and dishes with rich creamy sauces and cheese). Stay away from ‘bad’ fats (many mass-produced biscuits and the like still contain unhealthy trans fats), and focus instead on the ‘good’ ones, in sources including fish, nuts and seeds.

4. Working Out

One of the most effective ways to work out is through interval training. At least twice a week, throw a hill session into your running or cycling routine or change your speed when swimming for a minute or two. Push yourself really hard, to the point where you couldn’t carry on any further, then recover for same time. Keep this up for 45-minutes and it will raise your metabolism phenomenally. Working out at a constant pace raises your metabolic rate for about 8 hours – with interval training, the afterburn effect lasts for up to 48 hours.

5. Warming Down

When you’ve finished an exercise session, you really need to stretch. Cool yourself down by bringing your heart rate down slowly. For example, if you’ve finished a run, spend five minutes gradually reducing your pace to a slow walk before finishing by stretching all muscles.

VIEW THE ORIGINAL PRINT VERSION

[Via http://lauraholtlondonfreelancejournalist.wordpress.com]

Interview with Nick James

Nick James is the Seattle-area author of a forthcoming sci-fi series tentatively titled SKYSHIP ACADEMY. Hi, Nick, and thanks for talking to The Spectacle! Let’s dive in:

Q: Do you have a release date yet?

The first book in the series will be released by Flux in Fall 2011.

Q: Can you tell us a little about the story?

It takes place in a post-war America transformed into one big desert after a string of chemical bombings. Some folks have retreated into the sky, living on city-size crafts called skyships. Others have sought refuge in the Government’s Chosen Cities, protected from the elements by enormous domes. Both sides fight over mysterious green orbs that began falling from the heavens shortly after the bombings. They call them Pearls — and just one can power a skyship or Chosen City for months.

The story follows two teens on opposing sides of the struggle. Hapless slacker Jesse Fisher trains at Skyship Academy, preparing to steal Pearls away from the corrupt Surface government. Meanwhile, Cassius Stevenson works for an elite team of government operatives charged with powering the Chosen Cities. When the two clash — developing mysterious, frightening abilities — they’re pulled into a battle that threatens to unlock the true mystery of Pearls and trigger a new war.

Q: What drew you to this genre?

I was drawn to sci-fi and fantasy at a very young age. I grew up on comic books and went especially nuts over the big, multi-issue story arcs in my favorite series. Epics, I’d call them. I like reading about worlds that require some imagination, people that are relatable on a human level but get swept up in amazing, crazy adventures. I think children’s and YA writing is often the best example of this kind of storytelling. Kids aren’t afraid to express their imaginations and demand books that cater to that.

Q: What inspired this particular story?

I wanted to write a book that combined elements of some of my favorite contemporary adventure series (ARTEMIS FOWL, ALEX RIDER, MAXIMUM RIDE) with the kind of voice and characters from my favorite coming-of-age novels (THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER). So the initial spark was more of a mood and tone than a specific story. As the plotting fell into place, I drew on influences from my childhood, like the dialogue-rich storytelling found in comics and graphic novels. I ended up writing the series I would have picked up and loved as a kid, while making sure it was smart enough to appeal to my (slightly) more grown-up tastes now.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge so far in the writing or your path to publication?

I think any story that requires a lot of world-building is inherently challenging. You want to make the characters’ world feel plausible and real without overstuffing it and making it burdensome for the reader. A lot of my revision dealt with this. It was fun exploring this futuristic world and bringing it to life.

I feel that my path to publication has been relatively pothole-free. As with any author, it’s a lot of work, but I’ve enjoyed every step so far.

Q: What’s the craziest thing you believe in? Or how else is your imagination expressed in your life?

I really believe that life would be so much more interesting if it were a musical. I’m patiently waiting for the day when everyone suddenly bursts into song while going about their daily routines.

A few years ago, my fellow camp counselors and I decided to put this theory to the test and declared an all-singing day. The kids just sort of glazed over like we’d suddenly gone insane. The all-singing day lasted for about an hour. I guess that kind of shoots the whole thing down.

Q: Or maybe you’ll have to write that musical world! What did you read most as a kid?

I started out with comics, for sure. I was a really good student but always a little bit of a reluctant reader, as many boys are. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I started reading novels outside of school.

But I was always a writer. From my own fledgling comic book series, to an entire shelf’s worth of chapter books, I was my own little publishing empire.

Q: If you could live in a sci-fi or fantasy world not of your own making, which would it be? Why?

As clichéd as it sounds, I’d have to say Harry Potter’s wizard world. I’m not sure there’s a single person who’d turn down the opportunity to enroll at Hogwarts. It’s such a well-realized world. In fact, I even took a teaching internship at a school in England, half-hoping that they’d present me with a wand or something. Alas, no magic, but it was an amazing experience all the same.
Or maybe Philip Pullman’s England in the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. It would be fun to have my own daemon!

Q: What are you working on now?

The second book in the SKYSHIP ACADEMY series, which will be out in 2012. On top of that I’ve always got other projects in the works, some finished, some just beginning.

Thanks for dropping by, Nick! Readers interested in connecting with him can find him on Twitter and Facebook, and we’ll look forward to catching up again between now and next fall!

— Joni, who’s ready to enroll in the Academy now

[Via http://thespectacleblog.wordpress.com]

Tests & Treatments : Virtually Amazing

Download Tests & Treatments : Virtually Amazing

Allison and Bryan are talking about Solitary 4.0 Episode 6! Going over all the spins, putts, punches, lies, mazes & air guitaring like the champs they are. All that and an interview with Bea Henington AKA #7!

Get a hold of us!
Website : www.NotMakeFriends.com
E-Mail : podcast@notmakefriends.com
Phone : (206) 202-3261
Twitter : @NotMakeFriends

[Via http://notmakefriends.wordpress.com]

rob mclennan Interview @ The Torontoist

My “critical interview” series continues in the electric pages of The Torontoist’s book section. In this, the fourth incarnation, I spent some time with the prolific poet, novelist, and essayist, rob mclennan. The headline at The Torontoist says that I “drop the gloves”, which might be true (why ask question if they’re not going to be hard ones?). But I don’t know, looking at the final interview with a hockey metaphor in mind, I would suggest that a colour commentator would describe this interview as chippy. It was a chippy interview, especially in that first period.

Anyway. rob should know three things. A. He has my respect, B. His Richard Brautigan book was the first collection of Canadian poetry I ever bought that wasn’t written by someone named Cohen and C. I like some of his books more than others. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of the interview. But you’re better off clicking here and just going to the full thing.

**

jacob mcarthur mooney: well, to start, i’ve decided to adopt as much of the rob mclennan personal grammatical lexicon as i can: lower-case letters, few periods, etc; consider it both a homage and my personal stanislavskyian method-interviewing exercise. anyway, you’re a guy who publishes a lot of books; between the novels, the poems, and the essays we’ve seen as many as five new titles a year. my first question pertains to rob mclennan’s cutting room floor: what’s on it? anything? are you someone who writes at a prodigal clip, and then pares away; or are you someone who finds an eventual home for most of what he begins as a first draft?

rob mclennan: first draft never even makes it out of the house; editing happens regularly, and even daily. hell, i just cut 20% out of a poetry manuscript that im still trying to find a home for. you wouldn’t believe what gets left on that “cutting room floor,” including whole manuscripts. but why do i keep having to counter notions that everything i publish is first draft, and everything i write i push to publish? there were 3 unpublished novels i abandoned before white appeared in 2007, and 3 others not given up on yet, some going back a decade. some of those long essays (McKinnon, Fiorentino, Suknaski) took up to eight months to compose, revise, even with daily work. my second poetry collection was six years between the first few lines and final publication.

everything takes its own time, im just a few books ahead. apparently Kinsella is always four books ahead, between writing and publishing, in that queue. would he ever be asked the same?

[Via http://voxpopulism.wordpress.com]

Chef Vindex Valentino Tengker - Kerja Sambil Bulan Madu -

Chef Vindex

Harumnya bau makanan menemani sesi pemotretan kami bersama chef Vindex Valentino Tengker di main kitchen Hotel Four Season Jakarta. Senyum dan gayanya terlihat begitu luwes dihadapan fotografer kami. Vindex ternyata bukan orang yang sulit untuk bergaya di depan kamera. Maklum, ia terbiasa berhadapan dengan kamera dan lampu studio sejak menjadi chef di program “Taste of Indonesia” sebuah acara memasak yang ditayangkan Metro TV dalam session Indonesia Now.

“Sejak kecil saya biasa membantu nenek saya di dapur dan melihat bagaimana dia memasak. Dari sanalah muncul ketertarikan pada makanan, dasarnya saya juga memang suka makan dan cocok makan apa saja. Saya rasa memasak adalah bakat karena ada orang yang juga senang memasak tapi selalu gagal. Nah, saya tipe orang yang sebaliknya, mungkin tangan saya dingin untuk memasak. Setelah besar, akhirnya saya putuskan sekolah di perhotelan dan mendalami ilmu memasak ini,” ujar Vindex panjang lebar.

Pilihannya tidak salah, karir Vindex melesat cepat di dunia masak-memasak ini. Ia merintis karir di Amandari Hotel, Ubud Bali sebagai Indonesian Chef. Selanjutnya bisa ditebak, Vindex pun mondar-mandir menjadi chef di beberapa resort hotel dan bahkan sempat merasakan bekerja di Mallorca, Spanyol dan Los Angeles, Amerika Serikat. “Waktu tahun kedua bekerja di Spanyol saya baru saja menikah. Jadi saya boyong istri sekalian bulan madu di sana, itu pengalaman yang menyenangkan,” ujar Vindex sambil tersenyum.

Berbincang dengannya serasa tidak membosankan, sikapnya yang ramah membuat obrolan kami siang itu terasa hangat. Ya, kami ibarat dua sahabat yang lama tidak bertemu dan akhirnya saling bercerita kabar masing-masing. “Dulu sewaktu baru saja merintis karir sebagai chef, saya sempat gugup ketika disuruh menemui tamu dan menanyakan bagaimana rasa masakannya. Bagi saya hal itu tidak mudah, seperti orang yang baru belajar pidato di depan banyak orang.”

Pengalaman yang cukup dikenangnya adalah ketika pertama kali membuat makanan khas Indonesia untuk tamunya. “Waktu itu kami bikin rawon. Karena tidak tahu, bumbu buah kluwak yang kami pakai kualitasnya jelek sehingga rasa rawonnya pahit. Wah, harus bikin ulang deh dan lebih teliti lagi dengan bumbunya.” Kini selain dikenal piawai mengolah masakan Eropa, Vindex juga mahir menyiapkan berbagai menu khas Indonesia.

“Waktu tes memasak menu Indonesia, saya harus menyiapkan 60 menu Nusantara dalam waktu dua minggu. Ini tantangan dan akhirnya bisa saya lewati. Tamu-tamu mancanegara sekarang banyak yang suka makanan Indonesia, tidak lagi nasi goreng dan mie goreng, tapi juga rawon, nasi campur Bali dan menu-menu lainnya,” ujar pria yang telah dikaruniai dua anak ini.

Di usia yang relatif muda, 29 tahun, untuk ukuran chef eksekutif hotel bertaraf internasional seperti Four Season, Vindex tentu punya banyak pengalaman bertemu dengan orang-orang penting yang menjadi tamunya. “Ya, profesi ini memang memungkinkan untuk itu. Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Nicolas Cage sampai Donald Rumsfeld, Sultan Brunei Darusalam dan Ratu Belanda adalah beberapa nama yang pernah menjadi tamu di tempat saya bekerja. Meskipun tidak secara langsung bertatap muka dengan mereka tapi rasanya puas jika masakan kita bisa cocok dengan selera mereka. Beberapa tamu negara punya aturan sendiri untuk menu makanannya, kita tinggal mengikuti standarnya saja.”

Bukan tidak mau membuka usaha sendiri jika Vindex masih tetap setia bersama Hotel Four Season. “Tawaran untuk membuka resto memang banyak datang ke saya, tapi saat ini belum direalisasikan. Saya masih ingin berkeliling ke luar negeri dan kesempatan itu terbuka bersama Four Season yang punya 73 hotel di 22 negara seluruh dunia. Suatu saat nanti saya pasti akan memikirkan untuk stay dan membuka tempat sendiri. Bisa dimana saja kan, tidak harus di Indonesia?” ujarnya mengakhiri obrolan hangat kami siang itu. (yuk)

[Via http://pakdedungpret.wordpress.com]

There Is An Air About This Side Now

Arsenal did the business yesterday, 3-1 at the Emirates. Though it could very easily have 6 or 7-1. Needing to win by four goals to go clear at the top of the table, Arsenal created more than enough chances to accomplish that feat. The only problem was that most of those chances fell to Nicklas Bendtner, who had one of the most shocking matches in terms of finishing I’ve seen in a long, long time.

It’s a bit harsh to criticize Bendtner as he took it in stride and consistently got himself into great scoring positions all afternoon. Perhaps more importantly, the crowd stayed behind him even when he came off with a thin 2-1 lead. It was a stark contrast to the reception Emmanuel Eboue received last year after a similarly tough match. It seems that this season the supporters have far more belief in the side and are more predisposed to support the team no matter what as we are only two points off the top.

The star of the afternoon was Theo Walcott. Before the match, I wrote that Theo needed to brush off the criticism he’d received midweek and not try as hard as he did against Egypt to have a “big game.” Well, he did that. He could’ve easily had four assists to add to his goal. He used his pace intelligently (take that, Waddle!) throughout the entire match and more importantly the midfield was looking for and finding him.

Theo consistently got in behind the defense and, even more encouraging, consistently delivered quality final balls into the box from wide positions. I don’t remember a better all-around performance from Theo. It was a sharp rebuke to the harsh criticisms he endured following a disappointing match in mid-week for England.

People seem to forget that he is not even 21 and his action has been limited all season due to being overworked during the summer when he played for the U-21s. As he said in his post-match interview, physically, he feels as if his season is just starting. A dangerous, pacy Theo Walcott flying down the right gives Arsenal back a dimension which they had been missing with Theo out injured for most of the season.

I’d also like to point out the performance of Samir Nasri. Having been similarly affected by injuries this season, Nasri is also beginning to hit his stride. His assist on the first goal was sublime and, after Fabregas came off, he played well down the middle. There were some tense moments when Burnley equalized, but the side grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck and Theo broke the deadlock with a smartly-taken left-footed shot just inside the box.

The return of Arshavin was equally encouraging. Today, we saw what we have been missing with Arshavin and Walcott out. If we are to make a serious challenge, we need Arshavin and Theo back to full-fitness and firing on all cylinders.

Fabregas came off with a bit of a hamstring problem, though he was already getting ready to come off when he scored the opener. Wenger says he will undergo a late fitness test before the match on Tuesday. Obviously, we will need Cesc to have our best chance at going through to the next round of the Champions League. He didn’t look particularly hurt and it appears that the substitution was more precautionary than anything. I would expect to see Cesc starting on Tuesday night.

After having most of the side away for the entire week and playing against a Burnley side that was not similarly affected by the international fixtures, we once again showed mental strength after the equalizer. The win sets us up well for the visit of Porto on Tuesday night. We have built some momentum here and need to keep it going. Getting through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League would only add to this side’s growing confidence.

The sense of confidence and belief growing within the side is almost palpable. There is an air about them when they are on the pitch in difficult circumstances during a match. You feel that they will find a way to get the job done. Now we must overcome the slight deficit against Porto and keep our march towards the League and Champions League trophies.

THEO WALCOTT POST-MATCH INTERVIEW

ARSENE WENGER POST-MATCH INTERVIEW

[Via http://arsenalstation.wordpress.com]