The Lamp of Thoth was lucky enough to play with Asomvel on many occasions, but the one that sticks most in my mind is when we played in Birmingham. We got to the venue early, and after Jay had taken the piss out of some of my more cheesy lyrics and promised to heckle me with them later, we got a beer in and waited to soundcheck. The band that was soundchecking as we waited had the average age of fifteen and was a fifteen piece nu-metal, emo, prog rock abortion with five hundred guitars, a keyboard and an older dodgy looking bald bloke playing a computer?! It sounded like crap, and much to our annoyance these arrogant musos took an age to soundcheck, fine-tuning every little unnecessary pretentious little instrument. Jay had his foot in his cast at the time, so he set himself down on a sofa that the organizers had pushed out of the way of the stage. The smoking ban had recently come in, but Jay didn’t take any notice of that. He lay down on the sofa – his plastic foot draped over the edge and lit up a cigarette, sending plumes of smoke into the air. The owners of the club pretended not to notice. As the sound check came to a sudden end and silence filled the room, a voice boomed from behind the smoke enshrouded couch

‘That sounded as gay as a cock going up a man’s arse.’

Rest in Peace Jay Jay. Rock and Roll till the end. We are gonna miss you mate."

Simon Strange - THE LAMP OF THOTH