MANCHESTER
Last night we had a house show in Elly's basement which was pretty cute. Chantal played a cover of dEUS's Hotel Lounge which was beautiful and I played guitar on Your Eyes after 1 minutes practice. It worked though.
Chantal and Mark are staying at Elly's for the week so it's a nice opportunity to hang out and get to know each other a bit.
A pretty uneventful drive to Manchester (mainly because there are no places on the way called Cock) and we are greeted by Phil the promoter and Owain from Spokes which is always a pleasure. Phil smokes like a beast which makes me smile. Last time we played the Dry Bar it smelled like someone had shit themselves and then died. This time Phil makes it smell better.
We get to play with Spokes and Arficiden tonight - both awesome bands. The sound is good, a nice quiet crowd for Sleepingdog and i repeat my appearance on Your Eyes again while Sophie play on Prophets and The Sun Sinks in the Sea. Both are amazing.
Tonight is a good atmosphere and we are all getting along just perfect.
BRISTOL
An early start and back on the road properly again for a long drive. Which isn't anywhere near as long as I thought. We stop for health food at a Marks and Spencer service station, apart from Tim who buys drinks that make him feel sick.
Now we realise that we are going to be really early so I find a place before Bristol called Slimbridge which has some kind of Wildlife Centre there. We would have educated ourselves in the Wildlife Centre if it didn't cost the earth to get in. Instead we find Slimbridge. It is exactly that. A bridge. Over a canal. Not so exciting but we manage to find some hideous amusement from somewhere as we drink tea by the canal. Well we all drink tea apart from Sophie who managed to spray hers everywhere after I make a comment about the Slimbridge Bridge.
And off we go to Bristol again. Slow going into the city and we nearly burn out the clutch on the car but we make it in one piece and park right outside the venue. Sweet.
The Folkhouse is pretty cool, we play in what looks like a dinner hall or something. Tonight is very difficult for me for a few reasons. Sleepingdog's set is gorgeous again. Chantal gets to play the big piano in the room which makes her happy.
Our set feels incredibly intense tonight. I continue my bottle of red wine a night pattern of the tour and we decide to try drive home after the show.
Toby - the promoter is a great guy and my old friend James comes to see us too. The guys take care of me and we head home. Sleep is needed for me so I trade seats in the car with Sophie who drinks her body weight in caffeine to keep Tim awake. It works.
LEEDS
By now our friendship with Chantal and Mark is really great and we are getting on so well. We share the same humor and love for swearing.
We're all looking forward to tonights show in Leeds, lots a good bands in a tiny venue. It's a little stressful as I'm organising the show with Paul from Forest of Sound but things move pretty smoothly. Pete does a great job with the sound.
Tim is playing a show with Hub across the road before he plays with us and things get hectic but it works. The place is rammed full and in keeping with all the other shows you could hear a pin drop.
It's sad to see Sleepingdog for the last time this week and goodbyes are hard. We will meet again soon as we go to Belgium in a few weeks.
This week has been really awesome. We have made lots of new friends, met old friends and become better friends with people we already knew. We all look to the same stars in the same sky.x
28.9.08
27.9.08
Tour Diary pt2
EDINBURGH
A sleep in is much needed but unfortunately not possible due the hostels 10.30am kick out time. At least we are up and out.
We make a quick dash to the same cafe Elly and I ate at last time we played Edinburgh, buying postcards like true tourists along the way. Disappointment looms when the vegetarian breakfast has no vegetarian haggis. This is soon forgotten though as everyone is soooo hungry and in need of a brew. Elly takes about 4 days to write 3 postcards in the cafe and we head off around the city. Tim and Sophie have never been here before so there is excitement in the air.
Elly buys an owl in a Christmas shop that is maybe a little too expensive but actually is quite cute and will spend the rest of the tour sharing the stage with us.
I'm in need of more football and it's Man Utd v Chelsea today so a pub is found. The others get bored after about 10 minutes and go for a walk.
The genius road system of Edinburgh fucks us in the ass again as we try to get about a mile down the road to the venue. We have 2 maps and GPS on Elly's phone and we still screw it up.
It's good to see Euan again... he's putting the show on tonight in this cool venue in the Art College which was probably our best show on the May tour. The French Quarter are already here and we all laugh about the previous nights nonsense in Perth. Alex the sound engineer made us sound great last time we were here so I'm excited about how we will sound tonight.
Phil is here too! Opening up tonight and he plays a beauty. The French Quarter sound sweet and play their hearts out. Ace band.
Our set is about as good as it can be. Visuals of fox walking nowhere to not meet it's death accompany the sounds and it feels huge tonight. Like a proper band or something.
http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/live/4727
We stay at Ally's house and I fall asleep sat up in the chair and wake up in pitch black not knowing what the fuck is going on. I curl up on the floor. I hurt bad in the morning.
Being able to chill at Ally's in the morning is a welcome relief as we can check emails and drink tea until a lunch time load out and off to Newcastle.
NEWCASTLE
We pass a place called Cocklaw which is pretty funny don't you think?
We are very early so stop off in Berwick-upon-Tweed. A lovely town on the coast. Tim and I demand Fish and Chips be eaten by the sea. I nearly pass out from not eating very much at all and drinking far too much the previous day. Everyone in Berwick owns a ridiculous whipet-type of dog with unnecessarily long legs. Weird. We eventually find Fish and Chips and a hill where we can see the sea and a massive seagull. It's freezing and my food is cold in about 3 minutes. Elly goes on another postcard writing mission and we head on our way to Newcastle.
Today is exciting for me as I finally get to meet Chantal (Sleepingdog) who's record I am releasing. She has traveled from Belgium to tour with us for the remainder of the week. We arrive and Chantal and Mark are already here. We greet John the promoter again - a lovely chap who has put us on a few times this year.
The show tonight is really nice. Sleepingdog's set is mesmerizing and the room is silent. A beautiful moment. We seem to go down well and plenty of merch is shifted. Our friend Stephen is here (he has designed our new t-shirt/poster) and he enjoys the new fuller sound we are pushing.
A drive back to Leeds is on the cards. It feels like we're really on it now after 4 shows in a row.
A sleep in is much needed but unfortunately not possible due the hostels 10.30am kick out time. At least we are up and out.
We make a quick dash to the same cafe Elly and I ate at last time we played Edinburgh, buying postcards like true tourists along the way. Disappointment looms when the vegetarian breakfast has no vegetarian haggis. This is soon forgotten though as everyone is soooo hungry and in need of a brew. Elly takes about 4 days to write 3 postcards in the cafe and we head off around the city. Tim and Sophie have never been here before so there is excitement in the air.
Elly buys an owl in a Christmas shop that is maybe a little too expensive but actually is quite cute and will spend the rest of the tour sharing the stage with us.
I'm in need of more football and it's Man Utd v Chelsea today so a pub is found. The others get bored after about 10 minutes and go for a walk.
The genius road system of Edinburgh fucks us in the ass again as we try to get about a mile down the road to the venue. We have 2 maps and GPS on Elly's phone and we still screw it up.
It's good to see Euan again... he's putting the show on tonight in this cool venue in the Art College which was probably our best show on the May tour. The French Quarter are already here and we all laugh about the previous nights nonsense in Perth. Alex the sound engineer made us sound great last time we were here so I'm excited about how we will sound tonight.
Phil is here too! Opening up tonight and he plays a beauty. The French Quarter sound sweet and play their hearts out. Ace band.
Our set is about as good as it can be. Visuals of fox walking nowhere to not meet it's death accompany the sounds and it feels huge tonight. Like a proper band or something.
http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/live/4727
We stay at Ally's house and I fall asleep sat up in the chair and wake up in pitch black not knowing what the fuck is going on. I curl up on the floor. I hurt bad in the morning.
Being able to chill at Ally's in the morning is a welcome relief as we can check emails and drink tea until a lunch time load out and off to Newcastle.
NEWCASTLE
We pass a place called Cocklaw which is pretty funny don't you think?
We are very early so stop off in Berwick-upon-Tweed. A lovely town on the coast. Tim and I demand Fish and Chips be eaten by the sea. I nearly pass out from not eating very much at all and drinking far too much the previous day. Everyone in Berwick owns a ridiculous whipet-type of dog with unnecessarily long legs. Weird. We eventually find Fish and Chips and a hill where we can see the sea and a massive seagull. It's freezing and my food is cold in about 3 minutes. Elly goes on another postcard writing mission and we head on our way to Newcastle.
Today is exciting for me as I finally get to meet Chantal (Sleepingdog) who's record I am releasing. She has traveled from Belgium to tour with us for the remainder of the week. We arrive and Chantal and Mark are already here. We greet John the promoter again - a lovely chap who has put us on a few times this year.
The show tonight is really nice. Sleepingdog's set is mesmerizing and the room is silent. A beautiful moment. We seem to go down well and plenty of merch is shifted. Our friend Stephen is here (he has designed our new t-shirt/poster) and he enjoys the new fuller sound we are pushing.
A drive back to Leeds is on the cards. It feels like we're really on it now after 4 shows in a row.
25.9.08
Tour Diary pt1
ABERDEEN
So we hit the road for a few shows with our new crew Tim and Sophie. Tim is driving the whole tour we have to be especially nice to him.
Saying that the first show is in Aberdeen so that's not so nice. A good 7 hour drive from Leeds but we make it in good time and good spirits.
We're excited to see our friend Phil again who is putting on the show tonight. Beautiful guy.
The show is kind of quiet but it beds us in I guess, we play pretty good considering we have had 2 hours practice as a full band. Then it is time to get drunk and ruin ourselves on the first night. This always happens on Glissando tours. I don't know why. We sit up late with Aberdeen folk after everyone help carry all our gear from the venue to Phil's flat through Aberdeen on a Saturday night.
PERTH
Hangover time. How predictable. At least we get to sleep in for a good while before eating some good pub food and watching Aberdeen lose to Dundee Utd on TV. Phil is sad.
There are a lot of places in Scotland with the word Cock in them. Cockburnspath for instance. I could go on but you get the idea. My Mum bought my a bookmark to take on tour with an Owl on it. This is now Owlnav and points us where we need to go. Sophie named him Cockmouth. Sorry Mum. Owl's and becoming a focal point of the tour so far. Ace.
However unsure we were about playing Perth - non of us thought this would happen.
We meet the lovely French Quarter gentlemen who have arranged the show tonight. Set-up, soundcheck, drink, eat. All is fine.
Some dude downstairs in the bar gets a little rowdy and throws a steel bin through the window. All is not fine. The show is off, the police are here, everyone is pissed off.
We drink some more and decide to play to ourselves which is kind of fun and a good practice.
Everyone is happy again and we set off to Edinburgh and to our hostel.
This journey is one of my favorite ever. Sophie has now learn how to swear like i do which is cool. Tim is a little poor on using the horn on the car so this is now my job. We pass Quality Street which is quite possibly the funniest thing ever and that required a beep on the horn. Que hysterics from all and Tim crying so much we nearly crash and die because he can't see for tears. I'm nearly sick out the window and face hurts bad.
OWLNAV has gone. What the fuck. The tour is over. Fuck this.
Sophie has become mischievous in her first few days with us, I think maybe her and Elly being squeezed in the back of a car together for so long is driving them mad.
Owlnav is back, but he's confused and miss about 4 turnings we should make. This is Sophie's fault.
Edinburgh is a fucking joke, the road system is insane and we drive for ages trying to find our hostel before lugging all the gear up 7 flights of stairs at 2 in the morning. Balls.
So we hit the road for a few shows with our new crew Tim and Sophie. Tim is driving the whole tour we have to be especially nice to him.
Saying that the first show is in Aberdeen so that's not so nice. A good 7 hour drive from Leeds but we make it in good time and good spirits.
We're excited to see our friend Phil again who is putting on the show tonight. Beautiful guy.
The show is kind of quiet but it beds us in I guess, we play pretty good considering we have had 2 hours practice as a full band. Then it is time to get drunk and ruin ourselves on the first night. This always happens on Glissando tours. I don't know why. We sit up late with Aberdeen folk after everyone help carry all our gear from the venue to Phil's flat through Aberdeen on a Saturday night.
PERTH
Hangover time. How predictable. At least we get to sleep in for a good while before eating some good pub food and watching Aberdeen lose to Dundee Utd on TV. Phil is sad.
There are a lot of places in Scotland with the word Cock in them. Cockburnspath for instance. I could go on but you get the idea. My Mum bought my a bookmark to take on tour with an Owl on it. This is now Owlnav and points us where we need to go. Sophie named him Cockmouth. Sorry Mum. Owl's and becoming a focal point of the tour so far. Ace.
However unsure we were about playing Perth - non of us thought this would happen.
We meet the lovely French Quarter gentlemen who have arranged the show tonight. Set-up, soundcheck, drink, eat. All is fine.
Some dude downstairs in the bar gets a little rowdy and throws a steel bin through the window. All is not fine. The show is off, the police are here, everyone is pissed off.
We drink some more and decide to play to ourselves which is kind of fun and a good practice.
Everyone is happy again and we set off to Edinburgh and to our hostel.
This journey is one of my favorite ever. Sophie has now learn how to swear like i do which is cool. Tim is a little poor on using the horn on the car so this is now my job. We pass Quality Street which is quite possibly the funniest thing ever and that required a beep on the horn. Que hysterics from all and Tim crying so much we nearly crash and die because he can't see for tears. I'm nearly sick out the window and face hurts bad.
OWLNAV has gone. What the fuck. The tour is over. Fuck this.
Sophie has become mischievous in her first few days with us, I think maybe her and Elly being squeezed in the back of a car together for so long is driving them mad.
Owlnav is back, but he's confused and miss about 4 turnings we should make. This is Sophie's fault.
Edinburgh is a fucking joke, the road system is insane and we drive for ages trying to find our hostel before lugging all the gear up 7 flights of stairs at 2 in the morning. Balls.
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