The European tour is of course long since finished - but what with me being a tardy sort - I didn't quite finish telling the tale - so now i've wanged the last installment up on the boon - and I'll tell some tales of the last few week's meanderings when the moment arises - In the meantime - here is a video that Andy sent me -enjoy:
Friday 8th May 2009 - Homeward bound....
The journey from Leipzig to Leeds took a little under 24 hours - the ferry was horrificly wobbly - Lee wrote some techno - Jon still made us laugh - Sz, Tom and Martin drove for ages, I slept some.... nowhere near as interesting as what has gone before.......
Tonight was the last show, and I’d like to say that it was a complete mega blowout to end the tour – but things never work out like that. Once again the venue, the promoter, the food, the sound rig etc etc etc were utterly immense, and there must have been nearly a hundred people there to watch us headline the show, but the fatigue of the week (or perhaps the beginnings of a sense of complacency) had set in and our performance, in my opinion, just wasn’t up to scratch. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed to enjoy it, called us back for an encore and gave us some fairly humbling feedback at the end of the night – after which we rolled wearily back to the apartments we were staying in, and tried to get as early a night as possible in advance of tomorrow’s 20 hour marathon drive.
And thus concludes the first ever tour of mainland Europe – 7 shows, 5 Jovis and two half Jovis, countless new friends, places experiences, and at times more laughter than I could physically cope with…. Roll on October, when we plan to do it all again……
Wednesday 6th May 2009 - Night off - Prague - Czech Republic
After a leisurely (ie late) departure from Graz this afternoon, we motored back Northwards, to Prague in the Czech Republic. We had no gig to play, and turned up in time to have a late meal, drink several litre flagoons of ale, and then rock up a seedy club called the Chapeau Rouge until some unearthly hour. Prague seemed pretty spectacular, although the circumstances which we enjoyed it in – darkness, inebriation, immense fatigue, lent a certain hint of the grotesque to the whole affair – must come back here soon, in the daylight, with time to spend exploring the city properly – but that is touring I suppose – if you really want to see a place, go there for a week’s holiday, not spend the day driving there for one night, with a show to play and an early start on the horizon….
Tuesday 5th May 2009 - Postgarage - Graz - Austria
Today saw us roll through the hills and mountains of Austria in the van – the views and the scenery as we motored on through were nothing short of stunning huge snowcapped mountains and skinny precarious trees densely packed together straining for the sun at the most unlikely angles on the hillsides. It could have been Austria, or it times it could have been the approach to Twin Peaks.
We were late for the soundcheck, but still managed to fit in a fairly comprehensive line-check, leaving the support band, Hella Comet to do their sound-check in front of the gathering crowd – for which I still feel guilty…
The venue was, predictably by now, immense. The entire room was covered in copper panels, geometrically pinpricked to let the light from the halogen bulbs behind them bleed into the room, creating a soothing and aesthetically pleasing space for an evening’s music.
Hella Comet, from Graz, were brilliant, creating some fairly bonkers sounds and textures to kick off the evening. And then, despite my reverb shutting down during the solo from Ornafives (Channel M déjà vu) I really enjoyed tonight’s show. We played for about an hour, which is always a lot more satisfying than half an hour after the effort we’ve made to set up, and the 60 or so people that we played to gave us a warm, extensive and humbling reception..
Then afterwards we went to ‘The Music Haus’ with our hosts Martin, Lukas and Gunther, and listened to atrociously loud music in the seedy underground surroundings of one of Graz’s, indeed Europe’s, many late late late night bars…..
Monday 4th May 2009 - Glockenbachwerkstratt - Munich - Germany
Another day and another tonkingly long drive – the majority of which was spent asleep by myself and the rest of last night’s party crew (not counting Sz, who forseeing this drive, got himself an early night last night, allowing the rest of us to party it up – legend). Tonight we played in Munich, in the Glockenbachwerstatt, another ‘cultural centre’ comprising venue, exhibition space, café, practice rooms and general progressive attitude to art and music. We arrived to find that We vs Death, the headline band had pulled out of the gig a week ago, promoting us to headliners, and instilling the worry that nobody would show. However we still played to a good 35-40 people, and the gig, despite its clanging errors, was a proper jovi, mainly for the incredibly receptive crowd, and the enormous screen that Sz was able to project onto… No parties tonight however, just a quiet drink and then some sweet, sweet rest…..
Tonight we played in Berlin, after another megadrive, this time across from Brugge. We arrived late, unloaded, went to a restaurant round the corner from the venue, ate some pasta, bumped into This Will Destroy You and then headed back for soundcheck. The gig was lovely, in a bar/venue in the east called N.B.I. It was nice to see familiar faces, including the boys from the Pattern Theory and the Jenniferevsies crew again.
The real boon though was after the gig – having never been to Berlin before, Jon, Martin, Tom, myself and Lukas & Jimmy Theory stayed up all night, first in a bar near where we were staying, and then huddled around the Fotoautomat, where unlike in Britain, the devices still give you four separate photos, and develop them old-style in the machine with films and chemicals and lights – Rinsing. I think we spent about 2 hours and about 24 euros just photographing our smiling faces – bear in mind that on the shots with different folks in different frames you have about 4 seconds between flashes to get in and out and switch places. Note the chimera-esque shot in the centre – much planning was required, especially to get the legs at the bottom, which involved Lukas leaping from the booth and then Jon instantly diving in on hands and knees so that I could climb on his back – which would have been all fine, save for the pile of sick in the corner that no-one had noticed, but by then I was atop his spine, and his lovely bearded face was only inches from the chunder in question, and his anguished gargled cries of terror fell upon deaf ears. We laughed so hard I thought I might collapse……
Tonight we were in Brugge, as the support slot to Daturah from Germany. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but the venue, the promotion, the sound, the lighting and the hospitality were immense - best of all being the beautiful restaurant that we driven to by taxi immediately after soundcheck, where we feasted upon fine cuisine and lovely beer in the midst of this wonderful picturesque little city. My only regret is that we didn’t have any time to look around the city, but maybe next time.
Daturah made an immense noise – beautiful sounding slow building post-rock, although nowadays I've heard so much of that kind of stuff that it takes something really unique to make a band stand out. They had some sweet visuals as well - Super-8 cine film that had been hand coloured one frame at a time....
That’s three shows down, and three shows where Sz hasn’t needed to setup a projector or screen because it’s all been provided in-house. He seems a lot happier with his visuals now as well, the old classic ‘four shows to really get going’ - so tomorrow night, in Berlin, with Jenniferevsies again, should be a megascoop. `Early start though, to cover the eight hours across Holland and Germany in time for soundcheck – so off to bed…….
Friday 1st May 2009 - Kulturfabrik - Luxembourg - Luxembourg
Today we played in Luxembourg, in another awesome venue, for another awesome promoter, with another comprehensive rider, and incredible catering, and a bonza hotel at the end to boot. The crowd was a little sparser than last night, with maybe 50 or so people watching us when we took the stage.
Jeniferever from Sweden played before us, and were fairly astounding. I've listened to an album or two of theirs, and its always nice, but live it was something else. At times all five of them are singing, sometimes there are two basses, and the whole thing is covered throughout by an otherworldly array of sounds and textures from their many guitars and effects and synthesisers. This combined with the smoke, ghostly lighting, and their elfin sillhouettes made for a fairly astonishing experience - to the point where I really didn't want to go on after them. We're playing with them again in Berlin in two nights time, but this time we'll be the support act, which suits me just fine....
Thursday 30th April 2009 - Stuk - Leuven - Belgium
Today we arrived in Leuven, Belgium, the home of Stella Artois, for our first ever mainland Europe show, and it has been Jovis all the way. The venue, the promoters, the roadcrew, the lighting technician, the sound technician, the caterers, the locals, and everyone else we've met along the way have been astonishing in comparison to what we're used to in the UK. The mind boggles.
Sz drove through the night, like some kind of legendary Terminator machine, and the ferry journey largely passed me by, as I spent over an hour on the phone to our insurance company, listing our equipment, one item at a time...
Stuk - This is where we played, an enormous, government funded art complex filled with students and a mishmash of technology and historical architecture. Grampall Jookabox played first and then we headlined. They were an awesome two piece from Indiana in the U.S: two drumkits, bass, looped harmony vocals - a treat for our first Euro gig. And then we played, to our surprise to about 100 people, some of whom seemed to know who we were, and some who'd had just come to find out thanks to the awesome promotion - top show all round I thought...
Sometimes in the UK, if we're lucky, the promoters make a poster, here in Leuven, we had our faces sporadically projected on a massive screen in the venue bar, which was a bit disturbing, especially since Lee looks so much like Keith Chegwin in this shot...
......and the megavenue - note the massive, in-built screen at the back for visuals - far better than the white sheet that we hadn't even prepared....
....and the dream team - Sz on visuals and Jon on sound. The sound onstage was immense, and according to those in the audience the visuals were crisp and clear....
And finally, this is Geert, of Concurrent distribution, sorry for the fuzzy photo, Martin took it, and he'd had a Leffe or two by this point. Concurrent distribute our album in parts of Europe, and it was Geert who hooked us up with this and our Brugge show. Jon and I sat with him and some of the crew and an American singer called Whip until 6 in the morning - boisterously contemplating the nature of maintaining a family whilst out on the road, and art, and Randy Newman, and various other subjects that rest in a hazy but fond part of my mind....
Wednesday 29th April - West Yorkshire Playhouse - Leeds
Tonight we played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, as the opening act for David Gedge of the Wedding Present, who was performing with the BBC Big Band. It was part of the annual 'Fuse' fest that takes pride in its bizarre collaborations and last week saw the mighty Efterklang performing with a full symphony orchestra in the Leeds Academy.
The gig was a boon (or now - a Jovi) and I'd estimate we got to play to about 400 or so people, which is always nice. Tonight, Szymon debuted the visuals he's been preparing on his laptop for our show, but the house-lights were so bright I don't think anyone could make them out.
Gedge did his best, and at times his voice and melodies were lovely, but the overblown jazz arrangements and ludicrously loud horn parts seemed to subtract from, rather than add to, his music. In fairness though, the gathered crowd seemed to really enjoy it....
And now home to pack, before a 3am start to Belgium.
One of the pictures shows us mid-rock, as taken by Stef Colledge who is hopefully sending us more snaps soon. Another shows the iLikeTrains van, which we've hired for the week, because the thought of driving across Europe in our minibus fills me with new and unusual dread - we would surely freeze, breakdown or possibly even explode. And the final picture shows the Big Band, and Gedge, taken at a jaunty angle of course.
Tonight, after the long drive back from Brighton, and a brief admin session, we went round to meet Chris and Sarah's lovely new daughter Ava. It was also Chris' birthday, but what with having a new daughter that element of the evening was a little overshadowed, still Sarah had bought him a cake, and Matt had bought him some sunflower seeds. The child was a sweetheart and didn't stir the entire time I held her in my arms.... Seems to be a bit of a theme on this blog these days. Going to visit various friends and their new born children. Must be something to do with approaching thirty and knowing loads of people...
After
a well- earned night off from touring, lovely mushroom risotto and a cooking poker
game courtesy of Jo and a feeling of imperial pride and western righteousness
thanks to Jack Bauer we set out on the road again, this time to Brighton.
Apparently it was sunny all day in Leeds, but the rain seemed to start as soon
as we got on the motorway, rinsing the van with a lethal blinding film of spray
at every turn. We played in the Prince Albert – killer load in up the
fire-escape, and the hottest stage ever, but aside from that it was a stellar
gig. Both of he other bands were awesome, everything and the Andersons regaling
us with their angular hardcore tinged prog fest, complete with
AppleseedCast-esque drumming, and then Ebsen and the witch layering up a
spellbinding wall of sound complete with lovely female vocals like somekind of
tripped out Mazzy Star. We played at a decent time, the promoter was very
gracious to us, and I got fully in the zone. Although the stage was so small
that we had to actuall climb down into the crowd and back up the other sides to
swap our instruments, which necessitated a few extra bars in the middle of ‘Two
Words’ to allow Martin time to complete the journey from one side to the other,
dropping in on the bass just in time, like Indiana Jones retrieving his hat
from underneath a slowly descending boobly trapped tomb door…..
And
this image was stencilled on the wall outside, a classic Banksy, (that J had
given to a friend as a postcard a few days prior no-less) sheathed in PVC to prevent vandalism (surely that’s
ironic). Much debate followed as to its authenticity.
After
last night’s debacle – we were in need of a bit of a boon. It came in the shape
of Playtime, a monthly Saturday night upstairs in the Royal Oak, chorlton, near
Manchester. The promoter was also the soundman, and whilst he was lovely, if
John hadn’t have been there to do our sound I think we would have been in
trouble – if only for the fact that his mixing desk was smaller than most DVD
players (except perhaps an early Grundig model) and one of the front-of-house
tweeters seemed to be on the blink. The crowd gathered and built steadily,
throughout the night, as the acoustic act, the Coral-esque act, and the
Turin-brakes-esque act completed their turns; and at one point we were convinced the place was
going to be empty again by the time we eventually got on. But sure enough the
crowd remained, and even continued to grow, although thereseemed to be such a social ‘Saturday night
out booze up’ vibe (their was even a hen party there) that the crowd’s
attention had to be earned. All in all, this gig was a real buzz – playing late
at night, to a big, full room of people having a good time, and to feel like we
fulfilled their entertainment needs even though our music isn’t necessarily
party-time fare makes me feel warm and proud somewhere deep and recessed within
me………
One
of these pictures shows the fire exit that we did the load in and out on –
where the pigeons live…..
Tonight
we played in Barrow in Furness, in a venue called the Canteen - called so
because it used to be the canteen for the neighbouring BAE systems factory
(British Aerospace Engineering – as a nation we don’t manufacture that much
anymore but at least we’re still experts in weapons of death and mutilation)
We
were meant to play downstairs, whilst Robin Ince (of the Office and Mock the
Week fame) performed stand-up comedy in the main room. But due to low ticket
sales they’d decided to combine the two gigs. Meaning that we were playing in
the main room, after a cabaret-esque acoustic act and a political comedian. Robin
was ridiculously funny, he made me laugh till it hurt. Check out his website
blah blah blah if you’re into political comedy – he did a show with professor
Richard Dawkins at the Hammersmith Apollo recently, which if you know of
Dawkins, should give you a god idea of where he’s coming from.
We
performed at about midnight I think, and thankfully Robin, in a
heart-warmingdisplay of performer’s
solidarity stuck around to hear our set – as otherwise there would have been
only five people instead of 6 – in a room that could probably take about 6-700.
Nonetheless, spurred on by the quality of the preceeding act, we gave it our
all, and I think it was actually a pretty good gig all things considered. And
Travel lodges two nights in a row – stop it…..
Tonight
we played in another buffalo bar, this time in Cardiff. Good gig I thought, and
a fairly sizeable crowd, although the experience was marred by one enthusiastic
fan’s not so subtle t-shirt theft, especially as I tried to catch up to him but
his knowledge of the local terrain helped him to hasten his escape…..
And
tonight, for me at least, was the first time on tour with a band thatI’d been put up in a hotel rather than at the
promoters house. We rocked up the Cardiff Travelodge and watched the ‘Low live
in Europe’ DVD that I picked up in Glasgow. We would have thrown a tv out of
the window, but it was bolted to the wall, the windows were bolted closed, and
we have far too much respect for the property of others to be so wantonly
destructive…
Tonight
we played at the Bufallo Bar in London – although the strike on the Victoria
Line (apparently the doors kept opening on the wrong side in Victoria station
so the tube line workers had called a strike to protest the need for more
stringent safety standards) threatened to diminish our potential crowd. However
despite being last on a four band mid-week bill, we still played to a packed
and appreciative crowd – good gig I thought, and nice to see Dr. Matt Loveless
(The professor we hung out with in the airport hotel when our Minneapolis
flight was cancelled) supporting us for one last time before heading back to
America for good. During Yuki, Martin stepped on the wrong delay pedal,
prompting a comedy banshee wail to ascend over the quietest part in our set.
Slick.
Oh
and we got, Another parking ticket – that makes three….
After
the gig we all piled back to Kate’s house in Bracknell. A beautiful yard,
filled with colour, antiques, paintings, musical instruments and the ghosts of
the past. We stayed up late, talking about James Brown, pondasparagus, internal rain, igloos, and loads
of other nonsense that I have already forgotten.
Today
we were in Manchester to film three songs for the City Life Social show on
Channel M. It was a very bizarre day, and recording live, whilst playing
relatively quietly, is a tricky thing to do. Check out channelm.co.uk for a
playback of the performance, or maybe it’ll be up on youtube by now. Amongst
the guests were Frank Sidebottom, who danced around in the background with his giant
paper mache head, and Granny the music critique, who made me laugh by
whispering obscenities into my ear whilst we were off-camera.
This
afternoon,I played a gig with Jonny V
in Professional Music Technology (P.M.T – no really….) as an advert for our
respective services as guitar teachers. We played a six-song set in the corner of the
store – me on acoustic or bass and Jonny on electric lead guitar. 15 or so
people gathered round to hear our efforts, which really just served as a trial
run for future attempts. The highlight for me was our instrumental cover of
America by Paul Simon, a timeless and epic classic…
Apologies
for the photo – taken on my phone, and then photographed from the screen with
my camera…… needs must…
Tonight
Shizzer and I , after another late night DIY session, completed this cabinet
for my newly repaired record deck and separates. Admire its functionality.
Total cost -£3.97 for castors.
Megaboons…..
I
was in Ilkey today, doing the initial sessions for the music I’m doing for a 5
minute stop-motion animation for my friends Jess and Simon to be shown on
channel 4. Rather than any photographs of the day, here is the trailer for the
Owl house, the last film that Jess made. It is awesome… The film that we’re
working on tells the tale of an Astronomer, keen to prove that as people we are
descended from the stars….
Not
much to say – except look at this corker of a desk that Kenny and I built out
of reclaimed pine from a dismantled bookcase that I enquired for free from the
internet group ‘freecycle’. It took us till 3.30 am, a little later than is
probably socially accceptable for sawing and drilling in a terraced house.
Fortunately however the ancient stone walls of the megacottage will have
dampened the effects. Total cost- Zero
pounds and zero pence. Booner scoops
Yesterday
we stopped in Leeds after the nine hour drive back from Aberdeen (nuther
parking ticket in the morning by the way – that’s 2 thus far) and then this
morning we set off on the road again to continue southward to Reading, for our
third gig at the Oakford Social Club in Reading. Apologies for blog déjà vu - two drum kits in front of that awesome neon
sign, and an impeccable write-up of the tremendous company, food, promotion,
sound and audience – but that’s how it always is at the Oakford - Dave
Monkeysuit , DJ Mark is Egg, and Jon the soundman (who has been touring with us
for the past year) are all legends amongst men….. Martin however, is a berk.
Martin’s working arrangements necessitate a lot of time in London, and upon
this particular eve the plan was to finish the gig and then dash to Reading
station to catch the last train to London, leaving us to pack the van. All was
going to plan, and we were happily dismantling our gear, when Martin called me
from the train, sounding more amused than he probably should, to announce that due
to the van keys being in his pocket, and that the train wouldn’t be stopping
before London, he would have to get to London, turn immediately round and come
back, and that we had a bit of a wait on our hands. Fortunately the staff at
the Oakford are also legends, and were more than happy to accommodate us as we
whiled away the two hours it took for a rather dishevelled looking Martin, and
the keys to the van, to be joyously reunited with us….
Well
after waking this morning to discover that we had another parking ticket, and
testing Hani’s claim of perfect pitch by getting him to pre-empt the opening
notes of tunes on my mp3 player (bang on every time – what a gift…) we motioned
on to Aberdeen where we played with Wintermute and a couple of other bands in
the Tunnels venue. The room was enormous, and we were meant to be on second,
but the promoter asked us to headline once we got there – much to the chargrin
of the two guys who had travelled an hour and a half on the bus to see us and
then realised that we were now playing after their last bus home –
gutted – It’s been a recurring theme over time with this band. We’re meant to
play at one time, we get put on at other times, and dedicated fans have to
leave without seeing us, or we get cut short – happened already this tour in
Preston and Glasgow as well. The one that aggravates me the most though is the
four band midweek bill - with us as headliners, playing at half past midnight
to the five people who could stay because they don’t have work to go to the next
day, with the support acts having played the prime 9 and 10 o’clock slots to
more people… Rant over – I would continue and tell of the horrors that we
witnessed searching for a takeout in Aberdeen at 2 in the morning, but I don’t want to paint an
unfair picture of what seemed in the daylight to be a beautiful city filled
with welcoming folk….
Tonight
we played in Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh, and after 5 gigs into the tour I
finally felt like I put in a good performance. The crowd was sizeable enough by
the time we played, especially for the size of the tiny room, and it was nice
to spend an evening in Edinburgh, even though we saw relatively little of it. We crashed out over at Hani’s yard, completing
the triumvirate of Abassi brothers in attendance this week. Once the gig was over
we waited for 45 minutes in a takeway, only to discover that Martin’s order had
passed them by…..
Martin
took this picture of Jon and Tom in the van – says it all really….
Newcastle
End Bar – always a quality gig – not as big a crowd as last time and no sign of
the Moleck boys – although Steve and Al were back out in force again– two gigs
in one week lads, sterling work.By all
accounts we played well, although I still wasn’t happy with the set. And we
sold quite a few of our new t-shirts, which only arrived today. A boon. For me
though the highlight of the night was afterwards, sitting upstairs with Alan
the owner, and Paul the barman, and Joel and Jack the promoters,and Tim’s brother Alex, and Minnis the
wizard, and Tom and Lee – and playing acoustic guitars by candlelight till five
in the morning – worthy times....
And
the picture, ah yes, that’s the van, having overheated just outside Newcastle,
being towed away by the free roadside recovery people (who were there within a
minute - I kid you not) Our amazement was uncontainable, at having been rescued
so quickly for no charge, until we realised that they were only going to tow us
off the motorway at the next exit, out of the way, and then leave us in a layby
to sort it out wer’sens..... Which is completely fair play, but yet still felt
at the time like a bit of a kick in the balls….
Vessels
at the Captain’s rest. With many familiar faces: Crom, Danny, Jamal,and Sean
and Steve who we were staying with (although in another flat yet again because
their entire building had flooded two days previously). Gig was ok – We got cut
short, again, which happened last time in the Captain’s Rest, because there is
such a strict curfew there and the promoter leaves no margin for error across
the entire night. By all accounts the other bands didn’t play for too long or
take too long to change over – we took a while to change over ( as we always do
and always forewarn) but we ended up playing a 25 minute headline set to a room
full of paying guests. Not cool. Anyway, all I got was this crowd shot, I would
have taken more but I was too busy either searching for the padlock for the van
(couldn’t lock it and leave the venue – eventually had to buy another one from
a late night shop) or arguing with the shop assistant in Spar about veganism
Shop
assistant (based upon my purchases): You are vegan?
Pete:
Yeah – pretty much
Shop
assistant: But where do you get your protein
Pete:
oh you know, mushrooms, nuts, beans, especially soya, pulses, green leafy
vegetables – There’s plenty of…..
Shop
assistant: BUT WHAT ABOUT TIGER - AH? He is not vegan – ah. Who would win in a fight between TIGER and the
vegan ah?
Behold
– before and after – Before and after one Dr. Brown removed this lump from
UNDER my eyelid with a scalpel. A very bizarre experience – the only painful
part was when he injected the anaesthetic straight into my eyelid, which rinsed
– but I felt nothing after that thankfully – The bizarre part, was that because
the surgery was under my eyelid and I had my eye clamped open the entire time I
could not look away from the scalpel being wriggled around millimetres from my
cornea. I think I held my breath for the entire time...... Still look less like
a bond villain now ey....
Today
we did our shoot with Andy Hook at the commonplace social centre in
Leeds. We had a right crack, and though I don’t doubt for a second the
technical and aesthetic quality of Andy’s photography, I have my doubts about
the narrative scenarios that we provided him with for the afternoon. We’ll just
have to wait and see..... Still top day, man’s a dude, watch this space.
3rd
gig of the tour – Lots of familiar faces and a surprisingly well packed out
Brud – we played pretty well, but we changed the set at the last minute which
led to a very stop-starty affair – not very well suited to our music metinks –
needs to flow more betwixt numbers. The picture was taken by Andy Hook, who has
come to stay to do a promo photoshoot with us tomorrow – Tom looks possessed.
Mordue and Al had rocked it up from Durham for the show, and Mordue and I sat
up till late in our pyjamas discussing all sorts of Mordue and Pete stuff. Top
times.
Second
gig of the tour – immense food, immense crowd and certainly better than our
last gig here, where the bass and bass amp were both plagued by gremlins (or so
I thought – what are the chances of trying two dodgy cables in a row). The food
was tremendous, both at the venue and at Tom’s folks house, where we tend to
stay when in this part of the country – still need to find the magic spark
though...
Having
not had enough of moving large musical
instruments and their kind, today MacSween Jon and I journeyed to Colne near
Burnley to collect the second hand piano he’d just bought from an elderly
couple that his piano tuner put him in touch with. When we entered their house
Ruth, the old lady who was selling it had become so old and frail that she
could no longer play, and was clearly emotional, although in a measured way,
about its departure. Al regaled her with a few choice numbers before we removed
the thing, and as he played Sinatra’s my way I watched as, with her eyes firmly
closed, she gently mouthed the words and conducted in the air. Al played the
final chord and she awoke with a start, as if snapped out of a dream - she had
been in a far away place, transported by the magic of Sween’s performance – to where
and when, is not for us to know. Then we rolled the Joanna out of the door,
said our goodbyes, and sped it on to its new life under the fingers of MacSween,
one of the finest manipulators of the instrument I have ever encountered.
It
of course doesn’t end there, and during the course of our journey we also moved
an immaculate, original trace Elliott 300 watt bass combo from Ilkley to the
new yard, (thank you Simon) and then we moved MacSween’s old Clavinova (electric
piano) to its new home also in my new yard . Leaving only time for a brief cup
of tea before I had to dash to the studio and load up with the boys for the
first Vessels gig of the year....
We
played in the Mad Ferret (see what they did there) in Preston. the crowd was
lovely, although we went on far too late, as tends to happen at midweek gigs
involving us, and we played ok, but it’ll be a few gigs before it all falls
into place – it seems like an age since I was on a stage. No crowd shot this
time round, just my skeletal silhouette underneath the tremendously well named
bar... apologies for the low quality photo, it was taken on my phone and then
photographed with my camera, from the screen of the phone once i got back
home... must amend this system....
Tonight
Bill Laurence, and therefore with him ‘The Klezma Trip’ left town. Although to
be honest I thought this group had already disbanded. They soundtracked my life
for quite a bit of 2006/2007 when I went to see them about thirty times,
playing late night free entry gigs on weekday nights in various bars round town.
Their sound is an instrumental hybrid of Latin, African, Indian, and Hebrew
vibes – mixed with some western ideas and the occasional smattering of
parmesan. Bill the keyboard player and Guiliano the guitarist are dear friends
and it’s always sad to see a dear friend move away. Having said that, I don’t
think they’d performed like this (or at least I hadn’t seen them perform like
this) for about a year anyway so it was kind of a reunion and a farewell gig
all in one. I saw them at the Moorfest last summer, but they were pushing in a
new, song based direction and I didn’t really dig it…. Watching them tonight
brought back so many memories. Transpangaean, Sela Bar, the Dance College and
its various elusive female inhabitants, Sailor Jerry’s, and Bill, Jules,
Javier, Daveed, and a bunch of other awesome jazz musicians that I wish I saw
more of….
The
carnage that followed should not be justified with a description, suffice to
say we saw the sun come up, although many of my friends saw it from the comfort
of the ground that they had crudely rugby tackled each other to…..
And
here is the new yard, or a bit of it, empty and innocent, waiting to be filled
with our collective hoard of possessions – when are you coming for a brew?
and
of course, moving wouldn’t be moving without the obligitary dismantlement and
reassembly of my beloved piano. The third time we’ve moved this beauty in this
manner in the last few years, and hopefully the last for a good long while. As
always Mike was on hand to perform the surgery.... man’s a legend, and his new
car is bright yellow with gull-wing doors. No seriously.....
