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.....
I
had two days between getting back from Malaysia and moving house, here is my
life in boxes, as I hurriedly, and sleeplessly packed and culled for the new,
much smaller yard. I think I took about eight boxes of stuff to the charity
shop and another five or six bags to the tip today....
Here
are some snaps from our travels – some by me and some by J, there’s quite a few
I like, so I’ll try to keep pedantic annotation to a minimum.....
Kuala Lumpur - I took loads of photos of lovely shiny buildings and happy scenes, but for some desolate reason this one is one of my favourites
This Uncle made us fresh Roti every morning whilst we were in KL - It cost 20p and was served with a lovely vegetarian Daal. It was divine.
When we rocked up further North we got the boat across to the Perenthian Islands - cue various pictures of boats and water....
The photo that I managed to blog whilst out in Malaysia was taken on the Pernthian islands - the beach and the sea were like a paradise - now tht I'm home it seems like a dream.....
