Thursday 18 June 2009

ASIWYFA: Clutch Tour Diary Part Two

Phew, what a busy few days. On Tuesday afternoon we hit the road to Portsmouth, a city we very much fell in love with and one which seems to take us to heart judging by the reception from the crowd - thanks so much guys, it was very much appreciated. Plenty of albums were sold at the merch table, be sure to let us know what you think of them.

We celebrated the first show with a few cold drinks at a friends house which ended in playing a game of "hide the last beer" on Rory which kept me amused as he stumbled around like Columbo looking for clues and drawing up a lit of possible suspects.

On Wednesday morning we dragged ourselves, a little bleary eyed and sleepy, to a local greasy spoon for an incredibly unhealthy fried breakfast and some incredibly strong cheap coffee which took care of the hangovers and then it was time to hit the road again!

Next stop was Newport in Wales at a legendary venue called TJs. After soundchecks etc were taken care off we went exploring and found a "Everything is £1" shop were Rory exploded with excitement at all the possible purchases...

Rory : "Is this a pound?"
Us : "Yes Rory, everything is a pound"
Rory : "WOW! What about this?!"
Us : "Yes. One pound"
Rory : "NO WAY! What about this? Surely this could not be a pound?!"
Us : "Yes Rory, everything is a pound. Everything in this shop costs one pound"
Rory : "Even THIS?! This could not be a pound?!"

This continued for a while before we all left the shop laden with goods (which really did cost a pound) including rather fetching shades for Rory and Johnny and a travel pillow for Tony which he insisted on wearing stuck to his neck for much of the evening.

And so back to the venue for the gig where around 300 people had gathered by the time the guys were due to play. The only problem was the size of the stage which was small to begin with but tiny once you got three bands worth of equipment on it. Tony also had a "charming" 6'4 bouncer standing beside him for the whole set. I am still wondering if he worked for the venue or if Tony hired him. Maybe he is slowing building his own rap style entourage.

Despite these small issues the guys played a great set with Chris looking liking he was going to destroy his drumkit on several occasions from how hard he was hitting.

After bidding the lovely people of Wales goodbye we were back on the road, driving through the night back to our friends house in Leicester where I write to you now, sharing a room with Tony and Brian (Tour Manager), listening to what appears to be a snoring competition. For anyone interested Brian was winning most of the night but Tony is definitely coming back strong now with some full-body-shakin snoring.

Next stop Leeds!

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