Showing posts with label tour diaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tour diaries. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
And So I Watch YouSA From Afar: 4 Thoughts
So then, a while ago we wrote and recorded some music in Ireland, a while later it has brought us all the way over the Atlantic ocean to play our first tour of the United States of America. Over the 5 weeks we were there we drove coast to coast, north to south and the world got a little smaller again and our waistline and our photo collections grew a little bigger. Here's four thoughts about the trip........
ASIWYFA - US Tour Sept/Oct 2010
September 24th we flew out of Dublin en route to JFK New York to start our first USA tour. After a lengthy delay of about 8 hrs we get the call to board our connecting flight to Baltimore where we're playing our first date. As it's our first time out proper, we're opening up each night. The main headliners are legendary Japanese band Envy from Tokyo, along with California thrashers Trash Talk. The band after us are also from California, Touché Amore, who very kindly agreed to rent us their back line at a cut price rate saving us a small fortune! First show, Baltimore and a chance to meet all the guys for the first time. They turn out to be really sound thankfully seeing as we'll be together for 5 weeks! Also they fucking rock, hard! This'll be an amazing tour!
4 weeks in now, hard to believe it's gone so fucking fast! I was a bit apprehensive about how we were going to be received and being so far away from home for so long! I can honestly say that I've made some new friends for life, American and Japanese. There's only one week left now. We've travelled coast to coast of the USA and it has been the most unforgettable and fun experience for me personally in this band. Hopefully the first of many. Part of me can't wait to go home but part of me wants to continue on this trip, it's tough sometimes on the road and you miss a lot of things at home but I made my bed and I'll very gratefully lie in it!
Johnny Adger, ASIWYFA
---------------------
In America there's little tissue covers to put over the toilets in all the service stops on the road,this is a great thing. It saves 2 minutes preparation time per visit by eliminating the need to lay down your own covering which takes 7 lengths of toilet roll each 2 segments in size. It does not eliminate the need to check and wipe the seat of urine droplets before hand as although the covers are made of tougher tissue they are still fairly porous and will make for a surprise sit. These seat covers also eliminate the need to lay *"a splash pad" as the middle perforated section pops out to for a catchment layer of its own ontop of the water. Both these elements cut visit time by 1 to 2 minutes a time. 7 people on a 30 day tour with one visit each during transit collectively saves 420minutes, that's 7hrs which is an extra time each to soak up tour or talk to a new face or walk in the desert or make fun of a band member or Skype your parents or write a blog. God bless America.....
Rory Friers, ASIWYFA
--------------------
Terra firma, unexplored, by us at least. That's how I felt about our ....
US tour when it was just about to kick off. That and a huge relief/ ....
excitement to be out on the road once more! The fact we were carving ....
our way such a huge land mass and one that we knew only too well ....
through screens, whether they be TV, cinema, computer or otherwise, ....
but had very little experience of in real life filled us with a unique ....
sense of anticipation and enthusiastic trepidation.....
Plus the fact we knew we were going over to be first on each night on ....
a bill of four bands who had extensively done the circuit over here ....
and we would be relatively unknown, starting from the ground up and ....
wondering if anybody was gonna like us! I knew that the first US tour ....
basically destroyed the Sex Pistols ("ever get the feeling you've been ....
cheated?") and the Manics didn't even make it this far (well, Richard ....
James didn't, poor fella) so there was always the slight intrigue of ....
fear, danger and self destruction looming over us. Still, hasn't ....
happened yet...but then the Irish prospered here historically, right?....
Tony Wright, ASIWYFA
--------------------
This tour is 10 things.......
1: This tour is bouncing around in a converted school bus travelling thousands of miles around America.....
2: This tour is trying to avoid the temptation of insanely fatty and unhealthy food at every moment of the day, and the futile search for fruit at service stops.....
3: This tour is going to sleep in the bus while crack heads chat and smoke their pipes outside.....
4: This tour is getting punctures at the most inconvenient of points and nearly missing shows.....
5: This tour is being overwhelmed by all the amazing scenery and places we see, and trying to be a tourist and musician in the same day.....
6: This tour is finding out it doesn't always rain in Seattle and there isn't always sun in California.....
7: This tour is trying to not say 'parking lot' and 'gas station', just so people get you first time...let them work it out.....
8: This tour is starting at the bottom again,first on with most of the crowd having never heard nor heard of us.....
9: This tour is not having to drive but diving the big bus late at night anyway because it's fun.....
10: This tour has cemented my hope that I will get to say "this tour" a thousand more times.....
Chris Wee, ASIWYFA
ASIWYFA - US Tour Sept/Oct 2010
September 24th we flew out of Dublin en route to JFK New York to start our first USA tour. After a lengthy delay of about 8 hrs we get the call to board our connecting flight to Baltimore where we're playing our first date. As it's our first time out proper, we're opening up each night. The main headliners are legendary Japanese band Envy from Tokyo, along with California thrashers Trash Talk. The band after us are also from California, Touché Amore, who very kindly agreed to rent us their back line at a cut price rate saving us a small fortune! First show, Baltimore and a chance to meet all the guys for the first time. They turn out to be really sound thankfully seeing as we'll be together for 5 weeks! Also they fucking rock, hard! This'll be an amazing tour!
4 weeks in now, hard to believe it's gone so fucking fast! I was a bit apprehensive about how we were going to be received and being so far away from home for so long! I can honestly say that I've made some new friends for life, American and Japanese. There's only one week left now. We've travelled coast to coast of the USA and it has been the most unforgettable and fun experience for me personally in this band. Hopefully the first of many. Part of me can't wait to go home but part of me wants to continue on this trip, it's tough sometimes on the road and you miss a lot of things at home but I made my bed and I'll very gratefully lie in it!
Johnny Adger, ASIWYFA
---------------------
In America there's little tissue covers to put over the toilets in all the service stops on the road,this is a great thing. It saves 2 minutes preparation time per visit by eliminating the need to lay down your own covering which takes 7 lengths of toilet roll each 2 segments in size. It does not eliminate the need to check and wipe the seat of urine droplets before hand as although the covers are made of tougher tissue they are still fairly porous and will make for a surprise sit. These seat covers also eliminate the need to lay *"a splash pad" as the middle perforated section pops out to for a catchment layer of its own ontop of the water. Both these elements cut visit time by 1 to 2 minutes a time. 7 people on a 30 day tour with one visit each during transit collectively saves 420minutes, that's 7hrs which is an extra time each to soak up tour or talk to a new face or walk in the desert or make fun of a band member or Skype your parents or write a blog. God bless America.....
Rory Friers, ASIWYFA
--------------------
Terra firma, unexplored, by us at least. That's how I felt about our ....
US tour when it was just about to kick off. That and a huge relief/ ....
excitement to be out on the road once more! The fact we were carving ....
our way such a huge land mass and one that we knew only too well ....
through screens, whether they be TV, cinema, computer or otherwise, ....
but had very little experience of in real life filled us with a unique ....
sense of anticipation and enthusiastic trepidation.....
Plus the fact we knew we were going over to be first on each night on ....
a bill of four bands who had extensively done the circuit over here ....
and we would be relatively unknown, starting from the ground up and ....
wondering if anybody was gonna like us! I knew that the first US tour ....
basically destroyed the Sex Pistols ("ever get the feeling you've been ....
cheated?") and the Manics didn't even make it this far (well, Richard ....
James didn't, poor fella) so there was always the slight intrigue of ....
fear, danger and self destruction looming over us. Still, hasn't ....
happened yet...but then the Irish prospered here historically, right?....
Tony Wright, ASIWYFA
--------------------
This tour is 10 things.......
1: This tour is bouncing around in a converted school bus travelling thousands of miles around America.....
2: This tour is trying to avoid the temptation of insanely fatty and unhealthy food at every moment of the day, and the futile search for fruit at service stops.....
3: This tour is going to sleep in the bus while crack heads chat and smoke their pipes outside.....
4: This tour is getting punctures at the most inconvenient of points and nearly missing shows.....
5: This tour is being overwhelmed by all the amazing scenery and places we see, and trying to be a tourist and musician in the same day.....
6: This tour is finding out it doesn't always rain in Seattle and there isn't always sun in California.....
7: This tour is trying to not say 'parking lot' and 'gas station', just so people get you first time...let them work it out.....
8: This tour is starting at the bottom again,first on with most of the crowd having never heard nor heard of us.....
9: This tour is not having to drive but diving the big bus late at night anyway because it's fun.....
10: This tour has cemented my hope that I will get to say "this tour" a thousand more times.....
Chris Wee, ASIWYFA
Monday, 1 November 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
ASIWYFA Do America In 7 Minutes 14 Seconds
ASIWYFA - AMERICA 2010 - it took 5 weeks to tour...here it is in 7 mins 14secs.
Please not this is just random footage and not to be perceived as making any sense. This is the preview to the full length film/rockumentary of ASIWYFA in America. Watch this space for the full length.
Video and sound by A. Coles
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea Look Back On EP Tour
Fresh from touring their new EP, Andy from Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea reports in:
Drove for a thousand miles and screamed at three floors in the north and three ceilings in the south.
Played old and new and unpracticed songs, some well and some badly.
Let's keep it interesting.
Amateurs were really good, I hope they carry on playing and recording lots. They're not scared of a hook or two. I watched them getting better every night which was no mean feat.
Our own new songs took shape on stage and are taking shape on my computer screen, keep your ear to the ground.
It's a dangerous game to take too seriously.
Here are some things that I found out:
There's a surprise rush hour at 2pm on Fridays around London.
Once you run a car battery completely flat it never charges again.
As adults we are far better inventors of childish ball games than we ever were as children.
Nitkowski are the last band you'd want to follow on a line up.
Ginger beer and rum is a really good drink.
Thanks to everyone.
Andy
Drove for a thousand miles and screamed at three floors in the north and three ceilings in the south.
Played old and new and unpracticed songs, some well and some badly.
Let's keep it interesting.
Amateurs were really good, I hope they carry on playing and recording lots. They're not scared of a hook or two. I watched them getting better every night which was no mean feat.
Our own new songs took shape on stage and are taking shape on my computer screen, keep your ear to the ground.
It's a dangerous game to take too seriously.
Here are some things that I found out:
There's a surprise rush hour at 2pm on Fridays around London.
Once you run a car battery completely flat it never charges again.
As adults we are far better inventors of childish ball games than we ever were as children.
Nitkowski are the last band you'd want to follow on a line up.
Ginger beer and rum is a really good drink.
Thanks to everyone.
Andy
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Illness: Tour & Recording Write-up
Hi blog-readers,
I have been desperate to tell you all about our touring and recording experience....
We went on tour and had a good time. We went with Shield Your Eyes and NOPE. Both bands are really good, I highly recommend that you check them out. It was really satisfying to watch them both play every night for about ten days. We also played with a couple of other really good bands, one in Glasgow called Eternal Fags and one in Leeds called Ultimate Thrush, both of whom are part of a Glasgow based DIY collective called Winning Sperm Party who put on shows and do free digital releases or genuinely cheap CD's - truly independent! So check all that stuff out. I spent a lot of time worrying about my thumb in which I believe I'm developing arthritis, and at one point we had to change the brake pads on the van like true lads, a task undertaken primarily by Stef from Shield Your Eyes, but with at least some input from everyone along the way, even Spencer who found the cap of the copper rubbing right at the last minute. Everyone we came across along the way was so genuine and generous, and it was a completely conflict free experience - YES to humanity!
We then went straight to Derry (NI) to do some recording and had a good time. We recorded twelve tracks with Andrew Ferris (Lord STA) and Chris Cassidy, who were the best recording team we possibly could have hoped for. It all went swimmingly well and is looking due for release as an album around February time. Ash Pocock made a special guest appearance and took us out for an all you can eat Chinese meal, which I came away from feeling kind of hyper and with a pounding heart.
Later in the week Spencer and I went to see Toy Story 3. I tried not to cry during the film but was ecstatic about the ticket price: £4.50! And on a Saturday night to boot! That's what the cinema should cost... in Brighton it's at least £7.50 a pop. Anyway... again, all parties involved went above and beyond the call of duty in accommodating us and in making sure that we made the best of the recording experience. We can't thank Andrew and Chris enough for their enthusiasm and generosity. They are both bastions of a moral disposition which finds its foundations in empathy, benevolence and supreme good will - YES to humanity!
Later in the week Spencer and I went to see Toy Story 3. I tried not to cry during the film but was ecstatic about the ticket price: £4.50! And on a Saturday night to boot! That's what the cinema should cost... in Brighton it's at least £7.50 a pop. Anyway... again, all parties involved went above and beyond the call of duty in accommodating us and in making sure that we made the best of the recording experience. We can't thank Andrew and Chris enough for their enthusiasm and generosity. They are both bastions of a moral disposition which finds its foundations in empathy, benevolence and supreme good will - YES to humanity!Thanks for reading,
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Skibunny EP Tour Diary Part 2
Thurs 24th June - After a few days off the tour continues, starting in my mother’s hometown of BATHGATE. We’re playing in Harley’s – “Midlothian’s no.1 live music venue”. There are 5 other acts on the bill, 3 of them play only covers. One of them plays 2 Oasis songs in a row. Clearly this is going to be a tough crowd. But I think we get away with it!
Fri 25th June – GLASGOW’s venue has been double booked, so we are moved to a slot downstairs in Maggie Mays. There’s a good turnout and although nobody knows who we are we receive a very warm welcome and leave with a bunch of new friends.
Sat 26th June – Can’t believe this is only our first EDINBURGH show! We’re playing Electric Circus, a great wee venue with amazing karaoke rooms. MIAOUX MIAOUX are also on the bill, it’s nice to finally get a proper chance to chat to Julian, he’s a lovely chap, check out his stuff immediately! PILOTCAN are playing too, the new line up sounds good, and later their soundman gets in trouble for making it too loud! Despite the 16 or so screens on the back wall, we are unable to make our visuals work but even with the technical problems it’s a fun gig. It’s great to finally play for some old friends and afterwards there is much catching up to be done.
Sun 27th June – Pretty excited to be back in FIFE again. We played at The Greenside in Leslie before, supporting YUCK, so it’s cool to be back headlining so soon. We’ve just found out that the other band on the bill (Be A Familiar) have cancelled, which is a shame. But the gig is fun, the crowd is up for it, good times all round! One thing is for sure, Fife KNOWS how to party, not bad for a Sunday!
Fri 2nd July – We head north up to ABERDEEN for the final show of the tour. We go to a nearby courtyard bar to meet the promoter and watch the end of the football and then it’s back round to the venue. We’re playing the Polar Bear Club at Tunnels, a great venue that will soon be hosting the likes of Mudhoney and The Wedding Present. We are warned that the students are all away and that the club may be quieter than normal, but we manage to make everyone come down the front and it turns out to be quite a laugh.
So that’s the end of the tour then, we have a bunch of festivals still to play through the summer, then we’ll be touring the album release (6th September! Not long to go now!) Thanks to everyone who came along, hopefully you’ll spread the word and we’ll see you all again very very soon? Good stuff.
SKIBUNNY xox
Fri 25th June – GLASGOW’s venue has been double booked, so we are moved to a slot downstairs in Maggie Mays. There’s a good turnout and although nobody knows who we are we receive a very warm welcome and leave with a bunch of new friends.
Sat 26th June – Can’t believe this is only our first EDINBURGH show! We’re playing Electric Circus, a great wee venue with amazing karaoke rooms. MIAOUX MIAOUX are also on the bill, it’s nice to finally get a proper chance to chat to Julian, he’s a lovely chap, check out his stuff immediately! PILOTCAN are playing too, the new line up sounds good, and later their soundman gets in trouble for making it too loud! Despite the 16 or so screens on the back wall, we are unable to make our visuals work but even with the technical problems it’s a fun gig. It’s great to finally play for some old friends and afterwards there is much catching up to be done.
Sun 27th June – Pretty excited to be back in FIFE again. We played at The Greenside in Leslie before, supporting YUCK, so it’s cool to be back headlining so soon. We’ve just found out that the other band on the bill (Be A Familiar) have cancelled, which is a shame. But the gig is fun, the crowd is up for it, good times all round! One thing is for sure, Fife KNOWS how to party, not bad for a Sunday!
Fri 2nd July – We head north up to ABERDEEN for the final show of the tour. We go to a nearby courtyard bar to meet the promoter and watch the end of the football and then it’s back round to the venue. We’re playing the Polar Bear Club at Tunnels, a great venue that will soon be hosting the likes of Mudhoney and The Wedding Present. We are warned that the students are all away and that the club may be quieter than normal, but we manage to make everyone come down the front and it turns out to be quite a laugh.
So that’s the end of the tour then, we have a bunch of festivals still to play through the summer, then we’ll be touring the album release (6th September! Not long to go now!) Thanks to everyone who came along, hopefully you’ll spread the word and we’ll see you all again very very soon? Good stuff.
SKIBUNNY xox
Friday, 9 July 2010
And So I Watch You From Afar: Them Crooked Vultures Tour Diary
So, we got home from a mammoth 8 week tour on the 17th of May that took in, Toronto, New York, a few dates in Austin, Derry, Dublin, plus the Majority of the UK (with the towering Riff Inferno LaFaro) and France, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Denmark and a host of other places (you get the general idea).
We were looking forward to some writing and rehearsing time when outta nowhere we get asked if we wanna hit the road again on short notice. It's only three dates over ten days we were told to soften the "blow". The "blow" was more like a warm embracing hug from an estranged friend if anything else as we were asked to be the main and only support for a new little beat combo that goes by the name of Them Crooked Vultures. Comprising of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme and Alain Johannes. Needless to say we mulled over it for a while before giving it the go ahead.
That last sentence is a barefaced lie. It was an instantaneous YES, of course! We didn't have much time to get ready for the tour but we're that used to it by now it all seems like second nature.
We hit the road with a slighly larger crew than usual as the difference between our normal 250 capacity club shows in Europe and the arena sized ones we'd be doing with the Vultures is a tad larger. So we brought on board our good friends Niall Kennedy of Panama Kings, Simon Crowe of Team Fresh and the legendary Dermot McBride of Glasgowbury fame along with our trusty TM Graham Smith and our bearded sound wizard Andy Coles. TEAM ASSEMBLED!
Tuesday morning at 6am we disembarked from Rory's place outside Portrush. It was a short jaunt to Vienna. 44 hours later we arrived, in various forms of discomfort. Poor ol' Graham Smith had the back of a 90 year old war veteran, but he's a trooper and never complained once, which merely encouraged us to laugh at his velociraptor like stance and posture, sorry Graham.
When we got to the outdoor Vienna Arena the Vultures were still on a transatlantic flight (on a plane, they're not actual Vultures... I think...) so their crew had set up everything and were soundchecking the gear, they played some TCV tunes, and a couple of Zeppelin riffs were blasted out. The crew are the world's finest TCV cover band, honestly, these guys were so tight, and a great group of fellas to boot.
We kicked about the backstage eagerly waiting to soundcheck, shortly thereafter we got the go ahead to set up our stuff. We set up in front of the guys' gear, something we'd done on support tours before but this was by far the most illustrious gear we'd ever set up in front of.
Sound check went great, with alot of TCV's crew coming up and saying they loved our sound and were looking forward to the set, always nice to hear. We went back up to our room and talked our usual round of guff, then from out of nowhere Josh (or Joshua as he would later introduce himself to me) walked by our room, stuck his head in and said, "Hi, I'm Dave Grohl", then 5 seconds later stuck his head in again and said, "Hi, I'm John Paul Jones". Big ginger liar.
We chatted briefly with the band and they were super cool and thanked us for coming out on such short notice, then... showtime.
Our set had to be half an hour sharp, and we adhered to it. During the first song, my guitar decided to be an idiot but after some serious guitar butchery it came back to life and we were fully in business. More and more people filtered down to watch us and by the end of the set the place was pretty much capacity, just shy of 2500, and they were going nuts. Job done.
A seriously quick load out followed and we went back upstairs, where Dave Grohl met us in the communal dining room and grabbed me by the hand, shook, thanked us again and said (and I quote) ,"You guys rocked, thanks for warming 'em up, that was one big roar from the crowd!". Nice way to finish a gig, huh?
Vultures were amazing, the musicianship on display was second to none, obviously! Needless to say we enjoyed a few post gig beers. Roll on the next gig...
So...where were we? Ah yes the first show with TCV in Vienna had just drawn to a close and our next date was Luxembourg in three days time so we had to contend with our biggest enemy...time spent not playing music. The plan was to drive to Frankfurt for two days, then hit Luxembourg and be nice and fresh for the next gig, not to mention how gagging to play we'd be. The plan pretty much went smoothly, then we got stopped by some very friendly Austrian Police who literally laughed in our faces when inspecting our passports, we couldn't blame them, we look hilarious in our respective photos.
That short, insignificant hold up led to us drifting a little off schedule but if it hadn't happened then we wouldn't have seen this...
WARNING: This video contains explosions and swearing - some of it in slow motion! For a few short seconds we all felt like we lived in an action movie, pretty cool huh?! (NOTE: The driver was safe)
We arrived in Frankfurt pretty late, checked into our hotel and got a few beers in the lobby to unwind, then hit the hay. A sleepless night was had due to a mix of the heat and the knowing dread that we didn't have a gig the next day. As funny as it seems we're genuinely not used to having days off when we're on the road, it seems like a wasted day when we do, but since the invite for these shows came at such short notice we didn't have time to book our own shows in the free days. So a day of doing nothing followed. Damn.
Dermot and I went into the city centre to check it out, have a beer and put the world to rights, the rest of the lads did something similar, only with a lot more alcohol involved. Responsibly imbibed though, of course.
Next was another travel day, no explosions this time (gutted).
Onto the next show in Luxembourg, it turned out we had really impressed the band and the crew in Vienna so we were afforded another valuable 5 minutes stage time, which we were delighted about. In my opinion we went onto play our best set of the short jaunt (in my opinion I should stress, I think the rest of the guys thought Amsterdam was the best). Vultures went on a little later than they were supposed to as Josh Homme was a little late, when he did arrive, Johnny and Niall were chatting to Dave Grohl who apologised about cutting the conversation short with the immortal line, "Sorry guys gotta go, Axl's here!". By the time they went on, the crowd were at fever pitch and they responded by playing what was by far one of the best sets I've ever witnessed. They all flared that little bit more, but never for a second in a self indulgent manner. Every lick, beat, slide and pulsing bass note was to total perfection, but then again, you kinda expect it to be with maestros such as these guys. Having said that, musicians of this calibre take your expectations and smash them against the wall at 1000mph at every twist and turn and shift and drop. That's what makes them such maestros. In short, they rocked.
That night we enjoyed some wine with our gracious hosts and exchanged tour stories, albeit theirs being a tad more varied, exciting and in depth than ours, pesky long time rock legends. Dave even had his laptop out showing us family snaps whilst talking about Nirvana playing Belfast back in 1992. I told him TCV had to come to Belfast, telling him we'd put the show on in Laverys and they could crash at mine.
I'm still awaiting a response. He then showed us a pic where he was playing guitar but he was slighly obscured by two heads in the shot, I jokingly asked, "who are those bozos ruining the shot", to which he courteously replied, "oh those bozos are Barack Obama and Paul McCartney". Oops.
We even drunkenly challenged Josh to a drinking contest, the nine of us versus him, with a smile on his face his cooly delivered response was, "...I don't think you guys realise who you're dealing with". Cool ginger medical wonder that he is.
We said our goodbyes and John Paul Jones told us to take every last drop of alcohol and food with us, needless to say we obliged. Cue a gaggle of drunken Irishmen stumbling down the stairs with more free booze than its advisable to give aforementioned drunken Irishmen.
Another couple of days off (curses), the first of which was spent in Eindhoven then onto that haven of touring rock band cliches, Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam show was another triumph, our manager Alan and our agent Beckie flew into town, always a pleasure to see them.
Again, we were afforded an extra 5 mins of set time, it may not sound like alot but believe me it really is on a ship that's run as tightly and smoothly as Them Crooked Vultures. All of this gig (bar A Little Solidarity...) is available online, with sound coming direct from the desk, so hop on over to it and you can be the judge on how it went!
We stood side of stage for the final time, the guys came out and gave us a wave, Dave Grohl pretended to fly kick me, then put me in a half headlock, half embrace, I believe the technical term is a "noogie". Probably one of the strangest and coolest moments of my life. The teenage Nirvana obsessive that lives inside everyone of us was beaming from ear to ear, and genuinely still is...AMSTERDAM
Tony
We were looking forward to some writing and rehearsing time when outta nowhere we get asked if we wanna hit the road again on short notice. It's only three dates over ten days we were told to soften the "blow". The "blow" was more like a warm embracing hug from an estranged friend if anything else as we were asked to be the main and only support for a new little beat combo that goes by the name of Them Crooked Vultures. Comprising of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme and Alain Johannes. Needless to say we mulled over it for a while before giving it the go ahead.
That last sentence is a barefaced lie. It was an instantaneous YES, of course! We didn't have much time to get ready for the tour but we're that used to it by now it all seems like second nature.
We hit the road with a slighly larger crew than usual as the difference between our normal 250 capacity club shows in Europe and the arena sized ones we'd be doing with the Vultures is a tad larger. So we brought on board our good friends Niall Kennedy of Panama Kings, Simon Crowe of Team Fresh and the legendary Dermot McBride of Glasgowbury fame along with our trusty TM Graham Smith and our bearded sound wizard Andy Coles. TEAM ASSEMBLED!
Tuesday morning at 6am we disembarked from Rory's place outside Portrush. It was a short jaunt to Vienna. 44 hours later we arrived, in various forms of discomfort. Poor ol' Graham Smith had the back of a 90 year old war veteran, but he's a trooper and never complained once, which merely encouraged us to laugh at his velociraptor like stance and posture, sorry Graham.
When we got to the outdoor Vienna Arena the Vultures were still on a transatlantic flight (on a plane, they're not actual Vultures... I think...) so their crew had set up everything and were soundchecking the gear, they played some TCV tunes, and a couple of Zeppelin riffs were blasted out. The crew are the world's finest TCV cover band, honestly, these guys were so tight, and a great group of fellas to boot.
We kicked about the backstage eagerly waiting to soundcheck, shortly thereafter we got the go ahead to set up our stuff. We set up in front of the guys' gear, something we'd done on support tours before but this was by far the most illustrious gear we'd ever set up in front of.
Sound check went great, with alot of TCV's crew coming up and saying they loved our sound and were looking forward to the set, always nice to hear. We went back up to our room and talked our usual round of guff, then from out of nowhere Josh (or Joshua as he would later introduce himself to me) walked by our room, stuck his head in and said, "Hi, I'm Dave Grohl", then 5 seconds later stuck his head in again and said, "Hi, I'm John Paul Jones". Big ginger liar.We chatted briefly with the band and they were super cool and thanked us for coming out on such short notice, then... showtime.
Our set had to be half an hour sharp, and we adhered to it. During the first song, my guitar decided to be an idiot but after some serious guitar butchery it came back to life and we were fully in business. More and more people filtered down to watch us and by the end of the set the place was pretty much capacity, just shy of 2500, and they were going nuts. Job done.
A seriously quick load out followed and we went back upstairs, where Dave Grohl met us in the communal dining room and grabbed me by the hand, shook, thanked us again and said (and I quote) ,"You guys rocked, thanks for warming 'em up, that was one big roar from the crowd!". Nice way to finish a gig, huh?
Vultures were amazing, the musicianship on display was second to none, obviously! Needless to say we enjoyed a few post gig beers. Roll on the next gig...
So...where were we? Ah yes the first show with TCV in Vienna had just drawn to a close and our next date was Luxembourg in three days time so we had to contend with our biggest enemy...time spent not playing music. The plan was to drive to Frankfurt for two days, then hit Luxembourg and be nice and fresh for the next gig, not to mention how gagging to play we'd be. The plan pretty much went smoothly, then we got stopped by some very friendly Austrian Police who literally laughed in our faces when inspecting our passports, we couldn't blame them, we look hilarious in our respective photos.
That short, insignificant hold up led to us drifting a little off schedule but if it hadn't happened then we wouldn't have seen this...
WARNING: This video contains explosions and swearing - some of it in slow motion! For a few short seconds we all felt like we lived in an action movie, pretty cool huh?! (NOTE: The driver was safe)
We arrived in Frankfurt pretty late, checked into our hotel and got a few beers in the lobby to unwind, then hit the hay. A sleepless night was had due to a mix of the heat and the knowing dread that we didn't have a gig the next day. As funny as it seems we're genuinely not used to having days off when we're on the road, it seems like a wasted day when we do, but since the invite for these shows came at such short notice we didn't have time to book our own shows in the free days. So a day of doing nothing followed. Damn.
Dermot and I went into the city centre to check it out, have a beer and put the world to rights, the rest of the lads did something similar, only with a lot more alcohol involved. Responsibly imbibed though, of course.
Next was another travel day, no explosions this time (gutted).
Onto the next show in Luxembourg, it turned out we had really impressed the band and the crew in Vienna so we were afforded another valuable 5 minutes stage time, which we were delighted about. In my opinion we went onto play our best set of the short jaunt (in my opinion I should stress, I think the rest of the guys thought Amsterdam was the best). Vultures went on a little later than they were supposed to as Josh Homme was a little late, when he did arrive, Johnny and Niall were chatting to Dave Grohl who apologised about cutting the conversation short with the immortal line, "Sorry guys gotta go, Axl's here!". By the time they went on, the crowd were at fever pitch and they responded by playing what was by far one of the best sets I've ever witnessed. They all flared that little bit more, but never for a second in a self indulgent manner. Every lick, beat, slide and pulsing bass note was to total perfection, but then again, you kinda expect it to be with maestros such as these guys. Having said that, musicians of this calibre take your expectations and smash them against the wall at 1000mph at every twist and turn and shift and drop. That's what makes them such maestros. In short, they rocked.
That night we enjoyed some wine with our gracious hosts and exchanged tour stories, albeit theirs being a tad more varied, exciting and in depth than ours, pesky long time rock legends. Dave even had his laptop out showing us family snaps whilst talking about Nirvana playing Belfast back in 1992. I told him TCV had to come to Belfast, telling him we'd put the show on in Laverys and they could crash at mine.
I'm still awaiting a response. He then showed us a pic where he was playing guitar but he was slighly obscured by two heads in the shot, I jokingly asked, "who are those bozos ruining the shot", to which he courteously replied, "oh those bozos are Barack Obama and Paul McCartney". Oops.We even drunkenly challenged Josh to a drinking contest, the nine of us versus him, with a smile on his face his cooly delivered response was, "...I don't think you guys realise who you're dealing with". Cool ginger medical wonder that he is.
We said our goodbyes and John Paul Jones told us to take every last drop of alcohol and food with us, needless to say we obliged. Cue a gaggle of drunken Irishmen stumbling down the stairs with more free booze than its advisable to give aforementioned drunken Irishmen.
Another couple of days off (curses), the first of which was spent in Eindhoven then onto that haven of touring rock band cliches, Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam show was another triumph, our manager Alan and our agent Beckie flew into town, always a pleasure to see them.
Again, we were afforded an extra 5 mins of set time, it may not sound like alot but believe me it really is on a ship that's run as tightly and smoothly as Them Crooked Vultures. All of this gig (bar A Little Solidarity...) is available online, with sound coming direct from the desk, so hop on over to it and you can be the judge on how it went!
We stood side of stage for the final time, the guys came out and gave us a wave, Dave Grohl pretended to fly kick me, then put me in a half headlock, half embrace, I believe the technical term is a "noogie". Probably one of the strangest and coolest moments of my life. The teenage Nirvana obsessive that lives inside everyone of us was beaming from ear to ear, and genuinely still is...AMSTERDAM
Tony
Monday, 21 June 2010
Skibunny EP Tour Diary Part 1
Friday 11th June – Skibunny arrive in INVERNESS, bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for action. We already have fond memories of Highland good times, having previously DJ’d at Rockness and Belladrum festivals over the years. But this time it’s different, cause this time we’re playing LIVE! So first up it’s a showcase at Madhatters, part of the Go North event. We have time to catch Woodhands, a duo from Toronto whose equipment has been blown up with a dodgy converter and we are unfortunately deprived of all the synths and keytars they’ve brought along. We get the general idea however, and very much enjoy their synth/drum party vibe. Soon it’s 12.30am and time to play. The audience are in good spirits to say the least, and the show is super fun, and so we reward ourselves with a pint or two at the hotel bar with some old friends. My back is to the elevator, and therefore I do not see the doors open to reveal the sleepwalking naked man, who is… well… pleasuring himself! I am assured it was not a pretty sight. This story is told and retold throughout the weekend and has now become the stuff of legend.
Andy & Jon
MothercoatSun 13th June – Back to Rockness for some more interviews, and then it’s time for Blondie. Everyone is super excited and it’s great to hear the hits. Then it’s time to go, and we start our 2-part journey to London, where we arrive on Mon 14th June Chez Liana in time for a couple of pints at the local and a good nights sleep.
Blondie
Tues 15th June – LONDON! Tonight’s show is at the Monarch in Camden. At this stage we are joined by soundman and good friend Finian. He works with Rolo Tomassi, Gallows and just last weekend was mixing Shy Child in Portugal! The gig goes really well, with a great deal of dancing going on down the front, so we are all very happy indeed.
Fin & Tanya
Spanky Van Dykes
table 5
Thurs 24th June - BATHGATE, Harleys - FREEFri 25th June - GLASGOW, Capitol, £5 on the door
Sat 26th June - EDINBURGH, Electric Circus
Sun 27th June - FIFE, The Greenside, Leslie - FREE
Fri 2nd July - ABERDEEN, Polar Bear Club @ Tunnels - £3/2
Andy & JonSat 12th June – ROCKNESS! After a stomach lining brunch we head out to Rockness and make our way over to the Go North stage. Once again we are reminded what a beautiful location this is for a festival. I stand and watch the Loch for some time to see if I can catch a glimpse of the monster, perhaps all this loud music has scared it off… Later I’m introduced to Toki from the band Mothercoat from Tokyo, Japan, and I try to remember my Japanese lessons (pretty rusty I’m ashamed to say). We manage to catch a few bands on the Go North stage, including Miaoux Miaoux from Glasgow, (he’s playing with us in Edinburgh too) and then we’re on. Again the crowd are up for the craic and lots of friends have come along to lend their support, thanks guys! After the show and a quick podcast interview, Andy (drums) and Jon (bass) head off to meet friends while I make it back to Inverness to catch Mothercoat at Madhatters. The place is packed and they are totally brilliant. Glow sticks are flying around the place and the band and audience are jumping in unison. A fantastic way to end the night.
MothercoatBlondieTues 15th June – LONDON! Tonight’s show is at the Monarch in Camden. At this stage we are joined by soundman and good friend Finian. He works with Rolo Tomassi, Gallows and just last weekend was mixing Shy Child in Portugal! The gig goes really well, with a great deal of dancing going on down the front, so we are all very happy indeed.
Fin & TanyaWed 16th June – NOTTINGHAM! Last time we played Nottingham was on the Har Mar Superstar tour, such a great night, so we are excited to come back. Plus it’s Wednesday, or “Big Wednesday” which means ditching the car early and getting the jeagerbombs in. Spanky Van Dykes is a pretty new venue, with awesome TOTP style lights behind the stage, we love it. The show is a little quiet (don’t they KNOW it’s Big Wednesday??!!) but those in attendance are won over, they buy merchandise and we give them free badges. Then promoter Jeremy takes us all to the Bodega Social Club, where Big Wednesday is happening big style! We just miss Fin’s pals Pulled Apart By Horses, but we do get to meet James from Rolo Tomassi who seems like a top bloke indeed. Many Jaegerbombs later, it’s time for me to call it a night, leaving the boys to continue the Big Wednesday fun, and the next day I hear stories of parties in student Halls of Residence.
Spanky Van DykesThurs 17th June – We awake to news that our show in BRISTOL was double booked, and therefore we are forced to cancel the trip. Major bummer… We settle instead for a couple of nights at home and the chance to do a bit of laundry and eat some fruit. Bristol, we’ll reschedule as soon as is possible!
Sat 19th June – LEEDS! The one way system in Leeds is very frustrating indeed, and with a Sat-Nav that has no signal and an iPhone map app that just tells lies, it takes us some time to find the venue. But we do eventually, and arrive at Carpe Diem ready to rock. We’re know we’re in the right place when we see the bartender is wearing a Lafaro tshirt (up the STA hoods!) The kitchen has closed though, so we wander off to find food, and decide to treat ourselves to amazing burgers at Nation of Shopkeepers, which looks like a pretty sweet venue too. Back to Carpe Diem and while we get set up, the DJ is playing our remix of Forward Russia’s “Thirteen”. Yay! By the end of our set we have definitely won over some new fans and we look forward to coming back to Leeds again soon.
table 5So that’s half time I guess. Part 2 follows soon!
Thurs 24th June - BATHGATE, Harleys - FREEFri 25th June - GLASGOW, Capitol, £5 on the door
Sat 26th June - EDINBURGH, Electric Circus
Sun 27th June - FIFE, The Greenside, Leslie - FREE
Fri 2nd July - ABERDEEN, Polar Bear Club @ Tunnels - £3/2
Thursday, 8 April 2010
ASIWYFA/LaFaro Tour Diary Part 2
Well hello there. Sorry we haven't spoken in a few days, it seems we've been far too busy living the good life to catch up. I should explain.... When we last spoke, the eight-legged riff machine ( that's LaFaro ) had begun their day in Bradford after a night of sweaty giggage, altercations with the law and poor sleep. The mission was to get to York. So the story continues...... Our intrepid rockers arrived safely in York, met the lovely Andy and the charming Joff of Fibbers fame and swiftly set about finding the nearest guitar shops. Which were all closed. In what seemed like a fair substitute they instead opted for the Cornish Pasty shop. Omnomnomnom. Why doesn't Belfast have one of these?! Biggest and best pasties in the land. As showtime approached we were graced with te presence of one Sam LaFaro ( anyone who regularly checks our myspace will see Sams name about the place ). What a thoroughly lovely chap! The show was awesome, great crowd of folks and some familiar faces. Post-show 90s disco was a must ( Scatman?! Yes, have some ) then Sam and wife Becky were kind enough to put us up for the night and feed us millions of sausages the next morning. From York to Glasgow then where we managed to arrive at exactly the same time as the ASIWYFA lads despite our sat nav doing it's best to get us lost. The legendary John and Bruce of Firestorm always put in a good show and a great spread. Those boys look after us too well... Some lasagne sandwiches and copious amount of Irn Bru later and it was rock o'clock. Gig was great fun and the crowd were up for it (they don't all look like the cast of Trainspotting yknow...). ASIWYFA proceeded to literally rip the place apart with LaFaro thankfully on hand as techs to make sure the PA didn't fall over as Tony and Rory kept off it. Maniacs. We're too old for that shit. A few drinks later and it was back to Kirstys who was putting us up (treat) but not without somehow managing to acquire two fellas at a set of traffic lights. Jonny Black strikes again ("You boys lookin a wee dick?"). Sore heads the next morning for a short trip to Edinburgh where the ever-awesome folks at Bannermans were our hosts this time. Chris, Neil and Rob are a great bunch of lads alrite. Pre show Ghost Tour courtesy of our good chum Nadine combined with John Firestorms enciladas earlier in the evening ensured that the gig was a pure tense one. And if that wasn't enough to shake things up, Chris plied us with Whisky most of the night, what a gent. By the time ASIWYFA had started their set the walls were ACTUALLY dripping! Great show all round. Mucho mucho boozing in the upstairs apartment after a quick trip to Sneaky Petes for Jaegerbomb-ageddon led to the clippers coming out. Pics to follow folks... Complete with hangovers all round and brandishing new haircuts like they were offensive weapons, Belfasts favourite eejits made their way to Newcastle. Home to Jimmy Nail, Chris Rea and many other fmous folk with mockable accents. The O2 Academy was the venue this time and we arrived to see ASIWYFAs name in HUGE letters above the door. Neat! Quick soundcheck then a trip to Burger King complete with what seemed like a live Jeremy Kyle show outside as a group of soapdodgers aired their grievances in the street much to the amusement of the onlooking fast food noshers. Cue blows being dealt and the local rozzers arriving. Great entertainment.... Our good mates Knuckle Dragger were opening the show, great to see them as ever. They ripped the place a new one, we did our best riffage complete with banter including such classics as "Gum us off ya mucky slut" and "Telecaster for sale" then made way for Chris, Johnny, Rory and Tony. Another great show all round then back to Knuckle Dragger HQ for Buckfast all round! Manchester was next on the map so the red rocket made it's way there sharpish filled with some very tired heads. Quick soundcheck and an attempt to type this blog before not saving it and having to do it all again, then doors opened. Some old and new friends managed to make it along ( Ian Mac, The Helsinki lads, Hana, Sat Nav Sam and Sarah, Ben - all legends ). Odd crowd tho who seemed more intent on talking all night rather than listening to us or ASIWYFA. Mind you, this didn't stop either of us from trying to win 'em over. Loudly. After loadout it was back to our TM/Merchdude/Morale Manager DDs good mate Lauras flat for red wine and kip. In that order. Sold out show in London next then. Whatever will happen?! Stay tuned for more folks! LaFaro X
Friday, 2 April 2010
ASIWYFA/LaFaro Tour Diary Part 1
Hiya!
So we're on the road again for a jaunt with our good buddies And So I Watch You From Afar playing England, Scotland AND Wales! it's a short 10 date tour but we'll try to keep you postedwith our shenanigans and hilarious jams as we go...
DAY 1 then.
Ferry was at 7am so we had an early start which for anyone who knows us, does not agree with our well being...). Our good friend DD Ball is tour managing these shows with us so seeing his wee face at 5:30 made it all bearable! Got to the mecca that is larne to be told we had been booked at 10:30. Instant rage due to lost sleep. Got our ferry changed to 8:30 and hung about waiting for it.
A bumpy ferry ride, long drive from Cairnryan and quick stop at the friendliest shop EVER and we arrived in Liverpool. Cue much accent mockery ( Behhhhhrt Bacchhhhhaaaarackkkkkk! ) and load in. Imagine our surprise to find a bottle of Buckfast on the ASIWYFA rider...dirty boys...
The gig itself was great, we won a good few people over I think. After that we proceeded to work our way through our rider with promoter and all round nice guy Chris Wareing before leaving to stay with our friend Rob in Bradford. Which would have been a lot easier if we hadn't been stopped by the police as we left Liverpool......a panicky, sweaty 10 minutes later we were told by a very kind officer to get the people in the back without seatbelts to travel in another vehicle so ASIWYFA cam back to collect Alan, DD and Jonny before we set off again.
It turns out that Dave ,who was driving, should have been fined sixty quid and given 3 points on his licsence but he somehow managed to sweet talk the officer round to the fact that we are a struggling rock band trying to make a name for ourselves in the UK. It seems the officer took pity on this and changed his mind about charging us and decided to warn us instead. Old silver toungue Magee strikes again!
Anyway, we did make it to Bradford in the end and had a good night's sleep and here we are about to set sail for York for tonight's showw in Fibbers, should be fun! So we're all fine for now and we'll be in touch again soon.
Peace out blap
LaFaro
So we're on the road again for a jaunt with our good buddies And So I Watch You From Afar playing England, Scotland AND Wales! it's a short 10 date tour but we'll try to keep you postedwith our shenanigans and hilarious jams as we go...
DAY 1 then.
Ferry was at 7am so we had an early start which for anyone who knows us, does not agree with our well being...). Our good friend DD Ball is tour managing these shows with us so seeing his wee face at 5:30 made it all bearable! Got to the mecca that is larne to be told we had been booked at 10:30. Instant rage due to lost sleep. Got our ferry changed to 8:30 and hung about waiting for it.
A bumpy ferry ride, long drive from Cairnryan and quick stop at the friendliest shop EVER and we arrived in Liverpool. Cue much accent mockery ( Behhhhhrt Bacchhhhhaaaarackkkkkk! ) and load in. Imagine our surprise to find a bottle of Buckfast on the ASIWYFA rider...dirty boys...
The gig itself was great, we won a good few people over I think. After that we proceeded to work our way through our rider with promoter and all round nice guy Chris Wareing before leaving to stay with our friend Rob in Bradford. Which would have been a lot easier if we hadn't been stopped by the police as we left Liverpool......a panicky, sweaty 10 minutes later we were told by a very kind officer to get the people in the back without seatbelts to travel in another vehicle so ASIWYFA cam back to collect Alan, DD and Jonny before we set off again.
It turns out that Dave ,who was driving, should have been fined sixty quid and given 3 points on his licsence but he somehow managed to sweet talk the officer round to the fact that we are a struggling rock band trying to make a name for ourselves in the UK. It seems the officer took pity on this and changed his mind about charging us and decided to warn us instead. Old silver toungue Magee strikes again!
Anyway, we did make it to Bradford in the end and had a good night's sleep and here we are about to set sail for York for tonight's showw in Fibbers, should be fun! So we're all fine for now and we'll be in touch again soon.
Peace out blap
LaFaro
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
LaFaro: Drive, Play, Drink, Sleep, Video, Ferry, Home, Repeat
So we made it home in one piece and after all my fretting about being detained for having no ID (my wallet left me in a McDonalds in Oxford) the customes folk in Stranraer didn't care about our ID at all.....they did buy a LaFaro CD though haha! Anyway, here we are in Belfast pondering our next move and lots of exciting things sit on the horizon for LaFaro in 2010. Not just us though, you can be involved too, just get in touch and ask how.
Anyway, next up for us is an acoustic thingy in the Oh Yeah centre on 9th March which is an exclusive kind of a thing so if you want to be there get in touch with the lovely folk at Oh Yeah and ask them how. Okay? Good.
Here's some more footage of us dicking about in England to keep you entertained until we come up with something better.............
Mucho Amore,
LaFarooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo x
Anyway, next up for us is an acoustic thingy in the Oh Yeah centre on 9th March which is an exclusive kind of a thing so if you want to be there get in touch with the lovely folk at Oh Yeah and ask them how. Okay? Good.
Here's some more footage of us dicking about in England to keep you entertained until we come up with something better.............
Mucho Amore,
LaFarooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo x
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