1st July - Sid
27th June - Hal
Balls! An early one. We were meant to get back home late last night, but
someone suggested a quick, last good-bye, pint at the local Irish Bar
- who was I fooling when I said yes, still thinking “quick pint,
then hit the road”. Sam was shaking me, just at the point I’d
drifted into deep-sleep. It wasn’t so bad, I looked over to see
Cam straddled half-way between the kitchen and the living room, wrapped
in half a blanket, trying to make his phone work – at least I was
stuck inbetween Sid and Terry, in Phoenix, with an AC from the 60’s!?.
We dragged our sorry arses into the van and headed for the 10 Freeway,
cruising straight back home to LA. I actually love and hate this drive:
parts of it are absolutely stunning scenery, other’s make Peckham
in South East London look fun. But it’s also the feelings of knowing
that you’re going back to your own bed, and some sleep, and some
chill time, but it’s also the fact that you know you’re going
back to all those things, and would probably prefer to just stay out on
the road and keep rolling. Not much happened on the way back, other than
getting diddled on our Subway Rewards Card?! Got back in time, un-loaded
the van, half un-packed my, well laundry, hit the pool to cool down…
and then settled in for an evening of bills, emails and phone calls, which
wasn’t so bad… I got to talk to me Ma in jolly ol’ England,
and she’s just fineJ And, we’re back out for 2 months again
quite soon… so I guess I really should get some proper sleep. Right,
we’re meeting with the Driveblind boys for an almighty piss-up later
in the week, that may well justify another diary entry! Cheers!
26th June - Sam
Tonight is meant to be the last night of our tour with Driveblind –
bummer! Terry (singer) and Cam (acoustic guitarist) from DB are still
in the van with us from our partying escapades on Saturday night in Denver.
This turns out to be a blessing in disguise cause on the drive down to
Phoenix we get a phone call from Driveblind’s van saying they’ve
broken down again and are stuck in Albuquerque. After trying to figure
out a solution, we realize that Cam and Terry can probably pull off a
decent acoustic set together, so they start phoning friends in Phoenix
to sort out an acoustic guitar. We eventually get to the club and when
we step out of the car it is like stepping into a wet sauna – jesus,
this place is hot! Lorena, the sweet heart, sorted out a guitar for the
guys and it’s got to be said that even acoustically the guys sounded
great – kinda nice to see another side of the band as well. We hit
the stage after the acoustic set and we are on fire, best show of the
tour for me, Sid beat the hell out of the drums. On the last song The
Pirate actually put the beater through the bass drum head – rock!
We hit a cool pub after the show and sit out in the garden drinking pints
of Guinness. What was a bloody nightmare of a sauna is now a nice balmy
night, perfect for sitting in a pub garden supping back on a few pints
with mates – nice one!
25th June - Sid
24th June - Hal
Last time we made this trip, I spun the van off the road. It was mid-winter,
coming over the Rockies and hitting the most Satanic piece of black-ice
know to Jesus. Today I was gunning it to get to Denver on time, and the
whole way just had me thinking of the contrast between now, and then.
We all sat down to breakfast this morning (us and Driveblind). It was
good to start a day with the lads, and like the road, to see the contrast
in the season; that of the sober morning, and that of the drunken night
before (Wixxie mate, you can spin a yarn!). I’d brought a load of
tea with me, so we all set to it. About 2 hours from Denver, Driveblind
called to say their van was giving them jip, so they were delayed by a
good 3 hours. We motored on to make sure the night happened. We got into
Denver, found the club – very cool divebar, my favourite kind of
club! – argued with the other band about who should play where,
gave up the fight when we heard we had the 10.30 spot, which was just
the time Driveblind were set to arrive. Sank some cold-ones. And then
went on. What a cracker of a gig! I love the smaller clubs for this very
reason: everybody is standing right in front of you, it’s a weekend,
and they wanna rock and we did not disappoint - a blinder! We finished
the show, threw the gear off, next band rolled on, and we proceeded to
get blind drunk with the entire bar! Driveblind went on and played their
best gig of the tour: tight as a Nat’s Chuff and Terry was on fire:
prancing around on the bar and getting lost in the moment – it was
brilliant – or, I was blind drunk – or, I like to think, it
was a bit of both! We headed back to Rob and Shannon’s house (good
friends of ours – thanks R&S!) for the infamous party we’d
been told about on every prior trip to Denver…. And it did not disappoint:
we rocked the big one in the basement, with dudes falling over and getting
carted off by the cops, many toasts, many naked arses in passed-out people
faces, and – naughtily - many molested wives (not me guv!). It was
one to remember, or try to remember, or just to know, that Denver was
a great time.
23rd June - Sam
It has to be said that we've never had a great time in Salt Lake City.
It always seems to be a bit stiff and weird (sorry to all our friends
in SLC). It's not that the crowd aren't cool, it's just the city itself
seems to have some strange vibe. Being a Friday night though it should
be reasonably good, with a big crowd. So we turn up at the Kilby Court
and the place looks like someone’s backyard with a shed for the
bands to play in. We discover that we're on at 8.30 and there's no booze
allowed whatsoever – what!!! We figure what the hell, the place
must get rammed with kids on a Friday night and we’ll have a good
show whatever. Unfortunately, it aint gonna happen, the place was pretty
much empty all night. Our only saving grace was Driveblind and some crazy
Russian girls, who were hell bent on showing us that Salt Lake City could
be fun. So they made sure we had a good few shots of whiskey before we
hit the stage to get into it (all of this was in secrecy cause the club
were very strict on booze). After both bands played we decided to do shot
guns in the van (well funny), which I must say Sid the Pirate excelled
in – monster! We then all headed back to one of Driveblind’s
motel rooms where we partied all night. The Russians amazed us by showing
how much booze they could put away. These young skinny girls put away
beer after beer and yeah, they got pretty drunk but they stayed pretty
much on the ball and with it – crazy – the Russians must be
made differently or something. The night finished off about 4 or 5 with
huge complaints from the motel, saying that we were too loud and debauched…
well at least we had a good time in SLC.
22nd June - Sid
21st June - Hal
Woke up at Ed’s house; I’d got the sofa, came in late to find
Sid and Sam had nabbed the beds.. mind you, I was in dire need of a shower
and solitary confinement on account of the free wine Ed and I had pilfered
from the restaurant where Ed works – did you know that vine’s
roots can grow down to 8 meters deep in search of water? See: drink with
the wine manager of a restaurant, and you’ll find out the best stuff!
Ed was a dude: got us a load of fresh coffee, made us all breakfast and
then booted us out on time. Seattle’s an easy drive so we rolled
in early (well on time!). This was Sid’s first time to Seattle (in
fact, first time north of Malibu, CA (!) so – obviously, as a musician
– he was overtly excited by the prospect of playing in Seattle;
would you believe that as we came over the hill and into the city, Nirvana
was on the radio! And, as we rolled up to the Crocodile Café, Soundgarden
was on! Good omens me finks! We met the Driveblind boys for $1 pints of
beer – viva le ‘appy ‘our! Sunk a few, loaded in, set
up, sound checked and set down to the café’s menu. Good tucker!
We then proceeded to pass-out in Siesta mode, so I grabbed some coffee,
set the merch up and then played a great game with Driveblind, which involved
waking Sam from his siesta in the van, via setting the alarm off –
it was a comedy moment. Seattle is a good town, and we’re building
quite a good following over at the High Dive (our usual), so tonight was
going to be an interesting one – would they venture out?…
and thank the Lord, a good bunch of our lot came! We played a great show.
Sid’s really coming into his own now – he’s getting
rather good. Driveblind were also great, but they insisted that they weren’t
‘on it’, tonight, but, if you’re reading this lads,
you were! It was a bit of a nightmare getting out of the club due to Sam
and Sid starting off a rally of ‘Shot-Guns’ with beer cans
– everyone seemed to wanna go! Eventually we got back to Jill’s
house, ate a pizza, split a Guinness and then crashed – but, I was
late again, and Sam nicked the bed: I slept on the couch with the dogs
– they smelt really bad.
20th June - Sam
We got to the club pretty early, which was great because it turned out
to be a great venue. It had a lush green room with showers, nice sofas
and a great rider (beers etc.), so after sound check we chill with Driveblind
and have a few bevvies. We do a good show and it seems like Sid is really
starting to settle into the groove now. After our set we watch Driveblind,
who have really grown on me - such a great band. After load up we head
back to Ed's, our friends house and chill before Ed and Hal decide to
head out and get some beer. They don't return until the wee hours in the
morning. Apparently they had decided to drop by a restaurant where Ed
used to work and they got plied full of expensive wines - lucky gits.
19th June - Sid
18th June - Hal
Woke up fairly fresh and excited this morning: first proper day out on
tour. Packed the final bits and jumped in the van to pick up half the
Driveblind lads – we were meeting Wixxie and Dave in SF, who’d
shot up early with all the gear – jolly good chaps me finks! Terry
(singer) jumped into the van armed with a bottle of Scotch; good sign
I thought! Picked up Jack and Cam from Melrose, and in true Thieves style,
forgot something, went back to get it, and, left LA nice and late! The
5 Freeway is the route we always set out on when touring; it resembles
a comfy déjà vu now, passing the stink of the cow farm (literally
1000’s of Heffer’s), juggling the turn-off so you don’t
wind up heading for Bakersfield, Anderson’s Pea Soup and then the
Bay Bridge – the gateway to tour date #1! We rolled over with The
Bluetones blaring (wee bit of nostalgia) and got to the venue just in
time to grab the last drips of dinner from the club. Job done, sound check
missed, we got stuck into the beer. Jack has the best humour known to
humanity, and I won’t print what we were laughing about, but I’ve
the feeling that this tour is gonna be one hell of good time! As for the
show, it was an alright night I guess, and it was good to see old faces
again. But San Francisco seems to miss out a little on the ‘doity’
rock thing; it’s a bit artsy and ‘nice’, which is actually
great for the rockers who live there, cos they get the pick of the bunch,
but for the ‘artsy’ lot, you get the feeling that you’re
invading their tranquility! But we survived, and turned a few to the ‘Dark-Side’;-)
By the time we’d finished I think we had more people smoking and
drinking in the back room than were hanging off the bar. We headed back
to a friends house, sank a few bottles of wine, and passed out ready for
the morrow – Portland, here we come!!
15th June - Sam
I got up really bloody early this morning to watch England beat Trinidad
and Tobego 2 nil - come on England!!! The win pretty much put me in a
great mood for the day. We rolled down to the Viper Room in Hollywood
about 8ish, loaded the gear in and had a few drinks to get in the mood.
We hit the stage about 10ish and had a great show and the crowd were awesome.
After the show we proceeded to have a few drinks and catch up with all
our mates. Hal got particularly wasted on Scotch and was a right mess
- the most pissed I've seen him in a while. He managed to lose Driveblind's
(a wicked band we're on tour with) van keys which was a nightmare, especially
'cause our lift back (Dave the Mountain Man)
to the ranch had to leave there and then, so we couldn't help look for
them. So we all apologised to Driveblind who were totally cool and said
"no worries, we'll find 'em". After about 5 minutes of being
in Dave's car I realise we're going in the totally wrong direction to
home. I ask Dave where we're going and he tells us he bought a new car
yesterday and we've got to go and pick it up. What the fuck, things turn
from bad to worse! We eventually got to Venice Beach and pick up the van.
Sid invited laods of people back to the ranch for a party and Hal sobered
up enough to realise that he'd lost Driveblind's keys. So Dave and Hal
headed back to the Viper and Sid and I went home in Dave's new car to
entertain our guests. We eventually got a relieved call from Hal saying
someone had handed the keys into the bar and all was okay. Thank fuck!!!
All our gear was in tha van which would have made for a great ironic story
if it had all been stolen - being named the thieves n all - but would
have sucked the big one to lose all our stuff! I had pretty much totally
sobered up by the time I got back to the ranch cause of all the stress.
So a friend poured me a big glass of Brandy and we ended up having a pretty
good party.
14th June - Sid |
10th April - Sam
We wake up at Teal's house about midday and we've got loads of
new clothes cause she owns a vintage clothes company and sorted us out
in a drunken craze last night. Lord knows we need some new clothes, the
ones we own are in rags from touring so much. Then Sarah, another friend
of ours takes us over to her salon to cut all our hair. I've got the shittest
hair cut ever at this point cause I cut it my self when I was in Spain
- what was I thinking! So I get sorted, Hal gets sorted, then it's Jamie's
turn - ha ha. When he gets back from his chop he has the most Emo cut
ever. He's gutted to say the least and it's more than
Hal and I can do to not take the piss. Jamie's favourite diss is "dude,
that's so Emo!", so this is absolutely classic! It's gonna be a good
week of taking the piss. We then hit the road. Got another long ass drive
to get back to LA. We get pulled over by a cop later that evening which
hasn't happened in a while (we learnt on our second tour that's it's bad
to advertise our band name on the oustide of the van). He hasn't got much
on us - we were driving about 5 miles over the speed limit. We put on
the poshest English accents and say "I'm terribly sorry officer,
we're a band from England don't you know". As cops go he's pretty
sound so lets us on our way with a warning. We drive through the night...
9th April - Hal
We stayed in the most minging motel last night: I’m so
oblivious to it now that I slept like a baby. The maid was banging on
the door horribly early to get all the scum out in good time – we
ignored her, obviously! We hit the road via a trip to steel internet from
the better motels across the street. Job done, we searched for our prized
Cracker Barrel (Breakfast for a Tenner) where stocked up on extra ‘Biscuits’
(like a soft Scon – not at all like a Hob Nob!) for the long journey
home. Tonight’s show is the last one and then we’re to make
our arduous drive to California. We made good time today and arrived early.
With nothing to do, we got a Gatorade and sat in the local college to
look at all the lovely young girls walking around in their little running
shorts - naughty! Loaded in and I can safely say I’ve never seen
a more rancid toilet in my life: I walked in to see a Cock Roach scurry
away and nearly puked when the smell hit me. It was Grim…. and then
some. I should know by now to use the girl’s washroom before the
club opens: always a different story. Found Jamie was already there, so
I prepared a nice ball of wet toilet paper and launched it over the top
to interrupt what sounded like a lot of hard work on Jamie’s part!
I was heart broken to find that the venue had just lost it’s license,
so no booze! Shit! The day was saved by Squarewheel, who arrived with
some 8% beer, like our Special Brew; it tasted like shit, but was just
what I needed! We threw in a lot of older songs tonight that we haven’t
played in a good while. We wanted to get them up to par for LA’s
show on the 21st – worked a treat! This is what touring does for
you, it engrains material into yr fingers: we played them pretty much
as we always played em, a few lost lyrics, but I lose them at the best
of times! After the show we grabbed some pizza with Dallas’ mighty
Sara and Teal, along with Mr, Wyatt (good lad!) and then headed to the
city as fast as we could for last orders. We ended up in the their local…and
got shit-faced! The Chop was brought out and this changed my mellow mood
into quite the opposite. There were some mad geezers in that bar! We got
booted out as Sara sprayed the barman with some mixer…we scarpered
back to Teal’s house and just carried on with the party. Teal is
a Vintage Clothes supplier, so her house is a warehouse of the stuff.
We dressed up for a few hours – as silly as we could find, stocked
up a little, partied some more, and then crashed in front of some surfing
video, which convinced me that I should be a surfer – at least it
did then, but… Sharks!? It was then time to crash, so I made my
exit and decided to bunk-up next to Sam who was already well and truly
passed out. Ahhhh, Texas.
7th April - Sam
I got out of my skull (into obvlivion) last night, which is kinda
rare cause I can handle my booze pretty well - usually. So not feeling
to hot today! Luckily we don't have a show but unluckily we've got the
longest ass drive ever to get over to Dallas in time for Sunday's show
(over 1000 miles). We drive and drive and drive and drive and drive...
and drive some more.
6th April- Hal
Last night was a great night with them Frauds lads: showed us
the town, gave us a bed and didn’t let us spend a penny (we’ll
have to get them over to England for a proper drinking session!). Obviously
woke a little heavy-headed, but nothing a shower wouldn’t remedy.
We snuck out passed the sleeping beast (who’d passed out on the
sofa and was snoring and dribbling to cartoons) and left Ocean City for
the scenic drive to VB. Scenic drive turned out to be the most boring,
let’s get stuck behind old people observing speed limits by minus
20mph, I have endured thus far! So we arrived a little late, but the guys
at the Peppermint were so cool and had food and beer ready for us: I’d
asked for Newcastle Brown and Guinness on every rider, but every venue
had assumed Miller Lite as one and the same, and it ain’t dammit!
So I’d called them and said “pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase”,
and they did it! I love Guinness! There were four bands playing tonight,
which meant it was going to be a late one for us. But, we’d sold
a shed-load of merch before the first band had even hit the stage, so
tonight was going to be good! We eventually played around 1am, played
a good set, nice and solid! It was wicked to see people singing along
– this is only our second time in VB, it’s gonna be a good
town for us! Superock were on as support again tonight and are a great
bunch of lads. I found out that the bass player’s girlfriend had
been arrested for streaking in front of George Bush at some protest –
gotta love that spirit! And they invited us to stay at their house. So
we burnt back to their place, met their crazy dog who was a source of
sport for a good hour or two, and then watched The Hellacopters DVD –
my favourite band of the moment….so I was happy chap and got to
chill a little. Cheers!
4th April - Sam
We woke up in the van today, so a bit dizzy but our friend Caitlin,
from Tornoto is in town and she's offered to take us to lunch, so it aint
that bad. We haven't had anything but Pizza and Beer in days, maybe even
weeks so the thought of proper food is unbelievable. We hit the streets
of Boston and find an Irish pub (closest thing we could find to a bit
of home). We all get Shepards Pie (they didn't have bangers n mash) and
we even get desert - fat bastards we are - thanks Caitlin, you're wicked!
We then hit the road for Philadelphia. It's a painful drive cause we have
to go through NYC which takes forever! We eventually get to the club just
after 8.30 and we find out we're meant to be on stage, like 5 minutes
ago. So after a bit of a chat with the promoter we decide to ditch the
gig cause there just aint no point. We're usually pretty hardcore when
it comes to shows and never drop out but sometimes you just got to accept
it. We decide to head over to see our friends in West Chester (just down
the road from Philly) and meet everyone at another Irish pub - what can
I say we miss the pub back home. After a good jolly up, my mate Kate (cheers
darlin'!) takes me and Jamie for dinner while Hal gets drunk with Donnie
(owns Rex's, the club we always play in West Chester), Bam and Ryan Dunn.
When we get back Hal and everyone else is pretty much shit faced and Donnie
offers up Rex's for after hours partying, so we head over there for booze
and pool. It gets kinda blurry here, but I remember shooting pool with
Ryan and everyone being hammered. When it finally gets time to hit the
road Ryan says we can stay at his gaff, so we head back to his house and
end up playing more pool and pinball in his basement. We finally get to
sleep as the sun is coming up and the guilt birds are singing in full
chorus.
2nd April - Jamie
We’re in Boston tonight we’re in early. We Get to
the club and decide to go to the hotel, on the way we see that hard fi
are playing also tonight, which pisses us off because we were due to be
out with them, and they have a lush tour bus! Anyway we get to the hotel
and chill watch tele for a bit then head to the venue. There’s just
us and American minor playing tonight so we set up on stage the sound
guy tells us we’re not getting a sound check, which is weird because
it’s still early and we’re on first, so we can leave the settings
set. Anyway then we find out that we don’t get any booze...!!!!!!
this worries us Hal most of all. what sort of place is this ? what sort
of place doesn’t look after a out of town band?? This is so shit
man… when we get to play my drum monitor isn’t even on ! I
can’t hear a thing I ask the sound man to turn it on but no! what
a twat!! We get off stage and the A.M boy’s say we sounded great..
we get some pizza in and while waiting some dude orders up a slice. When
he’s handed it he spends ages putting condiments on it, he turns
around takes two steps and just drops the thing on the floor !!! oh my
god me and Sam have to turn away to stop from belly laughing out loud.
We turn to each other and say “cuntish” he turns around and
say’s “don’t pretend you didn’t see that”
we just piss ourselves! After he fights with himself about him just eating
I say to him about the 5 second rule and that he should eat it.. but he
doesn’t he gets a new one.. we head out!!
1st April - Sam
Last night was a big one. Jamie and I ended up at some friends
house and I don't know where Hal is - we left him at the club about 4
AM last night. We finally track down Hal to the Van. I knock on the window
and say where the fuck have you been? He's in a pretty bad state and doesn't
really want to deal with me getting him up. We also left all the gear
in the club last night so we have to load the van which isn't good for
any of our heads. We hit the road and cut the miles up to Conneticut where
we get a motel. Then we all fall into a coma.
31st March - Hal
Rex’s ain’t so much a gig, as a drinking session!
We made the fatal move of going well over-board upon our first visit here
and we’ve suffered the wrath ever since; we gave ourselves the reputation
of being exuberant drinkers, and the relationship of such with the owner
and staff – it was actually the Blood Hound Gang’s fault:
we met them here and that’s how the whole messy session started:
what are you going to do, say “no”? With this in mind, we
arrived knowing what was to be. Tonight was also The Frauds last night
out with us, so the send-off was set. We rolled into town relatively early.
We’d hit the famous Cracker Barrel for breakfast on the way up from
Baltimore with Eric and EJ (The Frauds). We gave them a quick education
on how a touring band can buy a breakfast of Kings, for three, for under
a tenner! Nutrition done, we headed into town and started to poster the
place and find people that may know us. Got back to the venue, set up
and then grabbed some shut eye before the festivities started: this had
a chain reaction as every band passed out in sympathy. Snooze done, the
night kicked off and the crowd started to roll in. Beer was poured and
tales told. The Frauds played with venom and American Minor, who’d
joined us on the beer front, stepped up with their own brand of ‘Southern’
venom (I think it’s the best gig they’ve played). By the time
we got to the stage it was about 1.30am…. so it was a little messy
– both up there and out in the crowd! Rex’s finally shut up
shop and the Whiskey came out! America Minor stuck around for a good few,
but Lord knows what happened to the Frauds? I’m writing this today;
the night after, hidden in our hotel… this one hurts.. it was hard-core..
I woke up a crumpled mess in the back of the van, half dressed, ruddy
faced and sweating at 2pm!
30th March - Sam
Baltimore tonight. We drive through wicked country side and get
to the club about 7ish. There's been a bit of a cock up with the promotion
and billing tonight and we find out that we have to actually go on first.
It sucks but we get on with it and it turns out to be a good show. We
also get Stella for the green (back) room which is a right bonus. I'm
getting sick and tired of Bud Light - it tastes like piss water - I don't
know how the yanks put up with it all the time. After the show we head
back to The Frauds house and chill with them in their basement studio
until the wee hours of the morning.
29th March - Jamie
We arrive at the club early, so we try to get a hotel. We end
up driving 10 miles or so out of town, but in stead of getting a motel
we get a cracker barrel. We head back to the club, and find the club has
rolled out all the stops and there’s so much food… gutted!!!
We get 6 drinks tickets each so we get into them… after the show
Sam pulled so we hang out and eat left over's while he say’s goodbye.
We head out to a motel.
28th March - Hal
Last night was a result! A Monday night, full and rocking? Bizarre!
Woke up feeling good. We had tea, loaded up the van from our 2 days in
Indianapolis and hit the road. Sweet Home Chicago.. this means Pizza Pie!
Got to the venue, loaded in, sound checked and then headed off to find
Pizza. We found a wicked joint called Gino East (which is apparently ‘world
famous’, but then everything in America is ‘world famous’
according to the owners, bit like their ‘world championship’sports,
played exclusively by Americans, in America!) even the cops were eating
there, which makes for a funny sense of digestion; Cops and Thieves in
the same room?! There’s pizza and then there’s Chicago Pizza:
it’s not even comparable, it’s a totally different meal..
almost like a steak and kidney pie base, with the elements of a pizza
thrown in – really good. Got back to the club and found it filling
up nicely! Met old friends and watched all the bands kick out the Jams.
It was a good night and all of us are getting better and better each night.
After the show we were headed to a party, but our guide, who was a Chicago
native, knew her way around the city as well as a blind French child!
So we spent a good hour going back and forth until she conceded defeat
and we took directions from elsewhere. Party missed we headed back to
another house. This was Lori’s pad. Lori is a ‘kept’
lady, and her apartment is pretty amazing. I personally think we should
donate her house to some homeless dude and enjoy the tale, but that’s
another story! In a strange state of mind, we decided to cut the miles
to Akron. I drove until about 6am and was truly snoozing at the wheel
when I decided to stop and sleep. The lads had the bench seats so I took
the floor. The good thing about the floor is that it’s so uncomfortable
you actually prefer to get back up and drive instead.. so I did!
27th March - Jamie
The day started about half past 3, Sam heads out for an oil change
and to do the post. When he gets back we have pizza and head out to the
show. When we get there, the usual Monday night crowd is there (not many)
but as time goes on and show time creeps nearer the bar becomes packed.
It turns out to be a good show. After the show we head to Steak’n’Shake
where we commandeer some server hats after talking to the whole of the
restaurant we head out. We get home about 6 in the morning and go straight
to bed.
26th March - Sam
Thank the lord, we have a day off today. We’ve been going
at it pretty much since SXSW and we’re all a bit burnt out so a
day off is gonna be wicked. We finally get up about 2.30, chill pretty
much all afternoon until a friend of Rebecca’s (the girl we’re
staying with) comes around and we get stuck into the red wine. After a
couple of hours Rebecca’s friend gets very horny and starts telling
us how much she likes it in the arse. I won’t go into details but
it was a great conversation. After a wicked meal and some good conversation
(cheers Rebecca!) we run out of booze so head over to Kelley’s house
and get stuck into her bar. We end the night drunk as usual and watch
‘Good Night, Good Luck’ – good film.
25th March - Hal
My voice is so bust up now. I’m trying not to talk, but
for a gob-shite such as meself, it’s nigh on impossible to avoid
opening my big trap. Fortunately tonight is the last night I have to sing
before we get two days off and I can give the old pipes half a chance
to repair themselves. But, it’s Saturday night and we’re playing
Indy, which is a good town for us – so I ain’t stopping. We
got into town quite early and hit up our friend Rebecca who had prepared
a fine, fine dinner for us of Italian Beef; in fact, it was so good we
decided to postpone the moment until after the show – there would
be no rushing of this feast! We hit the club around 9pm, where we met
our promoter buddy Greg. Tonight was going to be good and the club was
filling up nicely. I met a really cool dude called Cheez. I recognized
Cheez from SXSW where he and his mates got into a good scrap with The
Towers of London (who are another of my new favourate bands). I asked
if he was the very same one, to which I think he thought I was one of
them coming up for round two! When I congratulated him on such a valiant
performance in the fight he settled down and we had a good laugh about
it. So, show time. We played a good set, my throat barely made it but
we got away with it. After us was a band called Human After Taste - who’d
danced like nutters to our set. Now these boys ain’t normal, infact,
they’re bonafide crazy! Dressed in a Camo Bikini, the big mountain
man of a singer took to the boards. If he looked nuts his band looked
even crazier: one was dressed as an ‘Aids Monkey (?), one was a
downhill skier from the 80’s, one was a bondage bunny rabbit and
one was an Indian Guru. They were nuts! We walked out after the show to
find the After Taste engaged in a scrap with some old punks, we broke
the fight up on account of the singer holding a huge cinder block and
aiming it at his assailants head – first key of any gig you play:
make friend with the hard bastards, the crazy ones and the dangerous ones,
then you’ve some chance at surviving these adventures! So, night
done, we got back to Rebecca’s and set about that Beef!
24th March - Jamie
We turn up to find American Minor have become a jazz band…
There’s snow outside - cold again. We head up to the green room
to get started on the beers and I find a bottle of jack, wicked I crack
it open and get started. The show is one of our best, although there was
one guy in the crowd who was so wasted he was bumping into the girls at
the front Hal shout OI SORT IT OUT YOU STUPID DRUNK CUNT!! Very funny…
23rd March - Sam
Nashville tonight. Awesome city and the club we play here has
one of the best sounds on the tour. The show goes well and the crowd is
really good. We meet some girls that are on Spring Break in the crowd
after the show and they offer to put us up at their motel. So we jump
in the van and follow them. They get lost on the way and end up in the
airport, where they get pulled over by the cops for driving crazy. We
obviously don’t stop, cause cops don’t like thieves, so we
end up getting a motel else where. Bummer!
22nd March - Hal
Last time we played Birmingham was with Nebula and it was a
sunlight finish – which I hate: you know you’ve just killed
the day! So we knew this was going to be a good night and we weren’t
about to deny ourselves the party. To start with it was just the free
water with piss in it – some people call it Miller, others call
it Bud. But, with a little persuasion we elevated our kidney processing
power to deal with the hard liquor! Nice. We played second and American
Minor headlined – we’re rotating each night. Good thing
about The Nick is that they don’t get going until around 10pm,
so we hit the boards around 11.30 to a nice and loose crowd. I’m
surprised how many more people are coming to see us each tour; we had
a good crew down and they all wanted the party. We delivered just that
and had a great show. We partied well beyond American Minor’s
set, but were cautious enough to get out of there before sunrise. Ended
up back at Lisa’s house… I’m told that I upset a young
lady by passing out on the sofa, I can’t remember getting there
or how I ended up on the sofa, but there I was!
21st March - Jamie
We hit traffic and come to a complete stand still we take a
piss on the side of the road then I take a wander up the interstate
to see what’s going on, but decide it goes on for miles so turn
back. After about an hour or so we get moving. It’s so cold, here
in Atlanta, Georgia tonight, I go for a coffee and get back just in
time to set my stuff up. We head out soon after the show.
20th March - Sam
We’re playing the House of Blues in New Orleans tonight
and it’s our frist night of the tour with American Minor and The
Frauds. We’re wondering how the city will look after the hurricane.
As we drive in, sure enough there are loads of buildings ripped to shreds
and loads of caravans in the driveways. The good news is that there
is loads and loads of building work going on, so people are getting
back on their feet and putting their lives back together. The French
quarter seems to be unscathed and still hits me as one of the coolest
places on earth. It’s just got so much character to the place
it’s unreal. The House of Blues in New Orleans was the first proper
one to be built and the place is so cool. We hang out with the other
bands and get to know each other over beers. They’re all top lads
and it looks like it will be a fun tour with everyone on board. Take
a walk through the streets with The Frauds and then hit the road to
find a motel about 3 or 4.
19th March - Hal
Woke up late today, Shit! I wake up late everyday. Indeed,
we have entered the realms of the unwell! Vampire’s blood is coursing
through our veins; well that would be true if I didn’t feel so
damn ill, cos ol’ Dracula never got ill: I need more red Steak,
obviously! Today was about as exciting as a visit to the Pencil Museum
in Lake Windermere. I just sat in the van… and drove! Our goal
was Houston, a catch-up on myspace, and a night off – my voice
is knackered and I’m not getting a chance to do anything but kill
it off more and more as we play shows each and every night – not
goodL - a night off is highly sought after. We have a good friend, Jessica,
from Pro-Mark Percussion in Houston, she was going to cook up for us
and let us crash at her place - nice. We took a little detour to the
Houston Galleria where we knew there was a Mac Store. We insouciantly
sat outside the store and started on our emails and myspace catch up.
Job done, we headed over to Jessica’s where this star of a girl
had more pizza and beer than the average tele-addict could ask for…
so we set about the important task of Pepperoni and Newcastle Brown
Ale and the video ‘Go’. Throat still thrashed though.
18th March - Jamie
It’s an early show so we get down to the venue at about
mid-day. Which happens to be miles away from all the festivities on
6th st bummer. We have brekie at a dinner down the street. And then
move it up to the venue, we get some free booze, and start setting up.
The stage is soaked and “all the young dudes” goes through
my head… after the gig we head down to catch the other band we
head out with American Minor then down to Emo’s to catch the show
of the festival Priestess who are wicked, then Datsons who were even
better then Nebula who do a good one then Riverboat Gamblers who suck
big big shit flavoured Cock! Then it’s The Hellacopters who are
really fuckin good so on it, after the show we bump into ed from Nebula
who pulls us on there’s and hellacopters bus wicked bus man we
have some biffder and hang out then head out…
17th March - Sam
Tonight should be a good show. We’ve got ‘The Blue
Vans’ show cause they had to keep up with their recording schedule
and couldn’t do it. We head down to the Komado Records showcase
to see our friends Diamond Nights again. Wicked show as always. We head
off to our show and have a wicked show ourselves - best one of SXSW
. After our show we hear that there’s a big party over at the
Hilton, so we head over that way. The party is in full swing in a hotel
suite on the 9th floor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so
many people crammed into one room. It’s a free bar so we get stuck
in and I get absolutely mashed up. Some how we make it back to a friends
house and pass out as the sun is coming up.
16th March - Hal
We were meant to be at the club for 10am this morning. But
I knew when we said “yes”, we really meant “yeah,
right!”. The club’s not got the best sound in the world
and I passionately hate daytime gigs… but, it’s SXSW and
that’s just the deal. Jamie Cullum is a friend of mine (Jazz meets
Rock?). Jamie is on tour and was playing SXSW too, so he came down to
meet us. What was cool is that one of the guys in his band used to work
with me in a guitar store in Oxford – I hadn’t seen him
for about 4 years! So that was cool. We had a few drinks and set about
the task of the daytime show. It was alright! The Frauds were also playing
and they join us on tour next week – good job too, turns out that
they’re top geezers.. and you want to tour with the top geezers,
not anal ones! Michelle from TVT records came down to see us and after
the show she promised to take us out for dinner (when you live on Cracker
Barrel, toast and noodles – the thought of a proper diner is beyond
exciting!). Me and Jamie were getting pretty drunk at this point and
as we chatted to Michelle some Flu Pills fell out of her bag, we drunkenly
grabbed them and munched 2 each… I don’t know why, and I
don’t know what was in them but we were speeding our nuts off
on them! So we went into the heart of the festival and started the night
off…We met up with The Vacation and Diamond Nights, who were playing
a radio show in some hotel. Jamie and I were speeding like mad and The
Vacation were distributing vats of wine around our small ensemble like
dedicated French Vineyard owners! It was all getting a little out of
hand when Morgan (singer of Diamond Nights) assured the interviewer
that he would not swear on air, so I took the responsibility on and
issued a big, fat naughty word (should have said Bollocks on refelction).
As soon as it surged forward from my lips, they shut the show down and
booted us all out. I felt really bad “sorry I ruined your Black
Panther Party”, but my offers of an apology to the ‘ Nights
were met with a positive response and the band prided themselves on
getting booted off – cool! We ended up in Bull McCabe’s
Irish Pub on 6th street where we totally missed dinner, but drank enough
Guinness to make up on our nutrition!
15th March - Jamie
First SXSW gig in Austin we get some under age girls in to
the venue as they want to see us play then they fuck off to find there
mate who’s to fucked up to know where she is. After the gig we
just head back to thieves HQ for the week (Adams), as it’s well
late.
14th March - Sam
Wake up late and head into Austin to sort out posters and flyers.
Go for dinner with some friends and Jamie the lucky git gets a free
ticket to see The Strokes. So Jamie heads off to watch the show and
bumps into the Towers of London who we met last year at CMJ festival
and says we'll have to get together for a jolly up. Good lads. Hal and
I end up at another show with some friends from LA and party with some
nose candy. Then an after party later that night, well morning actually
and a really late finish back at Adam's house again.
13th March - Hal
Day off today! Last night was a good crack and I woke up with
the prospect of a free haircut, BBQ and dip in Adam’s pool. But,
me being so lame, I woke up late! Adam was already out, making burgers
and catching rays. I threw some tea on the stove and let the BBQ get
smoking. It was wicked! If there’s 2 things Texans know about,
it’s steak and BBQ’s! We met a really cool chick last night
at the show called Sara. We drunkenly agreed to get our barnets chopped
by her… I called her, tentatively, wondering if it was just drunken
babble.. but no, Sara was at her salon, sicssors in hand and tunes playing.
Sam stayed by the pool so it was just me and Jamie. Sara is a rock star
hairdresser: she’d been out all night with us chaps and was still
rocking when we saw her! And what a chopper! Best haircut of my life!
We were heading for Austin but Sara persuaded us that we had to visit
the best Mexican joint in Dallas… and it was! Good crack, so we
rolled into Austin late tonight. Sam was already here and put dibs on
the bed. We had a few beers and watched Harry Porter – felt like
Christmas!
12th March - Jamie
Get in and the promoter takes us out to dinner, we have some
great mushroom soup and a burger. When we get back Sam goes for a sleep
and me and Hal, meet a crazy bird call Sarah who tells us she can do
the highest rock kicks in Dallas (and for one I believe her) she also
tells us she is a hair dresser so hal and I light up as we really need
a cut, she tells us we can have a hair cut party… woo hooo anyway
after the gig we go to a party and Sam got some chop. After the party
we head back to Adam’s pad but he’s left the fuckin’
keys somewhere so he has to break in. well funny!
11th March - Sam
In Oklahahoma City tonight. Oklahoma is a wicked town and the
people love to rick here, so it should be a good night. We roll up a
bit late but when we get to the club there’s loads of people there
to help us load in the gear (people here are just wicked). We have a
wicked show apart from some twat in the crowd who’s getting a
bit too excited and aggressive. After the show this guy gets arrested
– I guess that’s Karma. We hit an after party with the 1st
band and the boys from ‘The University’. F’ing wicked
people here! We head back to an all girls house and crash. Top night!
10th March - Hal
Corey called earlier to say that he had about 6 pounds of Pork
cooking on the Barby, slabs of Salmon, Corn Bread and Sweet Potato –
so we weren’t to be late, and we weren’t to be sneaky and
stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way;-) Of course we put the pedal down
and got to Columbia as fast as our van would take us…. And Corey
did not lie.. what a feast! I passed out like a snake that ate a deer
for a while.. and then Corey cracked out some Boddingtons! Result! Wake
up! We played with Corey’s band Megazilla tonight, who were great;
he and Joey get better and better every gig. Joey plays drums and it
was his 25th birthday, so the mission was on: the Eastside crew was
in on it, and when we played I made sure the whole bar knew about it…
it was shot after shot. It was a great night, all the bands were great
and the venue was full of Columbia’s finest. This is a good bar
– and apart from the huge Frat boy element - it’s a great
place. We had a few late drinks in the bar and somehow we all got spilt
up. I ended up back at Corey and Kate’s place, we had Joey dribbling
in the corner, Tucker (the famous Coon Hound) throwing his snot all
over the place, Kate trying to make sure Joey was still breathing (by
serving him more booze!) whilst me and Corey put the world to rights
– we would make a great Prime Minister and President I think!
Touring has become a series of visits to old friends. Corey and Kate
are some of the finest! We’ll see you in Austin chaps ;-)
9th March - Jamie
Wake up from the best nights sleep for days to find Hal and
Sam got to the showers first, what does this mean you ask. I’ll
tell you what it means, cold shower!! (although I have got balls the
size of beach balls, and so horny I could shag a warm meat pie) THIS
IS NOT GOOD. So I fire up the shower, freezing! I jump in holding me
nuts wet my hair, turn it off, put shampoo in said hair and wash said
nuts. Turn water on again and wash off as quick as possible. Job done.
Hal hands me a nice cuppa to warm me cockles, thanks pal, we head out
to Kansas …. Wow, Kansas….. Great…… This Drive
is SO BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING
BORING !
8th March - Sam
Bastardo, it’s the Rockies again. We almost died last
time we were in the Rockies, spinning our van off of the ice covered
road and ending up in a ditch. Half way through the journey we get notice
on the radio that the main freeway we’re on, (the I80) has been
closed. We have to take another route which takes forever and when we
get to the next freeway (the I70) it’s also covered in ice, so
we have to trundle on at 30 mph for the next 2 hours. After 11 hours
on the road we eventually get to Denver (thank god) and go to meet our
friends Rob and Shannon for a few beers. Ah, beer tastes so good after
you’ve been on the road for 11 hours. We head back to Rob and
Shannon’s, chill out and then hit bed. Pretty un-eventful day
apart from seeing our friends.
7th March - Hal
Rolled into town well ahead of time. A mate in SLC met up with
us and took us out to this really cool pizza joint that had a cinema
in it; you order your pizza, and a beer, and then watch a movie –
what a great idea – gotta get one of these in LA! And, as luck’d
have it… we watched Johnny Cash’s, Walk The Line –
wicked film! So pizza, beer and Cash done, we headed back to the Tiki…
it was bare and empty; Monday’s and Tuesday’s are infamously
hard for getting a packed house, but this was just taking the piss!
Oh well, we’ve been here before and we’ll be here again,
so we plugged in and were about to kick off when the door just started
spewing people into the room; within 5 minutes it was all looking rather
respectable. What could we do, but raise the flag and meet the game?
So we kicked out the jams and let SLC have their Tuesday Night Rock
Club; and it continued to get busier as we played – nice. After
the show we had a few drinks and headed over to a party at Mike’s,
the promoter’s, house. Things got good, I passed out.. and here
I am eating pizza for breakfast…. Can’t beat that –
well a full English fry-up, obviously… but, when in Rome…
6th March - Jamie
Wake up on the sofa with a bastard of a crook neck, and so
knackered, but Hal’s got the coffee on so we should be fine in
a bit. Jason and Chris arrive about 10.30 and we get straight into the
bass.(after coffee of course) Sam cracks though it in a couple of hours
and we move on to the Guitar. Half way through Guitar takes we go for
lunch with the local music rag. We do the interview in a dark 70s dinner
over 3 omelettes with hash browns. (sounds good, but the reality, not
so much) so after photo’s and a quick chat we head back to the
Studio. Hal finishes his guitars and we piss about laughing at each
others vocal performances and I do the percussion at about 3.30am (I
get offered the job of session block and tambourine player) the track
is sounding killer, so then to bed for a well deserved kip.
5th March - Sam
It’s the first day of our recording session at Tonic
Studios in Boise today – some friends of ours from Boise, (Jason
and Chris) own the studio and offered to give us some time with them
on production duties. I get a cab to the studio cause some how I lost
the boys last night. We put a big pot of coffee on and get to work.
Jason has about 4 drum kits, so we build a fat kit for Jamie with a
24” bass drum (Bonham styley) and get the amps plugged in and
the valves cookin’. We jam most of the day through and I have
to say Jamie’s drumming is on fire today. We hit bed about 3AM,
totally knackered but content that we’ve got some killer drum
tracks down. I get to sleep in the mastering suite which is totally
sound proofed apart from weird sounds coming through the air vents which
make an eerie ghost sound. I just watched ‘The Exoricism of Emily
Rose’ the other day and it sounds like the demons from the film.
In my state of sleepy delirium it kinda freaks me out but I’m
too knackered to do anything about it… dead to the world.
4th March - Hal
I’ve said it before: this town kicks arse. It’s
an oasis, some hidden little secret… or maybe it’s just
me? Towns are made good or bad by the people you meet in them, and so,
we’ve obviously met all the right people in this one – friendly,
good fun people who aren’t scared to enjoy their weekend. Got
into town early, loaded the gear in and went off searching for tucker!
Lord, Jah or Allah have mercy; we found the best Curry House in America
yet! Lawrence, KS had the title, now Boise’s got it!! With a start
like this, you know it’s a gonna be a good night. We hit the beer
hard to celebrate (and they had Newcastle Brown Ale – it’s
just fateful this place!). We’re getting quite a good name for
ourselves in Boise and whilst normally we play the better known Neurolux,
the punters came out, they drank, they danced, they screamed and they
partied! We’re recording tomorrow at the Tonic Room with our good
friends Jason and Chris, who own the studio.. should be good…
and I’m enough into the tour now to handle any type of hangover
– professionals dammit! At Megans house now with Jamie, Sam got
lucky else where….til the morrow, and til next time… Curry
Curry Curry! Can’t wait to get back here…
3rd March - Jamie
So we’ve got a day off, already? So anyway we cook up
dinner (a nice pasta piece and some good red) and watch a movie. The
great Napoleon Dynamite, we piss ourselves laughing - such a bad, but
at the same time, great movie. We all get to bed about 3am.
2nd March - Sam
Woe, we have to wake up bloody early this morning because we
have a 10 hour drive to Portland. I don’t really have a hang over,
I’m just bloody brain dead. We hit the road at about 8.30 and
the drive is actually pretty nice because it’s spring and the
countryside is coming to life. Lake Shasta is so serene and beautiful
and I wish we could have stayed there for a bit longer. We soldier on
all day and finally get into Portland about 7PM. We’re playing
with our friends Polysics (a crazy Japanese electro pop/punk band) tonight
and it’s set to be a goodun. After load in we catch up over a
drink with another friend of ours called ‘London’ –
she’s a sexy Suicide Girl don’t you know, who shot us (photos)
last time we were in town. Then it’s show time. Hal and I hit
the stage but Jamie’s nowhere to be seen – as usual he’s
back stage chatting up some girl... Eventually he graces us with his
presence and we rock the house. There’s a good crowd and we’re
starting to get to grips with the new songs we’ve got in the set
– rockin’! After the show we head back to our friend’s
(Ed) house and have tea; proper English styley. Then bed at 4 for deep,
deep, knackered sleep.
1st March - Hal
We were meant to be in San Francisco last night. We were going up early
to get a head-start and ease ourselves into the next 8 weeks of touring;
it’s important to ease in, if you can, especially if you’ve
not done it in a month or two;-) But it never happened: we didn’t
finish loading the van until 9pm and our bags at around 2am this morning!
We got to Frisco, loaded in and then met our good mate Dan for dinner.
Dan’s an old mate of mine from England - and what a fella; he
treated us to Chinese food and shed-loads of beer! We got back to find
the club filling up nicely. This was the first night of the tour and
very satisfying to see people coming out to see us again. It’s
always a little bit of a dusting off on the first night; good show though
and so glad to be back out on the road. Before we played, some geezer
grabbed my arm and said “alright Hal?!”. I thought I’d
seen this fella earlier but dismissed it as impossible. Turns out it
was Nolan, one of my old school mates from Oxford; he was on Holiday
in San Fran with his lady and saw us in the paper, so rolled up! It
also turns out he knew Dan (Oxford's a small city!). So we played the
show, had some more drinks, got the gear packed, had a few more drinks
and then headed back to Dan’s house to consume the mass of alcohol
that he’d persuaded out of the barman’s hands. Dan had some
old tapes of my school band, which he and Nolan knew well – all
my friends lost their virginity listening to, or after watching, this
band y’see!… poor Sam and Jamie, they were exposed to the
worst music I’ve ever heard since getting past the age of 16 –
remember Ned’s Atomic Dustbin? We were worse! So terrible! But
Nolan was smiling, Dan was dancing, I was cringing, Helen was sleeping
and Sam and Jamie were speechless! Early start tomorrow, heading to
Portland; that’s a 10 hour drive! Well, we’ve started now,
God bless all those sailing….! |
