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2nd July 2009

It's alot more human

So I watched the blur Glastonbury footage on iplayer and enjoyed it so much I felt compelled to do a bit of 'blogging'. What was so great about it i thought (aside from all the great tunes) was the fact that they weren't scared to be mess around with the songs a bit. So many bands these days are so perfect that you wonder how they do it. Now I like a slick show sometimes, and blur can do this too, but I think it's great when you see a band playing a huge gig, throwing themselves into it and not worry if things sometimes fray. It's alot more human afterall. I saw Blur for the first time in 1992. Graham was dressed in his pants and vest and they had a huge film playing behind them of a man doing the toilet. In 1994 it was exciting concert because they were about to become the biggest group in Britain. In 1999 we got to open for them at two warm-up shows, which was great, although in Birmingham I remember that we played almost in darkness. I've got to know Graham a bit over the years through various things, the collaborative 'Under one sky' album and tour being one of them. He's a great person, and what a guitarist!

Unfortunately I'm not going to their Hyde park gigs this weekend but I'm away to go fishing off the rocks for some mackerel. I'll be humming some blur tunes while I cast off for sure.
29th June 2009

you can never rely on technology

I've been following all the Glastonbury festival coverage on the radio, and it just makes me want to go. The band haven't played there for several years, I think 2003 was the last time, remembered more for the monitors onstage not working for the first few songs than anything else (for a band playing at a festival monitor death is about as bad as it gets - you can't hear yourself and yet there's ten thousand people listening to you). I was there briefly last year with my wife's group, but only had time to take tea & cake in a treehouse cafe and watch Edwyn Collins set before heading back to Bristol airport.

I went to Glastonbury festival for the first time in 1992, and returned the three years after that. Initially I didn't stray too far from the Pyramid stage, but by 1995 I was spending most of the time in the green fields. In my opinion they're the best thing about Glastonbury, and something that makes it so unique. Alongside it's anti-ageist policy, which is always refreshing. It's so much healthier to have a mix of ages, from children to grandparents. We've played at it four times and Although our performances have never been as memorable as ones at say, T in the park or Reading, I think it's one of those places where if everything aligns - songs, crowd, weather, spirit, then it can be a performance that defines a band. I think this happens rarely - Radiohead in 1997 is a famous example.

This year I watched a lot of it via the bbc iplayer on my computer. No substitute for being there, but for what it's worth I thoroughly enjoyed Neil Young and the Fleet Foxes. I haven't watched blur yet, but I will. During Spinal Tap the computer started doing that weird beachball thing, and it all got a bit frustrating. You can never rely on Technology. Hopefully next year I'll get to go, maybe we'll even be asked to play. That would be nice.
21st June 2009

in a surreal way

Always good to get back home after a tour. The past week with John & Kris was great fun as always, and got to visit a few places I'd never been - Wimbourne, Bury and Mugdock. It's the collaborative nature of these concerts that I like so much, and I always come away having learnt a few more old songs. John and Kris are like a folk jukebox. They can play anything. We even got a new song started, so hopefully we'll continue doing that throughout the rest of the year and record a new album in 2010. The good pub guide got a fair bit of use as well. If you're a touring musician I thoroughly recommend buying one. Finding a good place to have lunch really breaks up a day of traveling. The Chesnut Horse in Easton was a find, as was the Gray Ox just outside Huddersfield.

The other news of the week was regarding this fellow who was pretending to be me on Twitter. I barely knew what twitter was until it all started. People who read this site, or other things I write will know that I have a fairly dim view of these kind of social networking sites. Partly because I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to technology, but mainly because I'd much rather be paying attention to the real world going on around me. For the record though this website is the only piece of cyber space that I inhabit. Anyone pretending to be me on other such sites etc - Isn't. Not to say that i didn't find the whole thing amusing, I did in a surreal way, but when the fake me was arranging interviews and threatening people with legal action it had gone a bit far.

I'm glad that everyone finally has their copies of 'Post electric blues' now. I was pleased with how the packaging looks as well. We'll tweak it a bit for the general release, just to make it a bit different. As far as I know we're quite close to having a release date and Label. Early September, followed by a UK tour in October/November. Colin will be taking some paternity leave for the upcoming July concerts, so filling the drumstool will be a friend from Glasgow called Johnny. He's a jazz drummer who plays in a metal band. Should be fun.
30th May 2009

old diaries

Spotify, is that not another way to rip musicains off? No, was the answer as I was explained it in detail, and it sounded pretty good to me, afterall if some one is going to stream an album for free after it's release, better that it be from a site with a paid subscription and PRS approval. So I checked it out, and now I'm hooked to it's naughty cyber charm. The radio facility is hard to argue with. Type in 50's and 60's jazz/country/blues and plug the computer into the stereo and you've got a day of great music that you'd never think of choosing. I've also been enjoying Graham Coxons new LP and the recent Horrors album. And there's so much Grateful dead on there that I think i'll be here for a while.

Moving, or rather packing to move, is never good fun. It can be, simply for the sake of un-earthing thing in the back of the cupboard that you'd forgotten about. In this case it was a pile of old diaries. here's a sample entry....

Friday 21st June 2002 - The windows are open down onto place de la rebublique as i sit at the desk in the Holiday inn. Paris is so full of life it's dangerous. especially if you're driving. Arrived here yesterday to do some press. Went out for a meal with French EMI and a fellow called Arno (who smokes more than a chimney and speaks better English than I do). The meal took four hours but it was rich and delicious. Rare steak, red wine, too many cigarettes - almost too many Parisian cliches. Concert this evening was a bit stressful, mainly due to Allans flight being delayed so he basically arrived as we were walking onstage, and as a consequence everything that could go wrong did. It was one of those fashion parties with a band, and the Hor d'ouvres were seemingly alot more exciting than we were. Jean Paul Gautier was in the audience ignoring us. oh well. Incidentally I'm writing this looking in the mirror (it's in front of the desk) but i worry this isn't healthy. I love Paris. The life that people seem to have here. I think ultimately that i'd like to go everywhere.

and so it ends, but there are stacks like it, sometimes embarrassingly so. Diaries are a good source for perspective. I feel so apart from June 21st 2002 that it's enjoyable to read back on. I have boxes to pack so I better be going. I'm moving somewhere with no internet (these places still exist thankfully) so my 'blog' entries will be fewer. But what will I do without Spotify!
24th May 2009

very nice indeed

Brighton was fun despite our afternoon concert (the first of two) being cancelled (the outdoor stage had no PA system!). In lieu of having no hotel or dressing room to go to we ended up spending most of the day either throwing stones into the English channel or sitting in the George pub, where the beer is good and the atmosphere nice, but the food is pretty bad. The following day involved a drive to Derby and a concert in the 'rock house' a venue that used to be called the future club, and site of an infamous Idlewild show back in 2000 where the floor buckled, the PA almost fell onto the crowd, and Bob, our then bassist was drunk and angry and had a fight with someone in the front row, during a song. It was also the site of the worlds worst ever rider - a loaf of white sliced bread, one large onion, and one plastic knife. Luckily things have changed and it's a well run rock venue with helpful staff (and a generous rider - even a selection of Derbyshire ales to keep Allan happy). The support band, The Black Spiders, were also very good. Stoner rock of the best variety. To make the Derby experience even better Colin (who is in charge of booking the hotels) found a bargain in the Hallmark Midland hotel, which was very nice indeed. We ended the evening having a drink in Gareths room listening to his Artie Shaw albums. The only low point of the night was during the gig when we managed to muck up 'little discourage', one of our most played songs. These things happen.

Down to London then for a night off followed by three nights of album shows. I like London alot, and these kind of concerts are always good, for the fans and for the band. Playing our new album was a bit nerve wracking, but the crowd was behind us it seemed and bearing in mind we'd never played most of the songs live before I think we did well. The rest of the gigs were good fun, and it's always interesting to open up the songbook, so to speak, and dust off tunes we thought we'd never play again. I think that'll be the end of the album shows now though. It's far more fun to think of the future, and the fun to be had mixing up the setlists each night, seeing how songs from different albums can work together to make a great concert - always the intention of Idlewild, past present & future.

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