Sleeping on a tour bus is a strange experience. Gavin Fox, our one time bass player likened it to sleeping in a coffin. He’d sometimes wake up disoriented during the night, screaming, imagining that he was actually waking up in a coffin. I can see how people might find it claustrophobic, with the curtains closed, the lights off and the engine running it takes a bit of getting used to. It’s so convenient though, a bed just outside the venue, perfect for soaking up the hours waiting to do something, lying around sleeping, reading, or listening to music. Actually, listening to music on headphones is something that I hardly ever do, so it’s almost a treat at the end of the night to get into the bunk, choose an album and head off to sleep surrounded by the songs. So far I’ve been going back to ‘Nashville skyline’ by Bob Dylan, particularly the song ‘I threw it all away’, in my opinion one of the finest songs he’s ever written. The line ‘once I held mountains, in the palm of my hand’ is maybe one of my favourite song lyrics. I’ve also been enjoying the last jenny Lewis solo record, not for the words so much, but her voice. She’s a proper, brilliant, American female country singer, along the lines of Patsy Cline.
The back lounge of a tour bus is basically a pub that moves, the nights rider (beer, wine given by the promoter) being emptied into it’s fridges and shelf’s, you’re about three seconds away from your bed, there’s a stereo, all your friends are there, the seats are comfy and there are no drunk annoying strangers. It’s no wonder bands that tour a lot look upon actually going out to a pub and buying a drink almost as an abstract concept.
That said, a day off, and a hotel in London (after a really good London gig at the electric ballroom) was welcome, and despite ending up at a party in Tufnell Park after the concert until the small hours I still felt refreshed enough the next day to go for proper wander and even do a bit of shopping. Something I’m not known for. I haven’t bought albums for a while, so ended up spending longer in Fopp than intended. Everything seemed to be £3 though – is that what an album is worth nowadays?, of course because of this I bought a lot, King Tubby box set, Beatles remasters, some Miles Davis albums, so I suppose that’s the thinking, make it all ridiculously cheap so people buy lots of it. It makes me wonder how much cheaper it can go though, before these shops go out of business.
All this was forgotten about after a fantastic informal meal perched at the butcher’s block bar of Fernandez & wells eating hare rillete and grilled chorizo, drinking prosecco. Followed by a walk to the seven stars in Holborn, a great, strange old bar close to where I used to live. They have a pub cat and a man in a top hat offered to buy my beard from me. I like London, it’s like nowhere else.
