Man From Michael <officialmanfrom>

Mull720 dni temu
 
I can't believe it. We're having breakfast in last night's venue in Fort William. After some of the band's drunken antics it's a minor miracle we haven't been chased out of this town with a pitch-fork! The people in Scotland are just so nice to us. Even after we spill their free whisky on the floor and slime onto the staff. It's quite incredible.

Tuesday evening was the Mull gig. What a place that is. It's weird that after two days here we've almost become immune to the beauty of the surrounding areas, but that first glimpse of the Mull landscape yesterday morning was pretty fucking breathtaking. The gig was properly special too - it felt like the whole town had turned out to see us (a crowd of 35 strong!). I don't want to speak too soon but the Scots seem to be unbelievably receptive to our music. It's like a strange breath of fresh, enthusiastic air.

Last night's show was no less fun than Mull. Greeted by smiling faces of all ages, we gave the best performance we had in us. Chris had the bright idea of plugging in some disco lights he found at the sides of the stage. Unfortunatley for Ben and Sam, the sides of the stage was actually inches from their faces. And Sam, who would still get hot in the Himalayas, was literally mopping copious amounts of sweat from his glistening forehead.

We're on to Inverness tonight, which isn't too far to go, but since my 30 minutes of Internet access is about to run out I shall take my leave. Toodaloo

Joe
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London /Liverpool726 dni temu
 
It’s amazing how certain things on the first leg of our tour have sort of moulded into one long, continuous memory. I’m writing this a week after our gig at the Water Rats in London, and I can’t seem to remember where we travelled from that morning. I’ve just this minute looked at our list of tour dates and realised it was Brighton, but it just goes to show what a tour does to your head!

We’ve played Water Rats several times before and always enjoyed it; last Thursday was no exception! The place was full and since we only knew about ten of the people there it meant we were playing to an audience made entirely of potential new fans – or a load of guys who’d hate it! Either way it felt great performing to a packed house, especially after the modest turn-out in Brighton. It was either the sheer numbers which spurred us on to play our best gig of the tour so far, or just the excitement of the impending “Home Gig” aboard the Boat in Liverpool that gave us the extra lift that we all craved.

Friday morning was sticky. After a horribly early start due to the foul stringency on parking in London, we got started on our journey home. A stop at the delightful services in Stafford provided a frankly unmissable opportunity to purchase some warm humous, stale ciabatta and bottled tap water. Yum yum.

At about half 3 we arrived at our final venue. I’m not sure how to describe this boat really. Having driven past it numerous times coming out of the Mersey Tunnel, it’s just so hard to believe you could play a gig in there – and for 150 people – but the place is like a Tardis. In retrospect I’m slightly concerned that the band got upstaged by the fucking boat, but in any case, I can’t see many people forgetting that gig in a hurry!

As that annoying kid in the 80s Bernard Matthews Turkey Drummers advert said, “It’s good to be home, mum.” – if only for a short while.
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Brighton733 dni temu
 
So the short journey from Southampton to Brighton was over. After being tortured by passing various Football fields complete with proper goals and nets, the seaside appeared. We checked our bags into the Labyrinth of a hotel and bounced over to the Pier for some amusements. After losing a veritable fortune on the Donkey Derby, decided not to get anymore 10p's from the sour faced yet strangely attractive 'Arcade bird'

We eventually found the venue. Dressed in a beautiful shade of beige. Devoid of signs, posters and even windows.… god knows how anyone was going to find it. We sound checked and proceeded to choke down some of the driest chips known to mankind.
The line-up of the bands was also a strange one. One band that had more in common with Motley Crue and Guns 'n' Roses than We ever have/will. The other band decided to turn up with 'Lucy Hitler' as a manager and a full van of flightcases of invisible equipment. Wasn't exactly the busiest of shows on the tour so far, but entertaining all the same.

We then made our way to a well known chain of southern hemisphere bars in search of a cheap pint. We noticed a suspicious group of tutu wearing young ladies who we decided were employed by the bar to 'entertain' the drinkers… that was until we spotted their friends… After being turned down entry to a bar for not having I.D. to prove we were YOUNG enough to get in…. honestly…. We decided to retire to the hotel bar, were Sam proceeded to lose his passport behind the lav while having a sit down visit.

So it's on to the Water Rats in Kings Cross. See you all there…

Ben

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Southhampton734 dni temu
 
Southampton – Never been here before then. The good news was that we managed to wangle a fancy hotel for cheapo prices in this gaff so we even had then chance to phone reception and ask for more towels.
Youth hostels tend to just laugh at you when you ask for such things.

The venue was down the road in an area described to us as 'a bit like the worst parts of Liverpool'. I'm not sure whether this was entirely accurate as all 4 wheels are currently still on the van and all of us have at least 2 eyes fully intact. Although Ben and Chris got accused of being Westlife by a 60 something chick who had clearly been hammering the Aldi value gin. The question over whether she was in Girls Aloud fell on deaf ears.. Ladbrokes also did us absolutely no favours either with the favourite at the 4.47 from Walthamstow coming in last. The Chinese fella infront of us didn't seem too impressed either, and proceeded to throw a kiddy tantrum.

'The Joiners' did exactly not what it said on the tin with not a handy-man to be seen, but seemed a cool place. The smoking ban has done nothing for such places, much like our beloved Blue Angel and Slater's and now smells like the crack in between your big and second toes after a week of wearing the same socks.

All credit to the dudes at the venue; they even cooked for us, which is genuinely unexpected (like a headbutt in the back), free booze, the lot. The other bands were a little far removed from us, but the audience seemed keen for what was on offer. I forget the name of the 1st band on, but it was their debut gig and decided to wear full clergy get-up, with the geezer on the left dressed as a ghost. I think they have to break him out of the asylum before every gig, like Murdoch in the A-Team.

Decent gig it was in the end. Joe managed to hold in the urge to smash his guitar up, having had to tune it a brazillian times. The tramp with the cardboard guitar in Liverpool has better luck with his. I'm now writing this looking at the beach in Brighton, so I better go soak in a view of some water that isn't radioactive green, oh, the Mersey.

Sam

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Glasgow735 dni temu
 
So we cleaned ourselves down and headed for Scotland, the land of whisky, mountains and knuckles. Arriving at the venue, we were quickly met by thousands of cheering Scotland fans. Sadly, they weren't for us. Instead, they were packing out every bar in the hope that Scotland could beat Italy in the Euro qualifiers.

Out we went into they abyss known as Glasgow, with the smell of ale strong in the streets and the roar from the pubs as loud as lions. We managed to find a small bar, or so it looked from the outside, called the Firewater, which had a cool mod scooter out the front.
After enjoying a few scoops and some great tunes from the juke box, we headed back to the venue.

As soon as we got into the dressing room we were met by Ali (venue promoter and cool dude) who'd already stocked the fridge with half of Sainsbury's, which is always nice. Everyone else at the sound-check seemed pretty edgy, perhaps because of the Scotland game!

It was full steam ahead after that, giving what we thought was a great gig, with Heart of Glue being the favourite on the night. Get Lucky had 'em shakin' and stomping as usual, and other notable moments included tour manager Tim taking a dive for a penalty half way through the set while he was filming us, resulting in a second yellow card and a sending off. Laughter from the crowd and the band was all he must've heard as he created some kind of human domino- rally style incident, causing a couple of local girls to stack it big time. Trust me, this was a belter!

The crowd were very appreciative and gave us a really warm response.
I've never been to Glasgow, which has some stunning buildings and bridges and is full of energy, even in the harsh winter chill, which seemed to glaze itself over the streets. After we'd donned the beer jackets, we made haste back to our pad on the seventh floor of the Sky Euro Hostel to enjoy the awesome views across the river.

On balance, I would say the Beat Club gig was another away win for team Man From Michael. We greatly look forward to docking at Glasgow again for further shits and giggles.

Chris
x

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Manchester737 dni temu
 
Manchester loomed large on the horizon. With its one-way nightmares
and parking dramas. On arriving though, the venue was really smart.
Nice place. Good people. A short excursion to the quality local
eateries… Subway & Le Burger King filled a hole.
In a near by bar, we even managed to bump into a girl from Netherton,
who promised to come down and see us… I'm still waiting for her now.
We also had another win on the dogs. I'm not gonna tell you how much,
but put it this way, it was enough for about 2 pints in the Ruby
Lounge.

The actual gig was pretty busy. Although it was a large room, there
were a good few heads to be seen front to back; a few of them
familiar. The set was wrapped up and our resident Vocalizer was
quickly whisked away to BBC Manchester in an on-waiting Hackney.
Three songs played and a short interview somehow brilliantly delivered
after a long day of madness. A link to which will be added soon.

All in all, a good day. After a short journey to the Stockport Riviera
for sleeping and bacon and sausage on, we pack ourselves off for the
long journey up north. During which Chris and I considered marriage in
Gretna. Although, I changed my mind, thinking he might not be up to
the task of consummating…

Ben
>
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Nottingham740 dni temu
 
For a Thursday night (the new Saturday night), Nottingham was deader
than Bernard Manning. Apparently Wednesdays are the best!
What are the chances? However, we confidently attribute our sparce
crowd to the Baltic outdoor conditions. All things considered, we
turned in a sturdy performance. The sound was good too (for those who
give a monkey's!). The general feeling was that we'd really like to do
another Nottingham show - on a Wednesday.

Our pre-match gambling took an unfortunate down turn last night.
We've decided to bung a fiver on the favourite every time. Only
problem is that our maths wasn't strong enough to work out that odds
of 7/2 are shorter than 4/1. So five pounds was lost due to our
inability to actually calculate which dog was actually the favourite.

On the upside, we did have two lads scrapping at the show last night.
It must've been the violence-invoking melody of Broken, or even the
blood-boiling chord progression of If I Tell You. Or maybe it was
simply due to our start time being changed from 9 o'clock to
12 o'clock, inspiring unforseen drunkenness, leading to inevitable
"play-fighting", culminating in "fighting." Remarkable.

Next stop: Manchestershire.
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Bath to Bristol741 dni temu
 
Who: Sam
Where: Back of the van
When: 4.15pm, Thursday 15th Nov

So, day 2. After mincing around Bristol trying to get to the radio gaff, we eventually got there to meet up with the presenter called Roz. Interesting interview, not too intense which is always nice on radio interviews, because no one can ever see you smiling and/or swearing at each other. She even mentioned Chris's drumming in Heart of Glue, ' new techniques' she says. He repayed her kind comments by leaving her a methane filled parcel in her air-tight, sound-proof studio.

Short journey to Bath from Bristol. What a city. I don't want to get epic on your asses, but if you want to see some real beauty in a city then this is the place to go for one of those things that they advertise as 'city breaks' in Lunn Poly, or romantic/dirty weekends.
We were staying at the YHA hostel, cheap as anything especially for 5 of us but worth twice the amount. It was a big old Georgian country house on the top of the most enormous hill in Britain*, amazing views provided from all the windows and also the lovely receptionist.
Further up the hill is the University, so you can mainly witness red- faced students sweating out their hangovers on the virtual rock climb to the top.

We even had time to walk around the city. The Roman Baths were off limits as it costs over a tenner to get in, and twenty for scousers.
The lovely boozers provided plenty of Bath Ales and cooking lagers all round. Joe and I then tried to get to Ladbrokes to place the daily bet but unfortunately got there too late. To compensate we took our hard earned fiver to another public house and piled it in the fruity. When Noel's ugly grid offered us £5.96 we decided to keep our 100% winning record and retire to the south of France on our profits.

Before that we decided to go through with the gig, this turned out to be a good choice. I speak for all of us when I say that I can't speak highly enough of the 1st band on. 'Slovakia' are truly good live, with an exceptionally shy front man called John who comes out with some belting songs about hating his job, but not in a wise-ass way.
Well worth looking up. The other band were called The Volt and were also really good; nice play with 2 great bands. Moles itself has a nice vibe about it, and the crowd there seemed to enjoy our stuff, noisy and appreciative. We hope to return at some point in the near future.

We would like to thank Bath for having us, and apologise for scourging their lovely city for 24 hours. Thankyou please.

*This is not true

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Sheffield The Boardwalk742 dni temu
 
Who: Joe
Where: Back of the van
When:7.30am, Wednesday 14th Nov

We're in the van and it's 7:30am. We set off on our first ever tour yesterday which is a nice reprieve from painting and decorating (my true passion). We started in Sheffield. The gig was great, and we played well last night.. quite strange, the lights were so bright I couldn't see anyone but I think the crowd enjoyed it, which is always a nice bonus.

We've got a bit of a per gig ritual going where we go into the nearest bookies and stick half our daily food allowance on the dogs. We picked the winner yesterday which made our Sheffield experience that much better. Blew all the winnings on a top brass, which took the edge off the gig nerves. Check the video blog for proof.

Looking forward to the show tonight. Particularly because I've heard the venue (Moles) is the only place to go in the whole of Bath, which hopefully equates to a crowd of at least seven.

Right, we're off to do an interview in Bristol and have another Cowboy pastie from Sayers. Love from Joe X
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