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	Tour Diary - Part 4	Il y a 420 jours
	We awoke early on Thursday to ensure that we didn't miss out on breakfast from Dino's Grill as we had done the previous day. Arne had his doubts as he was convinced the coffee was instant (the horror!) but I couldn't resist the pre-buttered toast and Dave had The Hunger in his eyes, so we battered through a quick fry-up then headed underground to Baker Street. We were surprisingly early so we popped round to the park (Regent's? I can't remember) to watch the birds and get harassed by an over-eager squirrel. Seriously, this one was a hustler. When we left the park we witnessed it diving, springboard-style, off a bench into someone's bag, frantically looking for...nuts, I guess... We were back at the Night And Day in Manchester for the evening, and the gig went fairly well. The stage was positively palacial in comparison to the previous nights' soapbox. We were due to spend the night in the Cobden View pub in Sheffield, courtesy of Grant's pal Richie. We were advised to ignore the satnav machine and instead take the ridiculously titled "Snake Pass", which was like driving in the Twilight Zone. I've been less buffeted at Alton Towers. When we descended from the mist into Sheffield proper it was pushing one o'clock, and we all piled in to meet Richie and Laura, and get to bed. Although it didn't quite work like that, and after a few pints and a large amount of poor pool playing, my attention turned to the jukebox. I was surprised to note that both The Law and Luva Anna were in the top ten most played tracks (the influence of Dundee is indeed pretty far-reaching). I finally hit the sack after promising to put my ex-chef skills to good use in the pub the next morning... My alarm went off at 09:30 and I promptly switched it off. I was awoken a few hours later by Dave notifying me the shower was free. I dozed for a further ten minutes, but was shocked and disorientated upon walking into the packed living room to be notified it was infact two in the afternoon. How could this have happened? I could only surmise that we really had driven through the Twilight Zone the previous night, so decided to go with it and see what happened. My offer of cooking seemed pretty lame in light of it being after lunchtime already, so I grabbed some bacon from the pan that Laura had put on many, many hours before, then headed to the Nottingham House which was the location for the evening's gig. Kas was pleased to just have few channels to play with, and we piled the amps and drums into the raised enclave and set about working out who was going to play what. There was some talk of Gill hitting the overdrive ukulele ("with delay on it it would be mental") but this was halted by the arrival of a table laden with the house speciality homemade pies. And these pies were certainly worth halting for. Richie explained that they had decided just to do one thing on the menu, but do it really well, which they certainly acheive. Couple the pies with excellent hospitality and a supply of free beer, and we had the most relaxed and fun show of the tour so far. It was great to have a relaxed night, and Kas did a sterling job getting everyone up to dance and mixing in comical fashion (waving his arms meant "hit the drums harder"...). Afterwards we spent a good few hours drinking in the beer garden and everyone seemed to be revitalised. We met some interesting people, including the self-proclaimed Best Frontman in Sheffield ("you ain't heard me sing Wild Thing..."), a gentleman who had just bought an off-licence that day and was carrying round a bag of his own stock ("I've just bought me own offy! I'm gonna got fucked tonight!", which is a pretty short-sighted management style if you ask me...), Vic and Kim who had us in stitches all night (and reappeared later on the tour in Nottingham - taking first prize for effort), and Richie was off (ish...if you can ever be off in your own pub) so could actually join us for a few before we all headed back to the Cobden for some more variable pool playing. There were a few grim faces the next morning when we headed back to "The Notty" to pick up the gear which we had comically (in the cold morning light) abandoned the previous night in favour of the bar. We had had such a good few nights in Sheffield that we didn't really want to leave at all, but we were required in Birmingham at four so we said our farewells to Laura and Richie and hit the road. Tune in for the final installment shortly... BR xxx
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	Tour Diary - Part 3	Il y a 420 jours
	Everyone was feeling back up to speed on Monday when we headed to Glasgow for the gig in King Tut's. It had been a good while since we last played here, right back at the end of last year with Peggy Sue and The Pirates (arr-har!). It's a funny place, mainly because it has such a reputation and significance in the Glasgow music scene. Everybody has heard of it, but in the cold light of day you realise that it is just a small room, with a stage, a P.A. and a vaguely sticky floor, much smaller than you have it pictured. However there is a weight of expectation that you put on yourself to do something memorable on the stage, and it makes for a highly energetic evening. The night was opened by The Sparrow and the Workshop, who were really very good (and who will be playing with ourselves and Eagleowl in November at the Bongo Club…shameless pluggery…). They were followed by my ex-flatmate's new-flatmate's band Call To Mind, who were interestingly attired in what appeared to be matching lab coats, and played a proggy set reminiscent of late-era Floyd to a good reception from the home crowd. We played through the new "longer set" which seemed to flow pretty well and then dived into the van for a quick boost to Manchester and two overcrowded "family rooms" which we piled into at about half three in the morning. The next (same) morning was marred by a lack of time for breakfast (sleeping in seemed like the thing to be done at the time, coupled with the fact that Little Chefs are overpriced shite), so we high-tailed it to London for load in at the Luminaire on Kilburn High Road, and the promise of free sandwiches. The Luminaire was a good venue, and I particularly liked the signs up stating "If you talk during the bands we will tell you to shut up, this is a venue not a pub", which should be adopted everywhere (along with my personal pet hate "Don't answer your phone on the bus/train and say I'm on the bus/train". The world would be marginally better for it…). We were early so had a little extra time in soundcheck to get everything sounding tickety-boo (?) on the stage and then went off for a curry (again with the healthy options…). The gig went well, and some of us settled in the bar downstairs afterwards for a celebratory pint before myself, Dave and Arne headed back to our long-suffering friend in Brick Lane's house for a nightcap and some Davidoff Platinums (wooo!). It was an early start the next day for a variety of meetings designed to determine whether or not we will be working in the legendary McD's for the next five years (plus side – free burgers...), before an exciting trip to the Levi's store to collect some freebie apparel for the evening's gig. We then moved on to The Macbeth in Hoxton for load in. We had been told that this place had a pretty small stage, rumours which were immediately confirmed upon entry through the side door. As the night was being filmed for one of those late-night Channel 4-type shows, the stage was packed with lights, smoke machines etc. leaving about three square feet for everything else (instruments, the band and so on…). By some miracle of contortion and exhalation, we did manage to squeeze everything on, Dave playing right on the edge of the stage with Grant behind him ready to push him back on if he fell off. I literally had my back to the wall which was good for my posture, at least. It was then upstairs for some humourous shots of everyone being…ahem…spontaneous ("I don't want to give you any ideas but last night Foals had a big fight as soon as we turned on the camera") This was a new experience for us, and one which will presumably get less awkward-feeling the more we do it, and it was useful to get a taster of it anyhoo. We headed off for tea with a sense of foreboding ("what if, like, the whole stage just collapses or something?") but this was appeased by a Thai stir-fry, and before we knew it it was time to squeeze back in and go for it. The lovely camera people had provided us with a set list with various tracks starred (*) and the footnote "CONCENTRATE ON HIGHLIGHTED TRACKS", which was a source of some amusement. The temperature on stage was incredible and after we were done I made for the nearest exit and fresh air. Things seemed to go well considering, but I have no idea how it will look with everyone crashing into each other, so it will be interesting to see the edited footage. We headed back to Brick Lane on foot and had a quick beer for the twin benefits of rehydration and anaesthetic, before sleeping the sleep of the dead once more… Manchester tomorrow… BR xx
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	Tour Diary - Part 2	Il y a 420 jours
	We arose early on Thursday to make our way from Inverness to Ullapool for the ferry to Stornoway. After a quick and horrible pit stop at McD's for a bacon roll and standardised coffee, it was a quick drive trans-highlands to the driech and damp west coast, where Davie stocked up on over-the-counter medications for his solidified neck (which was giving him a comical robotic appearance) and the rest of us sat in the van watching the rain. It takes twice as long to get to Lewis as it does to get to France, so it felt like quite an adventure when we got on the boat. I made straight for the cafeteria and got tucked into my Hobbit-esque "second breakfast", a monstrous plate of meat and eggs complete with Stornoway black pudding and a free cup of coffee, then made it upstairs to recline and look at the waves coming up over the front of the boat from the treacherous and boiling Minch. Stornoway has a different feel about it to any of the other towns on the other islands I've seen – it's like a real outpost, built round the harbour, nice but a little bleak in the drizzle and somewhere that you feel would "batten down the hatches" for the winter, and a completely different feel to the Scotland I know, the central belt. The signs are all in gaelic and the fishing boats are lined up in the harbour getting ready to take another beating from the Atlantic. When we find the venue, the Woodlands Centre in the grounds of Lews Castle, it is operating as a bustling tea shop, the cake is flowing freely and it isn't immediately apparent how this is going to be transformed, "Stars in Their Eyes" style, into a setting for live music in just a few hours at five o'clock. Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be… We left Hutch, the travelling PA master, to puzzle over the logistics of the all-glass room, and went to check into our hostel for the night, the homely Heb Hostel which I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves this far west. With some trepidation we noted that all the other beds in the place were booked out by Nairn High School, but luckily as there were 8 of us we had a dorm to ourselves. When we returned to the Woodlands Centre, it had been magically converted into a venue, with an "intimate" stage area (I was sitting amongst a collection of plants, which coupled with the glass walls did give a weird feeling of playing in the jungle). Arne, Rory and Jamie went off to BBC Radio Nan Gaidhael (excuse the probably atrocious spelling) for a quick live acoustic session and some promo for the evening, while the rest of us grabbed a Chinese takeaway (from the surprising cosmopolitan restaurant selection available in Stornoway – starting to sound a bit like a tourist guide now…) and had a listen on the wireless. The gig itself was pretty good, quite busy as well which was nice as the venue seemed a little out-of-the-way for passing trade. 'Mon the gaelic radio… We packed up sharpish and made our way to a licensed tavern near the harbour for a "wee cheeky", which quickly turned into a cheeky couple, and with the late arrival of Hutch and Tash, having just gotten the PA and desk safely stowed, into "one for the road". It was only when we got back to the hostel that our consideration turned to the fact that we were to arise the next day at 05:50 to get organised for the ferry. When I say next day, I do of course mean, by this time of the proceedings, the same day. Luckily Arne took our mind off of this grim truth by producing a bottle of red from his bag of tricks so I shambled down the stairs for some glasses and we all slept the sleep of the dead. The "next day" was a bit of a toughy, what with the early start and the phenomenally cold shower, but the thought of another full breakfast on the ferry kept the morale up. Once this was consumed I retired to a reclining seat and promptly fell asleep, waking up some two hours later with Ullapool in sight and drooling on my unknown neighbour. We met Dougie, who had done a tremendous job all week promoting the shows and making sure we knew where we were going etc. (and also playing drums for Lowtide Revelry…) and he showed us to the hostel which was conveniently located directly adjacent to the festival site. Although as it turns out, all of Ullapool is conveniently located directly adjacent to the site. We decided to turn in for another few hours of horrible, feverish, cold-sweat sleeping, and I awoke at around two clinging onto the bed for dear life, before heading for the first hot shower of the day. Which actually did the power of good, and we all headed into the site to film an acoustic version of Wolves before they opened the gates. We got on stage at about 5 to line check whilst the Ullapool Pipe Band played in the centre of the tent. This was a bit awkward as on one side we were getting told to do the line checks, but whenever anyone hit a guitar chord they attracted some rather disapproving looks from the crowd. As it turns out a pipe band is not as loud as I thought it would be, and we had to wrap it up until they finished for fear of inciting a riot. Once they were finished we were announced by the insomniac's favourite DJ, and my favourite voice on radio after Bob Harris, Janice Long, and took to the stage ready to "gie it laldy". The tent quickly filled up and despite a few technical gremlins (which there will always be – I have no idea why it continues to surprise us…) we had a great time and it seemed to go down well. A few of us hit the beach to skim stones, get drunk and take some photos, while the rest headed to the Seaforth Hotel for tea. We met some interesting characters on the beach (Rory: "So, you're a prawn fisherman, that must be a pretty exciting career?", Prawn Fisherman Gary: "It's fuckin' shite") then went to join the others over a Cajun chicken and a few beers. We never actually made it back to the main tent, missing both King Creosote and the Levellers, but instead headed round to the Arch Inn for a celebratory drink to toast a successful week. My memory gets a little hazy about now, I do remember making for the exit before Hutch asked where I was going. "The bar's shut" was my reply, to which I was told to stand still and shut up for five minutes, then suddenly the bar was reopened, and the night went completely down the pan. I must've found my way back to the hostel however, as I woke up in my bed with a splitting head and no idea how I was going to last the four and a half hour drive back to Edinburgh. We had somehow lost Rory on the way and opted to abandon him as we were sure he could find his own way back like a giant hairy homing pigeon. I managed to get all the way to Leith Walk (so close!) before I gave up and spewed in the van, then it was home for some laundry, pizza, bath and sleep. The next day was a more familiar location, the Doghouse in Dundee, and it was our first gig of the tour with Ian back on the gee-tar and Gill in his more comfortable position of the shuffling bassman. Gill and Rory managed to find their way back from Ullapool ok, although they brought with them horrible stories that I was apparently responsible for shutting down the water supply for the whole town. Given my condition on Saturday night, I was in no position to deny these claims, but it appears that actually I was just the last person in Ullapool to have a shower before said water crisis… After soundcheck we headed into the country to Grant's "Bat-cave", where we were treated to a fantastic dinner (cheers Julie!), then it was back to the venue where we had unfortunately missed the Sparrow and the Workshop, but had arrived in time for a surprise appearance from Kyle "fae the View" in our dressing room, who proceeded to have a go for our rider for having Brie on it, whilst I shuffled out the door to catch Val Verde from Dunfermline before there was cheese and fruit all up the walls… It was good to get everyone back on stage (in the words of the Blues Brothers, to "get the old band back together") and I thoroughly enjoyed myself with my big monitor on one side and T's stupidly loud amp in my other ear. We headed back for Edinburgh again (as most of our laundry was still there…) and opted to get some rest in before Tut's and the "English leg" of the tour lasting through until next Sunday. More to follow… BR xxx
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	Highlands and Islands Tour Diary	Il y a 420 jours
	We set off from Edinburgh early on Monday morning for the first show of the "Loop the Loop" mini highlands and islands tour, leading up to the Loopallu festival this weekend. In the new blue hired pimp-mobile, complete with games console, we headed north for Portree on Skye. With a quick stop at House of Bruar to see where the elderly go when the bingo's shut, we made good time through some of the nicest scenery we've been through this summer. Having spent the last few months haring up and down the M6 it was a welcome relief to see some hills and lochs. We arrived on Skye via the super bridge (none of this speeding bonnie boat nonsense) and raced to the community centre in Portree, where an archery class was in full swing in the large hall, and a rather large sound system was being loaded into the small hall. The logistics of the stage size were tricky but with the liberal use of tables, coupled with Arne's willingness to hide in a corner, we got everyone on ok. This was to be Grant's first gig on bass, as an absent Ian led to a nifty reshuffle with Gill donning the massive beard and tassles required for Mr Turnbull's position. It became evident that the PA was maybe a little large for the hall when, on the first hit of the kick drum, one of the light fittings fell out of the ceiling… We were staying in a hostel down the hill from the main square, so we went and deposited our bags in the 8 bunk room. I was a little concerned by the expression on the hostel-keeper's (if that's the right word?) face as he said "Playing in the community centre? On a Monday? Ah well best of luck…" We popped back to the square to find a pub for a bit of tea (the biggest bit of haddock I've ever eaten, hacked of off an even bigger haddock that they keep in a warehouse in Mallaig) and swung back up the road to see how things were getting on. It appears the hostel-keeper (I'm sticking with it…) wasn't far off with his doom and gloom prophecising as there were about as many people in the badminton class next door as there was at the gig. Luckily I was mentally preparing for zero attendance so things were looking up, personally. We battered through the set which was surprisingly nervy (it's slightly backwards but the fewer people you're playing to the harder you feel you have to work collectively to keep people interested), then popped of stage for a few dozen Jaigermeisters (as the apparent sponsors of the community centre) before heading back for a sleep. The next morning we went down to the shore to film an acoustic version of the "imaginatively titled" ukulele song on Grant's wee camera, then set off for our next destination, driving through the bleak Cuillins, back over the bridge and east to the Corran ferry, then down the coast to Lochaline for the ferry to Mull. We were playing at the An Tobar arts centre up the hill in the gaudily-painted Tobermory, a great wee place with some of the best flapjacks known to man available in the café. The view across the bay was quite something, and we were staying in a hostel down by the harbour side beside a shop claiming to stock "Balamory products". The hostel-keeper was reasonably strict about the doors being locked at 12 but we explained that by the time we had "packed up the van" it may be nearer half past so we had an extra half hour for a beer down the road before we were spending the night in a boat. Makes you wonder why they bother with keys… The gig was good, better populated than the previous night's, and Grant was getting more comfortable in his "player-manager" role (earning him the nickname Souness for the duration of the tour) and we were all pretty happy when we got off the stage. The next morning we took a wee drive into the hills to film an acoustic version of And They All Fell Into The Sea, which attracted an audience in the form of one gentleman who stopped his car down the hill on the main road for a gander, before heading back to Fishnish for the ferry and drive up to Inverness. We were playing at Hootananny, with 3 Daft Monkeys and local heroes Lowtide Revelry, and really looking forward to it after our last sojourn to the Raigmore a few months back. We had use of the upstairs bar for a dressing room so there was a ton of ukulele bashing and trumpet noodling going on, and a good bit of sleeping from Kas who seemed impervious to the racket. The place was buzzing and we had a thoroughly enjoyable night before heading back to the hostel for a bit of sleeping to prepare for the "wilds" of Stornoway the following morning... More to follow, BR xx
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	Other Stuff That’s Been Happening	Il y a 420 jours
	Aside from the festivals this summer, our time has been punctuated with intermittent touring, recording and assorted shenanigans. We released the single "Slow Parade" on limited 7" and download through Fandango, and have gone on to record the next one, Lies, which will be our first widespread release on Distiller Records in November. We recorded at CaVa in Glasgow with Geoff Allen, and having two days in the studio was fantastic as nothing felt rushed at all. This will also be the first single with a video (oooh!), which we shot at Abertay's White Space facility with Ian's friend Mr Richard Poet directing. We shot the whole thing in one room which was comically filled with smoke from the permanently-running hazer machine in the corner, and it was a pretty knackering day what with having to play the tune about 50 times under the big studio lights, but it was worth it as the first edit looks great. We had our first Edinburgh show in a while as part of The Edge (the new name for what was T on the Fringe) in mid-August at the Liquid Room. It was kind of doubling as the local single launch for Slow Parade as well, and was a great night with support from Jesus H. Foxx. We played quite a few supports on the T on the Fringe line up last year and it was pretty exciting to have our own headline show this year, and it was busy too which was fantastic (given the sheer quantity of things going on in Edinburgh during August, you do worry about these things…). We played a few new tunes as well which seemed to go down well and then went over to Wash for a bit of an aftershow party, and I rounded off the night eating an entire block of cheese at home before passing out on the couch. Good times. We've been out and about pretty regularly in between times, hitting some new places around England, and we're currently touring the highlands and islands which is a welcome change of scenery. As I now have access to a laptop in the van, you'll be getting a "tour diary" over the next few days to make up for the complete lack of blogging over the last months (my internet has been buggered...). You'll be sick of hearing it shortly…. BR xx
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	Festival Round-Up	Il y a 420 jours
	Well it's been a while, so here's just a brief recap of the summer's festival antics, starting with Latitude. What a fantastic place. When we arrived we were shown to the pier where the boat would come to take us to the stage, which isn't something you see every day. Although we did come close to sinking it with 7 of us in it… The stage itself was a ramshackle marquee in the middle of a forest clearing and the atmosphere was great. After we played we had all of Friday and Saturday to kill so we went back and forth on the boat a few times, then hit the festival proper for some drinking and band watching. The festival doesn't just cater for those of a musical persuasion, with comedy, poetry and drama tents and a really relaxed feel about the whole place. I started watching the Guillemots playing a live soundtrack to David Lynch's Eraserhead but found it to be just a bit too disturbing so went and climbed a tree instead. Despite being literally 20 yards from the campsite I then somehow managed to find myself at the complete opposite end of the site and had to be escorted back to the entrance. I blame the fresh air and gourmet food… Saturday was a bit of a non event as I reserved my right to not get out of my tent until 6 in the evening, then ambled my way to the main stage to watch Sigur Ros who put on an excellent show. We got up early on the Sunday and headed into London for the Lovebox Weekender, which was something of a struggle after the moderately debauched start to the weekend. I for one found that after the first song my arms had started to cramp up and the chances of getting through the brief set were dwindling before my very eyes. Thankfully nobody broke though and we vowed to try and "keep the heid" for the remaining festivals of the summer. Which went straight out the window when we got to the Wickerman festival in Dumfriesshire. As we weren't playing until about 11 on the Friday night, in an epic head-to-head with Gary Numan, we decided to make it a gentle start to the day, sitting watching the Fall and then backstage for dinner and the trip-down-memory-lane soundtrack of Dodgy playing on the main stage. We were pleased to see a full tent at 11 and ripped through our set a bit quicker than expected. It was then on to the Hacienda All-Stars DJ set for some ridiculous dancing (which I was unaware was actually being filmed by Grant, although the footage is not being made available due to health and safety fears…) The sun was back up when I finally called it a day (as Murphy of the Ads had started fighting the back of a Transit van because it "looked at him funny", which seemed like the natural time to wrap it up) and headed back to rather predictably fall in the burn, then into my tent. Saturday was notable for the extreme mist which descended, to the extent that it was almost impossible to see the main stage from a distance greater than about 20 yards, and the actual burning of the Wicker Man was more of an orange glowing cloud than a towering inferno. However that did nothing to dampen the prevailing mood of the festival and we left on Sunday morning feeling it had been a good weekend all round. Keeping on the "boutique" festival theme, we had Belladrum in the wilds of the highlands, which was just a quick in-and-out one for us, although the place looked amazing and by the time we left we were all pretty much up for staying the night, unfortunately we hadn't planned for this change of heart so had none of the requisite camping gear with us so had to traipse back to Edinburgh. The crowd were great there too and up for it in the way only a predominantly Invernesian crowd can be. We played our first "proper" outdoor stage at the Live At Loch Lomond event, a bit of a strange one with several bands before us playing prior to the opening of the main gates… Our next shot at the "open air" playing came at Leeds Festival on the Thursday night, playing after a surprise special guest appearance of the Pigeon Detectives, which was a tricky act to follow what with them being local heroes and all. Still it was the only stage open that night so there was a sizable crowd which we endeavoured to win over in a quick 20 minute set. We were lucky enough to open the second stage at the Hydro Connect festival in the grounds of Inveraray Castle, before closing the YourSound Bandstand, on the Saturday. The atmosphere was notably different at the opposing ends of the day, the morning being the Friday night hangover crowd, so a bit more laid back, and the evening being a bit more raucous. In between we had time to catch Spiritualised and Grinderman on the main stage, the former had a brilliant rich sound but left me a bit cold with their 15 minute jam at the end of the set, but this was quickly forgotten with the arrival of Mr Cave onto the stage. Unfortunately I could only catch half of Grinderman's set before it was time to go and start moving gear around the site, but the half I saw was a definite highlight for me. We finished off the night with one of our most energetic gigs all year, in the cramped confines of the YourSound stage. And just last weekend we played the Sugarhill Festival in Swindon, which was hampered slightly by the vast quantities of mud (which had somehow even managed to find it's way onto the stage – my drums are still covered…) but improved greatly by the stone-fired pizzas and local micro-brewery ales on offer. As I write this we are en route to our last festival of the summer (if you class mid-September as summer…), the inventively-named Loopallu in Ullapool. It's been a good introduction to the festival season and we're all looking forward to doing it again next year, hopefully taking on a few bigger stages and revisiting some of this year's highlights on the way. Thanks to everyone who has come to see us along the way, see you next year! BR xxx
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