diary
King Creosote Tour Diary
3rd October
Currently in the van just getting into Sheffield. On tour with King Creosote right now which is going really well. Keep forgetting to say who I am on stage though which isn’t the brightest move.
Jonny and Graeme stayed up till 4am last night drinking so they’re having a particularly good day today. I of course sloped off to bed early to enjoy my single room (rare event) and woke early enough this morning to watch a couple of Soprano episodes. I’m way behind with the series – on series one in fact – so have it all to look forward to. I’ve just finished watching series one of Life On Mars which I thought was great. Ideal show – sci-fi cop show with 70’s soundtrack. I’m going to buy series two for the US tour which kicks off next week.
Last few weeks have been a lot of fun and very busy which is why I’ve been neglecting my diary. The London and Glasgow launches went very well, although the Soho Social is not a venue I’ll be racing back to play very quickly as we almost couldn’t fit on the stage and my sound guy had a fit when he saw the mixing desk was actually behind the stage – sin of all sins.
Also recently played on the Russell Brand show but unfortunately didn’t get to actually meet him as he was in NY and I was in the London studio. The show was cut short due to the proms on R2 before hand so I was only able to play one song. He has apparently invited me back on in November right enough at which point I hope to meet the mad man in the flesh.
Lastly, if anyone in Glasgow spotted a spruced up female standing in a perspex box in various public places early last week that was me making the video for Paper and Glue which is due out in November. It was possibly the most entertaining/excruciating experience I’ve ever had making a video and I’m looking forward to seeing the results, hopefully this week. It was directed by a lovely man called Moh Azima from NY who I hope to see again when we play there in November with the New Pornographers.
Diary 4th Oct
Today will be spent mostly in the van travelling to Norwich. A lovely place but a pain the arse to get to from Sheffield.
Diary 6th Oct
Yesterday was not the best day. We have a little problem in that Jonny Scott (drummer) still hasn’t managed to get his hands on his US visa and we leave on Wednesday. I got a phone call when we were in the middle of Norfolk from my agent who’s dealing with the visa saying that the US Embassy had lost a form and she had to resubmit so we needed to get Jonny’s signature to her asap. How do you do that in the middle of Norfolk in a van? This is where modern technology is put to the test. We tried to take a photo of Jonny’s signature using a phone camera but it didn’t quite work so we were stuffed with that idea. Jonny and I ended up crossing a busy motorway on foot to get to a farm shop after trying various petrol stations with no result. I almost hugged the farm shop woman when she answered yes to the vital questions:
Do you have a fax machine?
Can we use it please?
There was a third question if necessary:
How much do you need me to pay you to allow me to use your fax machine?
But luckily that wasn’t necessary.
We’re not out the woods yet however. The US Embassy is actually closed on Monday (Columbus Day?!?!) so we only have one business day left to get the visa printed and then we need it couriered up to Glasgow to arrive on Wed morning. Oh the joys.
Diary 7th Oct
Last gig in Pontardawe last night was great. A lovely arts centre that is funded by the local authority and does loads of stuff from theatre through to dance and more contemporary gigs like ours. I think these places are really important. It’s always difficult to find enough money to run a venue privately and make it presentable. Usually club gigs are grotty, needing renovated, in really dodgy parts of town and the staff really don’t give a fuck whether you’re alive or dead. However with arts centres the attitude and venues are completely different. Of course they do have standards to meet or their funding stops, but I think it’s more than that. I always get a real sense of pride from staff at these places. They know how much they bring the community together and it’s wonderful to know that there’s a place in the middle of a village in rural Wales, presenting a huge array of entertainment from far-flung places.
So my mood last night, after playing all 7 shows with King Creosote and getting great responses that resulted in me selling out of all my albums was high. We travelled 100 miles east after the show to ease the journey up north today and so I was bitterly disappointed this morning at 8am when I realised I had left my laptop sitting in the corridor by the stage at the gig. There are many things I can do without but my laptop is not one of them. Jamie had also managed to leave his clothes, glasses and contact lens fluid but we hadn’t deemed any of that important enough to travel back for. (Sorry Jamie)
We then trundled back to Pontardawe and went directly to the venue, which was of course shut, being a Sunday in a village in the middle of Wales. I harangued every poor soul I met in the vain hope that they could tell me if and when it might open. No one had much of an idea so I ended up phoning the manager of the venue only to find out she was out walking her dogs and no-one knew when she would be back home. We ended up parking ourselves in The Pink Geranium (pub) where the landlord welcomed us with coffee, tea and friendly chat. To cut a long story short we eventually got a phone call from the manager and retrieved our bags, but not before Jamie almost found himself locked in when the manager locked up. Now that would have been fun.