Off the beaten track tour 5 - Leicester

I didn't get a chance to do an entry for Wrexham's show. It was good. There you go, a resounding success.

Leicester was a nice trip home. Mum and Dad came to watch and they even enjoyed Undgomskulen, although Dad said that it made his teeth loose! Mum brought flapjack for the bus, she makes good flapjack.

I went for a wander round Leicester too. I got accosted by a fan who was also a charity mugger. I can't deal with that, that's too many conflicting feelings. Yes, I want to be nice to a fan of the band but no, I do not want to be engaged in conversation about signing something to give money every month. Not that I have anything against the principle, I just don't like the approach. Any way, I dealt with it in my own very special brand of bumbling englishness.
I am a fan of charity but I am suspicious of charities, if you know what I mean.

Today I am in Crewe. Wow! It's a bit like Didcot, and Wrexham. It is also raining which doesn't help the ambiance. One good thing is that there are loads of Charity shops here, and we need charity shops. We went shopping for clothes this morning, they are for the turn tail video shoot. I don't want to give too much away but we will be eating each other's clothes in this one. That's it, that's all I'm saying.

The m club in Crewe is big, and as I sit here in the sound check I can confirm that it is probably the best sounding gig we have been in. I hope that the ticket sales for tonight are good, we haven't heard what they are yet. Could this be the town that lets us down. I'll let you know.

Henry x

Off the beaten track tour 4 - Day off

All I did on my day off was went to a weatherspoons and went on the ferry. Ferrys are horrid, they bore me. I played deer hunter which is amazing but cost me £5. I beat Ollie and Ed (Tour manager), even though they are more macho.

I m in Wrexham today. I lived here 10 years ago and worked in a mobile phone shop. I revisited it today and it made me grateful for what has happened to me since. Wrexham really depressed me at the time I lived here, mainly because I didn't know anyone, but it looked nicer today. They have a Maplin's now so I was happy. Has anyone bought one of those R/C helicopters from there? I know that the £40 one only goes up and down and side to side, but is the one that goes forwards and backwards any good? I wanna get one.

Five gigs left on this tour. Phewsh. Home straight. Then we get straight onto the video shoot for Turn tail. More of that later.

Henry

Off the beaten track tour 3 - Dublin

Dublin is always a great place to be. And Whelan's is just a brilliant venue. I managed to stay the whole nine yards and get pretty smashed on Bulmers. I threw some dance floor moved with Kristian, Øyvind and Frode from Ungdomskulen. It's amazing how long I can dance for after 3 pints and a full hour and twenty minute rock show.

No real time to see anything of the city today, the curse of the touring band. I did get to watch 300 on the bus as we were driving in. Thats a funny film.

Had the most revolting Jury's inn breakfast this morning and then headed to Belfast. Day off tomorrow so I might have a couple of Margaritas tonight, then again.

Oh, and the Dublin show was good too - might get a bit sick of saying what the show was like every day, but every good one is a steop towards rock Nirvana. I read the BBC review of Superabundance today and it annoyed me, even though it said we were good it sounded sarcastic. I normally don't read our press but I had a lapse.

Tom and I have been thinking about the next album and we had an acoustic Jam on the bus today. Yes we just love to jam man. We are definitley veering towards less pop songs, but knowing us we will make it poppy, even if we think we are being Beefheart. When we finish the tour we are going to have a couple of weeks in our studio before we go to europe. It will be nice to mess about for a while without practicing songs etc. Its funny that our way of relaxing is to play music too, I think I need a new hobby.

Laters yeah.
Henry

Off the beaten track tour 2 - Swansea

Swansea is a nice place. I always think of it as being a bit grim and there being loads of council estates with horses being kept in back gardens. I guess that there is some of that, and even thats quite cool. I am learning on this tour that there is a lot about these islands that i don't really know about. Of course we are seeing loads of clubs and the same high street in every town, but there is some good shit out there. One thing is definitely true, there isn't a lot of glamour. But then who gives a monkeys about that. I am in danger of saying something middle class and awful about it being "real" out there, so I won't.

Any way, the Swansea gig was awesome. We had a brilliant band first on called Blue Wall: www.myspace.com/bluewallmusic.
Check them out, lots of good tunes and a really interesting down beat sort of delivery, a bit Lloyd Cole or Talking heads I thought.

Ungdomskulen where a bit angry today - they had received bad service in a restaurant in Swansea. I think they looked like the kind of people that the restaurateur definitely didn't want in his establishment. It made for an intense and exciting set. I got over excited.

I am writing this from Whelan's in Dublin - A very rapid ferry journey from Pembroke last night which I didn't even notice asleep in my bunk. I think it's technically illegal to stay in your vehicle in a ferry but I am a rebel.

Whelan's is an amazing place (as is Dublin), not very off the beaten track but there are some exceptions on this tour.

I will try to get Tom and Ollie to contribute to this too but I can't promise anything.
Henry

Off the beaten track tour 1 - Tamworth

Well into the tour named above and I thought I would say a few words. The provinces have not let us down, there is truly an audience for live music in every town on these fair isles. Things are looking up.

It is always hard to know how your band is doing until you get on the road and start talking to people and see the looks on their faces. It has been fully worth while leaving the metropolitan centers of the UK and trying some new places out.

Last night was Tamworth and it was eventful. During an awkward silence on stage due to some bass problems I was left with the daunting task of time filling. I started with a half arsed attempt to engage the audience in a conversation about Tamworth, then I resorted to my favorite "slag off the house of Lords" technique. Tom was pretty frustrated by the technical issues he was having and I just kept ripping into him. It was a first for the Young knives; Tom chucked his bass on the floor and left the stage. Ollie and me looked at each other in horror and i had to chase him off and apologise for the ribbing. He gave me a verbal wrning and we got on with the show. Apparently this was quite good to watch but at the time I thought that we had properly screwed it up.

So drama averted and we are all friends again.

I wanted to add a quick "big up" for the support act "Ungdomskulen". They have been so on form and are one of the best live acts around so check them.

Today is Swansea. I will report later.

Henry