This Tour Started In Disaster
After more than six months of booking the gigs and countless other connected jobs, the date for the start of the tour was almost upon us. Then after feeling a bit rough the day before I decided to do a COVID test just in case. I was quite surprised that it was a positive one, I had been so careful. It was April 3rd, four days before the tour was meant to start. I think I caught it at the vets, Michele thinks I got it at the pub.
Bugger
I knew immediately that the first week of dates would have to be postponed and spent the day contacting the venues and letting the internet know that I wasn't very well. This was my second dose of the lurgy and it lasted about a week, with the usual headaches, dizziness, exhaustion but this time with added extra loud tinitus which set its rhythm to my pulse like a reversing bin lorry.
The Newcastle gig booked for 13th wasn't looking too good ticket-wise, we had been a bit ambitious with the size of the venue. After chatting with the promoter we decided to postpone that one too and find another venue and date later in the year.
So not the greatest start to the tour but I had recovered enough to play our first date in Wolverhampton.
I Tripped Over The Dog And Fell Downstairs Just Before Leaving Home.
I twisted my ankle and landed on my bum jarring my back. I thought 'OH NO!', but it wasn't too painful and the dog was ok.
Wolverhampton – The Giffard
Tour diaries/blogs can be quite repetitive, boring and full of glowing reports of how great the gigs were. I am going to try and make this one a little different and give an honest account of how we are doing. I'm not going to be moany I'm just going to be straight with you and myself.
Abdou haven't played Wolverhampton before, but Richy and I had played there supporting Frank And Walters as iDou in 2006.
That Was The Day I Almost Lost My Laptop And My Les Paul Fell Off Its Stand And Cracked Its Neck
Like a lot of the dates on this tour, we have no idea how well we will do crowd-wise. The Giffard is a great little venue that was introduced to me by John Alexander, who was in Ferocious Dog with me and is from the area.
We turned up in town and were astonished to see that there was no one about. The streets were empty. It was a nasty old day though, raining non stop. Richy took a video of the scene, it looked a bit post apocalyptic.
Load-in to the Giffard is from the back of the venue and up a bunch of stairs. I'm a bit rubbish at carrying heavy stuff nowadays, but Richy, Bom and Jon aided by the support band Black Bear Kiss managed to get the stuff upstairs easy enough.
We hadn't sold a huge amount of advance tickets for this one and hopes were for a decent walk-up. We did get a few more in, but I think we eventually played to around fifty people.
First up were Black Bear Kiss and Year Zero, both great bands and worth seeing if you haven't already.
Despite it being a bit light on punters, our gig was actually great. The audience was very receptive and we had a nice bit of singing along. Engineer Al did a great job with the sound. I was quite talkative and really enjoyed bumbling along.
I Also Had My First Beer For Sixty Five Days, That Helped A Bit I Think
Richy, Jon and Bom played a blinder.
When we weren't playing, I was sat at the merch stall doing my best to be a salesman, so we would have some petrol money for the next day. I actually sold quite a few shirts, so not only would we be able to fuel up the van, but we could also fuel ourselves up.
When all was done with the packing down and bye byes, Jon went out and got us a takeaway of curry and pizza which we hoovered up in the air b&b where we were staying that night.
This Is Pretty Much How Being On Tour Goes - Bom Tidied Up The Curry And Pizza Debris
We had showers and then headed off towards…
Northampton – The Black Prince
We went to visit Stalkers rehearsal studio where there is a Carter USM room.
It's a great rehearsal space with five decent rooms for making noise. Paul, whose studio it is (also tonight's promoter) made us cups of tea and pointed us towards a pub where we could get some lunch. We settled for The Charles Bradlaugh, where three of us ate vegan and one of us had a plate of very meaty stuff. The food was good.
Then we popped to Richy's house for more tea and some relaxation in the sun.
We arrived at The Black Prince nice and early to load in and soundcheck. We had played there before in 2007, it used to be called The Racehorse. Ian, tonight's sound engineer did a brilliant job setting up for the night. The venue has had a lot of improvements made and the lights and sound are pretty awesome now.
I set up my merch stall, with more time and space I could set up a decent display. The view of the stage is a tad restricted though, so watching the first two bands meant leaning over the table.
We had sold forty odd tickets in advance for tonight's show and we knew there would be a reasonable walk-up.
There Was About Ninety In By The Time We Played. I Was Very Happy With That
Both Tablet and Snakeman 3 did great jobs. Different vibes from both and my neck got a bit sore nodding along to the tunes.
Merch sales were steady. Tonight it was the CDs that sold the best.
Not only was tonight's crowd bigger, they were also a lot more rowdy.
I Had To Tell Them Off For Chatting At One Point.
But the enthusiastic singing along and dancing was just wonderful to see and hear. It felt like a different version of a gig, we felt more powerful with the great PA. Intimacy was replaced with raucousness. We added a couple of songs to the set. Hit Her With The Pig as a request from Paul the promoter and Bodypart Superstore, just because it's a great song.
So The Tour So Far? Two Nights In, I Am Happy
My voice has held up, the band sounds great. I would love it if we could sell more tickets for the rest of the dates, some are doing well, but wouldn't it be nice to sell out a few? I know times are tough, but doing these two dates I have remembered how great it is to see live bands. So much better than staying home watching telly. So why don't you have a look at the tour dates and see if we are near you. Take the plunge, buy a ticket, tell your friends. The grassroots bands and venues need you. Music is life itself.
I Think We Have Agreed To Some Gigs In France
That's a bit exciting.
Les x