I got to enjoy the luxury of my own bed for but a single night. Yesterday, having just landed at Heathrow, we were informed that we'd be leaving for Ireland the very next day (rather than the day after as planned). We're off to Belfast and Dublin to support Iron and Wine on the Irish leg of their European tour but didn't realise that our ferry was booked for the evening before the day of the first gig... It was pretty hellish to find out that we would have next to no time to get over the jet lag or to see our girlfriends, but now, riding along in the tour bus (where blogging is enabled by a wireless system and our new tour manager Chris sits more peacefully at the wheel than Kevin), I am over the worst of the shock. Oftentimes I wonder to what extent the trade off between employment and commodification in this business is warranted, or at least worthwhile, but there are indeed excellent experiences along the way. The last day in Seattle was one such, for instance. A huge fire, built by Ryan's dad Joe, sat proudly burning outside the log cabin at dusk, and we ate the chicken cooked for us by Ryan's mum, played our guitars, and talked and laughed loudly while reflecting on our first session in Bear Creek. Listening back to the CD of the work we did there has so far confirmed for me a lot of the things that I felt in the studio - that we got a lot of good stuff recorded, but a lot of more work and re-preparation is needed. That’s a good thing to get now though, I suppose, its all still to play for....
In other news, I’ve been pretty busy trying to put together a book proposal for T and T about the flaws in the Church’s health policy concerning the treatment of people with disabilities. Desirably, I would like to pitch a co-author work with two other writers in order to increase the dialogue within the work itself and to explore a variety of perspectives and expert opinions on the theme. Dr. Wayne Morris and Prof. Chris Cook will potentially undertake this project with me, but there is still a lot of explaining and convincing to be done. A trip up to Durham to meet Chris is already planned. I’m nervous but really hopeful that he’ll come along with me.
I just finished reading a great book too. George Pattison’s ’The End of Theology and the task of thinking about God’. There’s a lot in there to think about and a lot that I’m still trying to penetrate. It is definitely one to re-read. One of the most interesting suggestions he makes is that the very notion of doctrine is a presupposition of a final answer to a timeless body of questions - a way of doing theology that he finds wrongheaded and overly metaphysical. Rather, Pattison argues, the task before us is to continually think about God using the resources of the present, the conceptual categories available to us from the past, and the hope that is accredited to us from the future. More on this soon, I hope.
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Seattle Studio Diary. Post Four
Its been a long, long, nothingy day. We did a lot this week - 'Shore to Shore' and 'Brown Trout Blues' being the core of our work - but one day off yesterday and the tast of sweet, sweet rest, and we're flaking. After coming back from the city, where we stayed at Matt the engineer's house once more, ate Vegan Pancakes and saw a Pimp's clothing shop, we're all completely burned out. We're ready to go home, I think, satisfied that the work of this week and the last has put us in a good position for the next session. I for one am certainly missing people and places and my own space, and that's making me less than excited about what's going on in the studio at the moment (currently the bass track for 'Leftovers' FYI). On top of all this, we've all, Ryan included, become far shorter with each other's ideas and opinions on the songs as time has gone by. Nothing has suffered for this whatsoever, and if anything its just symptomatic of our big brother like existence in this place over the last two and a bit weeks. We've all had an incredibly amazing time out here and enjoyed each others' company a great deal, but like my dad says the last luxury of a holiday is coming home.
If I haven't happened to mention it before we keep ourselves entertained when waiting to record with Youtube and Xbox. To communicate this passion it is only right that I pass on to you this excellent Chris Morris clip, which we stumbled across the other day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecxW3KPUD4
If I haven't happened to mention it before we keep ourselves entertained when waiting to record with Youtube and Xbox. To communicate this passion it is only right that I pass on to you this excellent Chris Morris clip, which we stumbled across the other day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecxW3KPUD4
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Seattle Studio Diary. Post Three
I'm excited. We just recorded the most amazing version of 'Sally'. It had been a hard day up until a couple of hours ago so having anything good laid down by the end of it was a bit of a surprise. Till late we had put all our efforts into trying to rework a live version of 'Leftovers' which just didn't come. We left it in the end to turn our attention to another old tune, and this one we absolutely nailed. You'll have to hear it, but next to some of the more interestingly processed tracks on the album it will sound wonderfully organic and beautiful. We're progressing really well in the studio come to think of it, lots of songs are getting there and 'Leftovers' is our only sore thumb. If we keep going at this rate it should be a really excellent first session. Incidentally, while I'm talking music stuff I should mention, in case anyone is reading this, that our first headline tour has just been announced and details will be up very soon on the myspace page.
Today was our first day back in the studio after two days off. We used the weekend to get out of the cabin in which we live, work and play too much Xbox, and go and see the city. It was a weird couple of days. On the first, as well as meeting up with my ex girlfriend who has just moved to the west coast, a transvestite tried it on with Joe at about 2 in the morning and got really very annoyed when our cellist told him, "I'm obviously not gay", then a taxi driver shouted "don't ask me that fucking question" at me when I asked him if the girls on the street corners were prostitutes, and finally the only place that we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. Or rather, we thought that the only place we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. On entering 'The Lusty Lady' we realised it didn't serve beer at all and was in fact frequented solely by little men pleasuring themselves in small cubicles. We were forced to pay five dollars so that Joe could chat to a girl fully-clothed for five minutes. This way we were not beaten up for being there without pleasuring ourselves in small cubicles.
On my second day in Seattle I met a man who self publishes his own crappy novels, but impressively so. He even buys huge cow hides so as to be able to hand make the book covers himself too. His latest work is about Lucifer being reborn on earth but with one vital weakness....you guessed it, a human heart. 'Fuck me, a human heart', you say, 'won't he fall in love with God who is coincidentally born on the earth at the same time as he but in the form of a beautiful woman?' Well yes, reader, yes he will. As intrigued by the story as I imagine you are, I bought one of his books. No that's not fair, it wasn't only because I was intrigued by the story, but also because I was intrigued by how incredibly proud he was of the preface he had written to his story, which he asked me to read over and over again.
In the evening of our second day off we ended up seeing a Bat For Lashes show for free because they kindly put us on the guestlist. Their stuff is a bit too drama school for me, but its not offensive and it was really cool to see some live music in Seattle. I hope we get to play here one day too. Before we finally got to our resting place for the evening (the floor of our studio engineer Matt's place), however, a final weird kick in the tail of the weekend occurred. The taxi driver driving us home, more friendly than the one we had had the previous evening, turned out to know someone who worked at Loughborough University in the physics department, and in all probability will know my dad. I guess you just can't escape the stench of that Borough of Love (/Lough...)....
Today was our first day back in the studio after two days off. We used the weekend to get out of the cabin in which we live, work and play too much Xbox, and go and see the city. It was a weird couple of days. On the first, as well as meeting up with my ex girlfriend who has just moved to the west coast, a transvestite tried it on with Joe at about 2 in the morning and got really very annoyed when our cellist told him, "I'm obviously not gay", then a taxi driver shouted "don't ask me that fucking question" at me when I asked him if the girls on the street corners were prostitutes, and finally the only place that we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. Or rather, we thought that the only place we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. On entering 'The Lusty Lady' we realised it didn't serve beer at all and was in fact frequented solely by little men pleasuring themselves in small cubicles. We were forced to pay five dollars so that Joe could chat to a girl fully-clothed for five minutes. This way we were not beaten up for being there without pleasuring ourselves in small cubicles.
On my second day in Seattle I met a man who self publishes his own crappy novels, but impressively so. He even buys huge cow hides so as to be able to hand make the book covers himself too. His latest work is about Lucifer being reborn on earth but with one vital weakness....you guessed it, a human heart. 'Fuck me, a human heart', you say, 'won't he fall in love with God who is coincidentally born on the earth at the same time as he but in the form of a beautiful woman?' Well yes, reader, yes he will. As intrigued by the story as I imagine you are, I bought one of his books. No that's not fair, it wasn't only because I was intrigued by the story, but also because I was intrigued by how incredibly proud he was of the preface he had written to his story, which he asked me to read over and over again.
In the evening of our second day off we ended up seeing a Bat For Lashes show for free because they kindly put us on the guestlist. Their stuff is a bit too drama school for me, but its not offensive and it was really cool to see some live music in Seattle. I hope we get to play here one day too. Before we finally got to our resting place for the evening (the floor of our studio engineer Matt's place), however, a final weird kick in the tail of the weekend occurred. The taxi driver driving us home, more friendly than the one we had had the previous evening, turned out to know someone who worked at Loughborough University in the physics department, and in all probability will know my dad. I guess you just can't escape the stench of that Borough of Love (/Lough...)....
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Seattle Studio Diary. Post Two
Well we've been here four days and the jet lag is subsiding. We haven't had time to venture into the big city yet but we have had time to visit a coffee booth round the corner where a mocha is served to you by a girl in a bikini. Tasty. Tracking for the album is well underway too. Tickle Me Pink is coming on a treat and The Box is sounding like a lunging Waitsian monster full of aggression and vigour.
So, things are progressing nicely. All in all there are thirteen tracks to record in contention for a spot on the album, and I think that all thirteen will be good enough to make the cut. On the wall of the control room in the studio are sellotaped 13 A4 sheets containing the name of each song to be done and who is to play what on it. I find this quite an oddly exciting sight. For the first time in a fair while I have a real sense that what we are doing here is making an album, a cohesive thing with its own parts and scenes and stages. I just hope to God that we manage to express in the recordings our sense of fidelity to our original ideas and our sense of appreciation of the moment and place that the songs find themselves in now.
So, things are progressing nicely. All in all there are thirteen tracks to record in contention for a spot on the album, and I think that all thirteen will be good enough to make the cut. On the wall of the control room in the studio are sellotaped 13 A4 sheets containing the name of each song to be done and who is to play what on it. I find this quite an oddly exciting sight. For the first time in a fair while I have a real sense that what we are doing here is making an album, a cohesive thing with its own parts and scenes and stages. I just hope to God that we manage to express in the recordings our sense of fidelity to our original ideas and our sense of appreciation of the moment and place that the songs find themselves in now.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Seattle Studio Diary. Post One
We're in and settled at Bearcreek studios outside of Seattle. (Google 'Bearcreek Studios' for a virtual tour of the place and pictures of Lionel Richie sitting where I am now.) It really is the wilderness out here. The only shops within range of our log cabin studio - where the roof is populated by owls and the lake outside is frozen - are minmarts run by women who must be inbred or else have too many teeth for their too small mouths. Despite all this, cellist Joe - king of the leftfield - still opted to buy a four pack of 'goat weed' aphrodisiacs on arrival in case any of the local sister/brother lovers needed chemically convincing that he is indeed a good egg.
My purchases have been much less lively, but have made me exceedingly happy none the less. I did the tourist thing, as tourists should, and bought everything under the sun in the hick minimart that I love and can't get in the UK (no doubt because it is banned for very, very good health reasons.) So, after I'd eaten a huge corn dog, many Cheetos and drunk a gallon of Mountain Dew I felt good and ready for the day's work.
The day's work was essentially setting up. A great drum tech named Greg - old, bald and armed with expressions like "this is whacked" and "this is really fucked up", which I think means 'rather good' or something similar - tuned in two kits for me to play here in the next few weeks. After this, the guitar, bass, vocals and cello (which Joe has hired over here) were all dialled in and we're now just about ready for the first session proper, which will be focused on tracking 'Tickle Me Pink'. We're going for something in between the live version and the version we released on 'The Epic Tale of Tom and Sue' and Im pretty confident we can get it down. Im sure it will be "whacked" or "really fucked up". More when I know more. Good.
My purchases have been much less lively, but have made me exceedingly happy none the less. I did the tourist thing, as tourists should, and bought everything under the sun in the hick minimart that I love and can't get in the UK (no doubt because it is banned for very, very good health reasons.) So, after I'd eaten a huge corn dog, many Cheetos and drunk a gallon of Mountain Dew I felt good and ready for the day's work.
The day's work was essentially setting up. A great drum tech named Greg - old, bald and armed with expressions like "this is whacked" and "this is really fucked up", which I think means 'rather good' or something similar - tuned in two kits for me to play here in the next few weeks. After this, the guitar, bass, vocals and cello (which Joe has hired over here) were all dialled in and we're now just about ready for the first session proper, which will be focused on tracking 'Tickle Me Pink'. We're going for something in between the live version and the version we released on 'The Epic Tale of Tom and Sue' and Im pretty confident we can get it down. Im sure it will be "whacked" or "really fucked up". More when I know more. Good.
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Back from Tour and off to Seattle on Sunday
The last three days have been hectic for JFATSW. We've been supporting Jack Penate in Wrexham, Portsmouth and Birmingham, had a video shoot for The Box single and been interviewed for channel four, all while trying to get our shit together for Seattle and recording. Nothing has been straightforward. The lovely people at Vertigo Records had booked me a ticket to Seattle for 'Andrew Edmonds', for instance. 'Andrew Edmonds' is not my name. It is the name of my favourite restaurant, but I don't think that would give me any leeway at the Passport check. I made Vertigo change the ticket...
Touring is a funny old business, its basically loads of driving for a 40 minute buzz. Again, because I have to pack now and have no time to spare, I'm going to be lazy and bullet point some of the more interesting events that occurred on tour.
* We were so late for the Wrexham gig that we had to rush on stage straight out of the van and therefore without a soundcheck. There was a TK Max opposite the venue itself. The Gig went well, the TK Max had no bearing on this.
* The Metros, who we also toured with, were consistently described by their tourmanager as "talentless little shits". The main reason for this was that the tourmanager himself was two days away from receiving The Golden Ticket for the Holiday Inn - a free pass to any Holiday Inn in the world given to someone who has stayed in the hotels over 1000 times - when, on the very first day of this tour, he was banned from the chain for life. His "little shits" had played laser quest with some fire extinguishers in the halls of a Holiday Inn in Norwich .
* Our Tour Manager's driving was so dodgy that a tally of how many times we got shouted at by other drivers totaled about 15. At one point a hacked off driver deliberately overtook us and then put the breaks on so fast that I thought his intention was for us to crash right into him. Pretty hairy. Kevin was not shy about letting other road users know his irritation either. At one point he instructed Adam (sitting in the front passenger seat) to roll down his window and call the van driver in the left lane 'a cunt'. Adam, put in an awkward situation, did rather well. He rolled down the window and said, rather apologetically, "apparently you're a cunt". Kevin loved it.
* In Birmingham we had to walk through a wake to get to the gig. Unexpected.
* We went through Kintbury. It was amazing. So peaceful. I want to go back there. Portsmouth has a nice beach too with an amazing lighthouse near the pyramid centre where we played. I would go back there too if it wern't for the official crime statistics.
Right, back to packing...
Touring is a funny old business, its basically loads of driving for a 40 minute buzz. Again, because I have to pack now and have no time to spare, I'm going to be lazy and bullet point some of the more interesting events that occurred on tour.
* We were so late for the Wrexham gig that we had to rush on stage straight out of the van and therefore without a soundcheck. There was a TK Max opposite the venue itself. The Gig went well, the TK Max had no bearing on this.
* The Metros, who we also toured with, were consistently described by their tourmanager as "talentless little shits". The main reason for this was that the tourmanager himself was two days away from receiving The Golden Ticket for the Holiday Inn - a free pass to any Holiday Inn in the world given to someone who has stayed in the hotels over 1000 times - when, on the very first day of this tour, he was banned from the chain for life. His "little shits" had played laser quest with some fire extinguishers in the halls of a Holiday Inn in Norwich .
* Our Tour Manager's driving was so dodgy that a tally of how many times we got shouted at by other drivers totaled about 15. At one point a hacked off driver deliberately overtook us and then put the breaks on so fast that I thought his intention was for us to crash right into him. Pretty hairy. Kevin was not shy about letting other road users know his irritation either. At one point he instructed Adam (sitting in the front passenger seat) to roll down his window and call the van driver in the left lane 'a cunt'. Adam, put in an awkward situation, did rather well. He rolled down the window and said, rather apologetically, "apparently you're a cunt". Kevin loved it.
* In Birmingham we had to walk through a wake to get to the gig. Unexpected.
* We went through Kintbury. It was amazing. So peaceful. I want to go back there. Portsmouth has a nice beach too with an amazing lighthouse near the pyramid centre where we played. I would go back there too if it wern't for the official crime statistics.
Right, back to packing...
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