SATURDAY - Day Five
The day started excellently with a trip to the Seattle party down town. Freebies, good food, and familiar faces (Ryan was one of the co-hosts) meant that we were all in high spirits by noon. We watched Ryan's sister's band and then left to find the Johnny Cash themed Bar that we were due to play in as part of the Mojo party. The line up was excellent. The Felice Brothers (who I missed but bought the CD of because all the crowd were raving about it), Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip (who remixed the Antiques Road Show theme tune amongst other bits and pieces) and Laura Marling (playing the set that I have now heard a million times but still enjoy) were all playing on the same bill. We started our set well but halfway through the Wrote and the Writ Johnny broke ANOTHER guitar string. We needed saving badly and up to the plate stepped our cellist, Joe Zeitlin, to play the first movement of the First Bach Cello Suite. He was visibly nervous when I announced him over the mic (well coerced him over the mic), but he swallowed his nerves and played. It was amazing, a real South By South West moment, and by the time he finished to captivated applause Johnny had changed his string and we could carry on. I did then offer to beatbox but the crowd weren't up for it. Philistines. Anyway, after we'd finished up, and I'd had a nice chat with my friend's friend Riz MC, our South By South West crew - Laura Marling and her entourage, Peggy Sue and the Pirates, and us lot - went for a big lunch in a nice Mexican place. Unfortunately, I got stuck to the only tag along - someone who had come because he wanted to do business with us in tour managing or something. I nearly cried with boredom till I made my escape.
I did escape though - via a lift from a man named Bill who saw us play at the Mojo party and loved it - and back in town I took in two great shows, Hanne Hukkleberg (who've I wanted to see for ages) and Riz (who I've never seen live before). Tired but reflective, it was nice to then make the huge long walk to join Chris and Johnny who were at the out of town country music club where men are men and women are also possibly men. Together we watched a true hick country band called Sons and Daughters, got a bit drunk, and called it a night.
SUNDAY - Day Six
Sunday is the day of rest, and so it was for us and the rest of Austin. South By had finished, everyone was leaving, and we were up for a chilled one. We met our south by crew at Laura's hotel and played a monumental game of Basketball for a couple of hours. We were joined by a hugely fat taxi driver who called himself 'Jordan....Markus Jordan'. He was immense, schooling us on the court with his skill, panache and those sort of chortles that fat people do. We saw his ass far too many times though because he was so large that he basically couldn't move and when he fell over it took him a long, long time to get his pants back around his waist.
The rest of the day was much less energetic. A long lunch with our new friends (excluding Mr. Jordan) was followed by a great evening in a spacious bar. It seemed like every band in the world was there; Us, Laura Marling, Peggy Sue and The Pirates, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, The Pan I am, and more. Still, I preferred to talk to Laura Marling's lovely tour manager Steve about his wacky conspiracy theories about Hitler. It's all about the Spear of Destiny, he claimed. Brilliant. This is my last memory of South By....
The night came and went and so did the plane back. We came crashing back to english earth on the monday as we had to do a bloody video for Tickle Me Pink where teenagers danced unconvincingly round our awkward and jet-lagged bodies. It never rains in this business....
Friday, 28 March 2008
Thursday, 27 March 2008
South By South West - A Retrospective pt 2
THURSDAY - Day Three
Morning came and the Wit waited in the plush Omri Hotel while Chris and Johnny bought a banjo and mandolin. Another Johnny look-alike - the second in three days - popped nimbly past the lobby. Fear not - I captured the moment on my mobile. As soon as we had all finally met up, we trooped, instruments in hand, to the rooftop of the Wave bar where the NME/Transgressive party we were set to play in the afternoon was being held. The crowd was scenester, the sun was shining, and the free beers were welcome. After a dramatic display by OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN we waited for the noisettes to appear, but they didn't, so we went on early. A good gig was followed by a strange interview with NME.com on an old tour bus. Asked to introduce the band and say where we were, Joe drawled to camera; "Hi I'm Joe, I'm in America". Not really what they wanted - the video is yet to be featured on their website....
The after gig mood was high as we were taken to lunch by Lost Highway (seemingly the entire company). It turns out that they want to put the record out in the states and we all got on really well, so fingers crossed. It would be a huge deal if this happened, we would be the first British artists on their incredibly established books. Oh, and the Lunch cost them $1000 dollars in all. Pleasing.
After a pretty tiring afternoon in the incredible heat we walked to our second gig of the day, again with instruments in tow. This time we were to play at the Latitude 30 club, a bar turned into an English Artists gigging den for the festival week. The walk was an odd one, passing throngs of happy, loved-up musicians, the gossip monger Perez Hilton and a bum carrying a sign saying "trying to get drunk....spare me some change". I found the second show odder, even with the treat of our friend Laura Marling singing with us on a couple of songs. It was just getting too hot for me and I limped home before that odd little feller Son of Dave took to the stage.
FRIDAY - Day Four
Lilly flew in today which was apt because it was Johnny's birthday. We had already got him a present on the Laura Marling tour we had just finished - a polystyrene head which we'd made up to look like our tour manager Chris - but I promised to buy him a pen as well (he loves a good pen). After a lovely lunch with Miriam's sister Sophie and her boyfriend (their fake record label 'Broken Biscuits' allowing me to eat some excellent Cuban fare), I left to meet the band at the home of one 'Hank Sinatra' - the place of our next gig. Hank's home is one of the most amazing I have ever been too. It's a huge Texan farm with a lake, chickens, caravan (where he does the bands' sound and smokes consistantly) and an incredible homemade stage.
The cowboy home-grown weed, kegs of beer, and huge BBQ - all for free - made for one of the best days of my life. The afternoon was leisurly, but after chilling with new friends Peggy Sue and the Pirates, watching a band called The Morning Benders and spying Kate Nash, it was our turn. We played a gig with no on-stage sound and little drum kit but it was amazing. The Sun was contagious and we were all as happy as larry. Finally though the time came to leave, and after a desperate search for taxis, we were taken into town by two cowboy friends of Hank's. They didn't have a pickup.... We got all six of us and our instruments in three seats of the back of the American version of a Morris Minor. It was the most ridiculous ride I have ever taken and I was glad to arrive at our destination.
With music going on for free at south by, it would be rude to have two easy nights in a row though... And so after arriving in town we headed off to catch another amazing Langhorn Slim set, and then went, on Joe and Adam's orders, to see 'Health', an amazing hardcore band. Finally, after all this, Johnny and I headed for home pleased with our day while the others stayed on. It took us ages to get a taxi home and the driver was a complete shit. Oh well, can't have everything.
Morning came and the Wit waited in the plush Omri Hotel while Chris and Johnny bought a banjo and mandolin. Another Johnny look-alike - the second in three days - popped nimbly past the lobby. Fear not - I captured the moment on my mobile. As soon as we had all finally met up, we trooped, instruments in hand, to the rooftop of the Wave bar where the NME/Transgressive party we were set to play in the afternoon was being held. The crowd was scenester, the sun was shining, and the free beers were welcome. After a dramatic display by OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN we waited for the noisettes to appear, but they didn't, so we went on early. A good gig was followed by a strange interview with NME.com on an old tour bus. Asked to introduce the band and say where we were, Joe drawled to camera; "Hi I'm Joe, I'm in America". Not really what they wanted - the video is yet to be featured on their website....
The after gig mood was high as we were taken to lunch by Lost Highway (seemingly the entire company). It turns out that they want to put the record out in the states and we all got on really well, so fingers crossed. It would be a huge deal if this happened, we would be the first British artists on their incredibly established books. Oh, and the Lunch cost them $1000 dollars in all. Pleasing.
After a pretty tiring afternoon in the incredible heat we walked to our second gig of the day, again with instruments in tow. This time we were to play at the Latitude 30 club, a bar turned into an English Artists gigging den for the festival week. The walk was an odd one, passing throngs of happy, loved-up musicians, the gossip monger Perez Hilton and a bum carrying a sign saying "trying to get drunk....spare me some change". I found the second show odder, even with the treat of our friend Laura Marling singing with us on a couple of songs. It was just getting too hot for me and I limped home before that odd little feller Son of Dave took to the stage.
FRIDAY - Day Four
Lilly flew in today which was apt because it was Johnny's birthday. We had already got him a present on the Laura Marling tour we had just finished - a polystyrene head which we'd made up to look like our tour manager Chris - but I promised to buy him a pen as well (he loves a good pen). After a lovely lunch with Miriam's sister Sophie and her boyfriend (their fake record label 'Broken Biscuits' allowing me to eat some excellent Cuban fare), I left to meet the band at the home of one 'Hank Sinatra' - the place of our next gig. Hank's home is one of the most amazing I have ever been too. It's a huge Texan farm with a lake, chickens, caravan (where he does the bands' sound and smokes consistantly) and an incredible homemade stage.
The cowboy home-grown weed, kegs of beer, and huge BBQ - all for free - made for one of the best days of my life. The afternoon was leisurly, but after chilling with new friends Peggy Sue and the Pirates, watching a band called The Morning Benders and spying Kate Nash, it was our turn. We played a gig with no on-stage sound and little drum kit but it was amazing. The Sun was contagious and we were all as happy as larry. Finally though the time came to leave, and after a desperate search for taxis, we were taken into town by two cowboy friends of Hank's. They didn't have a pickup.... We got all six of us and our instruments in three seats of the back of the American version of a Morris Minor. It was the most ridiculous ride I have ever taken and I was glad to arrive at our destination.
With music going on for free at south by, it would be rude to have two easy nights in a row though... And so after arriving in town we headed off to catch another amazing Langhorn Slim set, and then went, on Joe and Adam's orders, to see 'Health', an amazing hardcore band. Finally, after all this, Johnny and I headed for home pleased with our day while the others stayed on. It took us ages to get a taxi home and the driver was a complete shit. Oh well, can't have everything.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
South By South West - A Retrospective pt 1
Our time in Austin, Texas - the week long home to a whirlwind of musicians, managers, producers, labels, fans and so on - is best summarised by this text I got off Johnny one balmy evening: 'Still driving. Don't know where we are. On the back of a pick-up. Fucking cold.'
To leave it at that though would be a crime. So here for your eyes only is a little verbal taste of our most recent adventures in the US of A.
TUESDAY - Day One
The flight over was a strange one. Anyone on the plane who wasn't hideously fat was obviously in a band and was obviously trying to make it look like they were not in a band, such are the constraints of the United States' Visa System. Still, even OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN who dress like four identical followers of an amateur undertakers got past the toughest immigration system on earth with ease. God Bless America. The air is hot here, sweet and full of bird song, and the moon is rather bizarrely upside down - it looks much like the smile of a cartoon cat. Both Johnny and I laughed when we saw it. Maybe, just maybe, it was because we were too tired to cry. No, actually, probably not.
WEDNESDAY - Day Two
Today saw enrolment in the huge 'convention centre' (two words I associate with Hurricane Katrina and which thus make me nervy), and our first gig. We arrived at the BMI party at the Mohawk by foot, passing Texan men who looked like Johnny Flynn (I have the photos) and a healthy mix of both American and British industry wankers. On stage before us were an odd band who wailed. They resembled one's dad, and have probably put on an ale festival sometime in the last year. Unfortunately they also left the club with their drum kit, leaving us without and in the lurch. To our musical rescue came Ryan Hadlock - the producer of our record who we haven't seen for months. He rounded up the necessaries quickly and with Seattle Panache, allowing us to play. Relieved, we went on, terrible on-stage sound and the breaking of many, many guitar strings not stopping us from playing a rousing set to a good crowd (execs and US fans included). Today's set included an acapella ending of Tickle Me Pink, the guitar had by then refused to play.
After some well earned grub and beer in the VIP area, we went our separate ways - me catching RA RA RIOT (ok), Akron Family (intriguing) and Saul Williams (a green suited poet whose songs were no where near the greatness of his spoken word), before meeting up again, along with Ryan's lot and our Label men, for a dinner bought for us by Universal. Can't complain. Except about the food and the company. I'm kidding.
The day wasn't done. We headed to a car lot and a solar panelled stage to watch Langhorn Slim and then (after failing to get into the REM show) took a cab to the other side of town to see Okerville River play with Roky Erikson. The story was amazing, a cool band playing with a Texan hero, a man who survived the wreckage of drugs and was once again back to his melodic best. But the gig was awful and we left to get drunk.
To leave it at that though would be a crime. So here for your eyes only is a little verbal taste of our most recent adventures in the US of A.
TUESDAY - Day One
The flight over was a strange one. Anyone on the plane who wasn't hideously fat was obviously in a band and was obviously trying to make it look like they were not in a band, such are the constraints of the United States' Visa System. Still, even OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN who dress like four identical followers of an amateur undertakers got past the toughest immigration system on earth with ease. God Bless America. The air is hot here, sweet and full of bird song, and the moon is rather bizarrely upside down - it looks much like the smile of a cartoon cat. Both Johnny and I laughed when we saw it. Maybe, just maybe, it was because we were too tired to cry. No, actually, probably not.
WEDNESDAY - Day Two
Today saw enrolment in the huge 'convention centre' (two words I associate with Hurricane Katrina and which thus make me nervy), and our first gig. We arrived at the BMI party at the Mohawk by foot, passing Texan men who looked like Johnny Flynn (I have the photos) and a healthy mix of both American and British industry wankers. On stage before us were an odd band who wailed. They resembled one's dad, and have probably put on an ale festival sometime in the last year. Unfortunately they also left the club with their drum kit, leaving us without and in the lurch. To our musical rescue came Ryan Hadlock - the producer of our record who we haven't seen for months. He rounded up the necessaries quickly and with Seattle Panache, allowing us to play. Relieved, we went on, terrible on-stage sound and the breaking of many, many guitar strings not stopping us from playing a rousing set to a good crowd (execs and US fans included). Today's set included an acapella ending of Tickle Me Pink, the guitar had by then refused to play.
After some well earned grub and beer in the VIP area, we went our separate ways - me catching RA RA RIOT (ok), Akron Family (intriguing) and Saul Williams (a green suited poet whose songs were no where near the greatness of his spoken word), before meeting up again, along with Ryan's lot and our Label men, for a dinner bought for us by Universal. Can't complain. Except about the food and the company. I'm kidding.
The day wasn't done. We headed to a car lot and a solar panelled stage to watch Langhorn Slim and then (after failing to get into the REM show) took a cab to the other side of town to see Okerville River play with Roky Erikson. The story was amazing, a cool band playing with a Texan hero, a man who survived the wreckage of drugs and was once again back to his melodic best. But the gig was awful and we left to get drunk.
Monday, 10 March 2008
Things Im Currently Doing (For Future Reference)
1. Trying to get my book published.
2. Writing a Comedy Blog entitled 'The Secret Diary of Matthew Edmonds aged 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24' for comedybox.com
3. Playing Drums in Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit - album out in May
4. Submitting Radio Ideas for Whistledown to hopefully get made in radio shows
5. Trying to write a post for The Faith and Theology Blog on Theology and Disability
6. Trying to songwrite with my friend Duncan (neither of us ever have the time to get together).
7. Helping my friend Tim (voiceovers mostly) with his sketches for e4.com
8. Trying to read my friend Paul Haworth's essay on Art
9. Trying to keep this Blog going
10. Trying to set up a podcast for the Flynn stuff...
11. Trying to write an interactive game about Religion for Channel Four Learning.
2. Writing a Comedy Blog entitled 'The Secret Diary of Matthew Edmonds aged 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24' for comedybox.com
3. Playing Drums in Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit - album out in May
4. Submitting Radio Ideas for Whistledown to hopefully get made in radio shows
5. Trying to write a post for The Faith and Theology Blog on Theology and Disability
6. Trying to songwrite with my friend Duncan (neither of us ever have the time to get together).
7. Helping my friend Tim (voiceovers mostly) with his sketches for e4.com
8. Trying to read my friend Paul Haworth's essay on Art
9. Trying to keep this Blog going
10. Trying to set up a podcast for the Flynn stuff...
11. Trying to write an interactive game about Religion for Channel Four Learning.
Odd Things
Had an amazing gig last night supporting Laura Marling at the Union Chapel (the last of a six day tour). In attendence was Bill Oddie. Now, its off to South By South West in Texas where we shall be playing on a rooftop and going to the playboy party for Johnny's birthday.
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