Kings & Queens

Hottest show i ever played. Even Irving Plaza now falls. Great one though; i really can’t say enough about the exuberant southern hospitality of the Texan audience. Emo’s is one of those places that feels like it might fall down when you first walk in but it lights up when you add a ton of people and a band that is ready to get very very hot. I was feeling like i may pass out during In My Head but I was saved by Sister Europe; just stand still for 5 minutes. So yea, Austin was once again, up there in my favourite shows which was good cause the day was a wash out of rain and humidity.

Bit of a restless bus sleep; burning smells causing stops, rain, waking up with the laptop on top of me, more stops etc… Its good to get to a hotel by 11am.

Back in San Antonio after 13 years. I left this place in a bit of a mess last time. Its a great little town though; especially for architecture. Lots of sun bleached turn of the century and deco stuff here. Our hotel the Emily Morgan is a beautiful example sitting next door to the Alamo. Haunted too so i hear. My eighth floor room is rather fancy and features a cricket under the pillow. Its a beautiful room though. I wander the Alamo and River walk briefly with Mars, get too hot and spend the rest of the day in the room trying to catch up with everything else in life. The TV is excited about Hurricane Alex. Paul and I brave the incredibly rain-loaded cloud formations to visit this vegetarian health restaurant named Greens in a vaguely dodgy part of town. Good food and company.

Getting all melancholy about the end of tour. Last week i was desperate to get home now I’m unsure i want this all to stop. Spent the rest of the night writing my first new song in a year and catching up with the internet… Garageband is a little miracle sometimes.

Sleeep then wake up sleeeeeep then wake up then sleeeeepppp forever.

Oh god. Too early for all this… but i’m here. We’re losing. But we’re looking good and I’m sure that was a goal we scored. Mars and Richard are here. The coffee machine is flooding and there’s bright Arizona desert outside…

Update: no surprises there then. England continues its career of uselessness at any kind of international competition. The only exception, as was discussed backstage yesterday, is popular music. We’re sort of untouchable when it comes to that. Consoling myself here.

I can’t stand just flying through Arizona and New Mexico. Two of my favourite states ablur out the window. Georgia OKeefe comes and goes. Paul’s on This American Life, i’m working, Mars is watching the next game, sleepers elsewhere.

We got our first proper night off in a while today. Got to hotel in ElPaso around 3.30 and had the rest of the day here til midnight. Swim, shower, mexican food (not that great unfortunately) and the world’s largest Margarita meant i was at the bus by 12.05am… Off to San Antonio. Harry Potter is on. Watching a bit in the bunk.

This picture may look like the Furs went semi-wild in Vegas. Not exactly the case but Mick from the SWR crew did get us a few minutes at the top of THE Hotel for some Emmys party with his two actress friends. Free tequila, oxygen, and show biz people. Some of whom were very pleasant. It were a perfect Vegas moment.

US lost to Ghana in the world cup. I lost to Vegas by ordering a ten dollar can of Guinness.

Tonight’s show was early and seemed it. I had great sound but our poor audience was stuck behind a barrier and we’re literally ten feet below! Hard to really strike up the vibration between band and crowd in these situations, but i felt some good energy coming back and spoke to some people afterwards and they seemed rather happy about the whole thing so I think we did alright. She is Mine was the pick tonight.

Las Vegas baby. I just can’t get along with it. Off to Texas… Our bus driver Jerry has his work cut out…

LA traffic. I can’t really handle it. Our car is here and so I drove Andi, Mars and Paul to The Grove in Anaheim. Took hours! Then the bus went back to hotel to get R, T and A at rush hour! More hours. So soundcheck was quick and cheerful – we ran through So Run Down for fun and ended up doing it at the show. Love that tune.

Great food here today. Touring can be hard on the stomach, especially for us vegetarians, but the food here on the west coast is really good fresh stuff. Actual fresh arugula. Oh, carrot cake. Take note other major US cities! Andi and I took a walk and got the car stationed at the hotel. She’s heading home in the morning and we’re heading out east for the last five dates. Sigh. Not really sure if i’m coming or going anymore. Actually, we’re just going now. Worn out but completely at home with the bus drives, the odd sleep patterns, the noise, the constant company, the meeting peoples, the tour catchphrases and jokes are firmly in place; I could keep going forever or stop tomorrow. As it is it’ll be a week from today. Wish i’d got more things done; wanted to write some new music, get deeper on this dang blog, maybe some sketching – somehow if you’re not playing music the time gets eaten up by day to day activities and some hefty waiting around. Maybe I will prevail in the last week.

The Grove was another great one despite some microphone problems for me; i can’t really distinguish anymore – the band is hot so its really down to if the people are feeling it that night. We’re putting it out there every show. So Run Down was a fun addition and the encore is tailored to each audience. By the way; thanks for the furry bat whoever that was… I wondered if Richard might do an Ozzy with it but its not really his style.

More cousins in town tonight; got to show the baby cousins how it is to stand on the stage and they all left with set lists… Good to see some Furs fans born in the last ten years! Also met some more BurnedDownDays people here – nice folks all, and not a bit of nastiness about setlists! In fact quite the oppposite!

Some deafening fireworks from the stadium next door and we’re back on the bus headed for Vegas. Bye for now…

Back to the hotel and a Stan Getz dinner party at Mars’ pad.

There’s a glimpse of southern California flying past the back lounge window. I’m getting a few minutes to myself to reflect on the tour, the Fillmore and to fix my computer (thanks James, Dana). There’s something so oddly comforting about the air here. The smog. The pale blue sky and golden scrubby hills. Don’t ask me why; its probably something to do with growing up watching CHiPs and the trip my family took here when i was seven.

A word on She Wants Revenge. I really hadn’t dipped into their music prior to this tour and had a misconception that they may be a empty buzz band or something. For starters they have some really great heavy wave dance songs; i mean its a heavy sound they make. Nice wide dark guitar tones and some ridiculously fat Korg synth bass and generally sweet vintage equipment. The shows are always well recieved and i think the fans cross between both bands pretty consistently. The main thing being that the whole band and crew are the nicest guys you could run into on the road; we’ve caused them a few late soundchecks and the usual random tour stuff and they’ve been gentlemen throughout. Really must get to one of Adam’s dj sets before the end of the line.

Today was grey and cold in Solano Beach; wandered a bit but couldn’t seem to get my arse in gear all day. Knackered. Spent some quality time on the internet and then it was showtime. Actually had a blast at the Belly Up; the audience was on all sides and i got in to the small club vibe after the glorious Fillmore last night. It rocked i’d say. Bussed back to Sportsmans Lodge and passed out.