And Such Is Progress

I'm back in Winchester for a 24 hour break from recording. The main point of this post is to say that part 3 of the Europe Diary is now up and running, so go check it out. There are two more installments to go, which will be up when I've had the time to write them. Meantime, in Oxford, we've finished all the drums for the album, and all the acoustic guitar parts too. Next week we'll be finishing bass, starting vocals, bringing in cellists and so on. Progress continues to be speedy. I've also been plugging the gaps on the Automatic tour with other shows, so cast your eye over the gigs page to see if I'm coming anywhere near you anytime soon. And finally, Ben MD has set up a Kneejerk myspace page, if you care.

I saw Emily Barker play the other day, and she was thoroughly excellent.

Notes from the Underground

A quick update from Oxford. I'm mid-way through week two of recording. We've nearly finished all the drum tracks and we've started laying down acoustic guitars. The work ethic here is really good - relaxed but determined, and we're working pretty fast - looking to finish tracking instruments ahead of schedule at the moment. Then there's the business of mixing, and even deciding what is going on the album and what isn't - we're looking at having at least 19 songs recorded, with possibly a few covrs and traditionals thrown in as well. I really like working hard on something, really losing myself in focus on a specific project. Days off are a chore. Tonight I'm off to London to play wth Dashboard Confessional, which will no doubt be fun and worthwhile and all that, but I'd rather be holed up in Tarrant's basement knocking out bass parts or something until the small hours.

I think that's Ben Dive at the door now, ready to start recording. Adios.

Stuff and nonsense

Well, it's the day before I set off to Oxford, guitar in hand, to make some more of the ideas in my head into songs, and to make those songs into an album. This is the fifth album that I've recorded, but it feels pretty different to any of its predecessors, for a lot of reasons, many of them obvious. It's going to be seriously hard work over the next few weeks, I'll be playing most of the instruments and arranging and writing the whole thing, some of it on the fly. I've got a bunch of string players, accordionists and so on pencilled in, a collection of nice guitars to play, and a list of singers that I want for backing vocals. It feels like my magnum opus, haha.. we'll see. Wish me luck.

In other news, part two of my European diary is now up, and it can be found here. Enjoy. There's also some kick-arse photos from the j'Est show in Moscow here. The next few installments, including the worst day ever, will be up as soon as I have time to get them written up.

On the touring front, I've got a lot of supports being confirmed at the moment, which is good for making new friends. I'll be touring with The Automatic in October, and I'm playing a show in London with Dashboard Confessional on Tuesday next as well. There's more to come later too, keep your eyes peeled. I'm going to be pretty busy all the way through the rest of this year, and then the album is due for release in early January, so it's hardly going to drop off then. I think I'm going to take a holiday in December. Much deserved, if you ask me.

Finally, I was particularly struck by the wisdom of this article, and by the awesomeness of the new Johnny Cash record. Just thought I'd share.

Clean Clothes and The Mother Of All Showers

Just got back to Winchester from tour. Apart from a brief interlude here just before I went out East, I really haven't spent much time here at all in the last few months. I'm fucking exhausted at the moment, and there's not much let up on the way - I start pre-production for my album on Wednesday, and go straight from that into recording until the end of September, when tour starts again. Thus I have decided that the rest of today is for TV, an awesome shower, some food, maybe even a bath as well (oh the decadence). Then tomorrow I have to start checking that I've finished writing all my songs. Fingers crossed. It's a little strange to look ahead over the next few months and see so few gigs - it's been a hectic year so far. Well, I guess it won't be long before I'm out on the road again - October to be precise.

Also, the diary of my last trip will be up as soon as I can get it finished, which might take a little while. But it will also be awesome. Watch this space.

EDIT: I'm such a ninja. Part one can now be found here.

Phrasebookery

I'm in Riga, at my old mate Andzs' flat. I got back from Moscow the day before yesterday and then had an excursion to Vilnius, Lithuania, for a show. One of the more weird things I've discovered on this trip is that, contrary to what we were told by pretty much everyone in Latvia and Finland before our departure, Russians don't really drink that much at all. Certainly the kind of Russians who come to shows, at any rate. The English contingent were drinking them all under the table with ease. So when we got back to Riga and had a night off (last night) it was decided that we should get wrecked in style. With the help of some Tequila, a lot of beer, and a vat of vodka and coke, we fulfilled our mission in spades. This morning (sic) I woke up with very little memory of the end of the night and a piece of paper in my back pocket with the Latvian for 'we are poor sex tourists' written on it. I'm not sure I want to remember.