VideoGasm

Hello again from Los Angeles. It's disgustingly hot out here, and I'm in the middle of a music industry conference, but the stifling atmosphere is being relieved by much sleep and an almost endless supply of free cocktails. So no complaints then. Today's update contains not just one but TWO videos. I know, you can hardly contain yourselves.



The first is a little tour diary from the recently completed UK tour. There's not much more to add, other than to repeat that it was shot using my digital camera, hence it being a bit budget. It is, however, totally rock and roll.

For something shot on a slightly better camera, there's this little mini-documentary thing that was made at Bath Moles Club. Enjoy:



Next up, the utterly awesome people in my live band are, of course, usually better known as Dive Dive. They continue to rule, and they just posted a bunch of new acoustic songs on a separate myspace page, which you can find here.

And finally, my friend Dan Parsons recently asked me to guest on a song for his electronica project, Amongst The Pigeons. The track is up on his myspace, and it's called 'Larkin About' (the lyrics are a Philip Larkin poem). He's also up for a vote on BBC6, and if you have the time, go vote. Thanks everyone.

Reading and Leeds

I think I did a blog post of pretty much exactly the same title about a year ago, and I'm sure you will have worked out what I'm about to say already, but for the record: FUCKING YES! I'll be on the Lock Up stage on Friday (Reading) and Saturday (Leeds). Among many other things, this means I'm probably the only person this year (ever?) to be on the Lock Up stage and the Cambridge Folk Festival. I'm pretty proud of that. And I'd like to say thanks to Mike Davies for continuing to fight my corner in ways I can only dream of repaying.

I write this from the Railway Inn, Winchester. Tonight is the last night of the tour. It's been a long slog - 19 shows on the trot was, in retrospect, a little much. But it's been amazing - the crowds have been strong in number and voice all across the country, and it really feels like something exciting is happening here. For the record, I want to thank the crew, without whom none of this would be possible - Nigel, Ben, Tarrant, Graham, Ciara, Rege and Chris. And thanks to everyone who came down.

Also, the support situation on this tour has been a mixed bag - good in the sense that everyone who has played has been awesome: Andy Yorke, Ciara Haidar, Chris T-T, Short Term Effect and Oppenheimer (though they didn't play). The bad is simply that not all of them could play to every crowd - it was a shame about Oppenheimer having to pull out, and a shame that Ciara missed the last few shows. But I urge everyone to check them all out, they all make superb music.

I'm flying to Los Angeles tomorrow, which is pretty insane - tired doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now. And then back for the Holloways tour. No rest for me.. But like I said, I feel like I'm on the cusp of something at the moment.

The World Has Gone Insane

For real, apparently.

Also, a big rant now: Pizza Express pisses on Wagamama's. This much is obvious.

A Small Rant

The tour is going well, the shows have all been ace so far. Last night in Sheffield I had a heated discussion (shall we say) after the show with a punter, and it raised a couple of points that I feel the need to sound off about. I should point out that this isn't me having a go at the guy in question, we parted on friendly terms, it's just things I need to get out into the public sphere.

Two separate issues were raised. The first was about signing stuff, poaing for photographs with people after the show and so on. It was suggested that this was an uncool thing to do, fostering the cult of the "star" and all that kinda thing. This is the smaller point, but to restate: one of my least favourite things in the entire universe is the cultural assumption that the people that make music (or films or whatever) are removed from and above the people who consume their art. That's total fucking bullshit; if you take off the rose-tinted specs, the word "rockstar" is synonymous with "arrogant prick". It's not something I ever want to be, and I do my best to be open, approachable and on a level at my shows. Of course, some people want me to sign some stuff, and if it makes them happy then who am I to say no? From past experience, refusing to do so on egalitarian grounds just makes people think you're up youself, the exact opposite of the desired effect. So yes, I'll sign stuff after shows if people ask me to, but in return I want people to think of me as a normal human being.

Anyways, at the end of the day that's a pretty minor, esoteric gripe about my otherwise awesome job. There's another issue I'm more bothered about, and that's this: there seems to be a school of thought about me which involves people disliking me because I'm not what they want me to be. Basically, on the back of one song ("Thatcher") a group of people decided in their minds to put me into a little box marked "protest singer" (or "politico" or whatever; more to the point, marked as the property of the left). I've never been in that narrow little fuckfest of a scene, I never wanted to be, and I never will be. I like the song "Thatcher Fucked The Kids", but it's a pretty small deal for me, a song about an issue that doesn't bother me so much any more written a long time ago. But because these people are crying out for someone to come and confirm their opinions (in song) they latched onto me. Then when I produce an album that isn't "Talking to the Taxman about Poetry Mk II" they get pissed off, and often vitriolicly so.

So let's state this for the record. I'm not a protest singer. I'm not a politician. I'm a songwriter. But most of all, I'm answerable for my opinions and my lyrics and my thoughts and my actions only to myself. I'm sick of people getting pissed off with me for not being their little pet protest singer, ready to parrot idiotic platitudes about leftism at a moment's notice. Fuck off.

And there it is. Rant over. Thankfully many many more people are into what I do for the right reasons, i.e. for my music. And to these people, I'm grateful.

Back In The Saddle

Day 1 of the tour is down, and the album is out. People seem to be buying it and enjoying it, which is great. The show last night was awesome, though very tiring - we all need to get in shape a little, haha... But it feels great to be back on the road again, waking up on strange mattresses and queueing for the shower. On with the tour!

Also, part 2 of my Latvia diary is now up, check it.