Start The Madness / Oh Vienna

We made it to Vienna. The last few days have alternated between loads of fun and utter stress. E.g: Switzerland is the best place in the world, we made a snowman in St Gallen and had a snowball fight (in which I managed to injure my elbow, duh). Unfortunately, it took us AN HOUR AND A HALF to find the fucking Avis rental place in Geneva Airport. Fucking hell. Then last night was drinking, 3 hours sleep in a youth hostel full of eurodrunks, followed by 12 hours on the train today. Chris's blog will have more gory details, I'm sure. Anyway, we're here, and it's great to be alive.

In other news, my already totally fucking insane diary for next year just got, um, insaner. For a start, the blatantly obvious is out of the bag: I am also going to play the UK Gaslight Anthem shows, solo (apart from London, which is an NME awards show), playing new stuff and rocking face. I'm yet more chuffed to be involved.

Replacement shows for my October stomach illness are starting to come through as well for January - Cambridge, Liverpool and so on. I'm also coming back to Holland (again) in January for the Eurosonic Festival.

Details on all of this can be found on my myspace.

And finally, I'll be playing at the Dolly Rockers Xmas Party on Saturday (29th) in London. This is better news, seeing as the Proud Galleries show is now sold out.

Christ, I need more sleep.

Adventures On The Continent

I write from backstage at a Levellers show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and the depths of tiredness. The first two days of me and Chris T-T's European adventure have been eventful, to say the least. We arrived in Paris yesterday to find that a principle part of our plan, the car we were hiring for the whole fucking trip, was a problem (due to Chris having no credit card and me having no driver's license). Fuck. We played a great fun show at La Fleche D'Or and spent a lot of time thinking of alternatives - stealing a car, crying home, taking the train and so on. In the end we sorted it out this morning (thanks, as ever, to Chamoule, the man with the plan) and got a car and set out for the Netherlands. Traffic problems left us super-late and we arrived just in time to play an early set here. Then we remembered we don't have anywhere to stay here, and managed to book a last minute hotel. Now to eat something...

I shot a new video for "Reasons..." the other day with Jamie Lenman from Reuben. It's going to be amazing. Details on that when I have them. I've also posted up some dates in Eastern Europe with Anti-Flag for March next year, and there's a lot more live action to come. I need to get some sleep for now though.

Secrets, Bandnames and B-Sides

I've finally had the time to write up the secrets and band-name suggestions that we collected on the recent UK tour. Have fun checking them out, they certainly made us laugh on our journeys up and down the island.

Some news about the First Three Years compilation. It's due for release on December 1st, exclusively through the Xtra Mile Recordings website. You can go there and pre-order it now (including the first 20 which are signed and numbered). It has 23 songs on the CD, none of the recordings are on either album, and there's a 24th track that'll be available through iTunes as well. It'll set you back the princely sum of £8. Not bad value for money if you ask me!

Finally, we're going to announce rescheduled dates later this week, for Ireland, Liverpool and a few other places too. Eyes peeled!

A Time For Change

So, the Rebel Alliance won the war, and Barack Skywalker will be reigning supreme in the White House, and everyone is happy, for now... Which is nice. In other news, I am mostly over my illness, which is great. To celebrate, here's a link to an XFM solo session I did the other day: Ta-Da! It was recorded early in the morning after the Scala show, so my throat was a little croaky, but otherwise, fresh.

Also! My good, good friends Fake Problems are currently in the UK, discovering the true meaning of weather. They have dates all over the shop (see their page, especially if you're in Brighton, Nottingham, Peterbrough, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow). Tomorrow night (Saturday) they'll be playing at The Joiners in Southampton, and you never know, I might just be there with my guitar for a short set too. Tickets here. See you there.

Rescheduling For Fun And Profit

Right, for those of you who were aching to know, the official word is that I have caught me a bout of Gastro-Enteritis. From the layman's point of view, it's still no fun, and I'm sorry to say that all the Irish shows are now off. Balls.

However, the good news is that being bed / bathroom -ridden does not stop me using my computer or the phone, so we're already knee-deep in rescheduling the shows in Ireland, Liverpool and Nottingham (and hopefully Cardiff and Newcastle as well) for late January 2009. As soon as anything concrete is agreed, dates will be posted.

I also had a very encouraging conversation about the recording of album 3 today, which was nice. Thanks everyone for being really cool about me being ill, it's heart-warming. See y'all with the Levellers (how excited am I??).

For The Love Of Christ

In the continuing stream of bad news, neatly mimicking my time in the bathroom, the Galway and Cork shows are going to have to be off I'm afraid. After a day and a half spent on the sofa convincing myself that I was well enough to fly, a short walk to the shops induced more eye-popping stomach theatrics and the concession that Fly BE is not the best remedy for my current ills. I'm trying to work out getting out to Belfast and Dublin, but it's not 100% at the moment to be honest. As ever, rescheduling frenzies are just over the horizons.

Continued grovelling.

No Liverpool

Ah for fuck's sake. I hate being ill, it totally, utterly sucks. Alas tonight's show in Liverpool isn't happening, I've been putting off the decision in the hope I'd get better but it's not to be. Again, a replacement show will get sorted as soon as humanly possible. In the meantime I can but apologise again for the failings of my flesh.

This in itself means it's the end of the mainland UK tour. I want to take the time to say thanks again to Ben, Nigel, Tarrant and Matt (the band), to Graham, Barbs and Sarah (the crew), to Emily Barker and Chris T-T / The Hoodrats (the talent), and to everyone who came out for the shows. This tour was a real step up for me personally, it's really starting to feel like something's starting here. Amazing. Thanks.

Back to the big white porcelain telephone to God...

Nottingham Apology

Hi everyone. As some may have heard and many witnessed, I couldn't finish the show in Nottingham last night. This is the first time in 10 years on the road that this has happened. I wasn't 100% before the show, and was nearly persuaded to pull the show then, but thought that 500 people with tickets deserved my best efforts. Alas, my best efforts brought on mass violent puking, a fever and fainting. Today is not great either to be honest. Anyways, I hope people can understand my reasons for not coming back out, and we're looking at a make-up show in Nottingham as soon as possible. My deepest apologies, and thanks to everyone who came out, and to all the people wishing me well today.

Liverpool tomorrow is, to be honest, hanging in the balance. There is very little point in us driving up there if I can't do the show. I'm going to try my best though. More info here as soon as I have it.

Ugh. No fun.