diary
Lazy, Lazy Arse
I have been racked with guilt recently with the knowledge that my diary has been so neglected. So here I am now, at last to try and redeem myself. The year so far hasn’t been quiet – I just haven’t been telling you about it. Sometimes it’s easy to get out of the way of a diary, especially when you find it hard to find the words, as I so often do. I’m not a born communicator – don’t like the phone much, can’t be bothered with chat for the sake of chat. So diaries are a little alien to me. Important though, which is why I’m here now writing instead of searching the kitchen cupboards for something that might pass for lunch.
I’ve been touring in Spain in March, touring with the Burnsong Project in May and playing festivals in both Spain and the UK during the summer. And then there’s been the writing of new material on and off since the new year.
Spain was wonderful – both the tour in March and the festival, Contempopranea, in July. Delgados always did pretty well over there. We’d arrive having sold ten albums and get a sell out audience in Madrid in a large hall. Mental. It’s the piracy thing. A load of people know your music, but they didn’t pay for it – they blagged it. At least they can still sing along at the gigs though.
I lost my voice during the gigs in March in Spain. Proper lost it. Couldn’t speak. In fact during the Murcia gig I cancelled the gig during the day but was then persuaded to go to a local private hospital, get a steroid injection (to relax my throat muscles) so I could still sing for the show. I did the gig that night at about 1am with only acoustic backing so I didn’t have to yell over the full drum kit. It went fine, but I pretty much knackered my voice for a few months after it and didn’t have the same range or control. Now that was pretty scary. Don’t do it kids!
I have much to tell about what has gone on over the past months, but as I don’t like to make diary entries too long, I’ll save some retrospective musings till next time.
I’m off for my lunch.
Bye for now.
New Pornographers Tour Diary Part 3
Okay – I know this is so late it’s almost not worth putting up anymore, but here is the last of the tour diary I kept whilst on tour with the band in the US last year. It stops at Seattle because I was so frazzled by that point that I couldn’t write it anymore.
The remaining gigs on the West Coast were great fun though and we got to spend some time with Jim Putnam of the Radar Bros. as he was doing sound for us. Top bloke. The Radar Bros. have got a new album coming out very soon on Chemikal Underground by the way and it’s marvellous.
Anyway, here goes…
29th
Atlanta – Day Off
Today we have a day off. I usually don’t like days off as I get bored and end up sleeping as I don’t have a gig to wake me up. Today was great though and Erin and I went to the cinema (Tara Theatre) to see The Darjeeling Ltd. It’s a
great film by Wes Anderson and I loved it. Great cinematography, characters and a great atmosphere to it. Came out very happy and then headed to the Spybee just in enough time to have one of the greatest Thai meals I’ve ever had. Joy.
Jonny and Graeme and Jamie went on a shopping spree. They all came back with new jeans and sunglasses. I thought I was the one that was meant to do that?
30th
Atlanta – Variety Playhouse
Today our bus driver was fired. This was pretty funny but pretty intense for our poor tour manager. The driver, who shall remain nameless, had been dumping the chemical toilet on the highway, which as well as being downright out of order is also highly illegal. Jenn, our tour manager, pointed this out to him and he went ballistic. He called her an incompetent bitch and then Jenn fired him. I’ve never lost a driver in all the years Delgados were together so this is a first. I hope we have someone to drive us to New Orleans tonight.
There was a fantastic bike shop next to the venue today
31st
New Orleans – House Of Blues
Halloween tonight and in this city they take it very seriously. All of the New Pornographers are getting dressed up for it and so feeling under pressure to do something ourselves I took a walk round the nearby streets for inspiration. I came across a bunch of amazing antique shops (makes a change from bars) and found a shop that sold out watches. I’ve always had a thing for watches. There are few things I’m willing to spend a lot of cash on, for example I really don’t enjoy shopping for clothes to anywhere near the extent of most of my female friends, but watches, shoes and bags are worth every penny if you find the right ones. However, I wasn’t really in a position to part with $500 for an antique Rolex, beautiful though it was.
I eventually found a shop full of opera glasses and was convinced that was the answer for our costumes. I went back to find the rest of the band and we went shopping. We found some feather boas next door and the job was done. You really have to see the photos to understand quite what Jamie looked like as words fail me.
1st Nov
Houston – Warehouse Live
This weather is insane! I got off the bus today and couldn’t believe how oppressive it was. This is November and everyone has shorts and t-shirt on. I do love warm weather but I couldn’t do this every day. No way.
There’s a massive car park outside the venue so after the gig we played Frisbee which even in the dark was immense fun. We then had a car park party. The temperature post midnight is more my kind of thing.
2nd Nov
Dallas – House Of Blues
Frightened Rabbit were playing tonight at the Cavern so we all fled over there as soon as the NPs came off stage. It was good to see them and hear some more Scottish accents. They’ve been on tour for the same length of time as us and they’ll be supporting Mum later on too. Catch them if you can.
3rd Nov
Austin – Fun Fun Fun Festival
Another extraordinarily hot day with us playing early afternoon so under the full heat of the sun. I was exhausted playing today. Afternoon gigs in daylight are just weird. I met a friend afterwards and we drank margaritas in front of the Colorado River at the back of a hotel off Red River Road. It was a welcome sight and I realised how much I pine for large expanses of water when I’m away from Glasgow. I always head up north to Loch Lomond after touring the US to get my fix.
7th November
Evanston, WY – Day Off
We’re on our way to Seattle now and have parked at a Best Western Hotel in the middle of nowhere. We’re so bored that we did the laundry today, as it was actually the most exciting option available to us. We were the only people in the Laundromat and I bought a pack of cards and played patience for a while. Rock and Roll. Then we visited the local supermarket and bought a chicken for dinner.
Now we’re back at the hotel watching Die Hard, and Jamie’s shoes have just been thrown outside the room, as they smelled so bad we couldn’t breathe.
It was chemical warfare. That boy really does have to sort his feet out or he’ll be hitching to Seattle.
8th November
Seattle – Crocodile Café
It may be a cliché already but Seattle really does offer the best coffee.
I’ve been in the US for weeks now and so far the coffee experience has left me wanting. I’m a bit of a coffee fan and look forward to a good one every day. Problem here though is that your average diner coffee is filter and usually stewed and not the best. And then there’s Ratio Rage… I’m all for free refills, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want someone coming up and refilling my cup once I’ve worked hard at getting the coffee/milk/sugar ratio just right. What do you do? You can try and guess at how much extra sugar you might need but you might as well forget about adding more milk as there’s no room anymore. Disaster.
New Pornographers Tour Diary Part 2
21st Oct
Toronto – Phoenix Concert Theatre
Ooohhh… what can I remember about Toronto? It’s now a week later and we’re just leaving Washington DC listening to AC/DC and playing air drums and guitar. Joy.
Got to Toronto after a restless night wondering if Paul and Ben were going to make it in time for the flight from Toronto to London then on back to Glasgow. Got a text message in the morning from them saying they’d made it though so sweet dreams from then on. I have many friends in Toronto, people who’ve either moved from Glasgow to live there, folks who used to know my family or others who used to live here (Scots have many connections with this place) or simply people I know through music, like Michael Johnstone who was involved with Burnsong project in December of last year. It was lovely to see him again and I hope the planned Burnsong tour of 2008 goes ahead as it would be great for all of us to get together and play some shows again. That week remains one of the most weird and yet enjoyable I’ve ever known.
Didn’t see much of the city this time around, although did go a wee walk to a great diner and got the most ridiculous serving of Eggs Benedict – 3 separate servings of eggs on muffin covered in Hollandaise sauce. I couldn’t eat it. And I love my food.
There seems to be bit of a flu bug going around the buses just now. Better steer clear of me.
22nd Oct
Montreal – Le National
I was really looking forward to coming to Montreal, as the last time Delgados were here we were in the centre and it was a very beautiful pedestrianised part of town with lovely street lanterns everywhere. I’m not familiar with this part of town however and it’s all streets and cars and shops everywhere.
I was in dire need of some Internet access today and so managed to get off the bus before noon (impressive no?) and found an Internet café. Forgot that Montreal is almost exclusively French speaking however and was taken surprise by the French menu in the local café. Didn’t manage to notice the metro stop right next to the bus, which could have taken me into the centre of town.
Good gig – crowd were lovely and very attentive.
23rd Oct
Boston – The Roxy
This morning I woke at 9am to the sound of music and laughter. Always a good thing but not expected in the morning of a tour when you really expect everyone to be sleeping – even the most ambitious of us. Got up and was impressed to see Jonny and Graeme still up, having demolished a bottle of Jamieson’s and Makers Mark and enjoying the Vermont autumn scenery.
I took a video of them but fear liable court action if I post it on the site.
Interestingly we had a radio session (live) to do 5 hours later at 2pm at WERS at Emerson College in Boston so Jonny and Graeme and myself all went to bed to get some sleep. They managed to get up on time and miraculously we all played a pretty good acoustic set live on radio while the rhythm were still very drunk. Genius. We also gave away 6 guest places on the radio and so had some extra people come along to the show. It’s always nice to give away tickets randomly, a custom we have become particularly fond of on this tour.
The Roxy is a bit mad – all purple and very 80’s with giant white flowers in white vases everywhere.
24th
New York – Webster Hall
I do love New York but I do not love the monitor engineer at the Webster Hall who was an arsehole tonight and made a gig with no soundcheck more difficult by not listening to a word we said to him. We had a hotel though – the Off Soho Suites in the Lower East side of Manhattan which is where Delgados always went – so we all managed to get our laundry done at last. That’s it you see – you get to NYC for the first time ever (for Jonny and Graeme at least) and they end up waiting for their laundry to dry. Poor souls.
25th
New York – Webster Hall
Today we did a mad acoustic gig for an ad agency called Grey’s which does loads of really massive stuff. Was weird but surprisingly good fun. We met a very upset man downstairs in the lobby that freaked out when he saw us with all the equipment. Apparently we were going to clog up the until then perfectly oiled elevator system that could not possibly cope with our 2 guitars and single snare drum. Wow. Some people really do think the worst when they see musicians.
The monitor engineer tonight was no less impressive. He fell asleep during our set and Jamie couldn’t hear anything for the whole thing.
I really was glad to get out of that venue. And when I did, there was a club starting downstairs and an ambulance was outside with a girl in a wheelchair looking not so healthy and needing to be anywhere but a club.
26th
Philadelphia, Trocadero
Our bus driver tells me that this gig is one of the most famous metal venues in the country and he’s played it many times when he used to tour manage loads of band including Slayer and Testament. Jonny and Graeme are pretty excited about this fact and often sit up front asking Mark (driver) to recount any tour memories he may have at the time.
27th
Washington DC – 9:30 Club
The Diner, Adams Morgan was a highlight of this day. Erin (merchandise girl) and I went on a mission looking for breakfast in the afternoon and was advised by someone at the venue to go to The Diner on Adams Morgan and have the best breakfast ever. So we did. And he was right. What a place – it was a breakfast heaven. At 3pm in the afternoon as well.
28th
Asheville – Day Off
Today we have a day off. I usually don’t like days off as I get bored and end up sleeping as I don’t have a gig to wake me up. Today was great though and Erin and I went to the pics (Tara Theatre) to see The Darjeeling Ltd. It’s a
great film by Wes Anderson and I loved it. Great cinematography, characters and a great atmosphere to it. Came out very happy and then headed to the Spybee just in enough time to have one of the greatest Thai meals I’ve ever had. Joy.
Jonny and Graeme and Jamie went on a shopping spree. They all came back with new jeans and sunglasses. I thought I was the one that was meant to do that?
New Pornographers Tour Diary Part 1
There’s so much to say I’m having trouble keeping up every day. It also gets harder to stick to a routine as a tour progresses as the outside world seems so remote. Every day is get up, (before noon if at all possible), get food, explore if have time, soundcheck and play and then drink the headline band’s plentiful supply of beer, wine and spirits…
10th Oct
Calgary (travel day)
Left Glasgow today but Jonny Scott (drummer) still didn’t have his visa at 11am and was due to take a taxi to the airport at 11.30am. I’ve never jumped through so many hoops to get a visa before so it was no surprise to find myself chasing the courier company all morning making sure the passport had actually reached Glasgow and wasn’t still languishing in London somewhere. Right at the death Jonny, after pacing his flat for the whole morning with nothing to do but wait, got the necessary visit from the courier and all was well with the world once again. I think Jonny wanted to hug the courier man but restrained himself.
That’ll explain his celebratory behaviour on the plane to Calgary downing a total of 12 whiskies and almost puking everywhere at touchdown.
So we’re here! And I’ve no idea what time it is but I have seen the bus and it’s lovely (white / stainless steel and neon strip lights inside). I’ll be staying in a hotel room tonight but Jamie, Paul and Graeme have decided to stay on the bus. These buses are cool, but it has to be said after 5 weeks any motel room with ensuite bathroom has its attractions.
11th Oct
Edmonton
First show tonight. Absolutely brilliant fun. Edmonton has the third biggest mall in the world and almost the biggest in North America but I didn’t see any of it as I was doing a radio interview at the university then went to damage my credit card on 110V power supplies. I was in Avenue Music on White Avenue and this girl came up to me and asked if I was Emma. I said yes and she told me she’d heard the radio interview and wanted to come along to the show. I put her on the guest list and she came along. It’s great when things like that happen. I saw her later on at the merchandise stand and she bought one of Judge’s posters. They’re terrific. I’ll need to put the image up on the wesbsite.
Didn’t really eat much yesterday which came back to haunt me later on when I was a little worse for wear after The New Pornographers donated their Makers Mark bottle to our cause. Ooops.
Paul and Ben are due to fly out today but I’ve just heard they’ve been delayed in London and will have to fly to Calgary via Toronto. Good job we’re playing 2 nights in Calgary or we would’ve been in real mess trying to get to them.
12th and 13th Oct
Calgary
Spent two nights here. Great gigs both of them but ran out of CDs to sell on the 2nd night so loads of people went away unable to buy one which was a real shame. I really love going up to the merchandise stand after shows. It’s lovely to speak to people who’ve come along to the show.
Finally managed to pick Paul and Ben (husband and son) from the airport on the morning of the 2nd show. They were pretty done in as they’d missed the connecting flight to Calgary from London and were redirected to Toronto where they spent the night in the airport before flying to Calgary. Amazingly they managed to stay awake the whole day and we went into Calgary centre to try and find a 110V adaptor for Ben’s new Nintendo DS. Oh yes, a whole new world of excitement awaits.
Below – some photos of the crowds on both nights at Calgary:
14th Oct
Missoula
After a couple of pretty unhealthy days to start the tour we all decided to walk up the massive hill behind the University of Montana (where we played) and try and reach the massive concrete M that sits on the hill and is visible from miles around. Apparently some students originally built this M from rocks in 1909 and then in 1968 it was replaced with a concrete one. On our way up there we met a lovely guy called Joe from Wisconsin. He comes to Missoula every year and goes walking and visits a local Bavarian brewery. He eventually came along to the gig that night and shouted out that he was there as I was telling the audience about him. He was absolutely thrilled that I mentioned him on stage and so he walked back to his hotel and brought some of the ‘Scotch Style’ ale that’s brewed locally by Kettle Brewery. It’s actually great stuff and I look forward to it accompanying me on this tour for the next few days, if it lasts that long.
16th Oct
Minneapolis
In Prince’s club tonight – First Avenue – or at least where he filmed Purple Rain. Jonny and Graeme are particularly excited by this fact so we’ll have to try and pick up the film at some point soon. Once again haven’t done much except go find food and come back and soundcheck and play and drink beer. The beer tonight however is very special – Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which reminds me of the Radar Bros. as it, comes from California. Talking of the Radar Bros. Jim Putnam will be doing our sound for the west coast dates.
17th
Milwaukee
Pabst Theatre
This venue is absolutely beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like this. It extends up to a 2nd balcony so far up that it gives you vertigo just to look at it.
Apparently the ‘god’s’ seats were once reserved for the black community back in the days of segregation. Looks like they had the best deal to me. Paul and Ben went up there to have a look and I nearly passed out worrying they were about to fall out. A great night. The venue provided incredible catering with a beautiful cheesecake with ‘The Pabst Theatre Welcomes The New Porngraphers’ iced on top. The staff also bought Ben (my son) loads of toys to play with whilst he was there. The gig was wonderful – really great atmosphere. I couldn’t see anyone’s faces, just a sea of black. I really like that though. Don’t like to see the eyeballs. Freaks me out.
18th / 19th Oct
Chicago
The Metro is a great club. We played here (The Delgados) in 2002 and it feels like yesterday. It was a great night and I remember someone came up to us after the show and told us it was one of the best gigs he’d been to and he’d seen The Beatles. Some comments you never forget.
New Pornographers played here 2 nights and both were sold out so a full house for us going on stage which is always nice. We had a really bizarre night on the 19th when we went to a restaurant nearby called ‘Raw’. The food was excellent – alligator and ostrich were on the menu – but we also had the surprise of a piano-accompanied singer all the way through dinner named Patsy De Santo. She was lovely and sung a load of classics – Say a little Prayer, Purple Rain, Under The Boardwalk, What a Wonderful World… the list goes on. She took a real shine to Ben (he’s 5 yrs old) and spent most of the night trying to get him to tell her his name. She eventually gave us this very scary rabbit / harlequin doll that scared the shit out of all of us, and insisted we take it home to Glasgow. I’m not surprised she gave it to us. I wouldn’t have wanted to keep a hold of it either.
Someone at the gig tonight, of the name David, flew out from San Francisco to see the show. He had booked the tickets before I announced the west coast US dates and so I shame facedly thanked him for his support and told him I looked forward to seeing him at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
20th Oct
North Tonawanda
Paul and Ben head home today. We dropped them off at the Amtrak station after missing the Greyhound bus and then learned that the train was delayed by over an hour. They have to make a flight in Toronto at 11pm.
This is a sleepy town. Or city. I’m not sure, as we’re not in the centre. We got into town at 2.15pm and everything was closed. Saturday afternoon as well and everything’s shut. There was a lovely little canal with a bridge over it that we had to cross to find somewhere to eat. Erin the merch girl and Jenn, my TM, and I all went to eat in a little place called Suzz’s that had home baking and great coffee. We loaded up on cinnamon French toast (a favourite in the US I find) and headed back to the venue.
The most amazing thing about this place is the fact that the Wurlitzer was invented here. There’s an incredible one in the venue in the pit, as well as a mechanical orchestra that can play strings, brass and a whole load of different things, all controlled by one person. It would have been great to use the Wurlitzer for the opening bars of New Land but alas it was not possible.
The audience were great tonight. Another seated venue, which I’m growing to love as people really pay attention and there’s always a great atmosphere. There’s also no bar inside the theatre – only at the foyer so there’s no chatting while people go and buy a drink.
I have loads of photos to get up here so keep your eyes peeled…
King Creosote Tour Diary
3rd October
Currently in the van just getting into Sheffield. On tour with King Creosote right now which is going really well. Keep forgetting to say who I am on stage though which isn’t the brightest move.
Jonny and Graeme stayed up till 4am last night drinking so they’re having a particularly good day today. I of course sloped off to bed early to enjoy my single room (rare event) and woke early enough this morning to watch a couple of Soprano episodes. I’m way behind with the series – on series one in fact – so have it all to look forward to. I’ve just finished watching series one of Life On Mars which I thought was great. Ideal show – sci-fi cop show with 70’s soundtrack. I’m going to buy series two for the US tour which kicks off next week.
Last few weeks have been a lot of fun and very busy which is why I’ve been neglecting my diary. The London and Glasgow launches went very well, although the Soho Social is not a venue I’ll be racing back to play very quickly as we almost couldn’t fit on the stage and my sound guy had a fit when he saw the mixing desk was actually behind the stage – sin of all sins.
Also recently played on the Russell Brand show but unfortunately didn’t get to actually meet him as he was in NY and I was in the London studio. The show was cut short due to the proms on R2 before hand so I was only able to play one song. He has apparently invited me back on in November right enough at which point I hope to meet the mad man in the flesh.
Lastly, if anyone in Glasgow spotted a spruced up female standing in a perspex box in various public places early last week that was me making the video for Paper and Glue which is due out in November. It was possibly the most entertaining/excruciating experience I’ve ever had making a video and I’m looking forward to seeing the results, hopefully this week. It was directed by a lovely man called Moh Azima from NY who I hope to see again when we play there in November with the New Pornographers.
Diary 4th Oct
Today will be spent mostly in the van travelling to Norwich. A lovely place but a pain the arse to get to from Sheffield.
Diary 6th Oct
Yesterday was not the best day. We have a little problem in that Jonny Scott (drummer) still hasn’t managed to get his hands on his US visa and we leave on Wednesday. I got a phone call when we were in the middle of Norfolk from my agent who’s dealing with the visa saying that the US Embassy had lost a form and she had to resubmit so we needed to get Jonny’s signature to her asap. How do you do that in the middle of Norfolk in a van? This is where modern technology is put to the test. We tried to take a photo of Jonny’s signature using a phone camera but it didn’t quite work so we were stuffed with that idea. Jonny and I ended up crossing a busy motorway on foot to get to a farm shop after trying various petrol stations with no result. I almost hugged the farm shop woman when she answered yes to the vital questions:
Do you have a fax machine?
Can we use it please?
There was a third question if necessary:
How much do you need me to pay you to allow me to use your fax machine?
But luckily that wasn’t necessary.
We’re not out the woods yet however. The US Embassy is actually closed on Monday (Columbus Day?!?!) so we only have one business day left to get the visa printed and then we need it couriered up to Glasgow to arrive on Wed morning. Oh the joys.
Diary 7th Oct
Last gig in Pontardawe last night was great. A lovely arts centre that is funded by the local authority and does loads of stuff from theatre through to dance and more contemporary gigs like ours. I think these places are really important. It’s always difficult to find enough money to run a venue privately and make it presentable. Usually club gigs are grotty, needing renovated, in really dodgy parts of town and the staff really don’t give a fuck whether you’re alive or dead. However with arts centres the attitude and venues are completely different. Of course they do have standards to meet or their funding stops, but I think it’s more than that. I always get a real sense of pride from staff at these places. They know how much they bring the community together and it’s wonderful to know that there’s a place in the middle of a village in rural Wales, presenting a huge array of entertainment from far-flung places.
So my mood last night, after playing all 7 shows with King Creosote and getting great responses that resulted in me selling out of all my albums was high. We travelled 100 miles east after the show to ease the journey up north today and so I was bitterly disappointed this morning at 8am when I realised I had left my laptop sitting in the corridor by the stage at the gig. There are many things I can do without but my laptop is not one of them. Jamie had also managed to leave his clothes, glasses and contact lens fluid but we hadn’t deemed any of that important enough to travel back for. (Sorry Jamie)
We then trundled back to Pontardawe and went directly to the venue, which was of course shut, being a Sunday in a village in the middle of Wales. I harangued every poor soul I met in the vain hope that they could tell me if and when it might open. No one had much of an idea so I ended up phoning the manager of the venue only to find out she was out walking her dogs and no-one knew when she would be back home. We ended up parking ourselves in The Pink Geranium (pub) where the landlord welcomed us with coffee, tea and friendly chat. To cut a long story short we eventually got a phone call from the manager and retrieved our bags, but not before Jamie almost found himself locked in when the manager locked up. Now that would have been fun.