ABC

Glasgow!!!!

You'd think a big show like this would be nerve wracking... Or maybe you'd think I'd be worried that it was being recorded... Or maybe I'd be too busy thinking about dancing to a blistering DJ set by Fasthands at the after show... But in fact I spent most of the gig worrying about whether my mum was enjoying it. I hate playing in front of my folks.

Does anyone remember Jimmy Nail? Crocodile Shoes? Ringing any bells?? I'm afraid I do because Jimmy Nail was the first concert I was dragged. I've got two memories of the gig. The first is all the colourful lights on the mixing desk and the second is the roar as the band walked on stage. I'd never heard anything loud and I could only imagine the buzz the band must have felt. And I thought "I wanna do that"..... THAT HAPPENED TO US IN GLASGOW!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAASSSSS!!!!! Now I know they were cheering for T Rizzle and not me but I don't care man it was amazing!


Apparently when you play a big sell out show they give you champagne on ice when you come off stage. It was a nice surprise except that my plastic champagne flute had a hole in it. If anyone was at the after show we were the three really drunk guys. Tommy was the one have his photo taken a lot, Gordon was the one being a bit sick in his mouth and I was the one who spilt beer all down himself and then slam danced my T-Shirt dry to "Shake a Fist" by Hot Chip. I also had an argument with one of the bouncers who wouldn't let my mates in and he took my beer off me.... What a silly think to do.

When we were arranging the entertainment for the party afterwards we were picking DJ's. I said "Let's get Fasthands (my best mste Gaz) to do a set".
Iain said "I'll get Jen to do some to". Jen's his girlfriend.
So Jen turned up with her real life record decks and Fasthands turned up with his laptop and his set planned. All good so far. It came to the end of Jen's set and Fasthands goes on stage to get ready to do his bit and puts his laptop down on top of the record Jen is playing.

Good times.

Matty Drums xxx

Ps... Does anyone else love Burt Bacharach?

Brown Smoke wins....

Dundee
We had to be at Tay Radio early doors man. I had a hang-over but this lovely lady showed me to the coffee machine and that sorted me right out. We to find something to do for a few hours before the load-in and we heard there was a little, old, fun time arcade not to far away. So we Googled it on the nearest device and popped it into the Tom-tom. Moments later we were all over a pool table. Gordon threatened me with a pool cue until I was forced to let him win. Humiliation over and I got into one of those car, driving machines that take a pound off you and don't let you win. Then I heard a tale about a nearby bowling alley and I was sold. Gordon said he wasn't go to play because it hurt his arms or something so the rest of us donned the funny shoes and went for it. Iain seemed a bit too over confident and was giving it to us all fairly tight. His arrogance was short lived and after Smokey racked up 3 strikes on the bounce and I got a few he was second last and I was second. My hat goes off to Smokey, who beat me by 6 points, well done mate.

We still arrived at Fat Sam's a bit early so we filled our time having a "See Who Can Jump Backwards Furthest" competition. I lost... I think Mr Skene won.

After the show a Tommy and Gordon decided to go for a couple of beers but the rest of us went back to hotel, ordered a Chinese and drank a few bottles of Rouge. It was a nice way to end the night. DLo spotted a cool, fish-eye shaped mirror in the lift so we took some arty photo's and probably woke up most of the hotel.

Matty Drums xx

Wine, women and song...

Inverness
It's funny... I played the Ironworks a few years ago and my old bands logo is still sprawled across the wall....
Anyway as you know the album came out today and it was still in the top 20 downloads when we came off stage... good times. To celebrate I treated myself to a beer before we hit the stage and I had finished it by the end of the third tune. I made a terrible mistake in the forth song... I'm never drinking before a show again.

As planned we went to the Market bar after the show. Tommy told everyone that that was our plan and when we walked in we got a round of applause... a totally surreal experience!



So this guy leaning against the bar asked if he could buy me a beer... I said no man I'll have a whiskey... He abliged my taste and got me a Talisker (one block of ice). I enjoyed his conversation but mainly because he was very drunk and was trying really hard not to pass out. At an available moment I slipped away from the bar and went for a smoke. Outside I met a few familiar faces from Belladrum one of whom dragged me across Inverness in the pouring rain to meet her mate in a greasy spoon. I stole a cheese covered chip, dipped it in mayo and made my way back to the pub. Soaked to the skin I slid back in to the bar to the find the sounds of Old Billy (legend has it he has played in the Market bar over 3000 times) coming from the corner and looked for the drunk man who had been telling me tales, hoping that I might get another whiskey out of him. He was slumped in the corner fast asleep. I took some pictures....


Perth
WOW!!!! My absolute favourite show so far! We played the Perth Concert Hall.... I've never played a concert hall before... I felt like a real person. When we arrived we had an amazing array of fruit laid out for us, all wrapped in cling film. We had pine apple! RESULT. They also gave us the most important thing of all to me and Iain.... dun dun dun.... a fantastic coffee making machine... So wired were we on perculated coffee that we had a massive Elton John sing-along in the dressing room with Tommy playing the Steinway in the corner. It's funny how Iain can be singing the greatest most beautiful song in the world and somehow he still manages to sound like Eric Cartman.

Day Off!!!
How do you really chill out on a day off?? I played golf with my mate Kemy from Aerials Up. It was the best day ever man!!! I destroyed him it was beautiful. Then we played snooker and got drunk on Guinness before heading back to drink whiskey with his dad and had a chipping competition in his living room. Note-to-self.... don't play golf in the house.

Today, yesterday and the day before...

I spilt a pint of Barrocca on my sleeping bag so the night before tour I slept in a wet patch that smelt a bit like pee and woke up in a rage.


Kilmarnock
Tommy just pointed out that it took us about three minutes in Killie to fall into our old, lazy ass ways and pick up some classic bad habit's. I definitely have a Sensation/Dorito/Humous/tuna mayo addiction, Tommy has a Monster Munch dependancy and Gordon keeps going missing.


Picture the scene.... 5 minutes to stage, Kilmarnock on the first night of the tour.... I'm terrified, Tommy's a bit hyper and Iain says...

"Where's Gordon?"
"I don't know" said I...
"I think he went to the van but that was an hour ago" grumbled Brown Smoke.
"I better go and have a look" said Iain whilst marching out the door....

Some time passes, I smoked an extra cigarette before the door opens and in bounds a sleepy eyed Mr Skene.

"Where the devil have you been" I harked.
"I was having a delicious dream about carrot's".


Aberdeen
Well Aberdeen were a rowdy lot. We met some amazing people... especially the four girls who made "We love Tommy" T-shirts!! In the front row there were a bunch of dude's screaming "Tommy Reilly" like they were at a footie game all the way through Pearls set and all the way down the street after ours. It was pretty special. One girl smacked the lips on Tommy, another asked me if I thought she should propose.... I told her that she should but she didn't...

It was also the first night we had one of Pearls Puppets with us. Blair is a cool wee guy who looks a bit like a Charles Dickens character. The big jessie played a Cajon on stage for about 10 minutes and then had to stick his hand in a bucket of ice to get over it. Their set was great and Pearls melodies are offensively good.... I can't wait to hear the full band on Friday!


Inverness
It's Monday morning and the album came out today. It's not far off twelve bells as I write this and we just got in the bus. We are on the way to Inverness today. T Rizzle just announced that we are number 13 in the itunes album chart. I am celebrating by listening to Prince.

I just finished Prince's Ultimate album and the good news hasn't stopped.... most of it's a secret so I'm sorry I can't tell you but we are now at number 10 on the itunes album chart. I'm celebrating by listening to Roy Orbison.

The End






Don't forget to check out all the pictures on Flickr, there is a link at the top of the page. I'll be up dating them most days and if there is anything you want to see or hear about leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do...

Love
M xx