Just ‘smashed a doobie’ they call it here. LOL London is really something. It feels like a weird Spinal Tap spin off of NYC, in terms of classic rock education.
We left Charleston on Wednesday afternoon and have been here since Thursday morning. This is our first tour with a sprinter and a driver so… the party never stops!! Traveling starts today, October 1st, Wednesday, miercoles, we are headed out of London town at the moment for Exeter. From what I hear it’s a small uni* town, probably very similar to Athens or Clemson or something. Which is cool, we always have a good time in those places. There’s not many similarities to the southeast in England other than the names/architecture . Ya know Charleston, Savannah, most east coast towns do look a lot like England just cause of the whole ferry ride over. Idk, wish I spent less time sleeping/texting/trying to write tunes in history class. But it’s nice being here with the same two swaggin’ a$$ nerds I spent all my time with even then. We’ve been surprisingly behaved for the most part, Mom, but the tour has only just begun.
We played our first show in London last Friday at a place called The Windmill in Brixton. Really cool venue, there were dogs on the roof and they even had their own ‘dog on the roof’ beer. We got pretty pissed* and just did our thing, I think people were really into it. First stage dive here was very unsuccessful but ended in a piggy-back-shred-ride so it’s cool. The other bands were really rad, which really makes for a nice evening because that isn’t always the case when you’re a no name touring band. But, so far so good with English locals. Jack the bassist wore a Cure shirt so I was already impressed/happy.
The last few days have been busy outside of shows. Been all over town with our oyster cards* shaking some hands and mostly rehearsing. The live set has felt better than ever! For the longest time I always walked away from a show thinking ‘ahh guitar was too quiet’ ‘ahh couldn’t hear my vocal’ ‘ahh I just don’t feel well and my voice is hoarse’ or whatever thoughts/distractions and it’s taken us til now to realize that kind of shit just doesn’t matter. Get up there, have fun, do your thing, and bring people into your world. Taco’s playing a 24″ Ludwig, i’ve got a Marshall 1/2, and Cool’s over there shaking bowels with his new Ampeg. Tones are closer to Zeppelin than ever and we’re definitely planning to cover AC/DC in Scotland. (Bon Scott of course, not his coal mining replacement) although Brian Jones wails too, don’t get me wrong. A true pioneer and major influence of butt rock.
Aside from the shows though we’ve been having a lot of fun just hanging out and trying to blend in. We’ve got a flat in St. John’s Wood which is literally minutes from Abbey Road studios. We spend so much time on the road that it’s hard to feel at home, but it’s just the three of us in the flat so it feels rather homey at night and in the early mornings. Get up, noodle a bit on me guitar, have a bagel with some Berocca*. There’s a couple cafes down the street we’ve walked to a few times and if you sit outside you can see the Abbey Road sign across the street. I get everything wrong in that place though. Ordering at the cafe, I mean. It’s funny, the biggest difference here is food and bev. Buffalo Chicken is actually Barbecue Chicken. KFC has no mac n cheese or mash taters. And tea is not sweet. But I make it sweet. 😉 The night life here is wild, we went out on Monday to XOYO, a pretty sick rave joint in East London. Crazy to see kids going that hard on a Monday to disco, but I really hope they have the same reaction for rock music Friday at KoKo. I’m sure a few pints in and they’ll be bobbin’ about. That whole the-English-drink-a lot stereotype has definitely been proven true thus far. We can’t hang lol. People have been very friendly to us here and we’re working the accents as best we can. It is really fun to talk in a British accent, especially when you are surrounded by it. People just make me laugh, I hope they feel the same about the way we talk. I hope to at least be the next failed musician weird old guy living at the poho with a fake accent. Not a bad life, missing that place among others back home today, but we’ve got work to do and a lot more of the country to see. Until next time, this is Nate 2000 signing off, thanks for watching.
P.S. Blur plays on the radio here and everyone knows Pulp!! it’s so awesome!!
*
uni town – college town where kids party
pissed – drunk
oyster cards – public trans ‘tube’ passes
Berocca – gross vitamin dissolvable tablet
