Every Day Is Like Sunday

It has been two months since my last post. Apologies.

So from the 9th to the 16th of January 2009 we travelled up and down this very country on our very first ever headline tour. (well...first ever legit headline tour)

After the nine hour drive, we made it to Glasgow, Scotland. We all love playing there, and it feels like our second hometown in a way. Partly because we play there SO much (6 times in 6 months!) and partly because the Scottish music fans are very warm, agreeable creatures. The show was a success and not far off selling out, so thank you to everyone at King Tuts! (This is a photo of the stage just after soundcheck)



Day two brought us to Manchester. Another favorite city of mine. We turned up to the tiny (110 capacity!) venue with an extremely sensible name, The Jabez Clegg. It was the most memorable show of tour. Firstly it was a great crowd and was nice to see some familiar faces. Secondly this is the first night we were introduced to the debauched but very loving Omes. And lastly, there was one over excited fan that had a few too many sherbets and decided it was OK to urinate on the floor in front of everyone whilst we were playing. Hats off to you madam...(and next time take your underwear off first too)

Day three and the drive all the way to Newcastle Academy 2 was a long one. But one worth the wait. We met our very kind rep from Kilimanjiro and settled in. Soundcheck was long, and Jack Margerison was literally gassing the place up with his own brand of methane poison. After we ate, I went and did an interview with Stefan for the Copenhagen Post. Im not a fan of doing interviews, I always feel like my answers sound forced, but I think that's usually down to the moronic questions. This time however, I was pleasantly surprised. He was a very friendly gentleman, a huge Smiths/Morrissey fan (like myself) and the questions were informative and significant.
Anyway, the show was great, the lighting rig was the best yet, so Josh (our best friend and lighting guy) really had his chance to shine (no pun intended.) Thank you Newcastle! (Here is a photo from outside the venue)


Day four of tour and we make the drive to Stoke-On-Trent. We always play Stoke on a bloody Sunday. Nothing is open on a bloody Sunday. Ah well, we set up, and I start on the wine. Luke and Todd from Omes tell me how to get high from cough medicine, theyve been on it all day. Literally love these guys. We chill out and the show begins. Everything goes great, my personal favorite so far!
After we play, Josh runs up and tells me that there's people selling fake merch outside. I thought he was pulling my leg, so I had a look, and sure enough there was an array of fake KTA tee's and hoodies. Some of it was quite nice actually! But theyre stealing from us, so we give them the finger and tell everyone not to fund their dishonest lifestyle. The world is saved.

Day five is the Little CivicWolverhampton. Last night we stayed up in the hotel until 5am and we all got trashed. So today we're very tired. After everything is loaded in, we all pick up an instrument and jam on stage, for about 2 hours... Later on I do another interview for another magazine and we have a photo shoot and we play. The show was fun! Although Josh overheated the lighting desk and we were in darkness for a few seconds during our set. Later on we all enjoyed a Raaji Dut. We say goodbye to Omes. (here's a photo of Luke)


Day six, London. We pick up our new rental van from Tiger Tours and head to the Camden Barfly. When we arrive I meet a very nice chap from a band called Twenty Five To Nine who won a competition to play with us. We sound check, best sound of tour so far, and all head to Nando's. Collectively I think we consumed 8+ chickens on this tour alone. We get introduced to the very rebellious and very young Hunting The Minotaur (who are joining us from here on) and then play the show. Success.
London shows are always quite hectic however. My phone just doesnt stop. If it's not a friend asking for guestlist, it's our manager asking for guestlist, or its the bloody rep asking us to submit our final guestlist. Basically, my two most hated words, whilst in London, are GUEST and LIST. Anyway, we celebrate by drinking some more beer, and head HOME! Sleeping in our own beds. A forgotten luxury at this point.

Day seven is spent in Southampton. We drag ourselves out of our beds and all jump in the van. Once we arrive at the venue, we set all of our equipment up. Hamptons has this theatrical looking red curtain on the back wall so it makes our backdrop look extremely important. Fnar fnar. We play the show and it goes really well. Nothing too hectic. Me, Chris, Sam, Jack and Sam's friend Andy all head back to Sams place for a cultured evening of fine wine, parma violets and conversation.

Our final show is Portsmouth. We turn up to the venue called The Cellars. It's absolutely tiny! I set up the V1 Fogger and we're pretty much ready to go. We take a brisk walk into Eastney and enjoy the culinary delights of their fast food strip. This hasnt been a particularly healthy tour for us. The long tours we do, we tend to eat and drink alot healthier. But the shorter ones are a little more intense because there is just so much travelling and after the cabin fever sets in we need to relax. (That's my excuse anyway) The show was great, saw some familiar faces, did another interview and we waved goodbye to Hunting The Minotaur.

Here is a visual summary...


Lee x