Tour Blog
Well this is a bit overdue, but time to summarise and celebrate a wonderful trip around the Eastern edge of the UK, meeting new friends, checking in with established ones and having a great time sharing music and art with pure souls.
The first stop was Lincoln for the remarkable Weird Garden, an event I had tried to explain to Sarah but not quite succeeded, because it really needs to be experienced. The journey took longer than we hoped so there was only time for quickest stroll on the waterfront and lunch at Madame Waffle, who serve everything with a waffle. It was great to have some company up on stage and I finally met the legend that is Tim Holehouse, a man who has played over 3000 gigs. It was also a real joy to meet Cynthia's Periscope, an artist who started out a little timidly but was headbutting his keyboard and attacking the furniture as percussion by the end of his set. We took some squeaky pig dog toys with us for the Tullycraft cover and the younger members of the audience got hold of them for a good twenty minutes which was sound art in it's rawest form. I tried playing with the hare mask on but couldn't find my saxophone because it has no eye holes.
Newcastle always puts a spring in my step for reasons I can't even put my finger on, I just bloody love the place. This time I was playing at Cobalt studios which is the sort of venue I wish we had in Southend, large, open, welcoming, definitely queer friendly and serving great food. I was playing with Howie Reeve and Cod O'Donnell, both of whom were highly entertaining and seasoned performers. The audience were really positive and many came up to chat with us. The next morning I met up with Andy and Chris from TQ Zine for an interview over brunch which obviously had to involve more waffles. I had to cut and run to the train station quite abruptly because my train to Edinburgh was waiting.
It was my first time in Edinburgh and instead of planning an itinerary I decided to just walk and look at stuff. I was drawn downhill to Leith, partly in search of puffins but mostly to hear some proper Scottish accents. I failed on the first score but caught a bit of local flavour in a Mexican gift shop after lunch in a Mexican cafe. I was staying with an old friend who claimed she lived 'just outside Edinburgh' by which she meant the beautiful village of Anstruther, some 50 miles away. It was well worth the journey though.
The next morning I returned to the city for an alldayer to celebrate Bell Lungs' birthday, and it was back to back excellence. I was feeling the fatigue after all the travelling so I nestled down on a front row pew in St Vincents church and had a great old time just watching and taking it all in. My favourite set was by Tony Morris, who had a sort of Scott Walker vibe going on, but there were noise acts, heartbreaking piano pieces, one woman punk acts, duck masks, klezmer, and a man wearing a nappy. I was in great company.
A week later it was up to London for my second appearance at Scaledown, a sort of musical cabaret showcase where anything goes, upstairs in a pub. I'd spent the day doing some hardcore sightseeing, taking in the Welcome Collection, Novelty Automation and the Grant Zoological museum, all of which I heartily recommend. They're all essentially free although you'll want to buy some tokens to play the machines at Novelty Automation.
I honestly wasn't sure if I could put one foot in front of the other and get up on stage, but somehow I did and got a startlingly rapturous response. I don't know how drunk those people were but they bought lots of albums and made me sign them, so I got to feel like a rockstar all the way home. The evening after was the hometown show at Craftwerk and this meant I got to drag a lot of friends up on stage, including Sarah, Algis, Ruth and Oz.
Each of these gigs was brilliant for entirely different reasons but also the same reason, which was the warmth and acceptance of both friends and total strangers. It was everything I had dared hope this little tour could be and more. Looking forward to getting out there and playing some more later in the year.
