Our tour with Laish finished yesterday in a blaze of sparsely attended glory in the Cellar in Oxford. Prior to that we played Utrophia space in New Cross, which is an ex-dairy warehouse space: freezing but it was full of friendly people, most of them yelling encouragement in appropriate places and some of them moving enthusiastically. That was a definate highlight.
Big thanks also to everyone who came in Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Leeds, and of course to Laish for being great on the road and for playing great songs every night. This is our slightly unsettling family photo, taken in Danny's parent's house:
Whilst I appreciate that I look by far the least like I am surfing, I was the 1st person to climb on the incongruous wall-mounted surfboard, so in that respect at least, I win. This was in Bournemouth by the way.
Lampshades tour was ace, we had a great time, thanks to everyone that came to the shows.
This is us and them in front of a tree in my Mum and Dad's garden (it's a Wellingtonia, for anyone who's unsure and curious):
Our tour with Laish starts on Tuesday, in Leeds. Due to a recent adjustment of the venue, noise levels have to be limited, so we're going to play an acoustic set, for the 1st time in a while, which should be interesting. Laish are great, I'm excited. .
We've had a great time in all towns beginning with B so far on tour, thanks everyone who came out to see us. Lampshades are ace, the tour bus is huge (by our standards). Got to run, the van's turned up, we're off to Manchester. This is us in Brighton last night:
This is an interview we (actually just me) did for a French blog called 97 Rue du Rock. .
Why does everything sound better in French: http://www.97ruedurock.com/laissez-vous-seduire-par-la-folk-de-tristam-658/
We've also been having fun putting it through internet translators, which has yielded gems such as:
'There are some groups with which we already played and which one feels near musicalement speaking: Mariner' S Children, Peggy Sweat, Sons off Christmas and Adrian, Laish, Lulu and the Lampshades.'
and also:
'Until now, I write the words and I pose base melody. Then, one spends the hours to test above, with bidouiller the structure and everyone takes part in the writing. One would like to compose like that, while jammant together. It is not yet really the case, but it is it towards what one tends.'
Also, Lulu and the Lampshades launch on Wednesday at the Lexington is sold out! Good news! Hope to see you there. .
This is us, on a fire escape in Manchester, playing 'Song for Laurie', wrapped up in a load of layers. It was filmed for Manchester Scenewipe blog, whilst we were on tour with Mariner's Children in October (or was it November by that point?). The fire escape belonged to a pub called the Dulcimer, which I'd thoroughly recommend.
On a related note, our friends The Mariner's Children are playing at an event at Cecil Sharp House tomorow (saturday 22nd) night, which is called 'Shhh', and is billed as a festival for quiet music. They aren't actually particularly quiet, but I think the venue really suits them: it was founded in memory of Cecil Sharp who was a pioneering collector of old British and American folk songs, which he preserved by traipsing around the countryside talking to people in pubs and the like and notating all the old songs they remembered.
Also playing is Stuart Braithwaite, of Mogwai fame, and Tasseomancy, who used to be called Ghost Bees. I haven't heard this newer incarnation, but Ghost Bees songs are great ('Sinai' is really good), and lots of other people are playing as well. This is the link to the Local's site, (the promoters), with the details:
So Im going to announce two tours at once, double excitement. .
The first is the Lulu and the Lampshades tour that we're going on as support, including the launch for their new Ep, which is released officially on Valentines day (aaahhh). The launch is a bit earlier, on the 2nd Feb, at the Lexington in Angel. After that the dates look like this:
February 4th – 60 Million Postcards, Bournemouth
February 6th – The Louisiana, Bristol
February 7th – The Hope, Brighton
February 8th – Night & Day, Manchester
February 9th – Bodega, Nottingham
February 10th – The Railway, Winchester
If you dont know Lulu and the Lampshades, they're amazing, this is them in a shop window:
Right, tour number two is a co-headline tour with our friends Laish, who are part of the Willkommen Collective based in Brighton. These are the dates, venues, places, etc:
22nd Feb - Oporto. Leeds
23rd Feb - Canteen. Bristol
24th Feb - Undertone. Cardiff
25th Feb - Slak. Cheltenham
26th Feb - Utrophia. London
Laish are also ace, this was their London launch for their album at Notting Hill Arts Club:
They just released the album on Willkommen's record label, it's very good, I speak from experience because I own it. If you live anywhere we're coming to visit, come to a show, it would be nice to see some friendly faces on our way round the country. .
