Little Fish

20th June 2010

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Tour blog: Manchester

We left Newcastle early. We had a three hour drive and we had to arrive in Manchester by midday to do an interview for Q Radio. We haven’t done many radio interviews and neither have we had much radio play, so we value the opportunity. The interview was fun. We had lots to talk about; from working with Linda Perry to touring with Courtney Love and now about Debbie Harry and Blondie.

Manchester is situated north of England. The people of Manchester are lively and friendly, but the weather isn’t usually quite as welcoming. Today, however, we are blessed with sunshine, so we sit outside and enjoy a hearty jacket potato. You never quite know when your next meal will be when you are on tour at this level, so you have to make the most of each opportunity to fill up. Most days, we settle with one meal a day and keep ourselves topped up with motorway knickknacks along the way.

When we arrive, Blondie’s crew have already set up the stage for tonight but Blondie don’t sound check until 4pm so there is some time to kill before we can watch them. I love to watch big bands sound check. I find it intriguing. I love watching other musicians work. I am eager to learn and to understand the workings. One thing that I have learned over the years is that whenever a successful band sound checks, they sound check wholeheartedly. They sing songs from start to finish and play with intent. The drummer plays to his best (I say “his” as I have, in all my time on the road, not seen one female drummer to date, truly), the guitarist rocks hard and the singer sings full throttle. True to form, Blondie are the same. Blondie are quick to sound check tonight. As the shows become smoother, sound check seems to get shorter. That leaves us, the support band, with more time. Lovely.

Tonight we need a longer soundcheck as the venue has had to hire in a front of house desk, wedges, microphone stands and cables because Apollos don’t have any in-house gear and Blondie travel with their own system. This means that we have to set all the hired gear up from scratch. This involves plugging everything in, connecting the dots so to speak. The monitors also have to be rung out which means that you have to get rid of the frequencies that feed back so that the singer can hear herself sing. This can take time. In venues where the PA system is already set up, this ‘ring-out’ has already been done. People specialize in doing this as it can take an entire day to do. Lucky for us, Blondie’s crew are incredibly helpful. Their years of experience really show.

So, when we arrive, we unload the gear. There is no dressing room set up for us (not unusual for the support band, the other night in Cambridge we got given a laundry room, still better than being stuck outside!). Clem insists on having his own dressing room separate to the rest of the band. Debbie of course has her own too. The headline band have to be catered for – they are treated like royalty by crew and management. Fair enough. We also cow out the way in respect, to give them space and be polite, whenever we cross paths. There are obviously some stars that are more friendly and forthcoming than others. On this tour, sure enough, Debbie Harry herself has been extra-ordinarily friendly and welcoming. Every day when she goes on stage to sound check, she always gives us a friendly wave, acknowledging us, saying hello.

Today, while I was sitting in the canteen area, Debbie sat down with a plate of food and we had a quick chat about vocal upkeep. We spoke of various teas that we like to drink. I noticed that on stage she has a mug of tea and I was curious to know what was in it. We both agree that ‘Throat Coat’ is a keeper, I tell her about ‘Breath Easy’ as I find it helps keep the lungs open and happy for oxygen-debt singing. Debbie tells me about her ‘Rosehip and honey’ trick. She advises me to keep changing and trying new teas all the time. I take the advice and thank her. At this point, I see a picture of Debbie Harry, framed and in full view for everyone who walks in the venue to see. I ask her how it feels to walk in and see a picture of her framed on the wall. She smiles, looks at me and says “I liked the pictures of me when I was really young and cute”. We smile. I feel like I don’t want to intrude anymore. I leave her in peace to eat her food. Damn, she is cool.

The shows for both bands run smoothly. The audience has a great night – and so they should. Blondie have a given another great show and hey! We weren’t that bad either!

The night ends with us not being allowed to sell any of our ridiculously cheap CDs at the merchandise store. We decide to go all Rodney n Del Boy. We stand out on the street like scruffians, sell and sign CDs and meet many people from the audience at the end of their show, on their way out. It is a lot of fun although I am a little embarrassed. I would rather be backstage, ‘being a rock star’ and keeping up the mysterious illusions of rock n roll life. Instead however, we in the Little Fish camp, all dig deep and grow some thick skin. We are well aware that touring with Blondie is giving us an opportunity to get our music out there. Heard by many. This is what all bands crave. Times are hard. Labels are not quite as generous as they once might have been. The bands now have a responsibility to sell and to get themselves out there, with or without a record label behind them. And to be honest, I find meeting people, talking and interacting with our audience one of the most pleasurable things about being in a band. Music makes people happy and its lovely to meet so many music lovers and happy people.

Driving to Sheffield now. Driving through some magical countryside. Looking forward to tonight’s show. Speak soon. Juju. Little Fish. X

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