Little Fish

27th June 2010

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Tour blog: Belfast (a good friend)

Belfast. I had never been to Belfast before. As we set off driving towards the city, looking out of the van window, someone who had been special to me in my life came into my head. I didn’t know anyone in Belfast to invite to the show tonight, but I did know someone who used to live in Belfast. His name was Cecil. Cecil was a tall thin man with spiked up hair who always wore jeans and cherry red doctor Martin shoes. He looked a little bit like a robin to me and in a way, he was bird-like with his thin face and small round glasses perched discreetly on his nose. He bopped around, always walking on the tips of his feet, smiling.

I met Cecil when I was at University in Birmingham. At the end of the road where I lived, there was a pub and every Wednesday, people would gather there with their acoustic guitars. In the back room of the pub everyone would sing. I started going there because I didn’t really have anywhere else to go to play my songs. I never met anyone at University who was interested in art and music. Sad really, but true. Instead, I found myself in the local pub, every Wednesday, in the ‘folk’ club.

I would take my guitar and go play some of my newly written songs. The night was so much fun. We would all sit in a circle and each of us would take it in turns to sing a song. The guitar would be passed around and everyone would listen; drinks on the table and cigarette in hand. Cecil ran the night. He was the man, the force behind it all. The man who made the night happen. The leader. He would host the night, always playing the first song, and usually the last, although by the end of the night the songs would turn into a huge jamming session, everyone with a guitar strumming, people singing all sorts of harmonies and feet stamping and spoon rattling. He introduced people to others and welcomed everyone, the good and the bad. It didn’t matter. Everyone was welcome.

It was Cecil who encouraged me to play songs, to write songs and sing. Although at that time, I wasn’t much use. I had only just started the guitar and consequently only just started to write songs. I wasn’t musically accomplished but I had gusto and instinct and the need for expression. I have always written everything by simply following my feelings and emotions. While I was at university, it was Cecil who kind of took me under his wing. He helped me make a CD. I think I recorded a couple of acoustic songs and from there, he tried to get me a few gigs in pubs in the local area. Cecil was great to me. He was always happy and enthusiastic. He gave me a little something to believe in.

One day, walking past the local pub, I saw my name was in the window “Little Fish” playing tonight. It was my first big acoustic show and by what I mean big, I don’t mean in front of thousands of people. I just mean that it was my first proper show, standing on a stage at the back of a pub, playing some acoustic songs. When I saw the name “Little Fish”, I wasn’t expecting that to be the name advertised. I just shrugged to myself and thought “Right. Well. That’s my name then. Little Fish. In time Little Fish will be the name of my band.”

I am sad now to say that unfortunately Cecil passed away. I couldn’t even tell you how now. I don’t really know what happened. We lost touch for a while as life does that sometimes. All I can say is that I got a phone call from his wife a few years back. She found me on Myspace and wrote to tell me about Cecil as she thought that I should know. I was extremely sad to hear this news and even writing about it now, thinking about Cecil and his cherry DMs makes me sad. I miss him. I just think to myself, if anyone was to be proud of me, now on tour with a band, supporting Blondie, it would be him. So tonight, I am sharing and learning something about Cecil. I am in his home town. The city that made a good man and a good friend. I can’t invite him to the show, but I am happy to be there and in a way, feel his presence.

We arrive in Belfast. It’s hard to tell what the city is actually like as the venue is located out in the sticks. In the distance we can see mountains. Nez tells me that he feels like he is in France. The venue has been purpose built for big shows. There are two show areas: one is a huge rock arena and the other, slightly smaller (but still massive), is a airplane hanger-like venue.

After Debbie Harry and her band finish soundcheck, Debbie points to me with a big smile and says “Your go! And good luck!” I come closer and ask her why she says this to me. Basically, due to the nature of the building, when you play, the sound bounces around everywhere. I tell her that it will be ok when people are in. She shakes her head to the side and says “No it won’t!” At this point, I do have to take the words of someone so experienced such as Debbie Harry to be true. I am not too sure what she means but I will find out soon.

True enough. On stage sound is mental. As Nez kicks his drum not only can I hear it in my ears, but at the same time, I can feel the delay reverberate under my feet sending crazy vibrations through my body and on top of that, I can hear the echo of the beat that’s bounced off the back walls reaching my ears a second later. The delay is insane. This kind of sound makes it really difficult for anyone to hear exactly what is going on on stage. I feel like I am playing music underwater and it is horrible. I wonder how we are going to get through the show without messing up. I now realise what Debbie was talking to me about.

To be sure, stage time comes and we are on. To my joy and relief, the crowd has soaked up a lot of the sound and so things are seemingly far clearer. I smile. I sing. Nez hits and Ben plays. The show goes great. The crowd are the most friendly on the tour so far. Nez thinks that we have just played the show of our lives. Wonderful. We certainly do a good job of warming up the crowd for Blondie. Again, for the second night running, there is a sense of magic in the air. Once again, the night is going to be a good night.

Once off stage, I watch some of Blondie’s show from the side of the stage. Tonight is the only night that we can’t stay to watch all the show. We are not allowed to sell any merchandise afterwards and as well as having a six hour drive to Cork tomorrow we are all tired. We haven’t been to bed and had a good night’s sleep in over two weeks. We take the opportunity to get back to the hotel earlier than usual. This early night is welcomed. Before I leave, I watch the first five songs of Blondie. The night is going great for them, the audience are happy and singing along. I see that Debbie is really enjoying herself on stage as she is smiling a lot more than usual. As I turn and walk towards our tour van, I think to myself ‘she must have taken my smiling advice’. (Cheeky sod! Haha).

Thanks Cecil, RIP. Off to Cork. All the best. Juju. Little Fish X

Tagged: Blondie tour blogBlondieBelfast

23rd June 2010

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Tour blog: Westonbirt Arboretum (Don’t get paranoid)

We arrive late, maybe two in the morning, our brains dead but our hearts happy and in full swing. There is no time to rest. This tour is like bouncing from one end of the country to another. There are many shows to be done in a short amount of time, and tomorrow Little Fish have two festivals to play in one day. I suppose that wouldn’t sound so bad if the festivals were close together. But our first is situated in Croyde (North Devon, a four hour drive from Oxford) and the second in Tetbury (a three hour drive from Croyde).

We wake early. It’s seven and we have only had five hours to sleep. For some reason, I don’t feel as tired as I thought I would or should be. In fact, I feel quite the opposite. I know why that is. It is because when I wire my brain up correctly, my body follows. I have prepped the longitude of the day ahead, visualised the lunacy. I feel that I can approach it in a calm manner and why not, when things could not be any better?

I am lucky. I am spend my days surrounded by four great guys. First up is Nez, my loyal and long standing friend who has played the drums now with me and Little Fish for the last five years. Then there is Ben, our friendly ghost Hammond player who has only just joined with Little Fish recently, but who has quickly integrated and become part of the family. He is calm and thoughtful, fun and hard working. He has a good band attitude and is prepared to dig in and join in the crazy fish affair. Then we have Mitch and Chris. Mitch and Chris are the two young lads who have taken on this tour and made it happen for us. Between them, they drive the van, do our front of house sound (that’s Chris), fix up my guitars (that’s Mitch), organise our journeys and generally help us out a lot and always with a smile. The best thing about all of these men is that they are kind, caring and lots of fun to work with. I have a wonderful team that makes life in the Fish-touring world fun and possible. If it weren’t for these guys all giving something, from time to love, there would be no tour. Blessed.

So, as I said before, its 7am. We set out to Devon. I have heard of Devon, but I haven’t really been there. Devon is situated on the south west coast of England. We are headed to Croyde. The van, once again, chugs its way through beautiful English countryside. When we arrive in Devon, I see the sea for the first time in a long time. I feel ashamed that I have forgotten what the sea looks like. What a summer looks like. There are hundreds of people walking the small winding roads that lead us to the beach. The beaches are sandy yellow and lined with holidaymakers, all wearing shorts and dressed for the sun. I am reminded that it is the summer. That people are on holiday. I had forgotten. Holidays haven’t existed in my world for a long while. Seeing this makes me happy. I am really happy to see people enjoying themselves and living for the time it takes to sit on a beach and watch a crab, lick an ice cream, talk, play in the water, come to a festival. Live life. I am excited to feel part of this moment.

OceanFest is the name of the festival in Croyde that we are to play. From the stage, I can see the sea. It is amazing and I wish that we didn’t have to leave in such a hurry; a day hanging out at the seaside with loads of relaxed people would have been right up my street. Why do people live in cramped up concrete cities when nature is so beautiful and offers so much? The problem with people like me, is that we forget. Anyhow, I don’t want to get into that. All I know is that when I have a couple of days free, I will take my lover by the hand and drive him to the sea.

The festival is fun. The laziness of the spectators is lifted as they clap and cheer. We feel appreciated but cannot stay. Now we know what the festival is, and who the people are (the festival organiser and the people there were all lovely and welcoming), we know that we will be back. On stage at two, off stage by two-thirty and on our way to Tetbury to play with Blondie by ten-to-three. Not bad going.

We don’t have much time to get to Westonbirt Arboretum, in Tetbury. Our tour manager, Mitch, has already alerted the festival organisers that we will be running late and that we will not have the time to sound check. Instead, we will be doing a simple line check. That means, instead of checking the entire sound of the band before show time we will only have the time to set up our equipment and check that everything is working. Our front of house man, Chris, will have to mix everything on the fly, as he goes. Rock n roll.

Although we arrive later than expected (due to an accident on the motorway, lane closures, diversions…) we make it to Tetbury. As we drive through the back entrance, I don’t really realise the exactly how big the festival that we are about to play actually is. It is only when I get on stage, carrying my guitars, wearing my little shorts and summer T-shirt that I realise that I am in fact standing in front of 6,000 people, all having bought tickets, all waiting for Blondie to come on stage and that we, Little Fish, are about to be the opening act.

To be honest with you, I am a little taken aback. I can feel my throat choking and my heartbeat magnifies. My heart is beating hard. My hands are trembling. I realise that I had never prepared myself for standing in front of so many people and that I had no idea today would be so big. There is a sea of people all standing in a field in front of me that I can see right out to the horizon. I can see heads but no faces. I can’t see colour, just a haze. Freak. Me. Out.

We are used to setting up our gear and so we do so with good speed and haste. There is something quite embarrassing about setting up in front of so many people, it kind of takes away the surprise of musicians magically appearing on stage, but you know what? We had no choice. By the time we have set up, we have a good forty-five minutes to prepare ourselves before going on stage.

My hands are shaking but I am ready. We give ourselves a group hug and then head for stage. We have performed many shows now, and so we know what we are doing. We can take all that we have learned up until now with us. All this work, all of our past shows, gives us the experience and strength to perform as we always do. Although we are now standing in front of a sea of people, we play hard and perform as well as we know how.

The set goes well from start to finish. In all honesty, I was properly nervous for the first time of my life. I have never performed in front of so many people. Being on such a big stage, in front of so many people, is not the time to become paranoid. It is hard enough opening up for one of the most loved pop bands in England as it is, but this was in a different league. This show truly made me feel like we were Blondie’s children. It was like them saying ‘Welcome to the successful world of rock n roll’. This show was different to anything I have ever done before.

When we come off stage, I run off and stand next to the first person I see, which is Debbie Harry herself. She smiles at me and says “your voice sounded great tonight”. I look at her and my mind started to tick ‘two shows in one day, three shows in the last twenty-four hours. What was I thinking? That I was some sort of super-hero? Singing so much and so hard is challenging for sure. Singing hard and so much in front of thousands of people is a potential recipe for suicide. I must be crazy’. I look at Debbie and say to her “Truly? You thought so? Well, thank you.” It is then that I can’t help myself and say to her with a smile “Well, you really did throw us in at the deep end today didn’t you?!” She laughs at this and gives me a little knowing nod. She then heads for the stage herself. It is then that I realise that she and Blondie are all used to this. Playing in front of thousands, and I mean THOUSANDS of people every night. For them, this day is like many others and has simply become a stroll in the park.

Dare I say that today was the first time that Nez’s dad ever saw him play the drums. Feelings and emotions are running high. Time for some beer and time to enjoy another Blondie show. We watch, smiling. We are starting to know the set well, and the songs even better.

Tagged: tour blogBlondieBlondie tour blog

22nd June 2010

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Tour blog: Bournemouth (How Are Your Ears?)

We had a day off in between the Sheffield show and today Bournemouth. Blondie took the coaches down to Bournemouth and hung out by the sea most of the day. The weather here in England is scorching, very rare. We on the other hand, went back to our home town of Oxford. What with catching up on emails, blogs, video edits, washing and shopping for food, there wasn’t much time to relax. We did, however have time to watch the football (soccer). There is always time for the World Cup here. The nation is currently disappointed with England’s poor performance.

Bournemouth is an hour’s drive South of Oxford. Not far. Today we are playing The Opera House. We have played there twice before, supporting Placebo and The Eagles Of Death Metal. What is striking about the venue is not so much the size, of course it is big, but more its beauty. The balconies are ornate, painted gold. Everyone here likes the venue. Everyone has had a day to rest and everyone is feeling fresh and ready to go for the weekend shows and festival fun.

Tonight, I am using in-ear monitoring for the first time. With the conventional monitor system, speakers are placed at the feet of the singer, and through that, the sound of the band is fed back. Although you can choose what you want to hear back, it is not always easy as a singer to hear yourself with all the instruments on stage; with the loud volume and varying frequencies, the voice doesn’t always cut through. Not only does this make it hard to sing but it makes it dangerous for the singer, because to compensate for the lack in volume, you have to push your voice, shout even, and risk hurting it.

An in-ear monitoring system is exactly what the name suggests. All the top singers and performers use them. I suppose, you just have to be able to hear yourself on stage and in-ear monitoring has become the most favoured solution. I am a little nervous about using them but I am aware that being able to hear myself sing properly will prevent me from hurting my voice. If the best do it, then there must be a good reason. I am prepared to give it a go.

Ten minutes before stage time and I am out the back, putting in my in ears. Debbie walks past me. I say “hi”. She says “hi” back. Then I tell her that I am using in-ears for the first time tonight. She is excited for me. I ask her for tips. She tells me that she doesn’t like to hide her radio pack and quite likes having the device attached to her belt, “it’s like another gadget” she says. Just like her knife I think to myself. I jokingly tell her that I am onto her and that I am getting myself a sword that I will be drawing from its scabbard so as to out-do her. She laughs. Then we talk more about the monitors. She tells me not to be afraid to change the volume of it during the show. That if I want to sing softly, to turn it up and vice versa. She says that she couldn’t live without in-ears. I am encouraged. The boys call for me and I have to rush off. Time for us to hit the stage.

Little Fish take to the stage. It’s 8pm and the venue is full. I start the first song and from the first note, I hear my voice clearly in my ears, unlike ever before. As we all start to play, I hear my guitar, the hammond and drums kick in perfectly. I am happy. We rock our way through the set. The beauty of being able to hear yourself sing is that instead of competing and struggling with the voice and other instruments around, you can start to actually sing. I play with my voice. Add nuance. Sing loud. Sing soft. I feel that I have uncovered the start of something new. I am extremely happy. I exit stage right. My voice is fine. No strain. No loss. Perfect.

Blondie hit the stage, 9pm. I watch Blondie from the side of the stage. Perched on an amp, I am able to see everything. I am about two metres from Debbie Harry. I can see her every move. I watch her like a hawk. True enough, now that I am aware of her monitor adjustment trick, I see her touching her monitor numerous times. She subtly reaches to her belt and adjusts her in-ear receiver.

Their show goes well. Blondie are on a roll now. There isn’t anything that I could fault. Every night I get to hear their songs and each night I come to love them more and more. My favourite song is ‘One Way, Or Another’ as I have so many good memories of the song, dancing to it with friends at parties and night clubs. This is also the song I told Debbie I wish I had written, the very first night we met. Little did I know at the time, that I would be hearing her sing the song every night of the month of June 2010. When the band play it, every night, the audience goes mental. They sing the song back to her and there is this amazing personal interaction from artist to audience. It’s a real bonding song. I have also developed a sweet affection for “Call Me”, “Maria”, “The Tide Is High” and “Hanging On The Telephone”. Tonight was the first time that they played “Picture This”. They were learning it in sound check in Sheffield two night’s before so it was great to see it get into the set tonight. In the Little Fish camp, we are still waiting for them to play “Denis”.

Outside, at the end of the night, everyone is leaving. Debbie looks great as ever. She turns to me and asks me how my in-ears went? I turn to her and smile with glee as I say “It’s going to change my life. Incredible. I could actually hear myself sing!”. Debbie is pleased for me and just before we say goodbye, until tomorrow, she tells me that she is having a birthday party and will be cordially inviting Little Fish. Wowa! As I get in the van and drive home, I think back to how these last months have been amazing for Little Fish. Last month I was sitting in a cab in New York, telling Ben (our ghost Hammond player), how I wished I had written the song ‘One Way Or Another”. The following day, we are supporting Courtney Love at Terminal 4, when Debbie Harry actually comes to the show. We meet her afterwards and the next thing I know, we are touring with Blondie and being invited to Debbie Harry’s Birthday party. Praise that Lord!!

Tagged: BlondietourBournemouthBlondie tour blog

21st June 2010

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Tour blog: Sheffield (Blondie has a knife)

Image copyright Big_Franko, from the Little Fish Flickr group

I am ashamed to say that I have never been to Sheffield and am unaware of exactly where it is. When leaving Manchester, I ask the boys in the van and they tell me that it is only a small hour’s drive away from Manchester. I accept this, but to make up for my lack of knowledge on the city, my curious mind starts to wonder and I decide to probe the boys for more. This starts off a band discussion about Sheffield that culminates with the deduction that Sheffield is a city built around 7 hills, that the River Sheaf runs through it, that the hit children’s TV series Byker Grove was filmed there (not actually true) and that The Artic Monkeys also came from Sheffield. Most importantly however, Sheffield is famous for being the innovators of stainless steel. Importantly because when I casually bump into Debbie Harry backstage, right after having opened up for Blondie, she pulls out the sharpest of knives, seemingly out of nowhere, and rather calmly starts to tell me about the history of stainless steel.

So. Picture this. Sheffield Academy. Two thousand people front of house, all waiting for Blondie to come out and smack them dead with their killer tunes while me and Debbie Harry are standing backstage. I have just come off stage with Little Fish. It’s been another high-energy show and I’m sweating like a little mouse, with no ammunition except for a sweaty towel (which I kindly offer to Debbie, but she kindly giggles and declines). Debbie however, is dressed as wonder woman war fighter, head to toe in black, ninja shoes, power ballerina dark navy skirt and all sorts of chains and belts wrapped round her waist, holding a bloody sharp knife and kind of pointing it at me.

The first thing that crosses my mind is ‘What have I done? Is this for real?’ and then, when I realise that there is no threat or menace, ‘Is it normal for her to carry a weapon?’ Common sense makes me think for a brief moment that she might well have to carry a knife on her at all times, that this is indeed common, in case she ever needs it for some sort of rumble in the jungle with a crazy fan. You know, a self-defence kind of thing.

After my flashes of thoughts, my mind calms and I realise that Debbie is talking to me, not with anger or menace but more with a cheery smile. Her voice is calm, gentle and soothing. She has one of those American voices that I love. So composed. In and amongst my confusion and blurring of thoughts I realise that she is happy to have bought a real sharp blade from the city that innovated stainless steel. She smiles as she says that she actually bought it in Newcastle but Sheffield was where it was made. She likes it. We touch it. She tells me that she wears it around her belt as it reminds her of the woman on Blondie’s (soon to be released) new album. She says, “the most I could do with it is trim my wig and file my nails!” I laugh. She is funny. And although she has war paint around her eyes and a knife in her hand, I just want to hug her. She is the sweetest softest rock legend I have met so far in the world of music. Time has passed. Debbie needs to go on stage soon. She is sweet as she kindly says, “well I must go and warm up, see you later”. Blondie are on in twenty minutes and Debbie sneaks off back into her dressing room.

True to super-woman-tank-girl style, Blondie kicked ass once again in Sheffield. Maybe her knife gave them the edge? Every night, Blondie’s performances are improving. As I look on from the balcony, Debbie genuinely looks like she was enjoying the show. There seemed to be more smiles and energetic dance moves than usual. And just when I think that life couldn’t get any better, Debbie Harry decides, in between songs, to thank Little Fish for supporting Blondie. She tells the audience about how she met us in New York when we played with Courtney Love. I smile to myself and thank her in thoughts as the crowd applauds in appreciation. Blessed.

Next stop Bournemouth, and this time, I’m bringing my own knife!

Tagged: BlondieSheffieldtourBlondie tour blog

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

Tagged: BlondieManchesterBlondie tour blog

12th June 2010

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Blondie in Cambridge

We arrived in Cambridge. Walked around, in loops, as Cambridge is pretty small. Beautiful. We bought Debbie some sun flowers at the market. We thought that the flowers might make up for the bad weather. Constant rain doesn’t make for the best of welcomes to the UK. We felt bad. She smiled. She liked our flowers.

After a great show, we sneaked in a little Fish Talk with Rod, Blondie’s sound man. We talked Woodchuck-chop, thanks to Pohelia who sent in the question.Take a peek.

At the end of the night, there was lots of fun to be had. Lots of fish fans wearing very smart fish T-shirts indeed!

Next show, Newcastle. See you there.

Tagged: BlondieCambridgeFISHTALK