The other week I told you about a TGTF favourite’s new tour last week. Loyal Trooper has been doing the rounds of the UK, and we’ve been lucky enough to secure his personal tour diary – so settle back and enjoy a “warts and all” account of his week on the road.

Leeds Cardigan Arms

That was a long day. I left Northampton at 10am with the meanest hangover known to man and got to Leeds at half six in the evening. I missed the afternoon, what the hell is up with that!? I walked to the Cardi Arms which took forty five minutes. I was in a surprisingly good mood considering. Perhaps this is down me realising that I cannot dictate my life on tour, I have to accept whichever direction it takes me in. I could want sleep at midnight but if everyone else I am with is necking Sambucca till 5am, then that’s what I do. I’ve been much more content since coming to this conclusion.

Whiskas formerly of iForward Russia! fame did my sound and like last time it was excellent. I wouldn’t mention him if he wasn’t such a lovely guy, I’m not the name-dropping type. That and probably the famous person I know is a guy from school who played a tree in the junior school production of ‘The Whizz’. Anyway, he’s always really friendly, chatty and makes me feel like I’m not lost anymore. Thanks Whiskas. So, I drink some pound-a-bottle lager and play. It’s the best I’ve played on this tour. Perhaps the sound is bettered only by the Roadhouse but it still sounds great through my monitors. I’m playing on a bill with three punk rock bands but it’s not as hard work as you’d think. Everyone listens and most people enjoy it. I’m pleased. More lager is brought to me. I’m elated.

So then we drink. The bands are all really good. We have a good time. I talk to some guy from Bradford for a long time about my songs and how much he likes them. I talk to a few people about Tommy Spurr. I get a song dedicated to me. I feel honored. We go into Leeds city center around midnight. We’ve missed the Dinosaur Pile Up gig. People say it was okay but it’s a new venue still finding it’s feet so the sound wasn’t perfect. However, Tom (also previously of Forward Russia) has done my sound before and I’m reliably informed that it’s not his fault.

Anyway, much merriment follows. I get to a point where I’ve not eaten anything but an egg and cress sandwich all day and have had too much lager. I defect to whiskey. Someone buys me Jeagermeister. Gah! We drink in Santiago’s for a few hours. Some drunken guy falls off a chair and nearly shatters his head open on broken glass. Oh how we laughed. Compassion is a rare commodity tonight. About 4pm we go back to Neil’s. I buy a Sheffield A-Z for his wife as a present. We drink vodka and talk a great deal of rubbish. This appears to be a central theme of the last few days. Eventually it’s 7am and I need to go to bed. I sleep for three hours, get up and go to the coach station. It’s hot and I’m dehydrated to fudge. I’m happy I’m coming home. I can see an end to looking, feeling and smelling like I do.

London Boogaloo

I came back home where frankly, I just wanted to pass out and sleep for about two decades. I had a shave and changed my clothes. After five days in the same t-shirt, jeans and cardigan you miss not stinking of your own and other peoples sweat and bodily fluids. Those tour t-shirts of mine are getting burnt I swear. Well, actually I’m going to recycle them. I am recycling these days.

I get to the Boogaloo, which isn’t far from my house, a little later than planned. A combination of a slow bus and my body pretty much stopping working are the main contributers to my folly. There’s no sound check. It’s probably a good job. It’s a bank holiday, everyone is already steaming and it’s only 6.30pm. I join in an neck a whiskey. I’ve lost the gipping sensation that can occur with such things. I am the personification of alcohol this week seemingly. A group of my friends has come to see me, this makes me incredibly happy. Familiar faces and threads that don’t smell like anus. I am a winner today.

My set was short but enjoyable. I was celebrating the end of my tour, everyone else was celebrating the fact that there was one more day in the week where it was acceptable to get wasted. My voice had taken a battering after seven hours sleep out of forty eight and an alcohol consumption that must have been exceptionally high. Pretty much twelve hours drinking both Friday and Saturday. Hmmm…pride in my ability to drink. What a talent. Anyway, the set was good. Many people talked but I expected that to be honest due to the carnival type atmosphere of the afternoon. My banter improved to a point where I didn’t make a total moron of myself, well, hopefully. My banter spawned a fictional character called Dexter. Dexter is a stuffed ferret who serenades people with his ukulele. Oh and did I mention he’s a superhero? Well, he is. He’s got the trademark pants on the outside of his costume vibe going on. What a legend.

Then we drank. A lot. Much fun was had all round. The night No One Died put on was excellent. They are really good promoters and lovely people. I recommend them as good London related people. A lot of promoters round here are vermin. We had a £3 pizza in a restaurant. Real food! Hot food! Amazing! And a Belgian beer. Awesome. On the way back there was a piggy back ride race down Archway Road. I swear we won. The Boogaloo closed early so we go to a jazz cafe that wasn’t playing anything resembling jazz. A friend of mine teaches me some funky house ’shapes’. Winner. We dance like fools to Queen, S Club, Bryan Adams etc. The whiskey flows. Eventually it’s 3am. I’ve had the best night in ages. A good tour all round. I finally realise that I have achieved one of my goals in life: to travel, to play people, sell records and live my life as a musician. This revelation pleases me. Now it’s time for sleep.

The following parts of Andy’s tour diary will be serialised here this week on TGTF. Read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here

Haven’t come across Loyal Trooper before? Read our introduction to Andy’s music, and our interview. Also, download some free music from him below:

MP3: Loyal Trooper – Crystal Missile (demo)
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Holloway to Beeston Express
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Nottingham wasn’t built for me
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Division Street Blues

The other week I told you about a TGTF favourite’s new tour last week. Loyal Trooper has been doing the rounds of the UK, and we’ve been lucky enough to secure his personal tour diary – so settle back and enjoy a “warts and all” account of his week on the road.

Northampton Labour Club

Oh dear lord. This hangover is going to take some shifting. Sambucca, did I drink Sambucca? Bad move Andy. BAD! And whiskey, I only drink whiskey when I’ve had too much ale. Jamie, who I stayed with, did tell me Northampton was going to show me how to drink. I don’t know if that objective was achieved but they definately tried their hardest. I’m on the coach consuming water quicker than I ever thought possible. I’m starting to feel mildly better however that’s not difficult. It’s a little like chopping your leg off and then someone administering a painkiller, you don’t feel quite as bad as before but, you know, you’ve still only got one leg.

Last night was excellent, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Labour Club is a good little place and pretty much everyone either working, playing or drinking there was really sound. I got involved in a great deal of anti-BNP conversations. I could of course provide a tireless list of reasons for why I am exceptionally opposed to that parties beliefs and actions. However, I am tired and hungover so “fuck the BNP” will have to suffice I’m afraid.

I played about 10pm on a Friday so there was a fairly raucous crowd but it was fun. The vast majority of people weren’t into what I was doing, which is fair enough. I probably wasn’t the most suitable act for that time. But, you know, it goes with the territory of booking these sorts of tours. I drank free booze. Then more. I talked to many people. I had a particularly long conversation with a guy about blues which is odd as I know little to nothing about said genre if the truth be told. There was some sort of impromptu performance by a band who’ve not played in six months or something to mass hysteria and beer spilling. Some guy talked to me about chasing a deal and the pro’s and cons of doing such a thing. I think he had some points, quite valid ones, however it was difficult to decipher some of them through the large gulps of snakebite and black.

I believe we left the club about midnight and walked to a nearby pub. There my account of the evening starts to get hazy. The sambucca/whiskey combo plus Jamie’s insistence that I also continue to drink copious amounts of lager has rendered my memory somewhat redundant. I stood talking to some lovely people about STD’s. At some point standing upright became a real issue for me. I relocated to a chair which seemed a preferable to the floor. Eventually we go back to someone’s house, a sweet couple. Everyone drinks wine. I request green tea. I am, as you already know, the most rock ‘n’ roll individual ever created. We sit and talk for hours about Camberwell, art, Toys R Us and bizarre sexual encounters. It’s fun. 5am we leave their house and go to Jamie’s where I have a bed. Score. I sleep. I wake and feel like a cat who has lost a life after last nights escapades. Tonight I have it all to do again in Leeds and the plan includes another club and another quest to rid the world of alcohol. We are apparently going to be seeing Dinosaur Pile Up though which I’m really looking forward to.

The following parts of Andy’s tour diary will be serialised here this week on TGTF. Read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here

Haven’t come across Loyal Trooper before? Read our introduction to Andy’s music, and our interview. Also, download some free music from him below:

MP3: Loyal Trooper – Crystal Missile (demo)
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Holloway to Beeston Express
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Nottingham wasn’t built for me
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Division Street Blues

Last week I told you about a TGTF favourite’s new tour this week. Loyal Trooper is doing the rounds of the UK, and we’ve been lucky enough to secure his personal tour diary – so settle back and enjoy a “warts and all” account of his week on the road.

Manchester Roadhouse

I’m in a coffee shop on a particularly drizzly Manchester morning. It’s 9.30am and I’ve had a pretty good day so far. I stayed with some friends in Stockport, which is about eight or nine miles outside of Manchester city center. I’ve had a shower, coffee and been driven into town which, in touring terms, makes me feel like a king! It was great to catch up with my mates, makes me realise that part of my occasional despondency when away is possibly due to not being around familiar faces. That logic doesn’t bode well for this evening in Northampton but lets not worry about that just yet.

The journey from London to Manchester yesterday was pretty long, five hours plus on the coach. I think there’s a break off point where I go from being fine with traveling to uncomfortable and impatient. However, I met a nice guy from Canada traveling around the UK. He’d been up to the Scottish highlands, been sightseeing in London and was now on his quest to…Burnely! Still, lovely guy. I read a lot about economics which I found interesting but poorly written in the main. I don’t enjoy overly elaborate phrasing of writing just because someone can write like that or believes it highlights their intelligence. Seems like a selfish way of teaching to me.

The gig was good, yet again I was amazingly nervous and awkward. I just don’t seem to be able to stop it. What I don’t understand about my current stage demeanor is that in my daily life I am not that person. Why am I when I’m on stage? Gah?! Still, the sound was excellent, the best this tour by several miles and one of the best on any tour. All the staff were lovely and very kind to me. With the exception of ‘Rule Of Three’, I played well. Manchester audiences are quite reserved I would say on the basis of the couple of times I’ve played here. I like that as you know when you have impressed someone as it takes a lot for them to cheer, whistle, whoop etc. Post gig: drinking, reminiscing, traveling, sleeping. Air beds are great.

I feel pretty neutral today. I can’t really describe it, neither up nor down which is unusual. Because I played well I’m quite content that I didn’t let myself down. The fact that for once the sound was good made me happy. My old friends company has balanced me out too. So here I am, feeling little. On tour there’s normally something that triggers a reaction in me, either good or bad. Not today. Maybe later. With touring being some sort of sensation seeking addiction I’m sure this neutrality will be broken later. Besides, how dull being a touring musician who is content!?

The following parts of Andy’s tour diary will be serialised here this week on TGTF. Read part 1 here, part 2 here

Haven’t come across Loyal Trooper before? Read our introduction to Andy’s music, and our interview. Also, download some free music from him below:

MP3: Loyal Trooper – Crystal Missile (demo)
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Holloway to Beeston Express
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Nottingham wasn’t built for me
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Division Street Blues

Last week I told you about a TGTF favourite’s new tour this week. Loyal Trooper is doing the rounds of the UK, and we’ve been lucky enough to secure his personal tour diary – so settle back and enjoy a “warts and all” account of his week on the road.

Birmingham Yardbird

I’ve had a really great night. Family added some solidity to the base of my life which is more like quicksand than dry land when I’m on tour. I didn’t play that well in my opinion however I regained some of the ’spark’ if you like. I felt like a man having fun. If I ever manage to achieve the seemingly impossible of playing songs note perfect but entertaining people at the same time, I’ll be unstoppable. Perhaps not unstoppable but a close approximation.

Today characterizes the basis of life on tour and a life spent attempting to be a musician. When it goes right then the sensations of adrenaline running through me are untouchable. Inspiring a positive impression on strangers and gaining their belief in you is a pretty unique feeling. Getting more gigs, sales and radio play out of one show is always pleasing too.

However, tonight doesn’t mask my current perception of what I’m doing; one gig doesn’t make a tour. Last night I watched a guy play that, for a second, I saw myself becoming in 25 years time. It wasn’t an enjoyable thought. I will always want to play music for myself, I doubt I’ll ever stop doing that. But there’s a difference between playing for enjoyment and playing to earn a crust. I’ll not want to be the latter forever and I hope that I stop when I’ve clearly had my time in this current incarnation of my life. As I said to someone earlier, that may already have happened. The peaks may already have occurred. Probably not but it’s possible.

But certain things I’d never replace and would potentially never eclipse. Just silly things like the way your heart beats after an excellent gig running to the station not knowing if you’ll make the train. One day, that won’t happen and my life will probably be poorer for not having it. The genuine excitement from turning a total stranger in thirty minutes from someone who didn’t know your songs to someone who wants to embrace your music and buy your record. Most other jobs don’t have that factor to them. Tonight was positive and I did need a gig in that vein after the Stoke debacle hanging over me for a month. So yeah, thanks to 0.05% of Birmingham’s population!

The following parts of Andy’s tour diary will be serialised here this week on TGTF. Read part 1 here

Haven’t come across Loyal Trooper before? Read our introduction to Andy’s music, and our interview. Also, download some free music from him below:

MP3: Loyal Trooper – Crystal Missile (demo)
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Holloway to Beeston Express
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Nottingham wasn’t built for me
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Division Street Blues

Last week I told you about a TGTF favourite’s new tour this week. Loyal Trooper is doing the rounds of the UK, and we’ve been lucky enough to secure his personal tour diary – so settle back and enjoy a “warts and all” account of his week on the road.

Day 1: Bristol Mr Wolfs

It’s pissing it down. I have a great fear I may have waterlogged my laptop. Hmmm…not good. I’m currently sat in the cafe of the large Debenhams department store in the center of Bristol drinking coffee. I feel marginally out of place here as I am genuinely the only person in the room under the age of seventy.

Last night was good. Mr Wolfs is a lovely little place with pleasant staff and a decent enough PA. I thought I played well, although I’ve not rehearsed as much as I’d like recently due to being ill. I blistered my fingers to fudge however I’m optimistic they’ll be okay for tonight. Maybe I can borrow someone else’s fingers if not? Maybe not, huh?!

I was in an odd mood yesterday. I’ve got to the point where I am questioning how and why I am doing this now. I think certainly with touring (bearing in mind that touring for me isn’t being in a tour bus with your mates, staying in hotels and getting paid guaranteed amounts per night, it is organising all the gigs, promoting them as much as I can, organising all the travel, kipping on strangers floors etc) that I have lost some of the passion for it at present. Each tour is a lot of work for me, most of which people just think is merely playing gigs. I think a small spark in that respect is currently absent. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this lifestyle. Maybe I was but I’m growing out of it. Maybe I’m just tired of all the loss for little gain. I don’t know. I’m trying to pull myself through this period of discontentment but it’s difficult. In a path whereby little to nothing is certain I guess occasional disillusion is inevitable.

You keep going though, don’t you. As human beings that’s all we ever do. I stayed with an amazing man who has lived much more of life than I have and has lost much more than I have, in many ways. Yet he was a genuine inspiration and certainly an example of true fighting spirit destined not to be broken. My problems, in comparison, are nothing. They are simple problems all told. No great conundrums, merely coach tickets and tired eyes. I am traveling the same ground that many others have and the course of this route is never smooth. However, sometimes reminders are helpful that life can be substantially more cruel than playing songs to ten disinterested strangers.

The following parts of Andy’s tour diary will be serialised here this week on TGTF. Read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here

Haven’t come across Loyal Trooper before? Read our introduction to Andy’s music, and our interview. Also, download some free music from him below:

MP3: Loyal Trooper – Crystal Missile (demo)
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Holloway to Beeston Express
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Nottingham wasn’t built for me
MP3: Loyal Trooper – Division Street Blues

Islington, UK

The Hope and Anchor

what a blast! a tremendous end to our first ever UK tour. lots of history bleeding from the walls in this basement venue. very typical UK pub style: the drink is the focus and the stage is located in some distant antechamber, complete with treacherous stairs for your drunken loading pleasure and destroyed toilets for you to hover over while you try to work out the road cloggies.

first up was bye bye johnny – two parts the Jam, two parts Madness and one heaping hunk of mystery meat. . .bouncy, ballsy and beatific.

storm-o-face4 bands on this stage and in this room made things a little claustro-cozy. . .but once BBJ had cleared the stage we hit it with as much fever as we could. . .a wonderful crowd bobbing up and down and lo and behold even some people singing the lyrics to our songs! ! !?? ? ? i was amazed, a twitter, agog and afire! ooh the alliteration abounds. . .ok – too much.

next came medicine show who’s name is absolutely indicative of their music. . .a sort of tribal and tongues blues catharsis channeling the punk side of the pogues.

lastly and by no means leastly – a newly reformed Git who poured mood into pint glasses and rocked an ambient poetry swill that made me feel a little better for never having the opportunity to see joy division. . .perhaps a convenient comparison but no less apt. . .Git are kind and brave fellas who take chances.

the tour over, we spilled out into the london streets and searched for something to do. . .all the chip shops closed. . .bells having rung last call. . .Pizza Kebab anyone? ? ?

all that’s left is stumble back to our hotel and drink our last pounds and pence away then to bed for an early rise. we return our rental gear and shout obscenities at our disembodied Tom Tom navigator nagging us to take the next left when we can only go right!

the flight home:

3 movies -

Control (joy division coincidence?), Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon. . .top rate one and all.

the most excessive and fear inspiring turbulence i have ever experienced threatening to drop me to my death in the atlantic ocean. . .many prayers to all gods of benevolence and finally a safe landing back in Seattle. . .

in a few days we will be heading out for a small NW jaunt with LA band the colour turning. . .fine chaps, top notch music. . .definitely worth checking out.

big american hi 5’s to the UK! we will be back soon.

Black Mercies

Hertford, UK

The Marquee

Got to admit the build up for this particular show didn’t exactly meet the reality. The Marquee name is a legendary one and we were very excited to play this venue. The sound was top notch and the crew, especially Ben the sound engineer, was wonderful.

Unfortunately, that’s where this one stops. Poorly promoted, there was absolutely no one there. . .bands playing for bands at best. We have been quite fortunate so far to share these bills with class acts like Horseman Shakes and the Draymen who played before us. HSATD delivered a powerful set of Led Zeppelin meets the Commitments infused with a bit of Pearl Jam style rock which had us movin’ and shakin’ our butts. . . The opening band, however, demonstrated none of this class. . .limping through their half-baked set and then lumbering right on out of the club. . .despite the fact that all others on the bill stood before them and cheered them through what was truly an insufferable 30 minutes. How about some enthusiasm for your own music?. . .you could show a little effort – we all have lives. . .we all have to get up in the morning, we all have to go about our daily grind, but aren’t we all here to share our music? regardless of genre, personal taste or chops, music is the common bond in these situations. . .

not whining here. . .it just f***in pisses me off when a band does the kiss, kiss hug hug socializing thing before they play their set and then suck and leave, showing no support for any of the other bands on the bill. . .boo 4 u. . .bad form.

anyway, back to sunshine and lollipops! our last show at the Hope and Anchor tomorrow night. . .we are STOKED!

Doncaster, UK

The Leopard

DONNIE! Though nackered after our castle climb we barely slept and had to rouse ourselves early to load up the van for a fairly uneventful drive to Doncaster.

The Leopard was one of the larger stages we’ve played since we’ve been here. The crew at the joint were top rate. Arv the sound engineer really new how to squeeze the sound system for all it was worth and the promoter Jimmy Mac was as kind as they come. . .an old boxing promoter with that glint in his eye that told you if you crossed him, well. . .suffice to say you best not cross him. . .sort of kris kringle with a mean right hook. The crowd was absolutely enthusiastic and we reciprocated the fever in kind. . .we are loving every minute here in the UK.

Up first, The Hottest State hit us with some decidedly American R-n-R and after that Area laid it out with a hybrid that landed somewhere between System of A Down and Oasis – a quirky middle ground between wall of sound angst and pop deconstruction. Thanks to everyone who stuck around and cheered us on as we worked out our demons. . .

A day off tomorrow and then the Marquee in Hertford.

IPSWICH. . .

The people of Ipswich are amazing!  Gracious, hospitable and super friendly.  We showed up at PJ McGinty just in time to catch the last half of the FA cup match between Arsenal and Chelsea. . .had a pint and then hauled our gear up the treacherous steps to the Blue Room.  Did the usual sound check thing and settled back to watch locals ATLAS open the show with a wonderful sort of Billy Bragg meets Joe Jackson set.  We came on next and were fortunate enough to play to a near capacity room.  However, the night was not without it’s challenges – right from the start our laptop running the keys decided it was going to quit 4 bars into each song. . .what could have happened between a successful sound check and our set time God only knows.  Despite the keyboard failure, we rocked the set out as power trio and got our first encore which was amazing!  The energy was brimming and the crowd was on our side. . .what a great night!!  Following us the Waking Captors laid it out with a more hardcore Constantines-like dissonant punk and the headliners Alpha Road just blew us away with an early “caught by the fuzz” Supergrass type set. . .man those gents were good and again all the fellas were extremely friendly.

Veronica and Dave, the pub manager and booker graciously offered to put us up for free in the flat above the pub.  Built on the original town wall, it is apparently the most haunted in Ipswich. . .the friendly apparitions: a little girl who passed away due to cholera – tugging at your sheets at night, an older gentleman standing behind the television while you watch, a woman dressed in white victorian garb watching as you leave the pub toilet and a Monk who left the church and wound up at the bottom of the well that sits inside of the pub.

Left Ipswich this morning to the chants of the revellers marching their way to the darby match between Ipswich and Norwich. . .give ém hell Ipswich!

2 miles out had a flat on the motorway. . .no mind. . .we’re all in it together!  fixed the flat and we are now heading out to Edinburgh, Scotland.  We are very excited for this one as we have been asked to come in and do an interview and live acoustic performance on 98.8 Leith FM.

We are doing NO sightseeing and getting what believe to be the real UK experience. . .real people, real countryside.

So, what do you do when 3 days before you leave to tour the UK your keyboard player still hasn’t received his passport?
Unfortuantely, you stay awake the whole weekend before you leave trying to import keyboard tracks onto your laptop and rock it without him. . .what’s the cliche?  the show must go on. . .so on it goes.

We arrived at Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon and got fleeced on our hotel room. . .is this an omen?  well, we’re here, let’s make the best of it. . .got pissed in the lobby bar and crashed for the rest of the night.  Wednesday morning we drove through London to pick up our rental gear from Matt Snowball Music – great people who were really friendly and very accomodating. . .unbelieveably, we were able to pack our gear into an SUV – though storm and i had to give each other no-commital lap dances for the roll to Colby’s brother’s house where we took a little nappy.

When we checked our email for the specs on the first nights gig at the Jericho Tevern in Oxford, we were surprised to find out that they cancelled the show. . .WTF?  another omen?  steady boys. . .we gotta turn this thing around. . .apparently the headliner – who were to supply the drum and bass backline pulled out of the gig and the promoter decided to pull the whole show. . .sounds dodgy to me.  According to quite a lot of musicians we’ve come in contact with while we’ve been here this sort of thing is not uncommon for the Jericho. . .F#$k ‘em. . .let’s go get pissed!  Drank a lot of guinness and jack and geared ourselves up for Club Quattroz in Harlow and what a great night it was! ! ! The crowd was sexy as all get out and the two other bands on the bill (the Campaign and Broken Mile) were great and really superior individuals. . .we are amazingly thankful to be playing here with the likes of them. . .

at any rate, the beer flowed like wine and the rock was at a fever. . .i can only hope that the rest of the tour goes as smashingly as last night went.