By the way – this is the TV show Don’t Hold me Back is being used in on 13th September.  It’s on Showtime for those of you in the USA.  Check it oot.

Alex

This is a review of the Brighton gig.  It’s always nice to get a good review and not to be instantly slated purely by virtue of the fact that you are a male singer songwriter – we get SUCH bad press…

Every single morning I end up sat in the little chef.  Here I am.  Everyone else is asleep.  We aren’t leaving until 1pm or so, so I am not entirely sure what I am going to do for the next 4 hours…

Thanks to those of you that came to Bristol last night.  I thought The Shame was the best we have played it in a while actually.  Yeeah.  And I also CANNOT BELIEVE I made a mistake in Once More I’m Put to the Test – arghh.  I am turning into Bevis.

Hope you are all good and see you in Winchester laters for the next instalment…

Alex

…is now in our set.  We worked it all out in the van then rehearsed it in soundcheck before the Brighton gig last night.  New favourite live song?  Maybe…

Brighton is such a cool place, especially in the sunshine, we arrived around 2ish and headed to the beach for a beer, people swimming in the sea, light breeze, sun shining down.  Then it was to the venue to set up.  Great little place the Latest Music Bar and we were well looked after.  Tonight we play Bristol, The Louisiana.  See you there.

Btw one thing which is really annoying at the moment is everyone moaning about Guns n’ Roses (well Axl Rose) being late at Reading and Leeds.  Bands like Foals etc all saying it is juvenile and disrespectful.  It’s neither of those things.  It’s the way rock n’ roll used to be – Jimi Hendrix always came on late, The Who smashed their stuff up.  You also need to remember where Axl and co. have come from.   I have a book of interviews with bands from Rolling Stone and one of those interviews is with David Geffen (label boss of GnR’s label at the time).  He was asked about when the band were signed.  He said he walked into the Geffen offices with the A&R guy who signed them, Tom Zutaut, and he saw these tearaways on the sofa in reception.  He said to Tom something like ‘who the hell are these guys? they look like they have been picked up out of the gutter” and Tom said “they have”.  Axl and co. were complete nutcases, a screaming ginger haired lunatic, a curly haired heroin taking womaniser, and the rest, they came from nothing and became the biggest band in the world.  They were always late for gigs, that was part of the excitement – will they turn up, won’t they turn up etc.  None of the current crop of bands can really call themselves rock n’ roll bands if they they don’t get it.

See you tonight!

Alex

Pic:  Record of the Day thing…

So,  I am in YET ANOTHER Little Chef but this time I have avoided the Olympic breakfast and went for something smaller, and IT HAS THE SAME EFFECT.  Dang.  If you see me near a Little Chef restrain me, give me a lettuce and tell me to eat that instead. 

Last night in Cambridge was excellent – thanks for coming down.  It’s a great venue the Portland Arms, really nice people that work there, great sound guy, excellent little room, I think I might like to go back and play there again.  We head to Brighton shortly, getting in quite early because we want to try to work out how to play Nothing Comes Easy properly (track 11 on the ltd edition CD).  Last night in soundcheck we worked out a new version of You’re Not the One That I Love Anymore and I think it’s really good, I do.

OH NO.  Bevis has just come in and ordered a breakfast too.

Before I go, any musicians out there that need a van and a legend of a bloke to drive the van and help with gear, then Scott is your man – check out his website BANDRUNNER.  He is doing this tour for us, and he is helping us massively Go and look.

Alex

…order an olympic breakfast at the little chef just now.  I feel horrific now.  Too much food.  Too much.  Urgh.

So, am on tour with the lads, played Glasgow and Edinburgh last night, both awesome gigs in different ways.  Tonight we are playing in Cambridge at the Portland Arms, but we need to get there first, the band are sleeping in the Travelodge just north of Newcastle and I am in the Little Chef trying to not have a heart attack.

Oh, today I am ‘Record of the Day’, which means I am record of the day, yeeah.

Right, this post was going to be longer, I have lots to say but I actually am now feeling a bit sick, to add to the post-Olympic breakfast illness the sun is shining through the window really brightly and making me hot. What a diva.

More to come.

Alex

Come down, so you can hear things like this…

…feeling like an elephant slept on my chest last night, pretty sure one didn’t.  Insides feel sort of bruised.  Is that normal?  I blame Simon’s new MASSIVE drum kit and unloading it last night after an EXCELLENT gig at Acoustic Edinburgh, where, during our cover of Brothers in Arms I even made the ceiling cry (either that or it was a leak, or someone was trying to take a piss on me).  Anyway, was goood.

New single is on the Radio Scotland playlist, so request away for that.  I doubt this one will make the Radio 2 playlist cos it’s a bit edgier, more of a 6 Music vibe, in the way these things are categorised, but it’s all good.  On 13th Sepotember ‘The Big C’ in which (episode 3) is on air and you will be able to hear ‘Don’t Hold me Back’ – my lovely little song.

Tis but a few days until the tour begins, I am very much looking forward to playing every night again, rather than one off gigs, as has been the way it worked through the festivals / summer season.  It’s already autumnal here.  Where I live the sky is massive, a big sky, and as the season changes it is at its most beautiful.  So THERE!

Hope you are all doing good.

Alex

ps only 9 copies of ltd edition CD left…so get to it!

…was a great gig. Thanks to Amy’s fans for being so nice, we had a great time! If you are coming to my website after the gig, check out our upcoming Glasgow and Edinburgh dates on the tour page…

Alex

On Friday we played at Fringe by the Sea, tomorrow we are supporting Amy MacDonald then next week one more gig as part of the Edinburgh Festival then the tour begins (do you have tickets yet…?).  On Saturday we recorded live and filmed (by Gillian from Thought Out Media) new arrangements of a few of my tunes, two of which are ready to go (see below).  Btw my track ‘Don’t Hold me Back’ is being used significantly in the new US Tv Show ‘The Big C’ episode 3, which is out in the US on 13th September – check it out!  And in other exciting news, Brothers in Arms, our cover thereof, is being included on the Dermot O’ Leary Saturday sessions CD, which is coming out on Sony on 27 September.  So many things…

Onwards,
Alex

Hello,

I am back from Cornwall, swimming, drinking, eating etc etc etc etc.  and also replying to emails on my Blackberry, and organising things etc.  Well, all is good.  First of all, go and get Word Magazine tomorrow because the Jay Reynolds (Just Jack, Paloma Faith etc.) mix of  Once More I’m Put to the Test is in it, which is good.  It’s a different mix to the one I did on the album version.

Bevis arrives tomorrow night ready for the Fringe by the Sea gig on Friday night, then on Saturday we are doing a live recording / video of me and Bevis and a string quartet playing some of the new soon to be classics from the new record, which I’ll post for free download and also on Youtube on Sunday, if I get the chance to edit it all by then.  Looking forward to that very much.

Keep spreading the word re the tour, more the merrier etc.! 

Onwards,

Alex