The Boxer Rebellion Blog

Can you ever have too many recipes?

So here I am, sat in my hotel room in San Francisco. We obviously still have some shows left, including this evening at the Great American Music Hall, but we're definitely in that part of the tour that brings you some reflection. We arrived here last night in a bit of a haze after a 12 1/2 hour journey from Portland. This can create a hazy feeling in itself, but I think it has also dawned on us just how far we have travelled in the last few weeks. We flew into LA on the first day, and drove from there, and then tomorrow evening we will be rolling into the same town - a little weary but with heaps more memories to pack away in the memory luggage. We have definitely done some miles in the past but I think I'm correct in saying that this is the longest tour we've ever done. It will be close to 8 weeks when I finally get back through my door - and start having to wash up after my meals again. I realise that really huge bands are often away for longer, but I also know that really huge bands will have individual buses, and personal assistants etc. This, for me, has truly been week on week of looking at the back of Adam's head, to the point where I can tell what activity he is doing (sleeping, reading, staring forwards, watching TV) according to the level of his head against his chair. We have definitely reached the point where all our conversations sound like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. There is nothing to catch up on, so you can imagine how pointless and ridiculous stuff can get. Whilst setting up the other day, we genuinely had a conversation based upon my premise that you can never have too many recipes (Todd disagreed, Adam, I think, agreed). Feel free to muse over that yourself, but really, conversationally, there's an example of how we're not all there.
     The normality is the shows themselves. It was always going to be interesting to see how things panned out for us this time around. We haven't released a new album (or anything really) since our last tour here over a year ago, and it goes without saying that the disappointment of having to cancel the whole tour in the Autumn wasn't ideal, but I think I can speak for all of us when I say we have had massive smiles put on our faces by the people that have turned out this tour. The understanding and concern for us over the cancellation of our previous tour has been heartwarming (particularly for me, who has spent most time meeting people before shows), and thank you, still, for those people. Without going into detail that has already been described, that has all been noted and appreciated. Also, the numbers of people that have been out to see us has made all those hours sat travelling worthwhile. And amongst those numbers, I have met an awful lot who have never seen us before. It's great to see our music spreading, and to hear what it means to so many folk. It's a main reason as to why we do it.
     One final note has to go to our support band, Canon Blue, who have followed us all round the country (not forgetting Canada!) playing some great shows with us. The most accommodating and lovely set of people you're ever likely to meet (even when, in Durham, due to technical issues, we handed over to soundcheck for them 15 minutes after doors!). They have not held their heads high in the games arena though, losing not only pride but also money at shuffleboard and pool. They are fast running out of time to redeem themselves on that score (3 days in fact). Anyway, if you weren't at a show over the last month, or you turned up too late, check them out.
     You may hear from me again on this tour (we are going back to Mexico after all).  I appreciate not much blogging has been going on this year but, well, we've got to keep things interesting - in the mean time, if you're due to see us over the next few days, come and say hi. It's been a pleasure North America.

Piers.

P.S. For Canon Blue:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canon-Blue/28455937447

and check out our expanding tour photo gallery:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150783957270928.454514.14556365927&type=1

Remember to remember

So we're fully into the swing of Autumn now, at least where I am. The clocks have gone back, everything gets dark before we really want it to, and people starting putting the heating on and turning their houses into ovens (it never gets that cold too quickly). Also, as just about everyone knows, the beginning of November brings with it 2 rather memorable dates in the British calendar, one of which is today, remembrance day. It can be a heartwarming experience as at 11am on the 11th November, we are encouraged to be still for two minutes and reflect on all those that have given their lives, or put themselves on the line, in war, to protect others. Anybody who follows good telly will tell you certain cinematic experiences such as Band Of Brothers or The Pacific will certainly leave you in the debt of those that are being portrayed, though it is fair to say that, however well those things are filmed, it is impossible to get a true grasp of the horror of what those people go through in national service. And for that, I think the least people can do is stand and reflect for 2 minutes of their day.
     I opted to sit on my sofa, watching the silent pictures on BBC News and also surveying an extensive view from four floors up in my flat over quite a large space, and rather sadly every now and again, catching a glimpse of someone that was obviously not feeling the need to think about such things. Obviously, everyone is different, but the comparison on a day like today with the other common day in our November calendar does get a little annoying. I can't help but think of all the people that did not take part earlier today, but who possibly planned a large part of last weekend around a fireworks display, traditionally to commemorate a person over 400 years ago who tried to blow up parliament. Call me old fashioned if you like, but I've always thought this, and I believe human tragedy and all thought that surrounds it should always be remembered in the most appropriate way possible.
     Without meaning to be all doom and gloom, as many are aware, we had some pretty terrible news that hit our Boxer camp over the last few weeks. Whilst it's not appropriate for me to go into any more detail than we have previously stated right now, I know I speak for all of us when I say it has been tremendously uplifting to view literally hundreds and hundreds of messages from people all over the world expressing their sympathies and good will. Every single one of them did not go unnoticed. It goes without saying that we are not a band of quitters, and it was with deep regret that we had to pull the dates in America and beyond, but it really was necessary under the circumstances, and a big thank you goes out to all those who sent their best wishes our way.
     We are a positive bunch, and whilst not being the other side of the pond and playing shows right now really is sad, we have used our time at home to good effect. A lot of bands write on the road, but that is less easy for us as a whole, so we make sure we take advantage of some rehearsal time when we can, and whilst The Cold Still is still proudly burning in our musical hearts, we have also unearthed some new beasts, of which we are becoming increasingly proud of. In the mean time, it is onwards and upwards to making sure we end the year on a high. We have been aching to do another show since we played at Shepherd's Bush Empire a few weeks back - and thank you to everyone that made that night so special for us. It really was one of the best nights that we have ever had. We are, in case people didn't know, picking back up on the gigging trail at the beginning of December with a handful of shows in Holland, followed by a whistle stop tour over on the west coast of America, and then finishing with 2 rather splendid nights in Brussels and Paris. I'm sure you will hear from me before then, but if you live near any of those shows, it would be a pleasure to see you there. Thank you again people, you're a cracking bunch of fans to have.

Piers.

In The Empire

Reflect And Respect

I realise that a few of my blogs in the past have contained some rather morbid subject matter, but I suppose blogs exist because something has provoked your thought. I have tried to keep things regular, but I guess on occasion, not an awful lot has provoked my thought enough to warrant making people read it. Last week, I referred to our media circus - the News Of The World phone hacking scandal that seems to have got everyone's goat over the last few weeks. Only 6 days ago, you couldn't move for people talking about shaving foam pies being thrown at Mr Murdoch himself. And now, in a remarkably sad twist of fate, all the attention has suddenly spread elsewhere. When true sadness envelops the media, there really is no other news.
     It has been interesting and sad to see how people have reacted to the deaths of some unknown names in Norway, and the death of the rather more famous name of Amy Winehouse over the weekend. You hear the phrase "get things into perspective" quite often in conversation in every day life, but that is a rather difficult thing to apply here. Quite like the natural disasters of recent times, Friday's news from Norway just beggars belief. How anyone could plan and carry out such attacks on innocent people (and even claim he was not breaking the law), is just beyond understanding, and I have felt sadness for all the victims of the atrocities all weekend. Of that there is no doubt.
     Obviously through no-one's fault, the attention of your average Joe Bloggs has been drawn away from that sad event to the news of the passing away of, let's face it, one of the most talented singers of recent times. I was in my local pub when the news of Amy Winehouse's death broke, and you could literally hear it go round the place. One of the saddest aspects of this weekend, is that these two tragic events happened so close to one another, that people felt the need to compare them, when really, there is no comparison to be made at all. One thing that some people have decided is that it is not possible to be sad about both, largely because (though not proven but mainly accepted) Amy's demise was brought about by herself. The rights or wrongs of those kinds of statements I don't believe are right for me to discuss, but I will say that in both instances, many people are currently suffering grief, in whatever way it came about, and in Amy's case, many of those people have tried very hard, and ultimately in vain, to stop that happening. And the coverage and opinion offered to these events in no way reflects the importance of what has happened either, in terms of comparison. I believe Simon Pegg expressed on twitter just this morning that the closer death is, the more reflective we get. Obviously he was referring to having met and/or known her, but we are talking about someone that has, rightly or wrongly, been afforded some major column inches in the British press. And for that people's interest is naturally going to be high, hence the amount of press coverage it has been given - which I have seen criticised.
     I guess what I am really getting at is that the best thing about the expanse of social networking is that everybody has a voice or an opinion. Unfortunately, that can also be the worst thing about it too, A sense of perspective is not the most important thing for me here, but a sense of respect most certainly is. And for anybody waking up on this Monday with a sense of loss that wasn't there last Monday, for whatever reason, my heart most definitely goes out to them. And that includes the families and friends of Lance Corporal Jabari N. Thompson, and Corporal Mark Anthony Palin.
     Sorry for this not being particularly chirpy, but I suppose you could say I have had many thoughts provoked over the last couple of days. To bring things into a slightly happier context, we, the Boxer boys will be back on a rather long road tomorrow morning, all the way down to Grenoble for a festival on Wednesday evening, the same day that we will be putting out a new product for your listening pleasure - a collection of tracks (a live album, if you will) taken from our gig in Nathan's home town of Maryville, Tennessee last October. It even comes with your choice of artwork - some rather well taken live shots of the four of us. We hope that those of you that choose to buy it have as enjoyable time listening to it as we did making it. Here is a link to more information about it, if you hadn't seen it already.
http://theboxerrebellion.com/news/story/live-in-tennessee-out-july-27/
Thanks for reading.

Piers.

Really Hacked Off.

When I was younger, hacking to me meant just one thing. It meant I wasn't fast enough to catch whoever it was that was faster than me when playing football on the school field at lunch, thus leaving me with one option - take a big swing with the left boot and chop away at their speedy legs. No worries of a yellow/red card. This is lunchtime football we're talking about where the rulebook simply doesn't exist. Another major show of ignorance of a different rule book (let's call this the moral rulebook) has taken place over obviously quite long a period of time that has meant the word "hacking" means a completely different thing to me nowadays. Our news coverage in the UK has been absolutely littered over the last fortnight with continual stories of News International, and specifically one of it's papers, News Of The World, hacking into some very high profile phones indeed. It seems politicians and celebrities were not enough for the greedy paws of some News Of The World journalists, and the stories that have emerged of phones being hacked of murder victims, families of war victims and even 9/11 victims are nothing less than some of the most shocking things I have ever read. And all because they wanted to sell a few more papers. Indeed, when news becomes news, you know that things are not looking good.
     The upshot of it all is really rather blurred. It's a fantastic shot in the arm for anyone with an anti-tabloid stance - and there are many of those - and it is currently dismembering Rupert Murdoch's bloated media empire as we speak, which can only be a good thing. In fact, our political talk of the morning today is taken up with people stating there should be laws on multi-ownership of our media. On a far less important level, this is not allowed in the ownership of football clubs, so how it has carried on for so long in our media circus is quite the joke. The fall guys of course (other than the victims themselves) are the innocent ones. The people in the background of things at News Of The World. The people who do sports reports, arts reviews and all sorts of other jobs that were a million miles away from the disgusting corruption that has gone on, who are now, as a result of the paper ceasing to exist, out of work. The whole thing has left a sour taste in the mouth and has dominated a lot of conversation in these parts, that's for sure.
     One part of the media that is obviously NOT on the downturn is the internet. With us hardly being darlings of the press ourselves, it is on the web that a lot of our support has consistently come. A sign of that this week came from the nice people at http://www.blackcabsessions.com/ and http://www.last.fm/ who got us involved in what they were doing. It started with a rather good black cab session (it does exactly what it says on the tin) which involved a cool rendition of 'No Harm'. I actually have to take people's word for it on this one, as due to a lack of space, I was temporarily ousted from The Boxer Rebellion and they did it as a 3-piece (I'm sure they would all vouch for the fact it was better without me...). These cabs aren't that big you know. There are lots of cool sessions available to view on their website, which is linked 3 lines up. Definitely worth checking out.
     Straight after that, I met the boys out of their cab, right in the heart of London on Carnaby Street, where we performed a short 3-song acoustic set. I don't think we can say that it was spontaneously announced the night before, for obvious reasons, but it was revealed at the last minute, giving it quite a nice pop-up feel. There was a large bunch of people there when we played (including a friend of ours who apologised afterwards for turning up late and "only getting to see the last 3 songs" - quote of the day for me). It was a really fun experience for everybody (other than when Todd's mini amp decided it needed a break), so thank you to anyone who turned up with such late notice, and we hope anyone that was there deemed it worthwhile to give up their lunchbreak for. Or their entire day for a handful. Big kudos must go to the nice chap (never forget, I am terrible with names...) who traveled up from Brighton just for it. Even more must go to the 2 girls we met who traveled all the way up from Southampton especially, and missed the whole thing. I did feel bad about that one - like we should have taken them out for lunch or something.
     I think had we done that, they might have ended up regretting it as I would have to have taken them somewhere that included watching the first round of the British Open (golf, if this is all alien to you). Indeed, I am about to settle down now, with regular cups of tea, to watch the final round, kind of hoping that, after all the fuss of the super-talented and young Rory McIlroy, that actually 42-year-old Darren Clarke, with his self-confessed un-athletic physique and on course smoking habit, can see it through and show them all how it's done. Which is kind of like going to a festival hoping to discover the really exciting next big thing, getting to the end, and then realising that the best thing you saw was Bruce Springsteen. And I say that because it's happened before. Anyway, where did I put those tea bags...
Piers.

Home Sweet Home

Time does indeed fly when you've been having fun. Or, if you've just been really busy. My attention has been drawn, from a number of angles, to the fact that I have remained blogless for a little while now. I do enjoy keeping people updated so I won't put it down to laziness, but I am pretty forgetful these days, and days do occasionally pass me by without me realising, so I'd much rather put it down to that.
     Having said that, in band world (and therefore my world) over the last few weeks, we have struck a level of routine not known to us for some time. Solid touring has taken way to a few festivals, and in between that, starting the writing for our 4th album. And in between all that, lots of small things pop up that you have forgotten about, like seeing the same people on the same train on consecutive days, reading the same paper in the same seat (I shall refrain from laying into this in any way, because I am one of those people that sits in the same seat on the way up to town - but then all my cds are alphabetically and chronologically ordered, so I would do that). Other simple things suddenly become nice like actually being able to phone your friends up and asking them down the pub on spec, rather than getting the diaries out. And getting into a habit of remembering when TV shows are on, and actually watching them. Touring is great in so many ways, but there are always things that draw you back, however small. In fact, I often say to people that when you're away, you often want to be at home, and when you're at home you often want to be on tour.
     Now though, I'm quite happy having a bit of routine for a while - probably because I know how much we'll be away come the Autumn (keep your eyes peeled very soon for new tour dates by the way). We are not a 5 day-a-week rehearsal band - that would send us loopy - but we are in a habit of at least a couple of days a week right now, and you might be pleased to know that new material is slowly being bled out of the creative stone. It can be a slow and frustrating process, and anyone who has ever tried to create anything arty from nothing will vouch for that. Some days I can look at my sticks and wonder what the hell I'm going to get out of them. But whilst getting there can be like pulling teeth for me, 'giving birth' to a new song that we're all proud of is one of the best things about being in a band. For that reason, whilst I find it much easier to get myself on stage to play than to rehearsals, I am very much looking forward to the end of the summer, where we can survey the scene and see where album 4 is headed.
     We have also been playing a few festivals this summer too, as some of you may be aware. Apologies to those in the UK who are still waiting around to see us via the red button playing in a field somewhere - we would like nothing more than to be a red button band. We'll get there soon. For the moment, I guess you'll have to be in the know a bit more to catch us at a festival. We have enjoyed our times on stage so far this summer though don't get me wrong. I remember last summer, after we played an acoustic show in the VIP area at V Festival, I shared a main stage Kings Of Leon experience with a friend from another band who shall remain nameless (though they do bigger festival slots than us). The Kings were apparently finding the crowd quite hard, and had to stop to plead with the crowd to get into it a bit more, complaining that "we've come a long way to play in front of you guys". To which my nameless friend turned to me and made the very accurate observation that they were also getting paid an awful lot of money to do so too. Not bemoaning our fee at all, but we got paid considerably less to play at Rockness in Northern Scotland the other week, and I reckon our travel hours were fairly similar - and we did it in the back of a splitter van rather first class air travel (and stayed in travelodge, Perth the night before!). And you don't hear us complaining, I'll tell you that. It was a lovely setting for a festival - possibly the best I've seen - right near the banks of Loch Ness. Just the right size and not overcrowded too, like so many of the main UK festivals. We had a nice Sunday afternoon slot in (just about) nice weather. Then, in contrast to anything Kings Of Leon have probably done in years, packed our stuff up, left the site at 4.45 in our splitter van and drove all the way - to London. This included loading the gear into our lock up in the middle of the night. I got into bed at 3.45am, exactly 12 hours after I was about to go on stage in Scotland! I don't say any of this for any kind of a sympathy vote, I guess more to blow away the rock and roll pretense that so many bands like to keep up, for reasons I know not. It's a job a lot of the time, but it's a job that some people should realise more often that an awful lot of people would also love to do in their place. Which is why you won't see us complaining too much!
     So if you see us at a festival in the UK or Europe over the next few weeks, if you can find yourself a pass, you could probably help us load out if you want. See, I didn't even put an exclamation mark, thus meaning maybe a small percentage of me isn't joking! (I'll put on there though, before I take this too far). Anyway, as I said, we are confirming a whole host of things right now, and in a week or so, there will not only be a load of new tour dates, but we will also have a spangly new line in merchandise for you to purchase, if merch is your kind of thing, so keep your eyes on our sites. And don't forget, if walking around in a Boxer Rebellion bikini is NOT your thing (that's probably not going to happen by the way, so don't be disappointed!), then you can always spend your days glued to our twitter pages:
@piershewitt @nathannicholson @adsharrison and @todd_boxer. We can be funny. Sometimes.
     Or, finally, you can join in with one of my home routines too if you like. If you didn't know, whilst I am home for reasonable periods, I have a radio show on a local station to where I live, which you can find online at: http://www.phoenixfm.com
It's Tuesdays 10pm til midnight (if you live in the UK), if listening to me warble through my music collection appeals to you. In fact, I have to go as I'm on in an hour. Which is probably good anyway as I can see how long this is already. See some of you soon, and others, well, longer...

Piers.

It's always a pleasure playing in The Netherlands

Despite the apauling  state of our van and having to endure a flat tyre before we even set off, last night's show was pretty damn cool. We all seem to have a soft spot for the people of The Netherlands and we were very sad to hear of the potential closure of Kink FM on October 1st. Please help wherever you can to make sure the best independent radio  show in Holland doesn't stop broadcasting. We'll keep you posted.

Britain's Got Talent?

You have probably heard me complain before about one of the things I dislike the most about being on tour. Missing my TV. I am not a guy that spends all day every day on the sofa, demanding someone makes me cheese sandwiches and milkshakes. But when I do sit down, on whatever day that might be, I can certainly remain there, in front of the box, for a lot longer than some. I watch a lot of sport, but rarely get into many series because I like to sit and watch things like that with other people, like my wife. On my own, I watch a lot of throwaway stuff when I get going, which is what makes watching sport easy to do. So with that in mind, being on tour is a massive positive in regard to me getting sucked in to whatever reality/talent show that is running at the time.
     We had a great couple of weeks in Europe prior to last weekend, which meant I came back to the UK at the climax of the ironically named 'Britain's Got Talent'. I'm sure I don't need to patronise you by explaining how it works. Even America's got an equally terrible version of it now. In fact, on a programme I stumbled across the other day, entitled '50 Most Shocking Talent Show Moments', I saw a woman from a previous series of 'America's Got Talent', actually breaking various objects with her massive breasts. Quite how anybody interprets this as a talent is beyond me.
     Anyway, back to last week. So the judges managed to whittle the competition down to a select few, which included a woman who sang with a dog in her arms whilst the dog attempted to make similar noises, a man who tried to make a musical show out of the fact he could pop his eyes in and out, and someone's Grandma playing on old organ like she's about to have a cardiac arrest with a smile on her face. And she made the final. I'll admit it, I'm amused and entertained by all this, which is why I end up watching it. But in a similar way to how people slow down on a motorway to check out a car pile up. Most of the time it's so bad, it's compelling to see how seriously people take things, sometimes, for literally 5 minutes of fame. Occasionally, if they are talented/odd enough, they might make a couple of tours of big venues and then trickle down through the club backwaters until almost everyone has forgotten about them because a new series of the same show has started, and the general public has moved on. It's a cycle so obvious, it still makes me wonder how every year people queue up for hours just for the slimmest chance of it all.
     As an artist, there is a genuinely annoying side to this too though. Joe Bloggs is now subjected to entertainment, or in my thought case, music, that is so watered down, that people start to believe that it is ok to buy albums by people who are effectively creating glorified karaoke. Believe me, as a lot of people have known for years that I play in bands, I have been asked for my opinion on heaps of artists who have come off that type of gravy train. And it's difficult to offer much positivity towards them without sounding arrogant or rude, which is never how I mean to come across. To put it into context, there was a chap who nearly won the whole competition on Saturday who had quite a nice Joe Cocker type voice. It says a lot that I can't remember his name, but through entering an audition, and possibly playing a collection of no more than 3 covers on his acoustic guitar, he has achieved more TV time than we, The Boxer Rebellion, could ever dream of, through the hard working avenues that we have to pursue. I do not begrudge the guy, as it is not his fault at all, but it is frustrating to see people get so excited about someone who can sing a bit of Tracey Chapman quite well.
     The other aspect of this is singles. What is a single these days? That's certainly a difficult question to answer.  Back in 2005 we had the fortune (though we didn't think that way at the time) of being released from our record label in the week of release of our debut album. It was a weird time when it happened, particularly with a perfectly good new album delivered, but we all remember thinking that the writing was on the wall when our last single, 'All You Do Is Talk' was only being given a digital release, instead of physical as well. How times have changed. It's pretty much all digital now. Take a look at the current UK Top 40 singles charts and you will find Tracey Chapman in there at number 28 (incidentally, higher than we have ever had a single placed), not through any kind of campaign, but because this chap performed her song on Britain's Got Talent. And all this time, we're on the independent route, with a new single of our own, busting a gut to see who, if anyone, would like to play our new record. And not necessarily for a chart placing either, just for some album awareness, to continually put us in a more comfortable position to write and record album 4 (which has started by the way - the writing at least). In the process of my being entertained, it is equally enough to make me throw my hands up in the air and think, what's the point? But it's a different beast doing what we're doing. We're way beyond fame ever being important to us - our joke twitter followers count competitions when we're away will tell you that. But making music - our own music - that is credible to us and enough other people, to keep us sustained and growing really is our first priority. And until I lose it and enter The X Factor singing a Phil Collins cover, that is how it shall remain.  
If you haven't seen the video for our new single then you can check it out here. We appreciate it is different for us, and it resulted in a lot of hard debate, but it is beautifully shot, and it's certainly better than 4 guys playing in a white room! We hope you like it.

And if you want to makes us feel more famous than we actually are, don't forget our twitter handles - @piershewitt, @adsharrison, @todd_boxer and @nathannicholson.  

Piers.

The Piers Series (If you haven't seen it..)

For those of you not on Facebook here's your chance to see all photos in the Piers Coke Bottle Pickup series.....

To Holland and back

I leave my blog for 5 minutes (well, a bit more than 2 weeks actually) and I find myself back in the land of ham and cheese. Which, can I just say, is not a bad thing. As far as sandwiches go, you can do a lot worse than ham and cheese. I want that set in stone from the offset.
     It is safe to say that quite a bit has happened since I last sat down to do this. That royal wedding thing happened for a start. I remember that just before I went to bed in some west coast hotel room, I flicked on one of the multiple channels covering it. I was lucky enough to see David Beckham showing his wife up (again), arriving at the wedding, rather stylishly decked out with his OBE medal, whilst she was wearing a hat that went as far down the forehead as possible. I turned over and went to sleep for what was actually quite a full night in American tour terms. When I woke up and turned the telly back on, Bill and Kath STILL hadn't got to the palace. No wonder everyone having street parties and royal wedding pub crawls in Britain got so utterly smashed. As an aside, I am happy to join the bandwagon here and state that Kate's sister, Pippa was indeed looking very hot - and I told my wife that too.
     So, I bet you all thought that was the event of the weekend right? Well, you're wrong. Despite the criminal lack of TV coverage, event of the weekend have to go to our show at The Roxy in LA the following day. We seem to have been to LA loads for one thing or another, but that was only our second time doing our own show there, so to go there, play such a notorious venue and sell it out a week up front was pretty special. And if any of you were there, well, you made it even more special. What a great crowd. And just when any of the crowd were thinking that they were having the best night in ages, we made it even better, and pulled out our never-seen-at-a-Boxer-gig-before joker in pack. Actually, I say that like we had anything to do with this, but other than agreeing to it, we didn't. We had a lovely email from a fan a few days before the show to ask for a very special favour. We had our first first marriage proposal, live on stage. Trust me, standing at the back of the stage, it was like something out of a film. I think it goes without saying that she said yes (she wouldn't have got out of the venue alive otherwise!), and we have a great video of it knocking about that you should check out.
     The American trip finished in a blur of tired goodness, as you can imagine, so our week at home could not have come soon enough (except for Nathan, who had the pleasure of a friend's wedding and a week's holiday in Jamaica, the lucky git). I'm not convinced I've ever suffered jetlag/tiredness as much, which was not helped by me, as best man, having to arrange and be part of my brother's stag do (bachelor party) only 2 1/2 days after getting back home. It was a 15 hour day that set me back a good couple of days I can tell you. I will not lower the standards of this blog such that I will tell you how many times he worshiped the porcelain god, but I can reveal it was more than once.
     So that week was largely spent trying to sleep without waking up at 5am, and then trying not to drop off to sleep in the afternoon. And everyone knows how unpleasant it becomes in the mouth to eat something, fall asleep for an hour and then wake up. Not nice. We were also treated to a week of bitchy politics in the UK as not only did we have local council elections the day after our return but also our first national referendum for decades on a slightly watered down version of the electoral reform that one half of our coalition government wants. Firstly, I shall never understand how low election turnouts generally are, particularly for local elections, which day to day, probably affect people more than general elections. Secondly, our referendum awareness was poor enough that as a country, we have just voted no, and blown the chance of electoral reform for probably more than a generation. The councilor I voted for also lost her seat, so it was a double whammy for me. Elections do suck for the underdogs. The week of news following was not a pretty one for the two parties in our coalition. I am not the first to say that I don't think it's going to last very long.
     So after about probably a day and a half of feeling back to normal, we are back out in Europe. Not all of Europe sadly, but as I'm sure people are aware, there are other areas we will cover just as soon as we can. Fortunately, Holland wanted us back very quickly, and the first few shows this week have been really fun times for us. The first show in Den Haag was part of a festival called Walk The Line, a great festival set in a few venues right in the heart of the town. The show on Friday was great, and Saturday was largely spent drinking some nice local beers in the sunshine, watching a few quality acts. A big 'word up' has to go to The Staves, a set of 3 sisters who put in a stint of some of the finest harmonies you will ever hear. They are friends of ours', but I'm pretty sure it was the first time we have all seen them. If you have the opportunity, you should do the same, and they are recording their debut album in June, under very special circumstances, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
     So after playing our first ever shows in Rotterdam and Utrecht we are now just about to embark on our first show ever in Eindhoven. It is remarkable how far removed these drives are compared to what we just did in America. We drove here last night from Utrecht, which took just under an hour, and now here we all are, with loads of spare time, sat in the lobby (due to the lack of in-room wifi) on our various Apple products, in almost absolute silence. If any of you thought hanging out with the Boxer Rebellion was an exciting experience, right now, you might change your minds. We'll ramp it up for this evening, I promise. Must go. I'm off to study how much of Ireland's money (that they don't have) that the Queen's visit is to cost in security...

Piers.