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...
