i'm sitting here!




today we arrived in winnipeg,manitoba.
it seems like an interesting city.
lots of cool buildings that remind me of chicago.
we're now three shows into the tour for intrpols as yet un-named third album. things are going well. i had a nightmare of a show in kitchner ontario (show 2). during the last song pauls guitar droped down in volume by about 60% and daniels guitar stopped working altogether. it was a stress fest.
both guitar rigs have so many pedals now that trouble shooting takes a wee bit longer than before.
the problems were solved and the band continued, after a short break.
i got a big cheer from the crowd, but it was a long 2 minutes i tell you....
thats the point of doing these small warm ups though, to iron out the kinks and eliminte any gremlins.....

the band have a 50 minute set at coachella next weekend so we're doing the same set every night in preperation.
they throw in 3 more songs as an encore.
i understand that some people are feeling a bit let down by the length of the show, but we're going to be on tour for a while, so you'll have a chance to see a "proper" show soon.....

it's been great to be with the crew guys on a bus again.....
i'm sure i'll be singing a different tune this time next year though.
we're trying to make the show as good as poss. under some interesting conditions.
but it really is good to be on a crew where everyone is pulling in the same direction, you would be amazed at how rare that is.....


Canada is a wonderfull place.
don't let anyone tell you any different.
people are friendly and helpfull, it's just a pain in the ass to get in the country sometimes.
there were some spectacular views on the 1300 mile drive from london,ontario to winnipeg yesterday...
we hugged lake superior for a long time and saw icebergs.........
while we stopped for the drivers to catch a couple hours sleep, we all went out bowling.
it turned quickly into a drunken mess of random shoutings and sprained wrists.....
i won the first game and then bob lewis came out of nowhere to win the second.....
i've honestly not laughed so hard in a long time.

days off now have a new bench mark.

today i walked round the city with lucas and got some comics.
i'm not really a comic type of guy, but i'm a massive fan of zombie films.
there seems to be a whole bunch of zombie themed comics around right now, so i've jumping into this new world head first.
here are some of my purchases;



there is a wide range of quality in both the artwork and the storylines....
some mind blowing...
some are just pish.
you live and learn.....


finally a "seperated at birth/death?" for you....
lucas and lucas.........




i'm off to go skate and take some pics.....

God, it's wet today!

i've moved 2 blocks to a new hotel, done my laundry and seen a live mouse in my new hotel room in the last 36 hours.
i also went to see blades of glory at the movies....
i laughed out loud, but i'm in no rush to see it again.
know what i mean.

i've been heading into rehearsals every day and chipping away at things, but the band are not back in until tomorrow.
i think i now have most of the info i need for our new carnet.
exciting

i took some shots yesterday of our mess.

the new keyboard rig, with kore unit....



chad miller a.k.a mad chiller
at his uncased playback world.....


what the....


sams drum trigger world.....pray for bobby.


sams u.s kit


part of guitar world......


same old same old in bass world


new and improved banks rig...


i hope to meet up with john from mogwai and jamie landry tonight .......but we'll see how that pans out in this weather

keep it blowdried!

work work work.

it's all going.
not going well or going badly....simply going.
we've done 4 rehearsals with band now and it has been quite impressive to see a band go from not being able to remember thier own songs...to ...playing the hell out of them again.
i heard 3 or 4 tracks from the new record being played live......
there are some belters so far.
we've not heard the record, which is fair nough in this day and age of albums being available on limewire etc. months before the release date.
harley i'm sure will get a copy this week.
it's important for him to hear exactly how the band want to be represented.
i can wait until june like everyone else.
i'll try to get some pictures today of the practice space....we have a whole new level of stuff now.

chad the midi tech has been working on the keyboard rig with farmer dave( the new live keyboard player) and if it all comes off, chad will once again be running a system like no one else.
this guy is amazing!
got some of the final flight cases ordered yesterday.....hopefully it will all come together........it has to!

i'm working on a few different things this time, and i'm really proud of pauls guitar sound right now....
i'll tell you how i feel about it in 6 months!
today i'm toubleshooting daniels rig, and doing some custom work on pauls guiatrs....

you will all see my good work on these pages or on these other blogs
pedal zombie
the brown angels

check yourself before you wreck yourself!