FUN AND SUN IN DUBLIN

Its great to be home and for the weather to still be nice, a sunny autumn day is unrivaled in its beauty i think. 

Playin a gig tonight in Crawdaddy supporting Joe Gideon & The Shark as well as Gemma Ray, both are from Bronzerat Records in the UK. Should be good.

DAY THIRTEEN - GOODNIGHT OSLO

It was the last night of my two week tour and i was looking forward to doing my final show, there was a good crowd, the venue was a nice place. The Palace Grill, a bar and restaurant that does live shows as well. I kicked off at around 10pm sang a shit load of songs including an old song of mine called 'Sweet Travelling Voice' which is a tribute to the young traveller rascal that used to sing 'The Fields Of Athenry' on repeat at the entrance to crown alley in Dublin, I remember years ago, he and I and his friend who played the tin-whistle had to have a bit of a zoning debate relation to who got to busk where in temple bar and for how long...Two more streetwise younsters i have never met before or since.

I was asked to dedicate a song to a friend of some of the audience members who had just died the day before after a long battle with cancer. Not really knowing what to sing i did a version of Townes Van Zandt's 'Pancho and Lefty', coincidentally that was a song that meant a lot to their late friend who was called 'Johnny', some of the audience started getting really emotional, it was moving, and a little upsetting but all good...Rest In Peace Johnny!!

Overall my short stay in Norway was great, i met some genuinely great peolpe who i honestly feel will become good friends as opposed to aquaintences of the road...there is somthing about norwegian people, they are beacons of friendship and kindness for the most part.

Im excited to get back home and see my good lady wife, the next bit of forgien touring that ill be doing Leyla will be my wheels, eyes and ears for about a week when i do a little touring in America. Theres a bit of fun stuff happening in between then and now which ill blog about here, i also need to get a camera so i can share some of the wierd and wonderful sites of some of these places.

Skol muthafukkaz
TMSxxx

DAYS ELEVEN AND TWELVE - OSLO

My setup in Oslo could not have been sweeter. Im staying at a pretty nice hotel in the centre of the city, a few minutes walk from wherever I need to be. I have my guitar and laptop and have been demoing some new songs, Its the first time I've ever really did that while on tour and its quite rewarding, breaks up the monotony of the day and keeps me off the Crack, just about. 

My first show in Oslo was at a great venue called Revolver, the crowd were really great, the manager and staff of the venue were really nice too. Id recommend any band to try play there and any punter or tourist that ever visits Oslo to have a drink there because its a really top gaf. On that night i opened with a version of Wire's 'I Am The Fly' for no other reason than i seen a poster for a Wire show on a wall in the jax just before i went on. It set the scene for a fun set where i threw in another handful of covers like TVP's 'Part-Time punks', 'Stop And Think It Over' by Compulsive Gamblers and two that have become standards in the acoustic set 'Its cold Outside' and 'You Cant Put Your Arms Around A Memory'. Dan the manager of the Venue delivered a couple of shots [the name of the drink escapes me] before and during the show and i have to say it was the strongest, and strongest-tasting non-bootleg liquor i have ever tasted. It tasted strongly of ginger and it nearly blew my brains out. I think its german. The germans know how to make liquor thats for sure, Jagermeister is by far my favourite shot drink...anyhow, enough talk about drink its making me feel ill. I stayed around and had a good laugh at Revolver, listening to some decent indie music and some ironic 90's shit like C&C Music Factory, which incidentally i really love but i really liked where Ed the DJ was going with it until he was told to stop because the punters heads were getting wrecked!!! hehe. 

Sunday was a day off and i spent a lot of time actually doing some singing and songwriting in the hotel, interlaced with a couple of strolls around the peaceful city of Oz!! I met with Dan from Revolver in the evening at a club called Bla, which was packed and everyone was rocking out the a 10 piece house band called Frank Znort, really really fun music and a load of guest vocalists got up with them and did cover versions. Good craic, Nick from the Mighty Atomics [excellent Dublin surf-garage band] actually recommended i go check these guys out too. I was glad i did. After bla we went to another small bar, the name of which escapes me but it was nice, and then back to Revolver for a couple more Drinks before heading home to bed.

Tonight will be my third and last show in Norway, im looking forward to it.  Im also looking forward to coming back here.  Norwegians are very friendly and its a joy to sit and sing a few tunes for them.

DAY TEN - FIRST NIGHT IN NORWAY - HALDEN

The journey back to Hamburg and the onward flight to Oslo were very smooth sailing, no stress or hiccub whatsoever. I was met at the airport by Kai Jarre who is promoting my few gigs here in Norway. The first night was a return to Halden where me and the band has such an amazing time last month at 'Down On The Farm'. This time it was an acoustic show in about a 150 capacity venue called Erlandsens.  The turn-out was overwhelming and the gig was great, i was joined for two tunes on guitar and vocals by Christian, the frontman of local heroes 'Gringo Bandido'...we did Dead Flowers, which was great and an epic version  of 'Waitin For The Man' it was really fun. 

After the show it was a return to the Grand Hotel, where we stayed before..the very hotel where my bassist 'Switchblade' Steve Fanning famously spooked the receptionist one afternoon by asking her for a 'REALLY sharp knife'. The Grand also has a legendary night-porter called Winston [im not actually sure if thats his real name or the lads just made it up]..Winston is a great man for tipping his cap to you and turning a blind eye to a bit of 'carry-on'...On our last stay here we had three rooms between the band and we invited half the town back to one of them for a few drinks one night...im not exaggerating when i say there were half a million people in the room at one point...when our drummer Hog apologised the following morning to Winston he said 'No problem...any time'. A fine Norwegian Gentleman if ever there was one.

Once i put all my gear back in the Hotel and got freshened up a little i went next door to Siste Reis Bar where we actually did a gig last time we were here. The bar was packed playing good music and lots of people from the gig were there so i had a good buzz with everyone and stayed pretty late. I seem to remember drunk singalongs to Elvis and Alex Chilton tunes, two of the best singers in history!!!

Today im bound for Oslo, the show tonight is at a place called 'Revolver'...it will be my first time ever playing Oslo, im looking forward to it...i hope some people come!!!

TMSxxx

DAY NINE - LAST NIGHT IN GERMANY - KIEL

Im sitting here writing this after having the most amazing granny-wash in the sink of the womens jax of the Prinz Willy Club in port of Kiel. It was in this very spot that i played the last German show of the tour and also where myself and Michael slept last night...sleeping in a boozer!! that takes me back.

We arrived in this small city yesterday afternoon having spent the morning wandering round Hamburg, i got to see a couple of the non sleazy parts of Hamburg, it truly is an amazing city with multiple personalities. Great place!! Kiel is a much smaller port town in the north of Germany, really really modern and quite nice with a very young student population. We had time for a good walk around the place, i also stumbled upon an Iranian fast food joint where i was able to show off my small few words of farsi and impeccable pronounciation to the Gaffer, he was duly unimpressed of course.

Just like practically every other venue on the tour so far, the Prinz Willy was a really nice place with its own unique style. The owner and staff were really nice and the atmousphere was very relaxed. As the crowd filed in for the gig i could tell it was gonna be a good night, the place packed up within about 15 minutes. The gig itself was great, lots of folks genuinely into the music...there was one complete cunt in the audience who could'nt sit down or shut up and was going around tormenting everyone in the place including myself but other than  that it was all positive. I rattled through loads of tunes, playing a lot from my first album cos thats the one thats out in Germany at the minute.  The germans have an alternative way of asking for one more tune, they continue clapping until you eventually return. It took me a while to figure this out, two nights ago in particular i was taking a shit immediately after playing and they continued to clap until i came back...If the Germans want another tune you better give it to them!!!!!

Like i mentioned earlier, out accomodation for the night was on the couches in the venue, the only problem with that was we were fucking knackered but still had to wait for the last punters to leave before getting our shit together and bedding down for the night. Germany doesn't really have any set closing time in a lot of cases, as long as people are having fun and spending money the bar can continue to serve gargle...what a country!!

In the next hour or two we leave for Hamburg once again where im gonna catch a flight to Oslo to be picked up by my Norwegian booker Kai Jarre and then were gonna head to Halden for my first of three Norway gigs. I played Halden with the band about two months ago and it was really amazing, great people, a real music loving town.

Ill be sad to leave Germany but i know ill be back for sure in November.

More drivel tomorrow folks 

TMSxxx

DAY EIGHT - HAMBURG NIGHTS

My second last German show took place at Hasenschaukel, a magical little venue all decked out like something from Alice In Wonderland. really nice spot. The staff and sound-man here were among the friendliest of the whole tour. They also made us some food, im not sure what it was but it tasted amazing, i think it may possibly been the healthiest thing ive eaten, not only on a tour, but in my entire life.

The gig itself was good, not my favourite ever but nothing negative to say about it either. just a solid bit of singing and playing. The crowd were attentive for the most part and it was a good all-round experience.

Im gonna try my hand at a cover of Laying up with Linda by GG Alin. My mate Ruairi recommended it to me haing seen the Leonheads cover it at the weekend, the lemonheads version of it is amazing too. its a song i really wanna sing. Speaking of covers, looking ahead to my show in Halden, Norway tomorrow night im gonna be joined onstage by Christian from a Norwegian band called Gringo Bandido with whom im gonna be doing a split 7" with in the near future on Borderline Records. I think were gonna do a couple of druggy standards like Dead Flowers and Waitin for the man, we may even work in a compulsive gamblers song. shoule be fun.

Anyway, speaking about Norway at this point is very much like putting the cart before the horse...One more gig in Germany tonight. Kiel is the town, Prinz Willy is the curiously-titled venue...im expecting the gaffer to be a German version of Wilhem Schmidtt.

The tour so far has been magic. Thanks to the hard work of Michael and Frank from Tonetoaster Records. They have made life so easy for me and their company has made touring a pleasure. I wonder how it feels to baby-sit an 18 stone bearded baby??..hopefully ill never have to find out.

Ill miss hamburg but im happy to be getting out alive, im sure the bum-bag wearing prozzies and kebab shops have been the death of manys a more honest sailor than I....fare..thee..well!!!

PROST MUTHAFUKKAZ!!!

PROST MUTHAFUKKAZ!!!!

Two Days Off!!!!!

Despite having days off i got up really early on Monday morning to do a photoshoot with a great photographer named Dominic who is a friend of the Label. We did some classic rock n roll locations..in a factory warehouse, on a rooftop and down by the railroad tracks!!!! hehe...I had a good time doing it for a change.

It was my desire all along to spend my days off in Hamburg so i got a train from Bielefeld to Hannover then on to Hamburg arriving at my hotel on the infamous Reeperbahn in the early evening. Id researched and had been recommended some great rock n roll bars in Hamburg, sadly because my days off were Monday and Tuesday none of them were open. In fact, it was fairly quiet overall, even the dirty-owl-divils wrangling the punters into the strip-clubs looked like they had a pain in their bollix. SEX TRADE ladies and gents, thats what the Reeperbahn is famous for, that and The Beatles. The thing i found most amusing is that the clubs choose to have a crazy-eyed fat owl-lad sleazily grunting at the punters as they pass by instead of employing one of their 'sexy' sirens at the door to try wrangle some trade. My hotel was basic and simple and facing the street and though neither nights were busy by reeperbahn standards, whatever little bit of action there was i could hear it all. Still, i love towns like this, a lot of history that they dont teach at school.

I spent a good bit of time exploring the neigbourhoods of St.Pauli which almost would remind me of Williamsburg in Brooklyn and definately of Kreuzberg in Berlin, a really nice area just a few hundred meters from the extreme sleaze.

I feel almost too relaxed at this point and im actually dying to get back to work tonight. The venue is right beside the cities main red-light street where the mots are displayed in the windows like FX Buckleys, no women or children are allowed down this street, one assumes thats because thier husbands and fathers dont wanna get caught with their mickeys out.

viva le sleaze...thank christ for good old-fashioned-sailor-towns like Hamburg!!!!

more news from the darkside tomorrow!!!

TMSxxx

DAY FIVE - KOKTAILBAR KAJUETE - LIPPSTADT

Sunday was spent mainly relaxing until it was time to go to soundcheck. The gig was about 10 minutes drive from where i was staying so getting there and getting set up was a very small production. The soundcheck went really well, It sounded really great and I was looking forward to playing.  As the people started to roll in i went on a little walk outside for a bit of peace and quiet to call home it was a really nice evening and i was feeling ultra relaxed. 

In terms of a 'listening audience' the 50-strong crowd in this small venue were as good as you could ask for, i had no support act, i sang for about an hour and a half with not many deep breaths in between, id start to crack the odd joke to break the ice, but my fast-talking-dublinized-english humour has been manily lost in translation on this tour, that or they understand every singe word and i'm SIMPLY NOT FUNNY!!! hehe. It was another happy night on tour, on arrival back at the Schellers house, Michael and I sat and chatted with Mr and Mrs Sheller and had couple of bottles of Guinness before calling it a night.

Guten Nacht!!!

THANK CHRIST FOR THE KIDS - DAY FOUR - TOENIVOESTER

Having spent a relaxing few hours in Dusseldorf  walking around and seeing the sites we set off on the short drive to Toenivoester with Fleet Foxes on the stereo, a blissful sound to accompany a blissfully sunny day. The Rocknacht festival is run by a bunch of young music fans, it was mainly made up of hardcore and metal acts, i was definately the odd one out. I was the only foreign act and the only solo artist there, i went on after a band called 'Black Eight Ball' who were heavier than hell itself so i was a little daunted to say the least. My 40 minute acoustic sets was one of the most enjoyable gigs ever. within about 3 songs the crowd were singing along and at one point during a version of 'Thank Christ For The Kids' they were singing the chorus so loud that in nearly lifted the roof off the gaf.

I met and talked to loads of really amazing young folks after the gig with very positive attitudes towards music and life itself.

it was a really wholesome event at an amazing location and i was treated with a lot of respect by punters and organisers alike

it was one of the many moments that occur that make me truly thankful for what i do.

Id a good chat with Michael on the way home, both of us were really really tired. himself, Frank and their friend Marco

really hard at the festival selling the merch and helping me get organized. On the way back to Langenberg we stopped at a

garage to use the bathroom and get a drink, it was almost 2 in the morning and the garage was packed, full of people from

other bands on their way from one gig to another, really bizarre. Anyhow, Fleet Foxes continues to serenade us all the way

home....amazing night!!

TMSxxx

Day Three - Dusseldorf

After a nice homecooked meal myself and Michael set off for Dusseldorf picking up his pal Tomas on the way. Arriving in the city around 5.30pm the streets are already littered with after work drinkers and Football fans, the local side Fortuna were playing Augsburg, it finished 1-1. In a bustling party-town like Dusseldorf, football fans equals a strong police presence on the street, they were everywhere.!!! there was also an unnerving amount of people dressed as furry-animal-cuddly-toy-type-things....my kinda town.

There was a great local act opening up for me, a songwriter called Georg Zimmerman and his band, they played kinda dream-like 60's influenced folk-garage [for want of a better description] and Georg himself looked a lot like a taller version of the great Anto Patterson from TwinKranes. Great music, great lads. The crowd at Pretty Vacant were cool, i met a couple Ute and Wolfgang who run a Flogging Molly fansite in Germany, they travelled 300km to see the show, very nice folks. I had a few drinks before the show in order to blend in to the general drunken theme of the night... i dropped in a cover of 'Part Time Punks' by the TVP's and 'Its Cold Outside' once again. I also did 'O'Dwyers Opera' a sea-shanty that i arranged last year with the Baptists but never actually recorded. It went down very well. I also got heckeled by some guy looking to hear 'TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC..LIKE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN'...i sang him about two sentences of the song and told him that was all he was getting...he immediately left. 

After the show myself and Michael took care of the business end of things, sold a few cds, stored all the gear at the hotel and returned to the venue for a drink, a dance and a laugh...he had a few friends from back home at the show who were a lot of fun too. At some point in the night a rumour circulated that George Clooney had come out of the closet. Never being a man to shy away from translating rumour immediately into fact I texted my good friend Caroline back home...Her ma has a monumental crush on Clooney so i wanted to be the first to pass on the news. It turns out it was a hoax concocted by Matt Damon....fuckin' wierdo!!!

Anyhow. Dusseldorf is a great spot, im still here because our next port of call is only a half-hour drive away. I look forward to getting the opportunity to come back here again. 

TMSxxx

 

Day Two - Dortmund

Having just about managed to catch my train I set off to the town of Bielefeld where I was met by the Tonetoaster Boys. We went and hung out at Franks apartment for a couple of hours. There I did another interview for a radio station in Hamburg.  Following a bit of a chat with the lads and something to eat i was bound for Dortmund with my acting tour-manager Michael, or German Mick, or Mick The German. It was short enough drive of about  1 hour but I was seriously beginning to fade in the car drifting in and out of the deepest darkest of sleeps for seconds at a time. It was a wierd sensation. 

My salvation came on arrival at the venue, a large bottle of beer and a cup of black coffee consumed in alternate mouthfuls... It really did the trick. Another great treat was watchin the German ladies team thrash England in the final of the womens European football championships....football football football...ladies ladies LADIES!!!!...Anyhow, the venue was called Subrosa, it was really nice and very much geared towards an acoustic show, the sound was great the audience were very attentive and appreciative and it was a good night. The curfew was 10pm so we were on the road again by 11 and we arrived back at my lodgings for the night in Langenberg at the house of the Schellers, Franks parents. They were lovely people and greeted me with a cold bottle of Guinness, i repayed thier hospitality later that evening by accidentally walking into their bedroom thinking it was the jax!!! 

Day two was tame but really fun. Tonight we go to Dusseldorf and get to stay there overnight. already looking forward to it.

ICH BIN EIN DUBILINER - DAY 1 - BERLIN

After a tragic encounter with the greedy bastards of Ryanair in which a bag that I'd already paid for ended up costing me an extra 185eu in excess weight, The Mighty Stef [original line-up...just me] caught the 6.05am flight from Dublin to the magnificent city of Berlin. Before i could even contemplate what the first gig of the tour would be like i had a busy day of running around to do. First off i had to meet a friend of my Label-boss for a loan of a spare guitar, then i had a meeting with a potential new booking agent called Phonocaster which went really well. Following that i made my way over to the city's main alt-music station 'Motor FM' where i did an interview and performed two songs...Death Threats and Downtown. 

After a long period of just hanging around [im sure this will become a theme, it always does on tour] proceedings finally got underway at Schokoladen. its a great venue, my first and only previous German gig was in the same place. The opening act was a really great guy from New Zealand called Mr Paul...live electro on an ironing-board, it was profoundly different to what i had up my sleeve which made it all the better. I pretty much always enjoy singing in front of a crowd of people and there was a really great crowd in attendance, the radio slot seemed to have paid off.  The gig was great, it was my first proper gig using my new band-mate 'the stomp box' a foot pedal that makes a thumping sound when you tap your foot on it to the beat. it worked better with some songs than others but generally it helped me build up a bit of suspense in tunes and so forth. Song-wise my personal highlights were 'Safe At Home' where i sang the part of the mother and the child... 'I'ts cold outside' which is a cover of an old Stiv Bators tune and a new song that ive been writing called 'Thank Christ for the kids' which i managed to get the whole crowd to sing along to, fair fucks to them!!

After the gig it was a few bottles with the lads from Humanzi and some other German pals, a gourmet Kebab [Berlin has amazing Kebabs that dont even seem that unhealthy and only cost 2.50eu] and a nightbus home to my good pal Garys apartment in Hermanstrasse.

This morning i get a train to Bielfeld to meet up with Michael and Frank from my german label 'Tonetoaster Records' who will be my eyes ears and wheels for the rest of the tour. Bring it on..last night was a great start to proceedings. VIVA BERLIN!!!!

One strange thing that happened, i was stopped on the street and photographed for some fashion Blog type thing...one of the strangest things thats ever happened me in fact....The homeless recession-ridden look must be big in Germany...if thats the case, ill go a long way!!!

Tune in tomorrow when once again ill be taking the romance and intrigue out of Rock n Roll by portraying it as a pantomime of 'pricking-about'

PROST BITCHES...enjoy yourselves!!!

TMSxxx

...Just Made His-tor-eee... im off to Ger-Man-EEEEE

To keep myself amused im gonna write a little bit of a tour diary over the next couple of weeks. I leave Dublin tomorrow at 6am for an acoustic tour in Germany and a few gigs in Norway after that. Im looking forward to it, so far both countries have been very sympathetic to the TMS cause.

I kick off in Berlin tomorrow night at a great little venue called Schokoladen in Mitte. Before this ill be meeting with a potential new booking agent over there and also doing a live-radio performance on Berlin alternative station 'Motor FM' so its gonna be a busy day. I hope i can sleep tonight but generally i find it hard to sleep when i have something important to do the following morning, we'll see what happens.

Anyway, ill talk more when theres more to say, im sure this blogsopt will turn into a drunken rant at some point. Fun and Frolics and tales of the Autoban to follow shortly...Bye for now

TMSxxx