Entry 6

Ok, been writing this over several days, it covers the past week, been difficult getting it posted due to hecticness and generally shit phone reception...

Couple of days off. Went down to London. Went out to see our friends the Callino Quartet (who played on the EP) play at Dingwalls with the Bell Orchestre.

They were brilliant. They did some Bartok, it was really heavy, surreal to experience in a "rock" venue. The quartet (Sarah Sexton, Micheala Girardi-violins, Rebecca Jones-viola, Sarah McMahon-cello) met The Bell Orchestra and the rest of The Arcade Fire at the Banff Centre in Canada while they were doing a residency there. They've performed with them several times before---then they played on MY album---thats when things really took off for them...anywho, bell orchestre were pretty amazing, although i kept wanting someone to sing...it was entirely instrumental. Great musicians, though.

Lazy rehearsal with the PP guys the next day. So much so we planned another one on Sunday. Long train ride up to Barrow-in-Furness the next day. Beautiful small train ride between Lancaster and Barrow. It goes along Morecombe Bay i think. Sheep grazing on the grass in front of you, beyond them, the sands of the estruary, which stretch out for a mile, beyond that the sea...

Got to Barrow and no one was there. Waiting out in the sun for 2 hours with my £1600 keyboard on my back, dodgy-looking kids on bmx bikes riding by casing me out...finally someone turns up and lets me in, had a bit of the rider, which has been very consistently made up of hummus, pita, beer, water, jar of peanut butter, white bread. i suppose i can't complain, but thats often all we eat...Place was funky, big cavernous place called the Canteen, walls all painted white, felt a bit like skating rink. Turn out wasn't great, maybe 25 people, which really, was surprising, cos I didn't see 25 people out in the city. Maybe they're all in the submarines, testing radiation levels, that sort of thing. Still managed to sell a few EPs. Long, late drive to middlesborough to check into travelodge. SLEEP. Poor johnny gets up at 7 to catch train to London to do some Moondog-themed gig at the Barbican. Had an amazing lie-in, somehow.

Drove into Hartlepool, weather being uncharacteristically beautiful. Walked around the town. There was an old steam ship called the P.S.S. Wingfield Castle that was made into a museum that you could walk around on.

Heres a picture of the engine room. Look at the creepy mannequin engineer:

We were all standing out on the deck of the Wingfield, when we heard an earth-shattering KA-BOOM! Some re-inactment actors had a group of schoolkids out on the dock, presumably giving them a history lesson, accentuating the finer points with a good ol' bit of canonfire. i suppose thats what it takes these days.

Hartlepool gig was funny, venue was a repurposed church, bar/venue/community recording studio. Great people, about 30 of them, good vibe, all the same. As we were loading out, an unruly mob poured out of the pub across the street. The engineer said "If that lot comes this way, you guys better head back inside." Don't know if i mentioned this but things are VERY tight in the back of that truck, will only all go in a certain way, so we're desperately trying to load this shit in the back, meanwhile this blob of riff raff is slowly moving closer towards us---i could hear the cellos playing the theme to fucking JAWS...

Exciting!

Drove back down to London the next day and I went immediately to Ed's in Stokey to rehearse with the PP dudes. We felt better for it and i slept like the dead. 1st gig at the 100 club last night. Showed up and there was a mostly in-tune Yamaha grand piano on stage. I was so thrilled. And the engineer was cool about using it (pianos are kind of a bitch live, with a loud band). Played a really fun set---man, being behind a real piano live was fucking AWESOME. I've only ever done it one other time i can remember. Happy days. Got the same again tonight. I'm very pleased. Tomorrow morning doing a radio one session with rob da bank. Radio one. You're the only one. For me. Radio one. you stole my gal. but i love you jus' the same. jimi hendrix? anybody? radio one album? nevermind. xJ

Entry 5

Day off in anstruther. Decided to walk down the Coastal path a bit, having suddenly adjusted to using my legs for roughly 2.5 hours out of the day. Walking into the harbor there was the view of summer coming on--familys with their dogs running around, kids with ice cream cones, sun shining---it was downright balmy for anster---then the smell hit me. The tide was out, and there on the jagged black rock receded shoreline lay tons of rotting seaweed, wafting a smell that was a combination of sea brine/dead fish/decaying vegetation. No one seemed to mind, but I quickly made my way downshore, walking past the golf course, watching kids aimlessly (literally, without aim) swing around. I found a quiet secluded rocky perch, and sat thoughtfully for a while. The best.

drove up to Inverness the next day, listening to dave atell's stand up CD. It was really raunchy, but damn it was funny. Good idea for road trips--a good comedy album. My side actually started to hurt after a while. Pretty much laughing for an entire hour. We played the ironworks, which when we arrived and I saw the size of the hall, I began to realize what the guys were talking about---it would be hard to fill. Another posh (for me) venue, dressing room, rider, etc. I'm used to being treated like a second class citizen, esp. during my brief time playing bass in a wedding band---entering through the kitchen, kept seperate from the good proper Christian folk. I tell ya, America is a weird place.

Went to an "Italian" place, the waiter was over the top, speaking partial cod Italian, I reckon he was albanian, and the food took aaaagggggeeessss. And was alright. Got back and there were people in there(!). Probably around 150, which was good. Johnny went first this time, and some of his jokes were met with stoney faces. When I went on, I looked out and saw people at tables looking at me. "So how's the chicken salad?" A few confused giggles. "It feels like dinner theatre---maybe we should do some bad Shakespeare..." a few laughs. I gave in and started my set. It's hard when you spend a lot of time with a small group of people and then try to share that world with complete strangers. I like it though. Cause there'll be that handful of folks that get it. Sometimes. I learned johnny used to do comedy. He's a funny motherfucker. He's provided much comedy relief on the tour so far.

On train down to London now, to rehearse with my regular band, as they'll play the two London gigs. So. Very. Tired.
Xxx J

entry 4

Aberdeen. I think I know what FOUND mean by alsatian gull scene.

Those mothers are big. mind your kids. these guys played an instore:

i played a song--anything at all--and these clever fuckers totally recreated the backing vocals on the recording---my respect for their musicality continues to broaden.

it had been a while since i had actually gone into a CD store. hmm. its a cultural thing, internet/convenience be damned. in bloomington, indiana, i remember a guy named tom donahue who used to run a tiny, tiny little shop--it was actually inside a coffee shop--it was pretty much a closet with him a cash register and a desk, covered in inventory he was never done going through, and a great selection of CDs and LPs. it was called TDs CDs and LPs, oddly enough. i would go in and ask him---tom, whats a good roots blues album? 'country blues, delta blues, what kind?' he was something of an encyclopedia. i spent a small fortune in that place, happily, and the personal relationship i had with tom and his CDs and LPs was something you can't get on the internet. tragically, towards the end of my days in bloomington tom developed liver cancer and his health very quickly deteriorated. i'll leave out my gripes about the american healthcare system (or lack of it), but i can't help but wonder if he would still be with us today if he were a richer man. he definitely left an impression on us, and there were several benefit concerts done in his honor to help out his family---my band played one of them--and it was pretty heart warming to see how many people were touched by this guy and his modest, human business...

whew. SO. we played the lemon tree in aberdeen. what a great venue! really top class sound--probably the best onstage sound i've ever had--and friendly people, food, tea, clean toilets---these are the things that make a difference when your life is either in a car on a train on a plane or in a venue. i think me gav pete and johnny are starting to sound like a band that has rehearsed---i suppose we did--at the gigs. in all seriousness i'm spoilt with these musicians, very little explanation is needed. i see why kenny can get away with never rehearsing...

day off today. whew. oh yeah. yesterday: THIS happened. yup. its the homegame picture*. in the sunday times---what? with my shirt off. that's right. of course, this is great news, and naturally i feel stupidly lucky to have such a great press spot, but guess what they fucked up---the link to my myspace. whats with these online editors? the same thing happened with my song getting on the Q website. its probably the online link utility in whatever program they use---it put in extra spaces. well, i suppose beggars can't be choosers...? it is a really ace review. thanks to whoever wrote it, i'll try and live up to it. right. i'm gonna walk around anstruther while the sun is still----shit. too late.
xJ

* calum--you got your credit in there--copy this link for your CV, and maybe you can actually get paid for being such a brilliant photographer...

Entry 3

Edinburrrrrrrrrrrr...gh. The GRV. A packed house full of happy music going types. Spent time worrying about the future of music and live gigs and people turning up...300+ people paid £15 to see us. Fuck it, screw the economy, it's not our fault anyway, let's buy CDs records and see gigs when we can. I'm getting tired of all this negative talk about things, shit won't get any better if we just piss and moan about it. Ok, rant over.

Set was fun, johnny making very handy contributions vocally and tamborinally. Found played rocking set as usual, did a song to the CCTV cam stage right, for the folks watching the tv in the corridor. Kennys set was proper, full-length psychedelic freakout ending, towards the end couldn't hear my keys at all so started playing tamborine. Despite a fair amount of feedback in the monitors and a few bum notes people seemed to really dig it, and the vibe was real.

A very drawn out exit (around 3am), and we were on the road up to anstruther, an hour and a half---don't know how kenny does it. Suppose his self imposed sobriety helps, but we were all pretty exhausted. Been taking to singing along en mass to bill callahan's new album, mainly the "end of faith" song---"it's ti---ahhhiiiime, to put god away...". Vicky, who hitched a ride, was most amused. And then all the bum jokes. Oh what a night.

Tour entry 2

So. Bradford, eh? Kenny was there in the morn doing a session at bcb radio with Laura Rawlings. Strangely familiar vibe in that town. Reminded me of the near-eastside of Indianapolis, lots of pound stores and gaming casinos. Just as we were walking in a band I've done sound for a few times, 'stricken city' was walking out. Now they're touring with maximo park. Good on 'em, good band. Meanwhile, as we climbed back in our nissan qashqai...on to Leeds to play the stag and dagger festival at the brudenell social club. Really cool venue and good sound. Beth Jeans Houghton (sp?) played a great set, really great voice, did some amazing stuff with a looping pedal where she recorded herself singing the chorus into the pedal, then the next time it came around she played it back and harmonized with, recorded it, another harmony on the next one--fucking clever and really musical. Ace backing from the band as well, esp the drummer's vox.

My set was good, Gav and Pete are getting their heads around the songs really quickly, not hard to play with those dudes. Was a real comedy moment where my mic stand started to get lower and lower, and whilst singing I was trying to gesture to johnny (who's been a real help with harmonies and tamborine action) to help me out---classic. Lower and lower it got...

I've got a picture, don't know if I can post it from my phone---maybe later. Today on to Edinburgh, at GRV. In the car absorbing radio one's finest drivetime fare...ttfn xJ

On tour with King Creosote and The Pictish Trail-entry 1

Hello blogosphere. My name is Jeremy Radway and I make music under the moniker Player Piano. I'm putting an EP out on June 15 on the fence records label, and I'm currently on tour with the two fellas who run the label, King Creosote and The Pictish Trail (real names Kenny Anderson and Johnny Lynch respectively). So the next few entries will be something of a tour diary.

Some of these will be short, like this one, cause I'm thumbing away on an iPhone here...

Last night was the first show, in Durham. A very nice little town, which we thought had quite an impressive cathedral, for a town we'd never been to, heard of. Upon wikipedia-ing, come to find out it's a rather important and famous cathedral indeed. Interesting townfolk, mostly friendly, did meet a guy on the way to the cafe this morning with a huge chunk missing from his ear, blood dripping down his shirt, and he was holding a crumpled up newspaper up to it--" is it bad?" he asked. " yeah man, go to an A&E dude. What happened?" "I was reading my paper and I bumped into these guys watching the football." Later saw a guy with a really awful black eye, with proper iris/cornea damage, discoloration. It's a violent world I suppose. It's a boozy testosterone-fueled football world out there. I fucking hate sports.

Anywho, the gig was excellent. The folks were very kind and attentive, and also bought a decent amount of our music. We were all on pretty good form and Gavin and Pete (the drummer and bassist, respectively) who are playing as me and Kenny's rhythm section--with very limited rehearsal---did an exemplary job, under such duress as a lack of bass amp and shitty monitoring. Today onto Leeds. Playing the Stag and Dagger festival. These things are often interesting. As in, no soundcheck, lots of bands, that sorta thing. Let's do it. J

Oh, and we also went mental at the playground on this totally dangerous, totally awesome balance/tire thingy. I almost puked. Awesome!