ok so Australian jet lag officially sucks! like a big fat hoover.
On Tuesday night, I got so overcome with TNS ("Tired N' Silly-ness") that over dinner I told Gareth he should try to get a job as an oversized, ornate statue of a Chinese dragon except he'd have to grow his moustache out long.
At this point everyone agreed that I really needed to go to bed.
But waking up every hour and feeling like you need to eat a big meal at 4am is not really the way forward for sleepfulness.
So between dinner (which was in the most awesomest vegetarian restaurant right on a wee penninsula overlooking the whole of St Kilda bay) and the first gig, I went back to the hotel for a snooze. What happens next just goes to prove the "you snooze you lose" rule. Gareth went for a wander and ended up on a boat tour to go see PENGUINS! Real life itty bitty Southern Hemisphere-dwelling cute little penguins. He said they were very cool. But much smaller than he expected.
Once again I rued that snoring-arm-rest-wrestling aeroplane man.
But inside I was pleased for Gareth. Honest.
After much talk of penguins, it was time to go onstage at the Prince of Wales. Considering it was the first gig with the new reduced line-up it went spectacularly well! The crowd were the quietest lovingest clappiest crowd yet. And Gareth and I got to play a song each which went down a wonder too. It was such a privilidge.
Wandering home past the peachy sunset we all felt like little sunbeams.
Yesterday brought Sydney, where we sleep-walked off the plane into a radio show. The man told us live on air we looked like a "Picture Perfect Folk Family" at which we guffawed for slightly tooooo long. In a disdainful fashion. As we left Gareth piped up "Will you buy me a milkshake now Mum?".
yet more giggling.
Sadly, there was very little time to see any of Sydney except backstage at the venue (which is the Basement, a jazz venue where very many incredible jazz babies have graced the stage) BUT we took a very short stroll between soundcheck and stage time, and lo and behold, right around the corner was: The Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and none other that the QE2! Whatt a gobsmack.
My miniscule words can't describe that picture.
not a usual pre-play experience... but then, neither is a penguin cruise (grrrrrrr)
I can also confirm that the moon is backwards here. very odd. oddy odd odd.
So... I have now slept a whole 7 hours right through, which is a small miracle, and that shall speed me through to Brisbane which is today's stop.
Jo
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Monday, 19 February 2007
Mean-ness and jellyfish
It's hot. There's no two ways about it. It is also bright. Thus my dislike of wearing sunglasses "because they make me look mean" simply must be overcome.
I thought about actually being mean yesterday, to match my new image, and said something particularly insulting to Gareth. Vashti overheard and exclaimed "JO! That's not like you!" and immediately I cracked, ran to my bedroom and didn't come out until I was ready to be good. That didn't take long to be honest and, when I emerged, Gareth said he hadn't even noticed anything insulting. Typical!
So…mean is off the checklist. Plus, most of these Australian folks who all wear sunglasses seem pretty lovely. I can't imagine Mrs Mangle ever having actually existed.
So yes – I am in Australia!! It's incredible. The 22 hour, horrible, stuck-in-a-small-seat-next-to-
nightmare-has-no-concept-of-
arm-rest-etiquette-snores-
all-the-time-man was all worth it!
First gig tonight in Melbourne. Yesterday was mostly spent rehearsing and working out new arrangements for songs because it's just the three of us now (Vashti, Gareth and myself).We also did a radio show and found a wee bit of time for exploring (which we mainly spent getting on and off the wrong trams. Such TOURISTS!)
We did get to St Kilda beach for a jaunt too. It's just beautiful there. Hazy and blue and yellow and the air full of kites and birds.
I spent some time there musing on jellyfish. We passed a big one which seemed stricken on the edge of the water. Stricken or dead. I had a very strong urge to poke it with a stick. But then I realised it might still be alive and I could hurt it. And I am a good vegetarian so this was out of the question. But then I wondered – could it just be sleeping? Do jellyfish sleep?!? And if they do sleep, where in their weird body does that sleeping occur? In those squiggly blue bits? And what would a squiggly blue jellyfish thought be like? Does a jellyfish even have nerves? Thus would it even matter if I poked it with a stick?
Do jellyfish contain gelatine?
On and on.
What am I LIKE?!?! Wasting valuable Australia experience time thinking about jellfish psychology!
But seriously… if anyone knows the answer to any of these questions do let me know. Please!
So… that was yesterday. Today is gig day. But there was time in the morning for eating pumpkin, wandering around St Kilda and along the beach again. I'm currently sitting under a palm tree watching some people have a "Barbie". I'm trying not to pretend this is Home and Away!
Well… I'm writing this blog in a wee book under the palm tree, but later I will be typing it in an under-air-conditioned internet café on a keyboard so spongy it feels like typing on the moon.
One tries not to think about how much dirt it takes to create a zero gravity feel to a keyboard.
Not so much other news to report except… kangaroos are actually real… they're not a joke. And that whilst pondering if the sign at the end of the bath that said "Non-slip bath-mat available on request from reception" meant that the bath was slippy, I did indeed slip – spectacularly – and now have some pretty fine bruises and a 1/2 a lung full of water.
This is the only nasty piece of news. And not enough to even begin to dampen my spirits at being here. All else is sunshine and wonderment.
More soon. G'Day!
Jo xxx
(P.S. I didn't, in the end, poke the jellyfish with a stick. Just in case you were concerned.)
I thought about actually being mean yesterday, to match my new image, and said something particularly insulting to Gareth. Vashti overheard and exclaimed "JO! That's not like you!" and immediately I cracked, ran to my bedroom and didn't come out until I was ready to be good. That didn't take long to be honest and, when I emerged, Gareth said he hadn't even noticed anything insulting. Typical!
So…mean is off the checklist. Plus, most of these Australian folks who all wear sunglasses seem pretty lovely. I can't imagine Mrs Mangle ever having actually existed.
So yes – I am in Australia!! It's incredible. The 22 hour, horrible, stuck-in-a-small-seat-next-to-
nightmare-has-no-concept-of-
arm-rest-etiquette-snores-
all-the-time-man was all worth it!
First gig tonight in Melbourne. Yesterday was mostly spent rehearsing and working out new arrangements for songs because it's just the three of us now (Vashti, Gareth and myself).We also did a radio show and found a wee bit of time for exploring (which we mainly spent getting on and off the wrong trams. Such TOURISTS!)
We did get to St Kilda beach for a jaunt too. It's just beautiful there. Hazy and blue and yellow and the air full of kites and birds.
I spent some time there musing on jellyfish. We passed a big one which seemed stricken on the edge of the water. Stricken or dead. I had a very strong urge to poke it with a stick. But then I realised it might still be alive and I could hurt it. And I am a good vegetarian so this was out of the question. But then I wondered – could it just be sleeping? Do jellyfish sleep?!? And if they do sleep, where in their weird body does that sleeping occur? In those squiggly blue bits? And what would a squiggly blue jellyfish thought be like? Does a jellyfish even have nerves? Thus would it even matter if I poked it with a stick?
Do jellyfish contain gelatine?
On and on.
What am I LIKE?!?! Wasting valuable Australia experience time thinking about jellfish psychology!
But seriously… if anyone knows the answer to any of these questions do let me know. Please!
So… that was yesterday. Today is gig day. But there was time in the morning for eating pumpkin, wandering around St Kilda and along the beach again. I'm currently sitting under a palm tree watching some people have a "Barbie". I'm trying not to pretend this is Home and Away!
Well… I'm writing this blog in a wee book under the palm tree, but later I will be typing it in an under-air-conditioned internet café on a keyboard so spongy it feels like typing on the moon.
One tries not to think about how much dirt it takes to create a zero gravity feel to a keyboard.
Not so much other news to report except… kangaroos are actually real… they're not a joke. And that whilst pondering if the sign at the end of the bath that said "Non-slip bath-mat available on request from reception" meant that the bath was slippy, I did indeed slip – spectacularly – and now have some pretty fine bruises and a 1/2 a lung full of water.
This is the only nasty piece of news. And not enough to even begin to dampen my spirits at being here. All else is sunshine and wonderment.
More soon. G'Day!
Jo xxx
(P.S. I didn't, in the end, poke the jellyfish with a stick. Just in case you were concerned.)
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Kalimba lessons
well... its been an exceptional few days it really has.
north carolina came and went... with no piles of crazy coloured objects. which is a wee bit sad. but we did have a large papermache cow with a wide mouth backstage. so that was nice. plus gareth and kevin found big bits of wood lying around and batted eachother with them.
the cow looked on with disdain.
yesterday was a bit of a gruelling drive it has to be said. seven hours in the van through south carolina to georgia. south carolina has not a lot in it as far as i can see. except a very large plastic peach on a stick which i saw out of the window. (and i mean VERY LARGE!) all we had in the van was a bunch of windows to drool upon and the sum total of 6 grateful dead cds. we did get through 5 of them. oh yes, 5!!!!! an odd atmosphere ensued, fuelled only by subway salald sandwiches and cheerwine (the South's version of cherry coke. weird as!)
but the gig last night made EVERYTHING worth it! We played at the 40 watt club in Athens. It's a really cool place. And we played a kickass set with some awesone sound (thanks to Brendon our Bostonian wizard man). It's just as well really, because... get this.. afterwards i was standing backstage holding my kalimba ready to put it away when in walked who but MICHAEL STIPE! he almost whacked me with the door. and then he said he really enjoyed the show. and asked me to show him how to play the kalimba!!!! Once i had managed to gather up my faculties like wayward toddlers and wiped the lipless goldfish expression from my face, an entirely surreal jo mango kalimba mastercalss ensued.
waaaaaah!
also in the audience it turns out were many other band members. whooo! i'm glad i didn't know all that before we played. shucks. Athens Georgia is the place to go if you wanna meet fellow band members.
there was indeed a lot of dancing and shouting and whooping and generally childish behaviour from most of us once the aformentioned REM man exited through the back door.
bizarreness continued apace today when we arrived in nashville. i felt like i was dreaming from the moment we stopped at a gas station - which was filled with fireworks ceiling to floor - to find the proprieter nonchalantly smoking a cigarette amongst the highly flammable explosive devices surrounded by gasoline.
we made a sharp sharp exit and huddled under the giant peach for refuge. then a giant centipede arrived shouting "WATCH OUT SHE'S GONNA BLOW" but we escaped without injury when he hooked a bunch of passing seagulls to us and we flew on the breeze all the way to tennessee.
welll... that's not entirely true... but that's what i did in my head anyway.
yup.
The promoter here is married to none other that cerys matthews from that nineties band catatonia. so we all just returned from their house where she made us all curry. honestly. seriously. the giant centipede thing was a lie. but the curry thing is true true.
yummmy yummmy curry it was too. plus her daughter has the same sparkly shoes as me. so talent and taste run in the family.
well... i gotta go now and play an encore with the fantabulous vetiver. they rock my world. i'll write soon after our day off in nashville. woooo!
north carolina came and went... with no piles of crazy coloured objects. which is a wee bit sad. but we did have a large papermache cow with a wide mouth backstage. so that was nice. plus gareth and kevin found big bits of wood lying around and batted eachother with them.
the cow looked on with disdain.
yesterday was a bit of a gruelling drive it has to be said. seven hours in the van through south carolina to georgia. south carolina has not a lot in it as far as i can see. except a very large plastic peach on a stick which i saw out of the window. (and i mean VERY LARGE!) all we had in the van was a bunch of windows to drool upon and the sum total of 6 grateful dead cds. we did get through 5 of them. oh yes, 5!!!!! an odd atmosphere ensued, fuelled only by subway salald sandwiches and cheerwine (the South's version of cherry coke. weird as!)
but the gig last night made EVERYTHING worth it! We played at the 40 watt club in Athens. It's a really cool place. And we played a kickass set with some awesone sound (thanks to Brendon our Bostonian wizard man). It's just as well really, because... get this.. afterwards i was standing backstage holding my kalimba ready to put it away when in walked who but MICHAEL STIPE! he almost whacked me with the door. and then he said he really enjoyed the show. and asked me to show him how to play the kalimba!!!! Once i had managed to gather up my faculties like wayward toddlers and wiped the lipless goldfish expression from my face, an entirely surreal jo mango kalimba mastercalss ensued.
waaaaaah!
also in the audience it turns out were many other band members. whooo! i'm glad i didn't know all that before we played. shucks. Athens Georgia is the place to go if you wanna meet fellow band members.
there was indeed a lot of dancing and shouting and whooping and generally childish behaviour from most of us once the aformentioned REM man exited through the back door.
bizarreness continued apace today when we arrived in nashville. i felt like i was dreaming from the moment we stopped at a gas station - which was filled with fireworks ceiling to floor - to find the proprieter nonchalantly smoking a cigarette amongst the highly flammable explosive devices surrounded by gasoline.
we made a sharp sharp exit and huddled under the giant peach for refuge. then a giant centipede arrived shouting "WATCH OUT SHE'S GONNA BLOW" but we escaped without injury when he hooked a bunch of passing seagulls to us and we flew on the breeze all the way to tennessee.
welll... that's not entirely true... but that's what i did in my head anyway.
yup.
The promoter here is married to none other that cerys matthews from that nineties band catatonia. so we all just returned from their house where she made us all curry. honestly. seriously. the giant centipede thing was a lie. but the curry thing is true true.
yummmy yummmy curry it was too. plus her daughter has the same sparkly shoes as me. so talent and taste run in the family.
well... i gotta go now and play an encore with the fantabulous vetiver. they rock my world. i'll write soon after our day off in nashville. woooo!
Saturday, 3 February 2007
fruit flies like a banana
well... time has flown like an arrow!
the zero degrees tour is over. alack and alas. that was possibly the best time i've ever had on tour. the music was so fantastic and the vibe was continually positive and so creative.
the glasgow gig i was going to tell you about was triumphant! the only hair raising and ultimately interesting moment to read about came when Vashti began to play "Here Before" and I realised I had the wrong kalimba on the stage - one that would have been hideously out of tune if I played my solo line on it. band members in my immediate vicinity remained impassive in the face of my flailing as i tried to decide what the grown up and professional thing to do would be! in the end I strolled as quickly as i could off stage, looking nonchalant, RAN to the dressing room shouting "Ohmygoodness!!!" all the way, hurled bags and instrument cases in the air in a frenzy until I found the right kalimba and hurled myself back to the stage, where it just so happened i was perfectly in time for my second entry. only a few hairs out of place, the band were only slightly bemused and the audience none the wiser. phew!!! needless to say this only goes to prove that my professionalism is only accidental...
after a brief break, which felt more like a just whirl of tax return and pillows, we were off to America-ca-ca. Thanks to the wonderful union people at British Airways we got to arrive two days early in New York to avoid strike action on the airways. Woo! So there was much wandering aimlessly and bagel-eating and gawking at Times Square. I'm not ashamed to say that I do really LOVE New York. It's madness on a stick... with lots of shouting in the background.
The main big news is that... CARNEGIE HALL WAS LAST NIGHT. How could I possibly describe the majesty of that to you?!?!? The line up was CocoRosie, Adem, Cibelle, Vetiver, us, Devendra Banhart and David Byrne curating/compering. Once again it was a mammoth collborative effort, a seamless show with no breaks between acts. And with only 9 hours of rehearsal together to prepare it was truly a miracle!!!
Arriving at that place, I felt so surreal. Like my hands were slightly too heavy and my head was a giant pom pom. Not sure that's the best explanation but it'll have to do. Now, I know this is what the Carnegie Hall is famous for... but the acoustic is actualy quite aStOUNDing! When I finally got my breath back after stepping out on stage for a peek, I played a single note on my flute and I've never heard anything like it. It soared through the air right to the back of the hall like it was a hot frisbee flying through a tunnel of butter!!!! Jeepers.
The show sold out, the hall was majestic, the sound was eagle-like and the camaraderie backstage was unrivalled in any gig i've ever known. I felt like the sense of priviledge might just burst me in two (especially when I spied my Dad's face in the crowd, beaming like a headlight, in his bow tie).
Absolutely awesome!
(And my flute didn't turn into an unmusical carrot mid-show you'll be pleased to hear!)
So here we are, the day after, in Philadelphia, our hair crackling with the static from the freezing cold, feeling like musical and emptional zombies. But i'm still energetic enough to be excited about the rest of this tour. We're soon to go to North Carolina where half of Vetiver hail from. They've told me about this place they're going to try and take us when we get there. There used to be an old lady who ran a kind of second hand/ vintage treasure trove of clothes and household items. Except when you went in to buy something and took it up to the counter, she would say "Oh that old thing? You don't want that?!?!? Oh no, I COULDN'T sell you that. SOrry"... She was so attached to everything that she could never bear to sell anything. SO it was really just a glorified crazy hoard open to the public and there was just more and more stuff collecting there. In the end the lady died and some artists took over the space. They kept all the things but divided them into objects of the same colour. So now the space, which is partially derelict, is just small corridoors running between huge piles and piles of crazy old objects of all colours of the spectrum blending into eachother, Apparently the white room is one of the most incredible things you've ever seen.
I can't wait....
And of course there's the music. And the people. And big old America.
Not sure many more words will come out of my head. It's really tired. But I'll try and blog later in the week with more interesting news of shennanigins. Hopefully I can embarass some fellow band members too!
the zero degrees tour is over. alack and alas. that was possibly the best time i've ever had on tour. the music was so fantastic and the vibe was continually positive and so creative.
the glasgow gig i was going to tell you about was triumphant! the only hair raising and ultimately interesting moment to read about came when Vashti began to play "Here Before" and I realised I had the wrong kalimba on the stage - one that would have been hideously out of tune if I played my solo line on it. band members in my immediate vicinity remained impassive in the face of my flailing as i tried to decide what the grown up and professional thing to do would be! in the end I strolled as quickly as i could off stage, looking nonchalant, RAN to the dressing room shouting "Ohmygoodness!!!" all the way, hurled bags and instrument cases in the air in a frenzy until I found the right kalimba and hurled myself back to the stage, where it just so happened i was perfectly in time for my second entry. only a few hairs out of place, the band were only slightly bemused and the audience none the wiser. phew!!! needless to say this only goes to prove that my professionalism is only accidental...
after a brief break, which felt more like a just whirl of tax return and pillows, we were off to America-ca-ca. Thanks to the wonderful union people at British Airways we got to arrive two days early in New York to avoid strike action on the airways. Woo! So there was much wandering aimlessly and bagel-eating and gawking at Times Square. I'm not ashamed to say that I do really LOVE New York. It's madness on a stick... with lots of shouting in the background.
The main big news is that... CARNEGIE HALL WAS LAST NIGHT. How could I possibly describe the majesty of that to you?!?!? The line up was CocoRosie, Adem, Cibelle, Vetiver, us, Devendra Banhart and David Byrne curating/compering. Once again it was a mammoth collborative effort, a seamless show with no breaks between acts. And with only 9 hours of rehearsal together to prepare it was truly a miracle!!!
Arriving at that place, I felt so surreal. Like my hands were slightly too heavy and my head was a giant pom pom. Not sure that's the best explanation but it'll have to do. Now, I know this is what the Carnegie Hall is famous for... but the acoustic is actualy quite aStOUNDing! When I finally got my breath back after stepping out on stage for a peek, I played a single note on my flute and I've never heard anything like it. It soared through the air right to the back of the hall like it was a hot frisbee flying through a tunnel of butter!!!! Jeepers.
The show sold out, the hall was majestic, the sound was eagle-like and the camaraderie backstage was unrivalled in any gig i've ever known. I felt like the sense of priviledge might just burst me in two (especially when I spied my Dad's face in the crowd, beaming like a headlight, in his bow tie).
Absolutely awesome!
(And my flute didn't turn into an unmusical carrot mid-show you'll be pleased to hear!)
So here we are, the day after, in Philadelphia, our hair crackling with the static from the freezing cold, feeling like musical and emptional zombies. But i'm still energetic enough to be excited about the rest of this tour. We're soon to go to North Carolina where half of Vetiver hail from. They've told me about this place they're going to try and take us when we get there. There used to be an old lady who ran a kind of second hand/ vintage treasure trove of clothes and household items. Except when you went in to buy something and took it up to the counter, she would say "Oh that old thing? You don't want that?!?!? Oh no, I COULDN'T sell you that. SOrry"... She was so attached to everything that she could never bear to sell anything. SO it was really just a glorified crazy hoard open to the public and there was just more and more stuff collecting there. In the end the lady died and some artists took over the space. They kept all the things but divided them into objects of the same colour. So now the space, which is partially derelict, is just small corridoors running between huge piles and piles of crazy old objects of all colours of the spectrum blending into eachother, Apparently the white room is one of the most incredible things you've ever seen.
I can't wait....
And of course there's the music. And the people. And big old America.
Not sure many more words will come out of my head. It's really tired. But I'll try and blog later in the week with more interesting news of shennanigins. Hopefully I can embarass some fellow band members too!
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
Round houses and Handy Slappy
Our first gig in Brighton on Friday. It went a bit like a dream! Tickets had sold out and we were pretty wired to see how the audience would react to such a very different gig format.
We were also kind of worried that we would forget how our carefully co-ordinated 12 person dance from instrument to instrument between 20 microphones was meant to go! (Difficult, but nothing really compared to the eightsome reel!). We did envisage at least one faceplant / tripping / forgetting of instrument saga. But in fact, it went incredibly well. There was some kind of a magical thing in the air. Even some of the boys who previously felt a little sheepish about swapping their guitars for tinkly bells or an egg shaker from time to time, were rejoicing in it.
Highlight of the night had to be Andy and Vashti's version of the song "Sleep a Million Years" by unknown/untraceable Californian singer Kathy Heidelberg that Andy found on record in a 'thrift store'. It was just beautiful.
Next night was the Roundhouse in London. Once again, the atmosphere, apart from being round, was magical!
Oh what fun.
You know.... I don't want this blog to be all... oh yeah we did another gig and it was amazing. So here's some footage of the backstage handy slappy tournament. This one features Adem and Juana Molina. I'm thinking Juana is in control here!!!
Next stop Glasgow. Can't wait!!!
We were also kind of worried that we would forget how our carefully co-ordinated 12 person dance from instrument to instrument between 20 microphones was meant to go! (Difficult, but nothing really compared to the eightsome reel!). We did envisage at least one faceplant / tripping / forgetting of instrument saga. But in fact, it went incredibly well. There was some kind of a magical thing in the air. Even some of the boys who previously felt a little sheepish about swapping their guitars for tinkly bells or an egg shaker from time to time, were rejoicing in it.
Highlight of the night had to be Andy and Vashti's version of the song "Sleep a Million Years" by unknown/untraceable Californian singer Kathy Heidelberg that Andy found on record in a 'thrift store'. It was just beautiful.
Next night was the Roundhouse in London. Once again, the atmosphere, apart from being round, was magical!
Oh what fun.
You know.... I don't want this blog to be all... oh yeah we did another gig and it was amazing. So here's some footage of the backstage handy slappy tournament. This one features Adem and Juana Molina. I'm thinking Juana is in control here!!!
Next stop Glasgow. Can't wait!!!
Sunday, 14 January 2007
zero degrees of separation
bloggyblogblogblog!
wooo!
oh it has been some time since I have seen your face mr blog....
I must excuse myself thusly dear reader - despite the fact that I have spent the past week in the hi-tech capital of London town, in relatvively high class establishments, there has been jack-all internet access.
HOWEVER, I have been cunningly storing up my thoughts in a series of synapses and synaptic fluids so I can share them with you now.
I arrived in London last Saturday after an exhausting night of slapping myself repeatedly around the chops in alarm that ONCE AGAIN I had left everything until the last minute. Renewing overdue library books at 4am is distinctly un rock-and-roll and I know it. Still... I probably would have only gone to bed to lay awake and wonder what musical perils and/or amazements were about to unfold like a big ole flabby camp bed.
Thr train journey went like a Flash! (ah-aaah) as I listened through and tried to take in the 18 songs on m iPod by the 3 other awesome bands on the upcoming tour. Besides Vashti Bunyan (whom I play with) there is Juana Molina from Argentina, Vetiver from San Francisco and Adem from London. They are all fairly different but equally sublime and marvellous bands who are connected to eachother in some way or another and had agreed to step together into the dark of the "zero degrees of separation" concept. That's the name of the tour we are now embarking upon, devised by the Twisted Folk peeps and meant to involve - as the name suggests - a good deal more collaboration than is ever usual on a tour.
None of us really had any idea of how any of this would work, what on earth might be the result or even if it were possible. I recounted my previous 3 night's worth of anxiety dreams about fruitless attempts to play a tune on a carrot in front of huge assembled masses to the other musicians' haunted faces, and got the feeling they knew exactly what I was talking about!!!
The first day's rehearsal (all 13 hours of it!) seemed to allay everyone' fears. Start from the beginning we thought, and see what happens. So all 4 groups each decided on one song that definitely invited collaboration and we began to work on them one by one.
Gradually it became apparent that we were all too excited about the possibilities of collaboration on one track to stop there. With the help of Adem's unbeleivable collection of wonderful random instruments and his endless enthusiasm, we added our efforts to around 22 more songs. (22!?!?). By the end of 4 more days of completely exhausting days of cramming notes and rhythms and lyrics and recorder fingerings into our heads (once again I have clapped so hard and for such lengths that my favourtie plastic bubbly ring has snapped in half. Woe is clappy me!), we were aware we had created some kind of a crazy monster thing that we had never expected, but were really quite proud of!
All there was left to do was to wait and see if it would eat us or carry us away in its hairy arm and introduce it to its friendly and fascinating family.
Aside from all that work, there is much silliness to report. It appears that most members of the touring party rejoice in ridiculousness and frivolity as much as I do - who would have thought it?!?!?! Many an hour has been spent lost in uncontrollable laughter over some surreal imagining or crazy new game. Consistent overtiredness and jangly nerves only adds fuel to the fires!!!
"Handy Slappy" appears to have gone down particularly well. This is a creation of members of the Jo Mango band and friends, which has been featuring backstage at several recent gigs. It has attained the new name "Slapoiera" and oftentimes we have had to cancel tournaments due to incontrollable giggling. Next post comnig up with news of gigs will contain special video of a match between Juana and Adem backstage at the Roundhouse.
I understand that last night, although I wasn't there to witness it, there was even a human pyramid in the hotel foyer.... Reports are not yet corroborated.
We have also managed to ascertain that not only do Christmas crackers not exist in either Argentina or America, but it is extremely hard to explain/describe the concept without wild misunderstanding. The small-firework/paper-hat duality appears to be the main stumbling block.
Other news is that on our one night off from the smelly airless world of the studio we went along to an Adrian Crawley gig. That man is incredible! The song "Walk on Part" has truly haunted me ever since. You should seek him out. At the end of the gig Brent (bass player from Vetiver) found a helmet someone had left behind that has the word MANGO emblazoned down both sides. He took it as a sign I needed it and I have been looking like an idiot wearing it in the tour van ever since. Still... there plenty of thigs that can fall from the sky and cause damage at any time and better to be safe than sorry.
wooo!
oh it has been some time since I have seen your face mr blog....
I must excuse myself thusly dear reader - despite the fact that I have spent the past week in the hi-tech capital of London town, in relatvively high class establishments, there has been jack-all internet access.
HOWEVER, I have been cunningly storing up my thoughts in a series of synapses and synaptic fluids so I can share them with you now.
I arrived in London last Saturday after an exhausting night of slapping myself repeatedly around the chops in alarm that ONCE AGAIN I had left everything until the last minute. Renewing overdue library books at 4am is distinctly un rock-and-roll and I know it. Still... I probably would have only gone to bed to lay awake and wonder what musical perils and/or amazements were about to unfold like a big ole flabby camp bed.
Thr train journey went like a Flash! (ah-aaah) as I listened through and tried to take in the 18 songs on m iPod by the 3 other awesome bands on the upcoming tour. Besides Vashti Bunyan (whom I play with) there is Juana Molina from Argentina, Vetiver from San Francisco and Adem from London. They are all fairly different but equally sublime and marvellous bands who are connected to eachother in some way or another and had agreed to step together into the dark of the "zero degrees of separation" concept. That's the name of the tour we are now embarking upon, devised by the Twisted Folk peeps and meant to involve - as the name suggests - a good deal more collaboration than is ever usual on a tour.
None of us really had any idea of how any of this would work, what on earth might be the result or even if it were possible. I recounted my previous 3 night's worth of anxiety dreams about fruitless attempts to play a tune on a carrot in front of huge assembled masses to the other musicians' haunted faces, and got the feeling they knew exactly what I was talking about!!!
The first day's rehearsal (all 13 hours of it!) seemed to allay everyone' fears. Start from the beginning we thought, and see what happens. So all 4 groups each decided on one song that definitely invited collaboration and we began to work on them one by one.
Gradually it became apparent that we were all too excited about the possibilities of collaboration on one track to stop there. With the help of Adem's unbeleivable collection of wonderful random instruments and his endless enthusiasm, we added our efforts to around 22 more songs. (22!?!?). By the end of 4 more days of completely exhausting days of cramming notes and rhythms and lyrics and recorder fingerings into our heads (once again I have clapped so hard and for such lengths that my favourtie plastic bubbly ring has snapped in half. Woe is clappy me!), we were aware we had created some kind of a crazy monster thing that we had never expected, but were really quite proud of!
All there was left to do was to wait and see if it would eat us or carry us away in its hairy arm and introduce it to its friendly and fascinating family.
Aside from all that work, there is much silliness to report. It appears that most members of the touring party rejoice in ridiculousness and frivolity as much as I do - who would have thought it?!?!?! Many an hour has been spent lost in uncontrollable laughter over some surreal imagining or crazy new game. Consistent overtiredness and jangly nerves only adds fuel to the fires!!!
"Handy Slappy" appears to have gone down particularly well. This is a creation of members of the Jo Mango band and friends, which has been featuring backstage at several recent gigs. It has attained the new name "Slapoiera" and oftentimes we have had to cancel tournaments due to incontrollable giggling. Next post comnig up with news of gigs will contain special video of a match between Juana and Adem backstage at the Roundhouse.
I understand that last night, although I wasn't there to witness it, there was even a human pyramid in the hotel foyer.... Reports are not yet corroborated.
We have also managed to ascertain that not only do Christmas crackers not exist in either Argentina or America, but it is extremely hard to explain/describe the concept without wild misunderstanding. The small-firework/paper-hat duality appears to be the main stumbling block.
Other news is that on our one night off from the smelly airless world of the studio we went along to an Adrian Crawley gig. That man is incredible! The song "Walk on Part" has truly haunted me ever since. You should seek him out. At the end of the gig Brent (bass player from Vetiver) found a helmet someone had left behind that has the word MANGO emblazoned down both sides. He took it as a sign I needed it and I have been looking like an idiot wearing it in the tour van ever since. Still... there plenty of thigs that can fall from the sky and cause damage at any time and better to be safe than sorry.
Monday, 4 December 2006
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