Down Came The Rain

We arrived onsite at the Wireless Festival, Hyde Park, on a glorious sunny day. We joke about the photos from Glastonbury cirulating. The one with a guy up to his neck in water, swimming only yards away from the porta-loos. With a couple of hours to spare we contemplate a light lunch, perhaps followed by a haircut at the free Tony And Guy Tent backstage. Then the sky turns very dark. And then the air turns very wet.
Despite the rain, the crowd is in it's thousands and it appears to grow while we're jumpin about. The rain holds off for our thirty-five minute workout and then absolutely pisses down almost on cue with the last chord. Nice!
Then we hang around, see a few old chums, I embbarrass myself by not recognising a guy a played three shows with in the same band, and we all get a bag of free hair products. Very rock n roll, I'm sure you'll agree.
Ahhh, the festival scene is beautiful, man. Roll on Fuji!

The Unbearable Hotness of Being

Absolutely flippin drenched.
And that was just soundcheck.
Last night was the hottest, loudest, sweatiest gig we've ever done.
And it was fucking ACE!
It always helps when the audience are rocking, and golly were they ever. I love seeing moshing and jumping and crowd surfing and just general smiling and cheering. It's great. I'm surprised there was no fainting, like there was in New York, though.
I got to meet the fans afterwards, which is always pleasant, some of whom had come all the way from the states. Dedication. Amazing. I never followed a band around england, let alone the world.
A word to the wise, though. Avoid crap mexican food before a show. It can make for uncomfortable encores!
Hyde Park festival gig tomorrow. I adore festivals. Even if we are going on before The Bravery, or Duran And The Ants as Owen (guitarist) has dubbed them. Ug. But we do go on after The Psychedelic Furs, which is mucho coolo. Hope the do pretty in pink.
More sunburn and too much warm white wine, then.
Chonks

What Not To Wear

Ahh, gig day.
Decisions, decisions. The daft red shoes that took me around the u.s.a in March? The 60's style slim-fit levis? Do we go with team neckerchiefs? The answer to all of these is:probably.
Tonight we play Goldsmith's college. It's a sort of homecoming for Graham; he went to college here, he squatted in the neighbourhood, and now he's about to be awarded a fellowship... which is nice. I better he never thought that was going to happen when wobbling out of the student union surviving on jacobs crackers.
I, on the other hand, have never been to New Cross let alone inside Golsmith's. For me, the area is synonemous with muggings and more recently incidents of the "happy slapping" phenomenon which is sweeping great britain. This is where groups of teenagers beat up a stranger and film it on their mobile phones. Something to show off about at school the next day. In my day we showed off our yo-yo skills, but there you go.
This all follows two days of rehearsals with Graham and the boys. Great to be back. We spent most of the time giggling mid-song because we were all so happy to be playing together again impromptu dances were cropping up and, for some reason, they were increadibly camp. Three new songs to display tonight too, so memory at the ready for those new backing vocals!
Better go now. I still haven't chosen which of my various lucky socks to wear. It's the hottest day of the year here too, so sweat in buckets is expected. Yum.

The day before tomorrow

Woo hoo, phew, thank the lord above and/or below: rehearsals start tomorrow and don't stop until I fall off the stage at Goldsmith's College, London on the 22nd. It's been a while, at least it's been a few weeks since I earned any money jumping around with a guitar... but perhaps I should introduce myself first.
I'm Toby, I play guitar and sing in my own project, REUNION SQUARE (see www.f-shine.com). I also play the bass with my friend Graham Coxon who used to be in a group called blur. Sometimes I play guitar with my other friend Charlotte Hatherley who's normally in a band called Ash. A couple of years ago I did a tour playing guitar and keys with JJ72 and before that I was signed to polydor with an ill-fated group called Thirteen:13. Sometimes I use the internet pseudonym Theydon Bois because it sounds like an upper-middle class twit but is actually a tube station in east london somewhere (I think Peter Sellers used it in early skits with the Goons) and I think this is funny. Really.
When I'm not writing and performing my own stuff infront of small audiences for no money, I'm jumping around like an idiot playing other people's songs, with them, infront of usually quite big audiences for a quite reasonable ammount of money. This is gooood.
I'm not sure why I'm doing this blog thing. My sister's really into it and says it's empowering and quite the thing to do online these days. I think I'm doing it for the same reason I write songs`: I'm fairly convinced I'm intersting and that other people will think so too and am constantly seeking recognition and validation. I'm 29 years old and am still sure I have time to be a fully fledged rock star in my own right, heh heh.
I've travelled around the world showing off infront of people who occasionally shout my name out, ask me to write it on something for them or pose for a photo with them. This is also gooood.
Anyone in a band that says they don't, at some level, enjoy these aspects is a fucking LIAR. I know very few people in this industry who picked up a geetar because they had some dark, artistic need to spleen vent through the medium of rock and if they didn't they would die, and don't care what anyone thinks because it's art, man. Bollocks. They picked up a guitar because it looks cool. And chicks dig guitarists. And chicks are cool. Apart from my friend Charlotte, who is a cool chick, but probably picked up a guitar because boys think girls who play guitars are cool. If you really didn't want attention you would work in a library.
I don't know how to put photos on here yet, but I'm told it's easy, so pop in here for hilarious on-the-road tales and pics soon!...
Not that soon, mind. As I said initially I'm just rehearsing for the most part this week, and nothing THAT funny ever happens in rehearsal studios. Unless, of course, you find paying £4.50 for a cheese and coleslaw sarnie funny. In which case you'd piss yourself laughing every lunchtime where we rehearse.
Anyway, this is where I'll be unloading thoughts and experiences on the road to rock stardom. For my own pleasure. What anyone thinks is irrelevant, this is art, maaan... please validate me...
Chow for now, T x