Hello and welcome to my third installment of Morning Parade madness on The Huffington Post.
I'm really enjoying this right now... what do you think?
I'm sitting in our rickety old LDV van affectionately named Winston that we bought back in the earliest days of Morning Parade, we're currently hurtling at the mighty speed of 70 mph on the traffic laden noose hung around the neck of London better known as the M25.
We named our beloved van Winston after the late great Churchill - I once read a quote from him which pretty much sums up the early days of trying to 'make it' in the music industry and its stuck with me ever since: "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
We're on our way to Wales for two weeks of recuperation and songwriting in Monnow Valley where we made our very first demos in 2008, those sessions feel like an absolute lifetime ago now, especially after the craziness of the past few months.
We've just arrived back in the UK after a chunk of heavy touring and promo across Europe, the UK and our first trip to the USA. It's been easily the hardest/most exciting/most grueling/most fun/most busy period we've faced in Morning Parade. This crazy existence we call our career leads us on the strangest and most varied of journeys.
After a sold out headline show at London's Heaven, three hours sleep and a transatlantic flight, we found ourselves weary eyed in front of a 3,000 strong audience supporting The Kooks at New York City's Terminal 5. That my friends, feels like the deep end, and just the tip of the iceberg.
When this tour was coming together our Glaswegian tour manager (known to us as 'Nightsheet') said that this was one of the most grueling schedules he'd seen in his 15 years in the business. He wasn't joking, but this IS the best job in the world and I thank my lucky stars every day that I am lucky enough to be doing it professionally.
A bunch of promo (acoustic sessions, interviews, meet and greets etc) later we made our way to New Haven in Connecticut where a lovely doctor took a little look at my vocal chords - I'd been having trouble with my voice like never before, a very scary prospect on a run like this, like an athlete losing use of their legs before their big moment at the Olympics. Luckily for me it turns out I was only suffering from laryngitis and nothing too major, still though, on day two of the most intense tour yet. Hardly ideal, but knowing that my vocal chords were strong and healthy gave me the adrenaline boost that helped me and the boys shrug off the jet lag and get back to our best.
That night we played our first show with a full night's sleep under our belts, Toad's Place in New Haven. A sweat pit full of students on spring break, quite different to the arena's we got used to playing in with The Kooks in Europe, but no less energy and it set the tone for the rest of the tour. The Yanks know how to have a good time and we were welcomed with open arms - all you can hope for as an artist is that you can connect with people and share some common ground through your art. To be so many thousands of miles from home and find that is exactly why we make music.
We managed to wangle our way through a few 'how do you want your eggs?' confusions, slipped through Providence in Rhode Island, said our goodbyes to the Kooks and made our way across the border into Canada, the home of Tonetta and Justin Bieber - how's that for juxtaposed?
So being the frontman definitely has its perks, but it also comes with its downsides. The boys rose early and took a trip down to Niagara falls leaving me to tackle the promo schedule alone, who cares! I'm sure Niagara falls looks just as good from the pictures sent to my BlackBerry as it does with the human eye, maybe not.
This is part and parcel of being the frontman, you have to go to bed earlier than everyone else and you have to do all the promo. Starting with live TV on Toronto's CP24 breakfast show. So while the boys were looking at one of the wonders of the world, I was wearing make up and looking like a Thunderbird on Canadian TV. That's the other thing about being in a band, you have to go on live TV and radio and stuff but nobody tells you what to do or what to expect. I always feel like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights where he doesn't know what to do with his hands.
It's all a very strange '5,4,3,2,1, Conversation!' with a stranger on cue. Remember to be witty and charming, oh, and don't forget to mention the release date. It's 19 June if you're asking America/Canada.
Much easier than conversations on cue is performing live on TV which is just what we did the day before on MTV Canada. I LOVE the adrenaline rush of a live TV performance. Don't fuck it up!
SXSW
So now to the heart of the matter and the crowning jewel of our American exchange. When you're growing up and you're in a band you dream of playing in America and the point of entry is SXSW. Tendays, over 2,000 artists performing in around 100 venues scattered across the city of Austin, Texas.
Think sweltering heat, BBQ food, Tex Mex food, crowds of people spilling from the bars into the streets, Corona, Tequila, Jack Daniels, beautiful women, frozen margheritas, music of all genres pouring out of every window and doorway, late nights, early starts and for us, six shows in four days. Sometimes at 1pm followed by a 2pm at the other end of 6th street, and sometimes at 1am and usually on the same day of course. Chuck in thousands of inebriated punters, and a hectic promo and interview schedule and you're somewhere close.
Straight off the plane from Toronto via Chicago and into an acoustic session (arriving late of course) for our reunion with Michiel Veenstra and our pals at 3FM of Holland for a live broadcast. This is how it starts.
Generally everyone spends SXSW running around like headless chickens trying to get to the next line check or to catch the bill with the bands hot on everyone's lips. Luckily enough for us we happened to be on one of those very bills - two birds, one stone. Day Two of SXSW saw us on the Neon Gold/Communion bill at a venue I'm not going to pretend I remember the name of along with Savoir Adore, Michael Kiwanuka, St Lucia and Haim.
St Lucia remixed one of our singles Us & Ourselves and I'd heard a bunch about Haim. But collectively they were my favourite picks from SXSW along with Electric Guest, who supported us at our London show on the eve of the US tour.
Check it out:
It was a week full of crazy and weird experiences, few though, came close to this...
Austin during SXSW is very busy and finding a taxi past midnight is near impossible, but thanks to our 'are you nervous if I tell you I've been out of jail one week/I am a crack addict/I HAVE been drinking all day' totally illegal taxi driver, not only could we get a ride to anywhere in Austin for $10 and a box of cigarettes - we could also access Austin's best crack and crystal meth, apparently.
I always keep my meth and crack habits away from my work - I find it a little distracting... don't you? As much as I felt the strong desire to pick up a crack or methamphetamine habit, with the west coast up next, reluctantly I declined.
That's a lot to take in I think. I'll let you know how we got on in the west coast and Europe in my next post...
Until then
S
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