Nigel's Journal
08 December 2001
Zurich to LA

Okay so now I’m getting into the swing of this information communication technology schtick so I’m sat on an airplane, a very nice luxury jet airliner being treated extremely well by the very pleasant cabin crew who have been providing me with a really delicious five course meal and perfect red wine. After a slightly over-enthusiastic interaction with the food and wine I had a nice four hour sleep. Time of course passed and I woke up to a very quiet plane which I wanted to avoid so I took a sleeping pill. An hour has passed. I’m still awake and typing this damn entry a little more than crazy, aware that my colleagues are all fast asleep as we wing our way across the friendly skies and over snow filled landscapes to that particular and unique Californian vision of the world.

Cigarettes out, sunglasses on, conversation level reset for 10 db higher - a sort of Beverly Glen state of mind. It’s the lack of random meeting potential that annoys me about LA - I just want to not live in Santa Monica and be able to walk down the street and meet some friends. LA is for planners with organizers so they can plan out their days of interaction in a variety of nice and nicer location. Me..I hate planning! Hey but I am excited to be hitting the coast where most things seem to have happened for us....and there are really good friends to catch up with.

We have a splendid week in prospect starting tomorrow with a sound check for the acoustic Xmas show in LA, then a 3 hour session for the Dick Clark new years eve show followed by the performance at the universal amphitheater where tickets are tighter than Joey Ramone’s pants.

We then fly to New York very early Monday morning to play another show that night followed by Detroit, Philadelphia,Chicago and St Louis all by bus. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. The irony here is that we had some promo cancelled in Europe because those in the States considered it to be to much for us to do. (Maybe they knew something we didn’’t at the time!)

So it’s a pretty crazy schedule for the week - we’re covering a lot of miles to do a lot of shows in a short time span but it’s what we do - we did 8 years ago when this insanity began, assuming that we’d never have to do this crazy health threatening shit again but our naivete was staggering and here we are again. The absurd thing is that the shows will be so much fun - it’s the traveling around them that’s less than thrilling although Dave and I Will waste the miles with excellent games of Fifa2002 on the Playstation 2.

Anyway this journal entry was going to be about the end of our European tour last night in Zurich. I think the band is now playing the best we have ever played - everybody has a new conciseness and control. This has led to some amazing shows - Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Amsterdam, Brixton, Manchester to name but a few. Played my birthplace in Newport as well which is always a nice show and we played a very mature laid back performance there. I’m discovering that it can be fun to do the interviews with local journalists around the shows as they ‘often’ have interesting perspectives on things.

Catering on most tours we’’ve been out on in Europe has been of a standard to suggest that fasting may be the only way to survive an European tour. All this has changed now as we have discovered Dave who is a deity in the kitchen as he whips up various appetizing masterpieces with the flick of a wrist. We never ate so well!!

Fan stuff was amazing as ever - the kids who come to see us bring such a nice positive energy with them - we haven’t seen any real trouble at any of the shows which is great for us because the moshing thing although flattering in it’’s imitation of music enjoyment leaves lots of bruises and bumps on so many unwilling victims. It will be great if this can become a feature of our show. Hope I meet up with some of you in the next weeks - If I appear to twitch approach cautiously, maybe even get a member of our crew to accompany you.

Laters
Nigel