Oct 12th: Oxford Zodiac
Bastard Parking Wardens. A ticket at 7.32am. Whats that all about? Okay, so I know we’re in a loading bay, but technically we are loading … just not until 1pm.
I’ve been into the Zodiac many times, and I really like the venue. The people here are friendly and helpful. It’s the nearest thing we’ve got to a hometown gig on this tour, so it’s gonna be mayhem tonight with all the friends and family. Nothing we can’t deal with.
In the afternoon as were getting set up, Oliver, our drummer points out to me that I’ve got an addiction problem I didn’t realise. It must have just creeped up on me over the last few days. I know some of you will be horrified by this, but I seem to be hooked on … peanut butter! Actually, to be exact, ham, cheese and peanut butter sandwiches. I have one every day for lunch now. Mostly because it’s three things we always seem to have on the rider. I’m now seeking treatment and have moved away from the ‘crunchy’ to the less harmful ‘smooth’ variety. Weaning myself off the stuff.
The one thing I like the most about playing at the Zodiac, also food related, is ‘The Red Star Noodle Bar’ across the street. Imagine Glasgow’s Ichi-ban, but smaller. Myself, Martin our sound enginer and Alex, our backline tech all go for dinner together and make ziggy piggies of ourselves. If you ever make it to Oxford, I recommend you try the chilli & garlic chicken.
Henry during the show 
Henry, after the show, pondering the practicalities of wearing a jumper onstage. 
Every young boy needs someone to look up to.
After the gig, I’m chilling out, thinking of having nan early night, when I hear a Glaswegian voice screaming at me “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?”. I turn around and see to my horror a face I know all too well, Stumpy, drummer from The Almighty. He lives in Oxford now and was just walking past on his way home. Bang goes my early night. Within 30 seconds were inside at the bar, lining up drinks and shouting at each other in an accent that scares the locals. Two giant drunken scotsmen … it all gets a bit messy from this point out …
Oct 13th: Bristol Thekla
A gig on Friday the 13th was always going to be interesting. Then, when I found out this gig was on a boat I had the fear … My last experience of a gig on a boat was on the My Ruin tour in Paris, a day I’d rather forget.
All hope is not lost when I find out that the person who owns this boat is the same person who owns Rock City in Nottingham. George is a very good friend of mine and I know this’ll be a fun gig.
A gig on a boat obviously throws up all sorts of problems. The stage might tilt depending on the balance of the boat. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to load gear into. It’s not really that big a boat. Most of all, it’s all metal. Sound bounces off metal quite a bit. These are problems to be overcome, and we do.
The fun part of today is Matthew, the promoter. He’s a really nice guy, but he’s kind of new. Gearge, and his right hand man Andy, ask me to give him a really hard time all day, sort of a test to see how he’ll handle the stress. I duly obilge.
I have to say he copes remarkably well, until the end of the night when it comes to settlement.
I guess I should first explain to you what a settlement is: Basically, the band are on a guaranteed fee but on top of that we get a percentage, usually about 80%, of the profits from the night. Simply put, if after paying us our fee the promoter has £100 in clear profit, then we get £80 of that on top of our fee.
Settlement is all about going thru the promoters costs to make sure he hasn’t inflated the prices of things to make it seem like he doesn’t owe us any extra money. For example, saying he paid £500 for a PA when he only actually paid £300. That £200 he’s just claimed to have paid to him would have been an extra £160 to us. Understand?
Well, with Matthew, it was Andy that taught him how to do a settlement, but he doesn’t know that it was
me who taught Andy how to do it. In fact, they’re using one of my old settlement cost sheets to present the figures.
I’m not
too hard on him, but instead of just our fee, we do end up with an extra £300. Plus the VAT obviously.
Let the drinking begin! 
George. The man we're blaming for our hangovers.
The boys in the band have wandered off to a bar somewhere but myself and the crew hang out in the bar on the boat and make an interesting discovery. Brothers Strawberry and Pear Cider! It goes down far too easily and quickly. Hangovers all around tomorrow.
October 14th: Woking Quake
Sorry, but todays gig was a total nightmare. Shite promoter, shite club, shite day.
That’s all I’m going to say on the matter. Going into details will just make me angry again …
