October 23rd: Newcastle Academy
COUGH! COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!
Bastard! People have been starting to get a bit sick on the bus, looks like I’ve got it now too … not good. Need to stock up on the Berroca.
I’m up far too early today. We have phone interviews with Japanese magazines and the time difference screws things up a bit.
I’m glad we’re finished with the hellholes of little gigs, and back to what I’d call ‘proper’ venues. Decent dressing rooms, toilets, showers, parking for the bus, that sort of thing.
Gig tonite is sold out, as now, officially, are the rest of the UK shows on this leg of the tour. See, I say on ‘this leg’ because we’ve had a whole load of extra shows added to the list. Instead of the initial three weeks this was suppoosed to be, with the last show on the 31st of October, we’re now running pretty much non stop right up until the middle of December. This would have been fine if I’d been prepared for it, but I didn’t bring any long trousers … and we’re doing Norway in November.
House and Dave enjoy a tipple after the show 
Martin confesses about his secret cheese sniffing addiction
Anyway, Newcastle is always a good night, and tonight was no exception.
October 24th: Manchester Academy
It’s a bad start to the day. Someone broke the most important rule on the bus. Something other than liquid ended up in the bus toilet. Basically, a bus toilet isnt much different from a portaloo you see at festivals. It’s just a big tank that collects everything under the bus, with a drain hole at the bottom. Just like a portaloo, it starts to stink after a while. That’s the reason it’s only for pissing in … if it’s just fluid then it’s easy to dump it every night. If you put any solid material in it, it blocks up the drain hole and you cant empty it without a great deal of trouble and mess. I got up this morning to find a big clump of toilet paper sticking out of the top of the tank. Someone had tried to flush it. It’s gonna have to be opened up and cleaned. Our driver isnt going to be happy, and I’ll probably get an extra bill for him having to fix it.
Subtle Sign 
Chris, our driver
It’s already happened once, but it was just a bit and we got away with it, so I politely reminded everyone not to do it … today I take the more direct approach and make a sign for the toilet door.
We’ve got radio again today, BBC Manchester … well, actually its BBC Lancashire, but we’re recording in the BBC Manchester building. It’s a bit of a strange session, involving a radio show called ‘Brian’ and an inflatable cow that House ends up riding around the studio like a bull. I’m definitely cutting back on that boys caffiene intake.
COW! 
Ollie gets attacked by a spider at the BBC
As the day goes on I’m trying to figure out why there’s so much traffic. Maybe there’s a football match on … there’s a big queue of it in front of the venue, all the cars blasting music or their horns. I’m sure my already pissed off bus driver is gonna be happy about that, he’s trying to get some sleep on the bus.
This is where the day takes a slightly more serious turn. Patience, singer of The Grates comes to me to ask me where I moved all their computers to. I havent touched any of their computers, so I go to investigate. After a little while it’s becoming clear that someones broken into the dressing room and stolen a load of their stuff. They’re missing three laptops, two iPods and a digital camera. I get right on to the venue, who call the police, but it’s at this pint that I figure out what all the traffic was about. It’s the last day of Ramadan, a big day of celebration for the Muslim community, so the police tell us there’s very little chance they’ll be able to even come and take a statement about the theft, let alone investigate it. I do a bit of checking around myself and find the fire escape door at the bottom of the stairwell has been taped up so it doesn’t lock properly, and then wedged open. Part of the problem here is that the Academy in Manchester is a Student Union building, with people moving around all day, there’s plenty of opportunity for someone to come in and check the place out.
After the show, obviously everyones a bit down, so it’s off to ‘Big Hands’, which is a bar close to the venue. It’s like a small version of the 13th note or Nice & Sleazy’s in Glasgow. Obviously anyone not in Glasgow wont get the comparison, but it’s a really cool little grotty bar.
Henry tries to look innocent 
An unholy union of soundmen.. just imagine what the offspring would look like. *shudder* 
Back on the bus, Alex is looking a little worse for wear
Everyone has a few drinks and starts to relax a bit, even The Grates, after their shitty day, come for a drink or two. I end up in a long conversation with Mark, drummer from Oceansize, and the violin player from Gong, whose name, I think, was Graham … lets just say there was Jagermeister involved. That’ll explain most of how the night went.
