Transexuals and Alcohol - A recollection of the tour (Part 1)

Oh Wild Beasts. How i love you, you beautiful gentlemen.

As i write this blog, the gents are still on tour around mainland europe and aren't due to get back until April 21st after an almost incomprehendable string of dates that started in Australia back in January.

For a couple of weeks i was the lucky gent who got to be tour support. On this occasion it was Lone Wolf by name and by nature. I left the band at home crying and waving handkerchiefs as i set of with the beasts in our sleeper bus. Here's what happened:

Portsmouth

First date of the tour and i hadn't played live solo for nearly a year. So i believe the term 'bricking it' came out a few times. Met Erland and The Carnival (other support band) and we seemed to hit it off straight away. Another great set of guys. I actually cannot remember too much of this gig as i know i pushed it a little too hard on the first night due to my excitement. I woke up the next day fully clothed in my hotel room with half a bottle of Budvar in my hand... You do the math.

London

KOKO! Possibly my favourite venue in the UK. A friend of mine (Lee Vincent of PABH) and i got to interview Steve Albini and watch Shellac there a couple of years back, and i was just as in awe of the venue at my gig on march 4th as i was back then. I had one of my favourite gigs ever. The crowd simply rocked. My amp did decide to die onstage at the beginning of 'Keep your Eyes On The Road' and so i got to use Simon Tong's cool vintage Wem amp in replacement which smoothed over the situation.
Wild Beasts played an incredible show to a sell out audience. I won't be forgetting that one.

Warwick

Of all places. Who would have thought that this would have been such a great venue/gig. But besides the gig, the most important thing for us was that after a couple of well earned days rest with our girlfriends, this was the first night on the sleeper bus and we were all giddy about it. Our driver Gee turned out to be a gem. A proper mackem with an obsession with the word 'fisting' and his most perculiar of catchphrases that i have still yet to quite understand the meaning of: "If In doubt...fart". Go figure...

Bournemouth

60 Million Postcards. The decor kind of rang a homely bell for me and thats because it's owned by the same folks who own Leeds' 'Nation Of Shopkeepers'. I got to have a nice afternoon sitting by the sea writing lyrics and listening to Gee snoring in his bunk. Strange how a Mackem snoring can be so comforting.
Gig was a strange one as the room is kinda wierd, but i enjoyed it a lot. I also enjoyed playing footie with Benny (beasts) whilst having the luxury of crew packing the bus for us!

Norwich

We spent a couple of days in this glorious town. The first half of the day off consisted of Hayden and I trying to follow his iphone to a hotel that actually wasn't there. Then when we did eventually find it, thay lady behind the counter wouldn't let us upstairs to our day room (where Benny was currently checked in and showering)for fear that we might - in her words - beat him up!
We spent most of it hanging out in nice cafes and having a well earned rest. On the evening we all messed our minds up by going to see Shutter Island. Great movie.
I just remember us walking back not saying a word.
The gig the next day was absolutely awesome. I loved it. Once again the crowd were excellent.
Highlight of the evening? Being told by a transexual man i was really cute and he wanted all of us to come back to his house for a party where apparently there were 'loads of maids and everything'! ha ha. I politely declined that offer, although in hindsight i think we all wanted to at least poke our heads round the door to see what we were missing! Im sure we were all conjuring up different images of what this party looked like!
We settled for our own party on the bus that night. There weren't any maids.

I'll let you digest all that before i tell you about the rest of the tour. Maybe tomorrow. Take care all.

xxPaul Mxx