USA Tour Part 3 - New York, New York

So i took a break from writing this blog to go to Leeds Festival. I'm not even sure if anyone reads it and the painstaking minutes of my life that i while away here re-counting my trip across the globe may fall on 'deaf eyes' (im gonna use that as a lyric) but what the hell.

I arrived in New York and the first thing i saw literally was a teenager standing in the train station wearing a baseball shirt that just said 'WANG' on the back and so i found that hilarious.
I emerged from Penn station to see the Empire State Building and walked past Madison Square Garden on my way to my hotel. I was already in awe of this city. You have to bear in mind that it was my first visit to a city that gets nothing but praise from everyone i have ever known that has been there.
I met up with my new friend Mona Dehghan from Domino Records and she took me out for some food, then down to the lower east side where we basically got blind drunk. The Beasts turned up and were apparently just having a meal sat next to Lady Gaga in the restaurant next door who was donning nothing other than a barely nipple covering top and a pair of knickers. Thats hygiene for you!

So the next day i met up with my US manager Jake to head out and do some promo. On the way to the emusic office i passed the Flat Iron building which is easily up there with the coolest things i have ever seen:



Then i went on to play my first of what i didn't know were going to be some bizarre promo slots! I played at a pizza party in the emusic office. Now that was odd. Everyone there was lovely (as was the pizza) but it was about 12pm in the afternoon on a blazing hot day in the office with me sitting there playing my death songs to a bunch of dudes eating pizza! ha ha. I managed to flex my Swedish talking skills with a lady there called Pernilla before moving on to the next one. We took a cab over to the Highline Park which is basically a dis-used train line now converted into a park.
I played a version of '15 Letters' and 'Keep Your Eyes On The Road' for some cool folks called 'The Wild Honey Pie'. You can see the sessions here:

http://vimeo.com/14129277

http://vimeo.com/14125806

After that i enjoyed a Cucumber and Watermelon ice lolly (i refuse to say popsicle just because i was in the USA!) and proceeded to head to the venue. It was a gorgeous place, but it was a shame it was located right next to a meat supermarket called 'Western Beef' so in the choking humidity the whole street just stank of DEATH!
I got some nice footage of me and Tom Fleming singing Scott Walker's 'Farmer In The City' as a vocal warm up backstage then went out and played! It was one of those gigs where i thought i'd played shit, but it seemed like the NY crowd were really digging it. They made me feel ridiculously welcome in their city, and after reading a few blogs and reviews about it it seems that it didn't sound so bad from out front! :)

Tom and i went back to our hotel that night and continued drinking Jameson's till about 2am while once again, listening to more Scott Walker. Bearing in mind that he had to be up at 6am to catch a flight to LA and i could just lounge around in bed.

So, i got up and went to do more promo in NY which started wiha nice gig in the office for the lovely folks at Relix magazine, then i decided to throw my guitar back into my hotel and leg it to the Empire State Building. There was no way i was going to visit NY and not go up there!



I then had my final piece of promo which was possibly the weirdest of them all. I had to play at Limewire's 10th anniversary party in their office! Yes another bizarre Lone Wolf booking. There were balloons, streamers, party hats and just before i went on a really emotional speech from the chairman... Then steps up Lone Wolf with his death songs again... The life and soul of the fucking party! :) I played a couple of songs and though it best to leave quietly and let them all enjoy thier party.

Mona then took me to Brooklyn where i saw a giant Laundrette (once again i refuse to say Laundromat just because i was in the USA when i saw it! :)) which had a bar and and massive flat screen TV. It seemed like THE place to wash your clothes in Brooklyn.
We had a couple of beers and i decided to get an early one as i was flying to LA the next morning....

The final instalment tomorrow!

xxPaul Mxx