USA Tour Part 4 - Los Angeles

Hey dudes! Sorry!

Believe it or not i actually have spent the majority of the week a) being really ill and b) being extremely creative with about 4 new songs demoed (with no vocals due to the illness) and i'm about to record something else. This really is a rare phenomenon. The Paul Marshall species of man generally writes about 1 song every 1-2 months so fuck knows whats happened. Maybe i smashed it in so hard at Leeds Festival i managed to awaken a dormant part of my brain!

So that is the reason that this blog is arriving on your digital doormat so late!

Anyway the city of Angels.....

This blog starts of with a rather amusing tale about the plane ride there. I had a sad time leaving New York as i felt like i wasn't done there yet but i had to remind myself i wasn't on holiday and there's gigs to be played!
I sat on the plane in the aisle seat next to a rather large man who resembled a viking. He really did! But the worst thing was that this man really did reek. It wasn't B.O. in fact it was more like a combination of out of date milk mixed with really sweet strawberry yoghurt. Now bearing in mind that the flight was 6 hours, i wasn't too impressed but y'know, what can you do.
So i'm sitting there and just as we taxi to the runway the guy starts shifting around and looking pretty uncomfortable. Out of nowhere he suddenly at max volume lets out and almighty "BBBBLLLLEEUUUURRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!" as he wretches about to vomit all over me! Naturally i jump out of my skin (and my chair) and i'm like, "Dude are you ok?". He replied saying he'd eaten some horrid airport food and that he "should be able to keep it down". Hmmmm. I wasn't satisfied with that! ha ha. I only had one pair of jeans with me and i was going on stage that evening so the last thing i wanted was to be covered in viking vomit! I kindly offered him the aisle seat so he could run to the toilet if need be.
So i was sitting in the middle seat now gripping the arms of the seats in anticipation of the take off wondering if he was going to make it or not! He did...just! As the plane got to an altitude high enough to take your selt belt off, he literally flew down the aisle and into the loo to be sick. Poor bugger. But at that point myself and the pretty lady next to me had realised that we hadn't acknowledged eachothers existence. We looked at eachother and the moment our eyes met we both just burst out into roaring uncontrollable laughter! Horrible i know but that first 30 mins was a tense time, and that release of the laughter set me up for one of the most fun flights i've ever had. The lady in question turned out to be a fashion designer from New York called Mina Stone (http://minastone.com) and we got on like a house on fire. We had a glass of wine or two and chatted for pretty much the whole flight. I'm now pleased to say i've found a new pal in New York and we are still in touch on facebook etc.

After landing at LAX i met my good pals Jen And Chris (who actually cameo in the KYEOTR video) who had flown over from Denver just to come and see me which was a lovely touch. They gave me a lift back to my hotel to which i was greeted by the strangest headboards you have ever seen. Welcome to LA. I got the breasts and Tom F got the legs:



The venue for the gig was quite literally stunning! A huge ballroom type place with large chandeliers hanging from the celing.
I think the LA crowd were the most receptive of the entire trip. One thing i found about playing in America is that if you mention how much you love the towns tyou are playing in, you seem to win them over! ha ha. All i had to do here was mumble a sound that happened to resemble 'LA' into the mic and they went NUTS! I really enjoyed this show and i was really glad that it was the one my publishers in the US came to see. I also met a guy called Paul Bryan who i'll talk about more later.

So the next day the time came to say my final farewell to the beasts. I stayed an extra 3 days in LA and they were going off to play a festival in San Francisco. I was really gutted i couldn't go with them. I had seen some cities in the USA that i never thought i would get the chance to, and having made it over as far as the west coast, but not seeing San Fran was a kick in the balls, plus being in LA all on my own seemed pretty daunting with no car. Luckily Jen and Chris were around for one more day!
But anyway i went to a little place called 'The Den of Hollywood' where i enjoyed some 'red velvet pancakes'! My missus Sofi will tell you that i'm not the biggest fan of pancakes for breakfast, but i thought when in Rome and im really glad i did! These were amazing:



So i went to Santa Monica/Venice Beach with my pals and we took a drive up the pacific coast highway. We went out for mexican food which was awesome and basically just hung out as long as we could because we knew that it would probably be a long time before we saw eachother again. Venice really was a place full of crazy people, but the coast was beautiful.



I basically then spent my last couple of days wandering around Hollywood like a billy no mates, until the last night. Remeber that guy Paul Bryan who i mentioned earlier? He is a friend of my US manager and he did the whole "Hey Paul (B), my artist Lone Wolf is in LA go and take him out" thing. I had never properly met this guy before and so i was wondering what kind of an evening it was going to be, but i had a good feeling about it.
So Paul picks me up and takes me to the greatest seafood restaurant i have ever been to called "The Hungry Cat". I looked at the menu and some of these meals were hitting the $30/40 mark. I looked at him as if to say "shit man this is a pricey joint" to which he replied, "hey man you don't have to worry about that, i'm taking you out tonight!". I was obviously taken aback by this man's generosity and instantly trying to get him to let me pay for the drinks or ANYTHING but he wouldn't have it. It turns out that Paul is a sting arranger, producer and session musician for a lot of people. He is currently working with Aimee Mann and they are writing a musical together. He is also married and expecting a baby with Emily Procter who is an actress in 'CSI: Miami'.
The meal was simply great as was the company. He turned out to be such a great guy and full of inspiration to me. I think getting him to arrange some strings for the next record isn't out of the question!
This is what we started with:



You also need to look to the left of the picture to notice the awesome cocktail that Paul was drinking. It was a cucumber Martini. Hendricks gin, vodka(?) and purified cucumber. Hell yeah. I had a cocktail later called a 'Brother Jake' which was Rum, Tequila and pure squeezed Orange Juice. Stunning.
So i don't want to tell you what the meal came to price wise, but lets just say Paul, if you are reading this I owe you one big time! You are a diamond among men!

So that pretty much brings the USA tour to a close. I really did have a wonderful time and i met some great, great people who i am staying in touch with. I really cannot wait to go back! I hope you have enjoyed reading this mess. A massive, massive thanks to everyone at Bella Union/Yep Roc/Red Eye/ Blue Mountain.

USA... you have made it onto my list of things marked 'GOOD'. I salute you.

xxPaul Mxx

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

USA (well Canada in this case) Tour part 2 - Toronto

This entry is a little shorter as my time in Toronto was considerably less than the other cities i visited on this tour.

I took a flight over rather than travelling with the beasts so i could spend a bit of extra time with my Brother and my two nephews who live there which was lovely. Steve (my bro) left the UK when i was about 15 (im 29 now) and so it's always great to get the opportunity to hang out with him and the kids. Although i have to confess i do like to play xbox, and i do get to speak to my nephew Jared over the pleasantly violent setting of Modern Warfare 2 every now and then.

We spent the evening eating pizza and watching one of my favourite (crap) movies of all time. Commando. My god there is not a bone in my body that can express anything but love for that dire piece of trash. It is so dreadful it has some kind of space and time thing going on where it makes bad become good. I could actually spend the majority of this blog writing about that movie from start to finish but i'll save you that. Otherwise i'll start talking about Death Wish III too! :)

So i left my guitar in the WB van for ease of travel but sadly it meant that they had to meet me with it when they got to Toronto which was about 2am. Kelley (the Wild Beasts Tour Manager) basically wanted to break every bone in my body when i met them. They had been driving for hours and hours throughout the time i was enjoying Commando and were desperate to get to bed. I'll never forget when i went over to say hi and she didn't even look me in the eye, just said "Paul, just take your guitar and go". I felt DREADFUL. Naturally i went to bed that night with a heavy stomach.

The next day i went to a radio station called CIUT in Toronto a bit early for my liking. My voice doesnt lend itself well to early mornings and so i did the best i could. I sang 4 songs in a chapel on a University campus which was fun and got talking to the Australian lady who ran the show about how i don't want to play in Australia due to my fear of spiders. Her stories didn't help!

I then went to a place called Explore Music which is in a fancy new building on the docks of Toronto for an interview and another session. I really, really enjoyed this interview with a dude called Alan Cross who i could tell had really analysed my album and we shared a love for a lot of the same things. You are able to see this interview by clicking here!

I then made my way over to the venue called 'The Mod Club'. It was a beautiful place actually. Pretty massive and it was nice to see the Kissaway Trail boys there ready to do thier sound check. I aslo saw Kelley again and was all apologetic about them having to bring my guitar so late etc.
So, no sound check for me that day due to time restraints and so i just had to go out there and do it. I was pretty nervous becasue i had never played in front of my Brother before and i wanted him to see what this kid of 15 he left in the UK was able to do these days. I think the result was the best performance (technically) i did on the whole tour and the crowd were incredibly well responsive.

So after the show i went out with my Bro and his/my mate Mike to some random bar downtown which to put it bluntly, wasn't for me that night. Those guys were doing the whole "hey man you're on tour let's get fucked up" vibe and all that was on my mind was the fact i had to catch a flight to New York early the next day so i let those guys enjoy themselves and took a cab home.

Sadly, I discovered that there are two Connaught Avenues in Toronto and so after being taken to one and then the other it took me about an hour and a half to get home and a taxi fare of what should have been $90! I managed to haggle the driver down to $50 by blaming him for taking me to the wrong place. Lets say he wasn't pleased. I got in to find my nephews Jared and Connor fast asleep which was really sad as i was hoping to see them one last time before i went to New York.

So yeah this leg of the trip was a little more family orientated, but NEW YORK IS COMING!!!! WOOOOP!

:)

Love you all

xxPaul Mxx

USA TOUR Part 1 - CHICAGO

So finally now i'm back in Leeds after the tour and Green Man festival being so close to one another. I now actually feel like i can take a deep breath and tell you a bit about what happened over in the grand ol' US of A.

CHICAGO



What a wonderful city.

I arrived and had a couple of days to myself before the gig. I visited to Goose Island brew pub which was certainly a highlight.
The first 'Lone Wolf' thing i had to do was drive to Rock Island for a daytrotter session. I'd never driven in the states before this so notably i was shitting my pants a bit, especially considering it wasn't exactly just 'down the road'. It's a drive equivalent to Leeds to London and back so a round trip of about 7-8 hours.

The daytrotter studio was littered with all manner of vintage gear style delights. I was expecting to just be going in there with my acoustic and bashing a couple of tunes out, but i got to do a weird version of 'This Is War' on a rather odd electric piano, then did 'Keep your Eyes On The Road' on a flat wound arch top whilst one of the daytrotter crew (his name escapes me at this time!! Sorry!) provided some kick drum accompaniment. I also did a purely acoustic version of both '15 Letters' and 'We Could Use Your Blood'. Im sure this will be online soon.

On my journey home i got to flip the middle finger at a truck driver on interstate 88, to which he replied with a double handed attempt. I had no more hands to reply with and so therefore felt beaten by a worthy opponent. Once safe in my hotel room after that incident, which to be fair, could have ended up like the movie 'Duel' i was happy to hear that Wild Beasts had finally arrived in town and so after 3 days of Chicago solitude i literally flew out of my hotel across town to meet up with them only to find a table full of what i can only describe as 'shells' of the people i know due to thier lenghty day of travel. Obviously i felt wonderful after my 7 hour drive but thats besides the point. So we had an early night.



The next day was all about the show in Chicago really. The Empty Bottle was quite a small place (250 cap i think) but by no means without it's charm. I spent most of the afternoon admiring the graffiti on the walls of the dressing room and seeing a sticker for a band called 'Turgid Member'.
The Kissaway Trail were the victims of a storm over Atlanta which meant that they were unable to make the gig. In fact i think they arrived just after they were supposed to go on which meant i was bumped up to main support and the 11pm slot.
The crowd were obviously half up for it and half not. It was the beginning of Lollapalooza weekend and so there were about 100 people watching and 100 not, but i still had a wonderful time. I felt very welcome and enjoyed being on stage. It was the first time since the tour with WB in March that i had played solo.
Although the highlight of the evening came in the unlikely form of a slagging off! I was standing outside after the show talking to a few people who were being really nice about the show when i overheard someone standing right next to me saying how upset he was that he had missed me play, and was really jealous of the fact i am touring with Phil Selway from Radiohead later in the year. So naturally i thought "aww that's nice" until i heard his friend say "Yeah well you didn't miss anything, he was SHIT!". I let the conversation continue for a while wondering whether i should say anything and was on the verge of letting it go until i heard how much the original guy was fighting my corner and refusing to believe that i could have been THAT bad.

Now i'm a kind of hard face to forget due to this rather awesome moustache i have, and it does help the recognition process in the USA when you not only see the moustache but hear a broad British accent. So i turned around and looked at the guy straight in the face and said "i'm sorry, who did you say was shit?" to which he quite freely replied "Lone Wolf man, he was shit dude". He clearly did not recognise me which kind of made me feel better anyway because it showed the lack of attention he must have paid in such a small venue to not notice the two size able recognisable features i mentioned earlier. So i asked him again and moved a bit closer "sorry who was shit?" to which he once again said "that guy Lone Wolf, he wasn't very good at all". I moved in for the final kill, and was practically close enough to kiss him before i said "you don't even know who you are talking to do you?" with a big smile on my face.

The most beautiful moment of the evening was watching him suddenly realise he had basically told me to my face i was shit and then practically collapse to the ground in a colossal void of guilt and apologies before hanging his head and walking away.
His friend immediately went and purchased my album! :)

I then spent the next day at Lollapalooza with the Beasts. I did a bit of promo in the afternoon in the form of a couple of interviews and a radio performance but mainly enjoyed getting sunburned and hanging out.



The highlight of this day you ask? When i was on my way back to the hotel, im hoping this was once again because of my moustache, and the fact that i was wearing a tight white vest, sun burnt shoulders, sunglasses and carrying a little tote bag as you can see in the image above, i was approached by a preacher who with a Cheshire cat grin told me, "Son, Heaven has no room for homosexuals". Needless to say i frowned at him and continued my journey home wondering how people like this still exist! And also considering the fact that if Heaven does exist, do i really want to go there if that guy is going to be there!?

Tomorrow: Toronto!

xxPaul Mxx

USA TOUR!

Hi everyone!

for some reason my blogs always seem to start with 'it's been a while since i last blogged' but it is the truth here and i have a good reason. I have literally just returned from my tour of the USA. I'm going to do a little blog about each city i visited etc, but before i do i need to sort out all the video i have, and the pics etc and i will start posting it all up for you tomorrow.

But in all the synopsis was this:

Chicago: AWESOME
NY: AWESOME
Toronto: AWESOME
LA: AWESOME

So i'm sure you can tell you are in for a treat! Stay tuned!

xxPaul Mxx

Lone Wolf to tour USA!

Hi everyone!

I won't lie to you by saying that i wasn't hoping today i'd anounce a mercury nomination, but such is life, and luckily it ties in beautifully with the news that i do have for you!

I have great pleasure to announce that in August i will be touring the USA in support of my pals, and now as of today Mercury nominees Wild Beasts!

It's only 4 dates, but i'm gonna be over there for a couple of weeks doing promo and stuff so hit me up USA!

These are the dates:

Aug 6th @ The Empty Bottle - CHICAGO
Aug 9th @ The Mod Club - TORONTO
Aug 11th @ Highline Ballroom - NEW YORK
Aug 13th El Rey Theatre - LOS ANGELES

WOOOOO!!!!! See you stateside!

Congratulations to Wild Beasts! Lets hope they take it all the way and bring that prize home!

xxPaul Mxx

Rockfeedback Session

Hey everyone.

I've not written for a while becasue there is some amazing news imminent and i'm just holding off until i'm allowed to tell you.

But....

Just today this went online which i recorded at the Lexington in London about a week or so before the album was released. Enjoy!!

http://www.rockfeedback.com/tv/direct/channels/297400/971008

xxPaul Mxx