Tour Diary: Hedonistic Blur [BACKSTAGE PASS: My Federation]

Tour Diary: Hedonistic Blur

Posted on April 17, 2008 10:56 PM
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My Federation tour blog week one.

Being on tour is very like a geography field trip only with considerably more focus on loud music and Jamaican overproof rum than Geography.

In-fact let’s quickly dispel some of those common tour myths. The stereotypical image of a band on tour is a 24/7 hedonistic blur of booze, drugs and sex. But the harsh reality is that this only accounts for about 90% of our time.

Week one now lies behind us like a mildly inebriated sheep dog. So far, we’ve played Bradford, Derby , Lincoln , Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield and we have to admit we’re getting better.

In our first week we’ve steadily checked off our Tour Bingo card of achievements from destroying a hotel room (or at least leaving them quite untidy) to near death experiences and mindless blood shed during the first ever game of band ‘it’ all cemented together with 6 premium quality, ‘taste the difference’ deluxe vintage My Federation sets.

Supporting James is quite an honour too especially given that their album has just gone in at number 10 and the tour is all but sold out. They’re playing some great gigs and some of the tunes from their new album I think are already set to be future James classics especially the irrepressible ‘Hey Ma’, ‘White Boy’ and growing anthem ‘I wanna go home’

My federation gigs have contained all the usual ‘My Feds’ hallmarks ie Lee leaping about like a deranged Iranian ballerina, Neil prowling across the stage like a bear at a karaoke bar (?) and the rest of us playing some of the right notes in mostly the right order. Our replacement drummer Rob is doing an amazing job, although we obviously miss our regular drummer Dylan... Dyl, hope the op went well and we look forward to welcoming you back in your new feminine form after the tour.

Saturday night in Liverpool was particularly joyous, playing to an ‘up for it’ crowd that loved The Feds. Always great to kick off the set with ‘What Gods are These’ and have people singing along from the outset. After the gig we ended up having a micro party in our Tardis like tour bus. Most of James jumped in for the ride as we drove to a Liverpool club set in an amazing old converted church....religion certainly seems to have changed a bit since I last went to Sunday school.

Newcastle and Sheffield then passed in a swirling whirl of big riffs, athletic leaping and lots of Wray & Nephew and all is looking good moving forwards; Shepherds Bush Empire tomorrow night where our intention is to rock it until the wheels fall off.

A quick final note on the unofficial 8th member of our touring party ‘Gloria’ our trusty psychotic ‘sat nav’ system who appears to have the homing instincts of a piano and has recently started to show her true colours. As the tour has progressed Gloria has become increasingly aggressive, sending us on many wild goose chases and prompting drivers to perform ever more lethal manoeuvres in the middle of motorways. Then after the gig in Sheffield , Gloria turned it up a notch taking advantage of Lee our designated drivers ‘lackadaisical’ approach to driving. With her sickly tones dripping with disdain, she calmly and confidently coaxed Lee off the highways and byways onto a fully operational tram line. As we kept on driving, desperately looking for a way off the track we realised that we were about to head up what looked alarmingly like a section of rollercoaster. Panic ensued as a tram came by on the other track. Sensing the danger, I bravely jumped out of the van and ran away, but calm reversing skills by Lee got us out of the jam and we’re already in talks with Pixar about the film rights.

More next week when My Federation may be stopping in a town near you.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!