We left Glasgow airport to fly to New York what feels like an eon ago. On the way to the airport James asked if we could swap seats as he was meant to be in the middle of Rab and I. I stupidly said yes and spent the rest of the flight like a piece of wood in a vice. They both commandeered the armrests and no amount of my polite huffing could budge them so i resorted to the biological warfare of my anus. They both went green but still didn't give an inch. Halfway through the flight i was awoken by the stewardess asking if there was a doctor on board. Not a bit like Airplane! The woman next to us had fainted and was spread across 3 seats. The woman next to her done the stereotypical Glasgow thing and started moaning at her as she was on "her fucking honeymoon". Have a heart hen it's not the womans fault. When we landed we drove up to Boston (a number 2 album and we still can't afford a direct flight to where we're headed!) When we got there we realised we'd left Carolines cymbal on the plane so she was a little annoyed with us. I'd left my wallet too so someone on Continental airlines has won a watch.
Boston When we got to Boston it was covered in snow. So many people said "you must be used to it in Scotland". It hasn't snowed in Glasgow for a while so i usually replied with "YOU must be used to cheeseburgers and spelling colour (fucking color) wrong. The hotel had a Chinese restaurant called The Joyful Garden. This got my hopes up as the last place i was in with this name had a very different menu. The restaurant definitely didn't have Plug 'n' Tug as a starter. We played a little pub that held about 150 people that was amazing, we like doing those as you can see the whites of peoples eyes and there's an electricity that you don't get in big venues. One of the people there bought us a bottle of bourbon which led to a night of hurling for me.
New York We drove from Boston to New York and the first promotion we had was the David Letterman show. When we got onstage it was amazing to think that all those nights in a freezing rehearsal room in Glasgow could take you on to a show like that, I felt very proud of what we've accomplished so far. The guest was Kate Hudson who looked so good it took your breath away. I felt very privileged to have performed with James, Rab and Caroline that day, i don't tell them that enough and want them to know that. After the show we had an instore in Union Square. It was very humbling to come so far from home and see so many people who wanted to see us play and get stuff signed. Instores are a little hard because you don't get a lot of time to set up but everyone loved it. Afterwards we went to our hotel bar with our friend Sune from the Raveonettes. After about 50 mojitos i staggered up to bed. I have no recollection of leaving but our manager Dean said when he answered the door to the room i staggered in like Woody from Toy Story. I even spewed, cleaned it up and brushed my teeth and can't recall any of it. The rest carried on partying and James woke up with messages on his bathroom mirror written in toothpaste.
The next day i awoke with the worst hangover. I was in an inexplicable rage about something, caused purely by my own actions. When i got downstairs the hotels fish tank was manky and the smell of my old fish tank came back to me and led to another appearance of the mojitos. The show was amazing, even though Div, our lighting guy, almost blinded New York with a set of floodlights behind us. If you don't leave blind and deaf from our gigs we're doing something wrong. We had our friend Angela Mcluskey supporting us too and everytime we see her it gets more special. We had an aftershow in a bar where Rab painstakingly told me how to DJ. It was a real achievement on his part as i could barely walk again. We went straight to the airport from the aftershow and wandered around in a pure daze awaiting the bar opening. The Moteley Crue then left for the west coast.
San Francisco I awoke with another hangover (they're becoming TOO regular) with the plane bumping down on the runway. I had stirred about ten minutes before landing and didn't think i was asleep so i had shat myself that we'd hit one of those pesky geese you hear about. Everyone thought it was hilarious while i sneaked off for an underwear change. The hotel was very cool, it had a big heated pool in the court and was in a 1950's style. We got to meet up with our friend Carl Barat too. We were so happy when he came along for the west coast dates with us as he's one of the gang. Everyone else headed out into the night and left me to get a much needed 20 hour sleep. I'll leave it to the others to regale you with the tales of the night. We got on our tour bus and headed to the venue for our first west coast tour. The dressing room had what i thought was a one way mirror looking out over the crowd which i was acting like a chump in front of. It wasn't until later i found out people could see in perfectly clearly. I was affronted but fuck it. Carl opened up and was blinding, his pre-show nerves were very misplaced.
Seattle We drove through the night to Seattle which resulted in a party on the bus. There had been torrential rain and terrible flooding in Seattle so we were lucky to make it. We were looking forward to playing here due to the amount of amazing music that came out of the city. When we got to the venue we found out there had been two people shot and one of them killed the week before so there were clenched sphincters for a while. Next door to the venue was a gay bar and i seen a 50 year old guy come out wearing leather trousers, jacket and cap. It's amazing to see someone so comfortable in themselves they don't give a fuck what people think. I wish more of the world was like that. After the show we headed to a bar across the road with a lot of people who'd came to see us. I sat down underneath a skeleton stuck to the wall and only realised it when everyone who came over did a double take. I went to the toilet and i'm sure someone had a conversation with it about playing bass. Definitely need to get some weight gain 3000.
could not bear to buy cochella tickets...don,t think it would be a good venue to hear the music live... please consider some more southern california dates..
