two white cranes/nervy betters tour 2013

 

I'll try and keep this short...

Bristol
We play at Aaron and Roxy's house and Kano and Ohne are there. We have a pizza party. The next day, we pick up the car. Super sporty with a spoiler. The rental men are excited for us. We see Rachael and Shuki. We pick up Roxy from work and drive to Birmingham

Birmingham
We listen to podcasts in the car. The show is at the Ace Bushy house (the Vagina Monolodge). Eve made us a tasty vegan cake. Jen Schande plays a lovely set then runs away. Everyone is super nice. We have fun. Next day, we go to have breakfast with lovely people. We do a crossword together.

Peak District
Friendly people at the youth hostel. We walk to Lud's Church. It is a big ravine all covered in moss. I guess it might be the Green Knight's castle. Steve makes such a great miso soup and stir fry dinner. We have a band practice by the river and scouts come with a chainsaw. We are afraid they might bully us.

Manchester
Liam makes us such tasty burgers and we meet Natalie. Roxy has an essay in her zine. She gives us vegan pie and cookies. LLION SWYD are so great. "Only dickheads win the lottery". We thought we had food poisoning but really we are just nervous. We stay up late and chat and then sleep in luxury. I have a chocolate milkshake with my breakfast.

Oxford
The light is prickly and nice on the drive. The owners of this house are both called Matt. We play to a little living room of people and then have a nice time chatting. In the morning, Steve and Roxy swim in the river. I sleep in.

Norwich
Anna takes us to a tea room. Me and Franky want to move here maybe... I am pretty exhausted. We get food at the place and set up with our own things. Stephen and Tammy arrive. They are so great! This is probably the best we play on tour. We have lost our minds at this point. I swap records with Anna. Her 10" has my favourite Middle Ones song on it. We eat breakfast at a raw vegan cafe. Anna picks up a shelving unit off the street.

Seaford
Nicol is waiting outside for us. So good to see him. We walk to the beach and swim in the sea at sunset. Roxy - a vegan - goads me into eating a battered sausage. We each play a song and then go to bed. Verity's room is very comforting to sleep in. In the morning, Nicol records some drums for the album.

London
Driving through London is intense. Holy shit. we stop for pizzas. I'm so happy to see Franky. We set up the flat and people start arriving. Olly plays first. He is great. It's his album party and he's made a good album. It's really hot and we have such a fun show and sing happy birthday to Olly. So many lovelies there! After I wave Steve and Roxy off I go straight to bed and sleep.

kino residency: august

 photo by Frances Dixon

I spent August staying at my parents' house, working and putting on Cafe Kino events. Here are a few photos to summarise the whole thing. I'll make more detailed posts for the two main events (write good songs and music and movies) later. Also, here is a summary of the month in list form.

Frances and I found a place to have our wedding reception just before she left for China, so we parted in a great mood.

I spend the first week listening to old CDs and tapes, hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend and driving around visiting friends and their babies. I even caught Lauren between Afghanistan and somewhere else. Then my parents came home and we all went to the pub and I told them what was what for about two hours.

There were two weddings. One was of my old flatmate and friend Mark Slade, to Kerry, his girlfriend. Lots of babies there and lots of old pals. on the drive back, we visited my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle.The second wedding was of Phil Dodd's brother, Pete and his girlfriend Lana. Grizzly and the Bears played!

Mostly I was working on projects and preparing for my week in Kino: 20th-25th Aug. The weekend before this, I stayed with Steve and Lisa and Sam in Lisa's house and we had a band practice for our new band The Nervy Betters in preparation for a new bands event on the following week. The next day, Lisa, Steve and I jumped on a big inflatable Stone Henge on College Green in Bristol.

Frances came back from China and I got to spend some time with her while looking for more Polite Records stuff to take to the British Library. We stayed up late Sunday night making a mixed tape for Cafe Kino. I made it on a blank tape my friend, Amy - 'primary care giver' - Parsons gave to me out of all the old CDs I had left behind when I left home.

For the next week, I spent time in and around Cafe Kino chatting and writing and drawing and preparing a story to be read out on Saturday the 25th of August. I stayed with the super generous Sarah and George and made them spinach and spring onion vegan pancakes for dinner as a thank you. 

Frances and I had an amazing curry with our friends Sarah-Jane and Daniel at Sarah-Jane's house in Yate. Daniel is going to go to Berlin to do an MA. He has been trying to do this for the last two years.

That week in Cafe Kino, I put on two events, with massive help from George and all at Kino. The first was called write good songs and was an evening of new bands and music ideas. The second was called music and movies and was an evening of songs and short films from Rachael Dadd, Ichi and me. It was also Rachael's last show before having her baby and she was joined on stage by a Skype video of Aaron and Kano in Japan. Kano is having a baby too!

Anyway, It was a fantastic three weeks and combined being busy with being on holiday in a way I wish I could make happen more often. I feel three years older, in a good way. I'm very grateful to everyone I got to spend time with over this month!

lindau

photo by Frances Dixon

maybe this photo was by Frances?

photo by Frances Dixon

It is raining like the last time we left Berlin. We give Ana a text as she had recently moved to the city. It is nice to see all of Berlin one last time on our train ride to the station.

We are on the bottom bunks of a couchette to Munich. We tuck ourselves onto little shelves and lie on our backs in the dark compartment as lights all manner of colours and shapes flicker on the ceiling from the night through the crack in the curtains. It is like a zoetrope. It is a beautiful riot of noise and light but its frequency is hypnotic and I sleep well, though lightly.

We have a tea and a coffee in Munich and head straight back out in the direction of Lindau. Spindly legged conifers gather densely around a river, mist still collecting on its surface. The train crosses a little bridge and there is water all around.

When we get out the town is very quiet and the air is slightly bitter like it gets when winter is coming. Out at the edge of the harbour is a gate guarded by a lion and a lighthouse. Beyond them are the Alps. 

The alps are pitch black and mist hangs about them, the only thing defining them in three dimensions.

berlin

We go back to the train station and reserve couchettes for the train to Munich on Sunday. Then we have enormous  pastries for breakfast. We should have just shared one. There is a quick train to Unter Den Linden and we wander past old buildings and museums. We have lunch from a stand under the U-bahn. It has been a good morning after a strange start.

There are lots of dogs around town, which Frances especially enjoys. She would like an ice cream and in the morning we visit the Stasi Mueum. The atmosphere is bleak and overbearing around the complex that was the Secret Police headquarters

We head to Samaritestrasse to visit the record store from last time. They have so many good things but I won't buy anything this time. 

Frances noticed the sky was grey in three separate layers. We watched the opening of Oktoberfest on television. It looks crazy. I enjoyed walking through Alexanderplatz this evening with the TV tower all lit up.

hamburg

Things are far apart and dark in between. We start to worry about money and the fact that we were spending two nights here but I think it was because we are tired and have had a bad first impression of the city. Our room is actually nice and large and quiet and I am beginning to like the city I see out of the window.


The newspapers are clipped in wooden frames. I noticed this in Copenhagen as well. We both have croissants with butter and jam and unexpectedly large cups of coffee. We take our time with breakfast.

There are many bakeries around and we meet a kind man in a dog supplies shop who gives us lollies.


I am nervous about renting a rowing boat but know that I would regret missing it.The lake is very beautiful but there is no time to appreciate it while rowing. Frances rows first and is the better of the two of us. It occurs to me afterwards that it was strange that no one else was using these boats. The swell on the water is greater than we had expected. Frances laughs nervously as I struggle and Struggle against it. We eventually find that a team rowing effort is the best.

copenhagen & ferry

 photo by France Dixon

 photo by Frances Dixon

Bicycles are lent in every available space and copper spires turning brown to turquoise are all around. I had a pastry for breakfast and Frances had a boiled egg. She had a nice little loaf of bread with it. We wander about and there are many cobbles and ruddy brick buildings and green streaked copper roofs that billow at the bottom.


We are sitting in the quiet carriage and people around us a speaking softly in German and a mixture of Scandinavian languages. I will miss the softness and the understatement and the rest. We can see the sea on either side of the train and rain water is running across the windows. It is all grey and blue. 

We are unexpectedly on a ferry between Denmark and Germany! We go outside and are blown about. I can feel the salt in my hair. Everything is blue plastic and wet. We hold onto each other to approach the rail. The ferry churns the water and huge white plumes burst on the black surface. In the distance, the sky blurs into the sea.

sweden

It is all cloudy and rainy. I have spilt lemonade on myself. We are on a train all afternoon and early evening. The houses in Sweden are a variety of pastel shades and they sit in among hills and trees, placed with great care. The land becomes flatter. We are trying to take photos out of the window.