Blog Archives

The usual January lull is coming to an end, thank goodness – we’re about to set off again for the USA and another long stretch of road. The lull wasn’t actually all that quiet, in fairness – I’ve been writing my own songs, working on my hardcore project, doing BBC Introducing stuff and more. But it’s kind of cleansing to know that in a couple of days we’ll be back in the bus, tearing up the miles and doing what we’re best at.

A few quick announcements for today. First of all, we’ve added one more headline show to the American tour. January 29th we’ll be at our favourite Californian club, Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara. On past experience, it will be awesome carnage, tickets are on sale now.

Secondly, for the European shows coming up in March and April, our good friends Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo will be opening up the bill. If you’re familiar with them already, do go check them out.

Finally, to celebrate the start of the new US tour, here’s the belated diary from the last one. Enjoy!

A belated happy new year to you all. I hope you had fun festive seasons. I spent a relaxing Christmas in Colorado, and then a totally manic 30th birthday and new year’s celebration (that kind of blended into one long horrendous bout of sinning). Anyways, 2012 is upon us! Nice to have a new number to write at the end of dates, and if you’re the kind of moron who believes that Mayan crap then it’s also our last year, so we’d better make the best of it!

The first thing that I did with my year was spend some time in a rehearsal room with Matt Nasir (Sleeping Souls) and Ben Dawson (Million Dead), kicking around some ideas for a hardcore / noiserock project that I’ve been mentioning from time to time for a while now. Well, we’ve already had a lot of fun and made some horrid noises, and hopefully we’ll have some time to record something sooner or later to share with you all. I’ll update as and when anything happens, but safe to say, for now it’s more of a real proposition than it has been before.

Just some quick little things for today on the home front. Firstly, we’ve added a full band show in Schaffen, Belgium, on March 30th. I’m also confirmed and announced to open a string of shows in Canada for the great Joel Plaskett in April and May. Check the gigs page, as ever, for details.

Finally for today, I’ll be on the BBC Radio One Review Show tonight (Tuesday) at 9pm sharp. A bit late notice, I know, but if you read this in time, tune in. Right, I’m off to keep fighting the email tsunami. I’ll do another post with more Wembley details very soon. See you all soon enough!

I just got back to London from Heidelberg. The “England Keep My Bones” world tour is officially done – 79 shows in 14 countries since September – bringing my total number of shows for 2011 to 184. Considering I recorded and released a studio album (and released a compilation record too), I’d say that’s not bad going. Tomorrow I head to Colorado for Christmas, so this is basically me signing off for the year. Thanks again to everyone at the shows, the Sleeping Souls, and my crew.

In news, there have been a few more Social D shows added (Flagstaff AZ, an extra show in Tempe AZ, check the gigs list); there’s a blog with more details about my forthcoming signature guitar right here. The world, as I’m sure you know, lost two titans of anti-authoritarian thought (and heroes of mine) – Christopher Hitchens and Vaclav Havel – a great shame; but we can rejoice in the fact that they seem to have taken that shithead from North Korea with them.

Finally, well, I posted up parts one, two and three of the murder mystery. For all your Christmases, here’s part 4. Enjoy, rest up, see you in 2012.

I’m in Ravenna, Italy. Tonight is my first proper full-band headline show in Italy. It’s been a long time coming but it’s great to be here. The journey was pretty hellish – it took us 28 hours to make the drive here direct from Warsaw. Ouch.

Some quick snippets of information: the show in Graz in a few days is now sold out. And we have just added a show in Berne, Switzerland, on March 31st next year. I’ve also spent the day making festival plans for next summer, and there will be much exciting stuff to announce in the new year.

Finally, on our long journey to where I’m currently sat, we made a four-part murder mystery film. Here’s part one…

A day off in Berlin, one of the greatest, most vibrant cities of the continent, and I’m holed up in a hotel room in my pants drinking tea and watching German TV. I guess we’ve been out on the road for a long while now, huh. The whole Christmas thing is looming again with predictable regularity (bah Humbug etc.), but there’s some good news to impart here and there, so let’s begin.

First off all, I’m over-the-moon happy to announce that the mighty Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip will be joining me and Billy Bragg at the Wembley show in April 2012. They’re a truly amazing pair of musicians, and it’ll be great to have them up on stage with us. There are a few more people to announce for the bill, but we’re still finalizing the details, so I’ll get those names to you as soon as I can.

Secondly, we’ve added a whole bunch more shows to the Spring tour of the USA. As well as extra shows in Ventura and Pomona (with Social D) and Boston (with the Dropkick Murphys), we’ve added headline shows in El Paso TX, San Luis Obispo CA, Eugene OR, St Louis MO, Columbus OH, and Bloomington IL. Check them out on the “upcoming gigs” tab right up there at the top of the page.

Finally, in my previous blog I mentioned the fact that Farida guitars are working on a limited run of a signature model guitar for me. There are more details right here, check it out.

Right, sleep time!

I write from Rostock. Not been to this part of the world before – former GDR areas always fascinate me. It seems crazy (and sightly worrying) to me how quickly the sufferings of communism are fading out of popular consciousness. It’s worth taking time to remember, it’s only been 20 years or so. As usual, people here seem delightful. I’m looking forward to playing. It’s good to be back in the swing of touring again after a mad trip to Ireland for the TV show “Other Voices” on my day off, during which the bastarding fucknuts at British Airways contrived to lose my guitar (got it back eventually) and make me miss my flight to Hamburg. Grr.

In happier news, some points of interest! Firstly, I’m happy to say that “Wessex Boy” is record of the week on the Greg James show on BBC Radio 1 this week, which is great news. Also, the show in Heidelberg has now sold out. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, standing tickets for Wembley are also sold out. Which is just bonkers, actually. Happily, there are still a ton of tickets left in the rest of the venue, and we’ll be announcing more supports (alongside Mr Bragg) very soon.

Next, a quick heads up. The good people at Farida guitars are in the process of making a limited run of signature acoustics with my input and name on the headstock. There will be 25 of them, and they’ll be out and about next year. I’ve been playing the prototype recently, and it’s a beautiful instrument. More details on this coming soon.

Finally, some bits and pieces of video for you. Firstly, here’s a tour trailer for you, a teaser of all the stuff that the great Greg Nolan has been working on on this tour. Secondly, here’s me covering a tune by my friend and peer, Mr Tim Barry. And finally, here’s us playing live at Crossing Border Festival in Den Haag last month.

Earlier this year I found time to produce the third album by London folk-singer extraordinaire Beans On Toast. He’ll probably be familiar to many of you; Jay is an old friend, an honest sounding board for my ideas, and star of more than one song of mine. I’ve never produced a record before, and I’m fiercely proud of the resulting music.

Well, today being Jay’s birthday (happy birthday Jay!), the album, “Trying To Tell The Truth“, is now out. You can get it from Xtra Mile Recordings here, and from iTunes here. As a little taster, here’s one of the videos Jay has made:

You can see more of the same by following his username on YouTube. Enjoy.

For myself today, well, if you have a spare moment, you can head over here and vote for me in this year’s NME awards. Have fun.

Hello from Glasgow. We’re midway through the UK tour and it’s going swimmingly. I’ll have more to say about it when it’s done, but for now, thanks to everyone in Bournemouth, Newport and Birmingham for being ace.

Tonight, between 7pm and 8.30pm, I’ll be taking over the playlist on BBC 6 Music. It’s kind of like Desert Island Discs, but with interaction via Twitter. I’ve picked a few songs I like for the start, but after that I’ll be picking them live as I go, with suggestions from people on Twitter. So you need to hit me up on there (@fthc) with the hashtag #fthc6music. We can discuss stuff I want to play, you can make suggestions, the works. And together we have ourselves a kick-arse playlist, cool? Get involved!

Two other quick things. First of all, as you may have seen, the legendary Mr Billy Bragg has confirmed that he’ll be playing a set at my Wembley show in April next year. I know, it’s totally nuts right? Tickets still onsale here.

Secondly, after a few days up on blocks for a refit, the forums are now open again. Play nice.

I’m in a cafe in Den Haag; this is my first time here, tonight we play at Crossing Border festival. A Dutch breakfast and cornucopia of European languages around me accompany my blogging. How terribly metropolitan of me. I often read John Betjeman poetry when I’m away.

Some updates for you all! Hurrah! First of all, the Second Three Years is nearly upon us. People from the UK can, as ever, happily order a copy from Xtra Mile Recordings. I know, I know, many of you are not from my little patch of land, and wish to know how you can get a copy in Australia, USA, Canada or Europe (or further afield). Well. Unfortunately legal schmegal shennanigans means Xtra Mile can’t just ship out to everyone. The good news is that we’re sorting a scheme to get it out to everyone as fast as we can, and I’ll post detail when I have them. In the meantime, you can check this link to see about picking up a digital copy in most parts of the world. Thanks for your patience.

The tour is going well. Actually, scratch that, the tour is going great. Everywhere has been sold out so far, after a long US tour and a short rest we’re at the top of our game, and the crowds have been fantastic. Shows in Cologne and Glasgow are now sold out too, and other shows, in Bournemouth and most of Europe, are selling fast, so get your tickets now. In Germany, we’re especially looking forward to the Festival Van Cleef shows coming up next month, in Bielefeld, Trier and Dresden; check out the details here.

Also on the subject of (sold out) shows, and indeed Twitter (it’s the 21st century, egad!)… I usually try and retweet people who have tickets they want to sell for sold out shows, though I pass on people looking for them, in an effort not to clog up people’s feeds with my wittering. Well, the scale of people trying to exchange tickets has now got a little out of hand (these are big shows, after all), so I think I’m going to have to calm down on that front a little. If you have a ticket you want to sell for one of my shows, by all means tweet about it, but I may not be able to spread the word for everyone; the forum on my site is a good place for making exchanges.

And obviously, we’re talking about people making an honest sale or swap here; no fucking touts.

Finally, a scattershot of various links. Here’s some video of me at the recent AIM awards, basking in the glow of victory and whisky. I was fortunate enough to do a session for the lovely folks at Daytrotter recently in Austin TX, which you can check out here. And finally, here’s a video of me mangling the German language. Enjoy.

Sometimes I feel a little geographically incontinent. I’m sat here in Amsterdam, getting ready for the first date of the European tour, and I’m writing blog posts about more shows in the USA (where we just were). The mind boggles. Anyways, we have a whole bunch of shows announced now at the start of next year, in the west with old friends Social Distortion and much of the rest of the country with new friends Dropkick Murphys. Check the dates out here.

Some thoughts on the shows, incidentally. The Sleeping Souls will be on all of them. Contrary to what was announced in some places, we will not be playing in Milwaukee or Toronto with the Dropkicks. Sorry about that, but it’s just the way it worked out. The good news is that there are a bunch more shows to be added to the run, both extra shows with those bands and headline shows of our own on days off, so keep your eyes peeled. I also have extensive Canadian plans for next year as well.

Looking closer to home, I’m pleased to say that my buddy and photographer Greg Nolan will be joining us in Europe and the UK. He’s documenting the tour, and I want him to get more involved with people at the shows! So, he’ll be filming interviews in the queue before the show, and in the crowd during and afterwards. The pictures will be posted on my Facebook page, and you should also follow Greg’s Twitter feed for updates on his whereabouts. Get involved!

Finally, for the UK, as many of you will know, we have the wonderful Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo opening the shows. You should get down early and check them out, here’s a taster!