Today’s car-park home is in Regina, Canada. Apparently, it’s pronounced to rhyme with the female anatomy; fuck that, I’m sticking with “Reg-eee-na”, and Canada can love it or leave it. Edmonton and Calgary were fun – the show in Edmonton was in the largest mall in the observable universe (or something), complete with ice-rink, shooting range and a sea-lion enclosure. I saw a penguin.

A couple of things for people to consider. The Mark Mulcahy tribute album to which I contributed a song, “Ciao My Shining Star“, is out today. It’s a great collection of songs by a great singer, and it’s for a good cause as well. The CD features me and an embarrassment of other talents (Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr, Unbelievable Truth, Josh Rouse etc.), and the iTunes version has a massive 20 more songs as well. It’s definitely worth your time, and you can find out more here.

Secondly, my old friends The Holloways have a new single, Jukebox Sunshine, out today. You can get it on iTunes and the like. Check it out.

Finally, looking ahead to the October UK tour, the guys in Fake Problems are trying to schedule places to stay after the shows. If you can help out, drop them an email. I can vouch for their being house-broken (well, apart from Derek). Any assistance much appreciated, I’m sure. Thanks everyone.

It’s been a while since I traveled on a tour bus for any length of time, though it is something I’ve done a fair bit of in my time. For the most part it eases many (or most) of the small stresses of touring – you have a permanent space that’s yours, a comfortable place to sleep, you travel overnight so you can see more of the places you’re in and so on. The immediate drawbacks are not being able to shower with the consistency that the touring life demands, and a touch of cabin fever – every inch of space is important, and you have to be a little bit hyper-sensitive to other people. That’s kind of true of any kind of touring though. Bussing can be a little dislocating as well, given that you’re in the same physical space in different places, and also that tour buses generally have to park in out-of-the-way places, like mall car-parks and so on.

The tour has been going really well. Portland was a lot of fun, despite the insane plan to divide the room down the middle (drinkers and non-drinkers), leaving a gap through the centre of the crowd to the sound-desk. Thankfully everyone managed to avoid the temptation to do a Bono and run down the gap, ha. Seattle was a lot of fun, saw some old friends and made some new ones. After the show we had to ready ourselves for the border crossing with Canada, which is always a bitch – they’re sticklers for taxing you on your merchandise (what happened to NAFTA, eh?). So Benny Gaslight and I and a pizza and a sixpack spent a few hours counting shirts and shipping them across the bottom of the border to Minneapolis. Yawn. The good news was that we crossed the border painlessly while I was asleep, so I woke up in Vancouver.

I was looking forward to Vancouver, being a Douglas Coupland fan. In the event I didn’t see much of the city itself (surprise) but the show at the Commodore was awesome. It’s always amazing to me to play a show on the other side of the world from my home for the first time and to have people there who know the words. I celebrated with a marathon drinking bout that ended up with me losing a fight with the pavement. My knee is fucked. Ouch.

Yesterday was an off day – we drove to Kamloops (seriously, Canada, Kamloops?) and spent the day parked in an out-of-town mall car park. It was pretty weird – we were nested in perfect post-war strip-mall development hell, in the crook of a breath-takingly beautiful valley, surrounded by grey and brown rolling hills, under a massive deep blue sky. Between the Sears and motels I found a bookshop, so all was well, and I got some decent rest. Today we’re in a similar situation, in Edmonton, outside what is being alleged (by Benny) to be the biggest mall in the world. Hm. We shall see. Apparently they have penguins.

Yet more UK shows are selling out. We have another UK tour in March booked, which we’re hoping to announce pretty soon. What strange times, what awesome times.

I write from a motel room in Portand, Oregon. I’ve had an eventful week since last I posted anything on here. The Amoeba Records instore was great, San Diego was cool. The show in Los Angeles at Henry Fonda was something else – I was flabbergasted after my set to see Tim Armstrong (of Rancid) walking out from the wings to congratulate me for my set. My inner fanboy rose to the surface but thankfully I didn’t make a total tit of myself, just felt kinda surreal. He was a perfect gentleman.

After that show, the night descended into enjoyable chaos – I ended up playing 2 more house sets that night, being broken up by the cops finally at about 5am. The show the next day in Anaheim suffered a little as a result of my adventuring, but the crowd were friendly and forgiving. Thence north, to San Luis Obispo, a small but beautiful town in mid-California, home (allegedly) of the world’s first motel. The show that night featured just me and Murder By Death, which gave me a chance to appreciate them a little more, both as great people and a great band. I slept the sleep of the dead after the show, and in the morning we high-tailed it north to San Francisco.

Historically I haven’t always had the best of times in SF, but my last visit in April was awesome, and this show topped it easily. We played with Gaslight at The Fillmore, a classic and humbling venue, an old theater with chandeliers and faded glory hanging from the ceilings. My set went down a storm (I thought) and an enjoyable evening was spent with tour friends. After the show I jumped onto the Gaslight tour bus, to be my home for the rest of the run.

We rove overnight to Portland, getting here at 4 ish in the afternoon. The drive through northern California and Oregon is beautiful, like the Scottish West Highlands in a way, but perhaps a little warmer at this time of year. Forests and hills, vast stretches of emptiness, silence lurking just beyond the edge of the freeway. Lovely. Portland itself is a fun city – my last visit was delightfully chaotic. We’re relaxing here in our motel, enjoying some showers and private space, before heading out to dinner. I absolutely love being on tour, ladies and gentlemen (as if you didn’t know).

So there it is. The October UK tour has sold out of a bunch more shows, and the rest are not far behind. We have another run of UK dates in March to announce pretty soon, watch this space. Also, I can now tell the world that I’ll be playing the Californian shows on the Revival Tour. Good news.

Much going on in the last few days here in the States. Last night was the first show of the Gaslight tour in Denver, Colorado. Much fun was had by all, it was good to see old friends (Gaslight, Look Mexico, Tim Barry) and make new ones (Loved Ones, Murder By Death). Really happy to be back on tour in the USA.

Speaking of which, tomorrow (Tuesday 15th) I’ll be playing a free instore at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. I’ll be playing at 7pm sharp. It’s a pretty damn iconic place to be playing, so I’m all excited, haha. See you there.

Also, there was the small matter of the new album reaching #36 in the UK album charts. Fuck me. Totally insane. Thanks to everyone who bought it.

Taking my lead from Asda, I’ve decided that, since summer is now officially over (in the UK at least), it’s time to start getting festive. Bring on the mistletoe, tinsel and over-sized advent calendars! Ha. Not really. What I’m blathering about is a special Christmas show that we’re announcing today.

December 19th will see yours truly playing a special show at Union Chapel in London. It’s going to be more of an evening with friends, more acoustic / stripped down for me, with a whole bunch of singers and pickers taking the stage. More details on the line-up will be out soon. Union Chapel is one of my favourite London venues and I think it’s going to be a really special occasion. So. Tickets can be found right here right now (they go on general sale on Friday), and come at £13. I hope you can make it down.

I’m sat in a plush lounge at the Epitaph office in Los Angeles, fielding phone interviews. Jet lag feels a bit weird, but I’m getting there, and since arriving yesterday afternoon life has been pretty sweet – great weather, a swim in Brett’s pool, supper in a diner, what more could you want? Also, in an insane, unexpected and amazing turn of events, the album’s midweek position in the UK was #13..! Happy days. People seem to be digging the new songs, and that makes me feel good. Actually it’s a weight off my mind, truth be told.

But it’s not just the UK, oh no. The album is out now today in the USA through the good Epitaph people (as announced on CNN earlier..!). They have a bunch of deals on their website right now for you to check out – for $19.99 you get both Albums & Ltd edition shirt, for $14.99 both albums together, and for $8.99 new album by itself. So check it out.

Finally, my friend Jack Lilley made a cool video from the 78723 times he’s been filming me lately, which you can watch here. Tomorrow I’m off to Colorado for some family time, and then the Gaslight tour begins. I simply cannot wait.

The album is, finally, out today. I hope you like it. To celebrate, London’s Shepherds Bush has sold out. I’m off to LA.

I’m back in Berlin again, on another press junket, but at least this time I’m playing a show. I’m a little keyed up – the album is finally out on Monday, worldwide. The wait is almost over. I actually can’t wait.

There’s plent of good news for me right now – The Road is out there and is actually doing alarmingly well, so if you haven’t got it yet, or can spread the word any further, please do, who knows, we might break the charts. Shows (Winchester, Manchester, Leeds) are sold out for October, and London only had 100 tickets left yesterday. So all is well. But this blog post is actually aimed at talking about two other things.

First of all, I recently contributed a song to a compilation album. American singer Mark Mulcahy was not someone I was massively familiar with, but Nigel, my drummer, knows him well. Mark’s wife passed away suddenly last year, and he’s been left with two kids to bring up. So the album is a benefit to raise money to help him out. I recorded a cover of a song called The Quiet One, and in the process discovered an amazing artist. The album also features covers by a (frankly incredible) list of artists – Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr, Frank Black, Josh Rouse and many others. The album is out September 14th on Mezzotint Records, and is seriously worth checking out.

Secondly, an old cohort of min, Cosmo, is releasing a single on September 13th. The video is below. It’s insane but clearly genius. Check his website for more info.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiZTo5iftTw]

What a weekend, what a way to finish off my summer. Kingston and Edinburgh were great, and then Reading and Leeds were simply immense. Biggest shows I’ve ever played, and they were fantastic. Thanks a million to anyone who made it down for my set. I celebrated in style afterwards (ended up drinking in a hotel bar with Steve Lamacq until about 5am) and am still in recovery now, which seems about right really. I now have a few days to gather my thoughts, do some laundry and so on, before hitting Berlin, then Jersey, then Los Angeles.

The big news this week is that The Road is out now as a download single! For a mere £1.79 you get the song, the video and two exclusive b-sides, which seems like a pretty decent deal to me. So, head to iTunes, 7 Digital and the like, and get shopping! It’s exciting that this stuff is actually happening now. The album is out next Monday as well. Exciting times.

More news later this week, when my head stops hurting quite so badly.

Wow, OK, so that last post generated a lot of, shall we say, heat. Responses ranged from the interesting and thoughtful to virulent character assassination. Haha, oh well, can’t win em all. While standing behind what I said before, I felt moved to rush off a couple of responses before heading out for the day.

Firstly I think it’s important to restate that my views below are about the situation as it stands now. As I stated, the business paradigm of music is shifting. It seems to me more than likely that paying for recorded music will become a thing of the past reasonably soon. Models such as the one Madonna is employing (recording essentially as a promotional tool for tours) are interesting. But the point is this hasn’t happened yet. Radiohead tried to jump the gun on that one, but it’s different for a band with a huge fanbase, their own studio and 10 years of major label marketing behind them. I’m trying to discuss the economics of the situation right now for people like me.

Interesting points were raised (hat-tip to Wez and Simon) about the distinction between physical and digital product. My 2 cents right here is to say that digital product, while having no production cost as far as a CD or a vinyl is concerned, still has the cost of recording. If I give all my recordings away free, I get left with a massive unpaid studio bill, and a situation where everyone except the artist gets paid, which seems a little unjust to me. Also interesting points about trying-before-you-buy (myspace and last.fm, anyone?), and about the “right” price for CDs and albums. The reduction in price since the advent of the internet has been telling and welcome, and continued discussion on this is always good (and natural in a free market). Wez put it well though, by saying that the internet kinda short-circuits the maths by introducing a “divided by zero” idea. I guess for me personally, as old-fashioned as this may be, for the time being I still regard a collection of music as something with intrinsic economic value.

My only retraction on my first post would be my use of the word “expect”, as in “expect to get paid”. That comes across wrong. I’m acutely aware that I do this by choice, no one owes me a living, and I’m competing in a free market. Obviously we’re also talking about art here, and on that level of course I’d write songs and play out as much as I could regardless. But writing and playing are not, alas, all that I do. Promotion, logistics and administration take up a large part of my time, in trying to let as many people hear what I do as possible. I’m not “all about the money” (seriously, I’d be in the wrong job) but neither do I have a trust fund or major label to catch me when I fall. It seems to me that a lot of bands skirt this issue, choose not to talk about it, or present an unrealistic front (usually when backed by a lot of major label cash). Personally, I can’t afford to be like that, and I try to be as honest as I can about the realities of my life with the people who are interested in it. In short, I’m not rich or middle class enough to say I don’t care about money. I’ve got to eat, I’ve got bills to pay. I don’t make much money out of what I do, nor do I think I ever will, but it’d be nice to get by.

I’m not trying to be antagonistic to the people who enjoy my music, you guys enable me to do what I do. If it still sounds petulant to some people for me to say that I “expect” some reward when other people enjoy the fruits of my art, time and money, I can only respond that it sounds petulant to me when people say they expect it for free. All of this is about trying to find an equilibrium where we can maximize everyone’s enjoyment of music. Here’s hoping for some progress down that path.