Greetings, earthlings! I write from Maida Vale Studios, where we’ve just finished recording a session for Zane Lowe. Which leads me neatly to my first point: the session goes out on Tuesday 9th September 7-9pm on BBC Radio 1, and will be on “Listen Again” features for a while thereafter.

Second up, tour stuff: there’s yet more American shows being posted up, which is great – check again, I probably am coming to somewhere vaguely near you. Also, for punters in the UK, we’ve sold nearly half the tickets for the October run, so if you’re coming along and haven’t bought one yet, I’d get a ticket soon.

Finally, just some words about this weekend and the related causes. As many will know, it’s Lexapalooza on Saturday, Lex’s festival, which is now sold out. The money raised from the festival (and from the single, Long Live The Queen, out October 20th) will go to Breast Cancer Campaign. They’re a great organization, and if you want to get involved more than just buying the single or coming to the show, you should follow that there link. I can personally attest that what they do is very much needed, and awesome.

Festival season is over, for me at least. I can’t say I’m resentful at not having to wander round any more fields with little idea of what’s going on any more this year. It’s been a great summer though, and Reading and Leeds topped it off in style. Seriously the best weekend of my life just been.

A few quick things, as ever..

• On September 9th I’ll be live on the Zane Lowe Show on Radio 1 from 7-9pm, in session with the band. Tune in.
• Xtra Mile Recordings have a new shop up and running, where you can buy my stuff (and stuff by Million Dead, Reuben, Chris T-T, Jonah Matrangah.. etc.) for cheap, and it’s better for the artists too. They also want to be your myspace friend…
• There’s more American Tour Dates going up all the time, and there’s a big UK support tour to announce for December – more on that soon. In the meantime, tickets for the UK October run are going fast..

At ease people.

I’m back from a short holiday in Cornwall, much refreshed, and I’m now going to do something totally fucking insane: I’m actually going to use this blog to impart important information! Loads of it.

Right, we’ll begin with news about releases, and we’ll start on that with the UK. First of all, there’s a three-way split album with me, Jonah Matranga and Chris T-T due for release on Xtra Mile later this year. However, we’re having issues with the title. So YOU can decide! Check out this thread and add your contributions. The record will be available exclusively through iTunes at the end of September.

In other news, the song ‘Long Live The Queen‘ is due to be released as a single in the UK on October 20th. It’ll be a download, with some exclusive b-sides.. And more importantly, proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Research (for obvious reasons) so even if you already have the song, get downloading!

Finally, there’s a rarities compilation due to be released at the end of this year, which will be called ‘The First Three Years‘. The idea is that I’ve always been a stickler for not ripping people off by duplicating songs across releases; however, this means that it’s getting harder for people to legitimately get all my material. So the CD will have everything that’s not on either of the albums. We’re jamming as much music on there as physically possible. Good times.

Now to the USA. The dates I have with Chuck Ragan have long been up, and the shows with Fake Problems are slowly being announced – keep checking the gigs page or the myspace for details. The big news is that Love Ire & Song will be properly released on October 2nd in the USA and Canada through the good people at Arbor Records. At last, you yanks will be able to get it without paying import prices. It has a couple of bonus tracks on too. How can you resist?

Odds and sods.. The UK October Tour is selling well, so if you’re planning on coming I’d get a ticket sooner rather than later. The Reading Warmup show at New Slang in Kingston on 21st August is going to be boss, not just because I am going to publicly piss on Cahir from Fighting With Wire, but also because the first 100 people through the door will get an ultra-limited, ultra-collectible split 7″ featuring me and FWW. Madness!

Video Schmideo… There’s a nice film about the excellent 2000 Trees Festival which you can watch here, and a mammoth interview I did in Reading which starts here and goes on forever. And finally, here’s a little video for ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous‘…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcQ2XmNvjk4]

I’m going to go and have a lie down now.

…do two blog posts in one day, ha! I feel a little bit metrosexual now. Anyways, some excellent news: I’ll be supporting Mr Evan Dando on a bunch of UK dates in August! Hoooooooray! Dates:

• 1st August @ Arts Centre, Norwich
• 4th August @ Sin City, Swansea
• 6th August @ The Duchess, York
• 7th August @ Central Station, Wrexham
• 8th August @ The Leadmill, Sheffield

Obviously I’m still doing Y-Not Festival on the 1st, and Sensible Sunday on the 3rd. Alas, the bad news is that I’m not going to be able to do the show in Oxford on the 8th. Massive apologies to all concerned, and if you have a ticket, you should go anyway as it’s for a good cause and has a great line-up.

(Happy) Frank Out.

As most probably now know, the Lemonheads warmup got cancelled, which was gutting for me personally. Oh well, next time. Truck on Sunday was immense, reminded me of why it’s one of the best festivals in the UK. Good weather, good people, good bands (especially Fighting with Wire, Danny & The Champions Of The World and Getcape), good times. Roll on next year.

The Irish leg of the October UK tour has now been announced, the gigs are on the gigs page (duh). Four shows, not full band but duo shows with Chris T-T, who will also be supporting. In other gig news, PEOPLE OF AMERICA CALM DOWN. The four east coast shows confirmed and announced are only the tip of the iceberg, there’s a whole bunch more shows about to be announced that run from Vancouver to San Diego and then across to the East. So yes, I will probably be playing nearer you, heh.

Finally, a short pre-announcement, we’ll be releasing “Long Live The Queen” as a single in October, all proceeds going to Breast Cancer Research. More info later.

That’s right folks, it’s true. This friday (18th) I am playing a solo show supporting THE FUCKING LEMONHEADS at The Bullingdon Arms in Oxford, as a warm-up for Truck Festival. Very limited tickets are available from here for the princely sum of \’a310. I am seriously over the moon about this.

In other news, 2000 Trees (four sets in total!) was ace, thanks to everyone there. And here’s some footage from my Pure Groove instore last week.

http://media.imeem.com/pl/HsXQafpMD7/aus=false/pv=2/

Much to my chagrin, I missed Iron Maiden at Twickenham on Saturday last. I had been supposed to be at ZOO8 Festival and so had written off the idea of going or getting a ticket. However, as most people know, that festival didn’t exactly go to plan and so I ended up not only being free, but actually being in Twickenham, where I could hear the strains of “Two Minutes To Midnight” (“Sing it!”) over the early evening breeze.

It’s well documented that Maiden are one of my favourite bands, certainly my first love musically. They inspire a special kind of devotion (they’re either your favourite band or you’re not really a fan.. seriously). Walking through Twickenham both before and after the gig (I met up with some friends from the gig afterwards, who tortured me by reeling off the killer setlist) I felt pretty immersed in Maiden culture, despite not actually making it into the stadium. And it made me feel better about the world, for once. The great thing about Maiden is that they’ve never been hip; wearing their T-shirts can’t be retro, because there was never an era when that look was cool. They’ve always been outsiders, underdogs, not justout of fashion but consciously against it. So when 55,000 desperately uncool people (mostly men, sure) gather in a stadium wearing T-shirts painted with zombies to shout along to songs about the Crimean War and a prog-rock reworking of poems by Coleridge, I look at NME features on some dreadful bunch of teenagers playing thinly-disguised Jam covers to a few hundred even-younger teenagers somewhere in Shoreditch, and I relax a little.

News: Festival season T-shirts are still available here. The amazing Emily Barker is now confirmed as opening act for the October tour dates. The world is at peace.

Hi all. Quick update at the end of the European jaunt. Firstly, thanks to Jedethan and to Romain Boule, and all the promoters and so on for a great tour. I’ll be back soon enough, I’m sure. C’est gratuit.

Secondly, I won’t be playing ZOO8 festival tomorrow. Sorry for anyone expecting to see me down there. Basically the deal is this: I’m a working musician, I earn little money and my budgets are shoestring. I can’t afford to take risks with running a whole paid-up band and crew and fuel down to Kent for a risk of not getting paid. No blame for anyone, I just can’t afford those risks. Apologies.

Finally, with regard to the Pure Groove instore on Wednesday 9th July, we’ve done up an extremely limited run of 50 shirts, unique design, for this show, and this show only. It’s also free in, so, no excuses. See you there.

Hello from Toulouse. I am back on the second leg of this European jaunt, at the home of our driver, the indescribably Romain Boule, a Frenchman who has divided the world into two camps: Gratuit and Interdit. He’s awesome. Anyways. Glastonbury weekend was great, although tiring, being, as it was for me, a round trip from Belgium to Glasto to Weymouth to Valences. But much fun was had and new friends were made, so no complaints there.

A video snippet for you. A session I did for NVTV in Belfast is now viewable through the magic of the interweb here. It features a song called ‘Hold Your Tongue’, which didn’t make the new album but which I like muchly. Enjoy.

Next up, a quick flag about the Pure Groove instore coming up on Wednesday 9th July @ 6pm. Apart from Lexapalooza (which is sold out) it’s my last London show before the tour in October. It’s also with full band, and it’s free. So, no reasons not to come along then. More information here.

And finally, I have a new favourite band, and I think they should be your new favourite too. Check out the Dawn Chorus. TTFN.

Finally, the dates are here. There are a few that have yet to go onsale, and I’m getting age restrictions on the ones missing, and there are Irish shows to come, and the first on is yet to be sorted out and all that jazz, BUT.. here it is. The dates: