I said goodbye to partying at the weekend with my cousin’s 21st birthday, which also happened to be my 400th solo show. Not bad going, I think. Anyways,the build up to the album release begins in earnest now. You can pre-order from lots of places online, HMV.com, Play.com and so on… My personal preference is for the good folks at Banquet Records. To entice you all, I just posted another new song, “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous”, on my myspace.

On a related note, a few people have started picking up review copies of the album in second hand stores, and though I haven’t heard about it being on any download sites just yet, it probably will be sooner or later. It’s a weird one, basically I’m champing at the bit for people to hear it, so it’s good that it’s out there, but at the same time it’s bad for business. So if you’re one of the lucky few, do me a favour and buy the album properly when it comes out. That way we can all be friends.

I just found out that, thanks to your voting efforts, I won the Rebel PLaylist thing on Steve Lamacq‘s show for BBC 6 Music. Thanks everyone, and thanks to Steve as well.

Finally, for the UK tour, a lot of the shows are on 90% of sold out at the moment, so if you’re hanging off buying a ticket, I’d hang off no longer…

Just when you think you’re on top of Jet Lag, when you think you’ve tricked yourself into believing the new time of day, when you’re not feeling fuzzy or surreal, something like this comes along:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm5InKqtoMA]
Wow. Anyways. I just got home from the USA. Much fun was had by all, and here’s an extra thanks to Chris T-T, Stephen, Jane and Brandon for good times. I think I’m back over there at the end of April, so parting is not such sweet sorrow after all.

In other news, festival dates are starting to get confirmed. This week I’m all excited about returning to 2000 Trees, and about my first ever slot at the Cambridge Folk Festival. There are lots more to come, so calm down everyone, I’ll post up the dates on my site(s) as soon as humanly possible.

Finally, you should all take 5 minutes out of your day to check this out and see what you can do.

Late last year, you good people helped me get to an XFM nomination in an astounding display of internet voting. This is the sequel, like Die Harder but better. If you follow the link below and scroll down, you can vote me onto the 6Music Daytime playlist, which would obviously be great. Thanks again…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/steve_lamacq/

In other news, I did a cracking interview which you can read here, and a few radio sessions (San Francisco and Radio 1) which you can listen to here.

Just a few little things: a Cardiff show has been added to the tour, April 20th at Clwb Ifor Bach. Tickets are available from seetickets.com. This is the last show addition for the tour… But having said that, we’re currently booking early summer shows and festivals, so there’s more on the way. You lucky scamps.

Nambucca, my favourite place in the world, is up for an Indy Venue award. You can vote for them by going to their myspace. Doing so would make me a slightly happier bunny than i already am.

Next, lets all celebrate: Xtra Mile Recordings has been made ‘DIY Label Of The Week‘ by Huw Stephens at Radio 1. Huzzah for us. Celebrate by adding them as myspace friends. Speaking of Radio 1, the session with Mike (see below) is still up, and Zane Lowe has started spinning ‘Photosynthesis‘. Happy days.

Finally, people in the UK can now pre-order the new album from my good friends at Banquet Records by following this link.

Hello from Jonah’s flat in San Francisco. Northern California is cold, my investigations reveal. Anyways, an update…

First up there’s been some tour date rejigging. Now we’ll be going to Dublin on the 16th April (at Crawdaddy’s), Belfast on the 17th (at QUBSU), and LIverpool on the 18th (at the Barfly). The good news about this is that Irish shows are now 100% happening, with full band, and also there is finally a Liverpool date on the tour. Happy happy. However, the people of Wrexham lose out on this one. I want to apologize for that, and to say that we’re rescheduling the show for May sometime. Tickets for the old show can be refunded at point of sale, apparently. Hopefully this set up will marginally increase the happiness of the universe, overall.

Thing number 2 is that I recorded a session with my old pal Mike Davies for his Radio 1 Punk show, which will be airing tonight. The show will then be up to “listen again” for a week on his site. And for the website only, I did a duet with Matt from The Bronx on an acoustic Black Flag cover, so watch out for that too.

Thing number 3 is that I’m definitely heading back to Latvia in March for a few shows. Ben from Million Dead is coming too, and we’re going to post a full tour diary. And grow moustaches.

Thing number 4 is about the subject line.. April’s edition of Playgirl magazine ran a great review of the US version of Campfire Punkrock. This is the pinnacle of my career thusfar. I suggest you buy it.

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

Enjoy, people…

Also, while we’re here, the tickets for the tour are going fast. I’d recommend picking some up if you’re planning on coming down and haven’t already. T’raa.

I write from my hotel room in LA. It sounds terribly posh, I know, sorry… Got here yesterday and am still fighting the good fight against jetlag. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 2am. Gah. Anyways, it’s good to be here, I’ve got one session with Indie 103 out of the way and am now making plans to lay waste to the city tonight, if I can stay awake. Or, for that matter, if I can successfully digest the I-Hop (International House Of Pancakes, apparently) breakfast I had this morning. Seriously, America, no one needs to eat that much.

In other news, I have FINALLY sorted out an online shop for my merchandize. It’s a little rudimentary at the moment, but it will become an empire of capitalism shortly. Or something. Oh, and it’s fully kitted out for international orders too. The link? The link.

They’ve been up on the site / myspace for a while now, but here’s the official announcement of the UK tour for “Love Ire & Song“. It’s great to be heading out on the road again, with a full (bigger) band and some awesome supports. These would be the wonderful Andy Yorke, Oppenheimer (sharing the main support) and Ciara Haidar (doing the whole tour). I urge everyone to go check them out. I’m personally humbled to have such awesomeness on the road with me. The dates (with main support indicated by O or AY):

• 31st March @ The Brudenell Social, Leeds (tickets) O
• 1st April @ Fibbers, York (tickets) O
• 2nd April @ The Cluny, Newcastle (tickets) O
• 3rd April @ The Corporation, Sheffield (tickets) O
• 4th April @ The Sugarmill, Stoke (tickets) O
• 5th April @ The Kasbah, Coventry (tickets) O
• 6th April @ The Bar Academy, Birmingham (tickets) AY
• 7th April @ The Queen Charlotte, Norwich AY
• 8th April @ Zodiac @ The Academy, Oxford (tickets) AY
• 9th April @ Moles, Bath (tickets) AY
• 10th April @ Thekla, Bristol (tickets) AY
• 11th April @ Bodega Social, Nottingham (tickets) AY
• 12th April @ SiZe @ Old Red House, Workington AY
• 13th April @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen AY
• 14th April @ King Tut\’92s, Glasgow (tickets) AY
• 15th April @ Joshua Brooks, Manchester (tickets) AY
• 16th April @ Central Station, Wrexham AY
• 17th April @ Belfast TBC
• 18th April @ Galway TBC
• 19th April @ Dublin TBC
• 21st April @ Hanbury Ballroom, Brighton (tickets) AY
• 22nd April @ The Barfly, Cambridge (tickets) AY
• 23rd April @ The 100 Club, London (tickets) AY
• 24th April @ The Railway Inn, Winchester (tickets) AY

I’m also pleased to say that the tour is selling well already, so I’d advise picking up tickets online now if you’re planning on coming to a show, where possible.

A short word on the tour – if I’m not coming to your area (particularly the south-west and south Wales) this time round, I do apologize, but never fear, this is just the first of many attacks for this year. Also, the Irish dates and ticket links for other places are on their way.

In other news, I’m heading back to America in February (this time you can just check the gigs page) for a jaunt around California with my old mucker Chris T-T, so if you’re American and reading this, then please do spread the word to your friends in the area. Also, I filmed a video last week for new single “Photosynthesis” which should be out and about by the end of next week or so. Eyes on the prize, people…

My friend Sean sent me this email, and it made me laugh:

“I notice Ken Livingstone has started paraphrasing your lyrics for his re-election campaign: ‘This is the generation whose parents grew up in the 80s – get your snout in the trough and it doesn’t matter a damn about anyone else.’

If I had a job, I wouldn’t think about things like this.”

And that’s why Sean is great. In other news, I caved into international pressure and put “Photosynthesis” up on my myspace. It will officially be the first single off the new album. Enjoy.

Tour dates early next week, my English minions, and support acts too, so hold your breath a few more days, I beg you. But in the meantime… Hello America! Yes, my assault on everywhere American begins here. The US version of Campfire Punkrock is now available…

• On CD from Welcome Home Records ($7 ppd)
• On Vinyl from Good Friends Records ($10 ppd)
• On US iTunes (do a search)

I’m also going to be in LA for most of February, gigging around town and hopefully in the surrounding areas too, doing radio sessions and the like. This is all the start of my assault on your fair country, so as well as ordering records and the like, it’d be great if you could spread the word to all your fellow countrymen. Thanks