Booking hell

I'm feeling really overwhelmed with the booking at the moment. My email box is bursting with responses. It's almost insurmountable. I plan to play around 100 shows in six months, and if searching, sifting, getting, booking and confirming each one takes about 10 hours (that's a guestimate) then it is an impossible task.

I'm really making it hard for myself going to so many different states and countries. All the booking experts recommend touring in concentric circles to build and widen a fanbase. Whereas my circle involves a three-month lap of North America and then coming back next year. I'm not really interested in playing the same places over and over again so I'm doomed to marathon computer sessions and venues with an echo.

On the brightside, I've already found half a dozen good house concerts after a few days of looking. That would be the perfect audience for me - quiet, captive and well-paying.

Saxon Pub, Austin TX

I have a pretty bad hangover but it was well worth it.  That was the best gig of the tour by far last night. A packed place supporting my brother's band porterdavis (above). I did a short set of my most slavishly crowd pleasing songs:
1. ADD
2. Lonely stoner
3. Renunciate
4. Gay OK
5. Every day's a joy

I don't want to get stuck doing comedy songs but for a pub crowd they go down the best. Flowers were even thrown on stage at the end (that won't happen again though - too expensive).

It was great hanging out with PD and the supporting cast. Crazy Eric was molesting everyone in the place, wrapping the Christmas lights from my merch stand around anyone within cable reach. I nearly lost my guitar. A bystander's white jumper got red wine down the back. An incident-filled night.

Back very late but the alarm clock showed no mercy.

Recording in Austin

I'm recording again. This time for the annual Christmas album. T-Rex
this year. It's fun to do covers for a change. Today I did the vocals
and will have another session next week for harmonica, guitar and
percussion.


If you want to receive the album as a Christmas present please sign up to my mailing list here:

Back to booking

The joy of booking again. Just bought my Eurorail pass for the first three months of next year. I was originally planning to drive, not wanting to walk around in the rain and take lots of different trains and buses with all my bags. But after this long US tour and hours in the car with only podcasts for company, I have a stiff back and a sore arse. I've also learnt to travel lighter - so train is a much better option.

I will have about 30 shows but only 19 confirmed so far. I need to fill in the gaps. That means hours of internet time. The stiff back and sore arse will continue for a bit longer.

Kickbutt Coffee, Austin TX

My last coffee shop gig. They're really a waste of time.

Went to a gallery opening after with the family. Oscar ran riot, even
playing a piano solo.

Super Happy Fun Land, Houston TX

The couchsurfing community came out to support me at SHFL, a cool squat place on the outskirts of Houston. Lots of them work for NASA and I crashed with Neal, the man in the hat, an aeronautical engineer. We saw a bunch of bars after the show and played darts in Rudyard Kiplings, Houston's English pub. The Flying Saucer (pictured) has 300 bars on tap and if you drink all of them you get a commemorative plate (saucer) on the wall.

The other act at the Fun Land was Poopy Sings, autistic folk. Joanna Newsom on magic mushrooms. Very good. She lives in the venue.

Carousel Lounge, Austin TX

Outside the Carousel Lounge. A funky place. Tuesday night is not it's busiest night though

Simon played as well, looping his Harmonica like a mad man.

My alarm clock. Snooze button not included.

Austin at last

A wonderful welcoming dinner with Melinda and Simon.

Simon with little Oscar, the new star of the blog.

A night off

I stayed with Kevin and Pamela last night after recording all day. They have a really nice old farmhouse an hour outside of Phili.

On the way to catch the Greyhound we went buy a huge guitar conference.

Kevin's going to buy me this guitar if the record goes Platinum.

Drum time

Lickety Split, Philadelphia PA

 One of the bands from last night and my host Sean.

The show went well last night. Quite a busy bar. Had to hand the tip jar round myself which is always embarrassing. I should have got a pretty girl to do it for me and given her half. I'd have made three times as much. It's sad but true. The next band did it and it worked.

I invited the couchsurfing community out as I always do to promote and a lot came out. I crashed with Sean and his soup book. A nice guy and I had a good night with everyone but... the downside of couchsurfing is that you go home when the host wants to go home. Which was 3am. Then up early to come to the studio.

I can moan in the blog but I don't whine to other musicians anymore. I made that mistake in Cologne once, saying how I'd driven 9 hours to get here - since 7am. And he said oh really, I got up at 3 after two hours sleep to get a 7am flight.

Progress report

Well it's all sounding very good here in the studio. We've been working on Debt Train and ADD. I say we but I've been sitting here on the laptop advancing and booking. Got to keep the train rolling

Debt train
ADD

I think they've done an amazing a job. Chris is a wonderful arranger and multi-instrumentalist. Debt train they had sound good already, but now we put the same instruments on ADD and it sounds like a film soundtrack. All the sounds are from Chris on the keyboard which is pretty impressive.

I think it helps that we're sticking to a palette of sounds - a souped up marching band... sousaphone, cymbals, strings, snare, guitar, piano. Certain songs fit with this and I'm thinking of old ones to use here, that weren't hits or stuff I even play live but will really come to life with this set-up.

Anyway, listen to the ones we have and please let me know what you think.

Lounge act

Chris who I've been recording with has a weekly lounge singing gig ina bar downtown doing classic covers. A fun night with old folks. He has a fantastic voice. I got up for two songs. Live karaoke.

Philadelphia

Back in the studio making that hit record.

The Living Room, NYC

The Yankees won the World Series. It was a good night to be in New York.

The show went ok. People drifted in. I didn't do enough promotion. I
just don't have the time.

And now it's off to Phili. The team beaten by the Yankees. I had a
good time in NYC. No need to write in the blog for company. It was
overly stimulating infact, and I'm glad to be moving on. I could use
some countryside.

Philidalphia is the wilderness.

Arlene's Grocery, NYC

I had the 7pm graveyard shop and only three people showed up. But I'm having too good a time here to worry about it. What a city!

Sidewalk Cafe, New York

The show went well last night in the Sidewalk cafe, home of the NY anti-folk scene. A short set - 5 songs. I did it a cappella (without accompaniment - as I didn't want to carry my guitar around). I also wore black gloves for effect, like Eddie Murphy. I was going to say it was my Halloween costume (rapist) but no one asked, they just thought it my normal routine. It went down well and people listened to the words much more. You can talk through music but not solo singing. I've done it before, kind of beat poetry, but the gloves really added something. I will keep it in the set to break it up a bit I think, at least as a few-song intro, it would lose impact after that.

Halloween

Well they certainly pull out all the stops for Halloween. I watched the parade in the Village with friends John and Lea for an hour in the rain. It's a sea of inhumanity. You don't even need to see the parade because everyone is dressed up. I didn't dress up personally but I was all in tweed anyway, so people seemed to assume it was a costume.

This is pretty much all you could see of the parade anyway...I should have taken a photo on the subway. It puts a smile on your phase to be riding along with everyone in costume.

New York

Hello New York. What a time to be here. The Yankees are in the final of the World Series and people are singing the Jay Z/Alicia Keys song in the street, their new anthem.

I'm up in Queens, about half an hour on the metro from Manhattan, but it's a city in itself (I think). I have a room in the Wonderland, an artist commune/collective. Like a smart squat. Everyone's very friendly and it's quite clean, even though I did find a cockroach in my suitcase this morning. But for $40 a night in New York is worth it.

My cell

Goodbye Imp

Farewell faithful friend. I would take you with me but New York is no place for a rental car. We did 5678 miles together. By bottom will always remember you. Here's where we went in the last three weeks.

The Perfect Wife, Manchester VT

My audience in Manchester.

It's nice to be back in Vermont. It's like the Lake District of
America. Except here there's skiing, which starts in about four weeks,
which is when I should come if I want a crowd. It was pretty empty
after this old crowd left the front table. Thankfully as they were
very loud and I didn't have a mic initially due to an organisational
oversight. It was my best paying gig of the tour so far so I didn't
complain.

I'm crashing at the owner's brothers place, a guy my age who's just
renovated a house in the woods. A very sharp little place, like
something straight out of Wallpaper.

I made it all 44 days without having to pay for one motel room!
Tomorrow is back to New York and off the road for a while.

The Bug Jar, Rochester NY

A cold night in Rochester but still a good turnout especially for a
Wednesday night. The Indras (pic) and The Filthy McNasty's played.

The Halloween fever is growing. It's been in most bars and houses
since the start of October. They really go for it over here. Then
Thanksgiving, then Christmas, so that's three months of solid
decorations.

It came down to the wire finding a place to sleep and my cleansheet
was threatened, thankfully the last band live together and had a spare
room.

Cleveland, OH

12 hours driving split over two days to get from Chicago to Rochester.
It's raining constantly and quite foggy, not the best driving
conditions. I stayed overnight with Pat, a fireman in Cleveland.

Well that was Chicago...

It ended with a waffle from the only Dutch waffle shop in Chicago. A strange guy who heckles people from across the street late at night to come in and sample his produce. He flies back six times a year to bring back Albert Heijn Chocolate. We questioned whether that was really necessary but he insisted it was. He did give some great tips on the cheapest way to travel... from Chicago to Frankfurt and then by train to Amsterdam. Under $300 all-in. Pretty impressive. You have to go to the German-language version of Deutsch bahn to get the cheapest tickets and buy the discount cards.

My translator and guide, John Hart, has been a wonderful host with boundless energy. He has devoted himself unreservedly to the Foundation's cause and I have much less to do than I did when I arrived.

Al's place

Welcome to Jazz Club.

Debt train

I just got the first mix of the Debt Train from Chris in Philadelphia. It's still pretty rough and my timing is off now there's a piano in there - I'll need to sing it again. And the keyboard part makes it sound a little cheezy. But on the whole I'm really pleased and think he's done a great job. It has a Tom Waits / gypsy vibe going on.

Download Debt Train

New coat

From a Vintage shop but never been worn. $30. You gotta love the
future.

Pizza Chicago

Pizzas are big in the future.

Working on the merch stand

Drinking with Patty and John

In the future, every day is Octoberfest

Disco bowling

In the future you can bowl 24/365

The future

America is the future" Scott Smith

In the future you can drive through doughnut shops.

Homebrew

I crashed with a fun house of people. Students Brandon, Daniel and
Laura who are heavily into yeast, baking and brewing, and languages.
Madison is a cool little town.

The Frequency, Madison WI

Speed metal night. Guess who opened up?

Mojo's, Davenport

 A lunchtime show in the Foyer of the River Music Experience, a big venue in Davenport. I had a teacher bring a whole load of students in. They said I was a cultural experience. I've never been called that before.

Two shows today. The busiest day of the tour. 3 hours driving to get here. And now another 3.5 to Madison. And it's pouring.

A light in the tunnel

I got a phone call from Kevin in Philadelphia when I was in Des Moines, telling me how much everyone he plays it to loves the 'Debt Train', I recorded there. I'm so curious to hear it. It's just a song with three chords that repeats. I don't even play it live much, so that's great to here.

I've decided to go skip back there for more recording when I'm in New York, and then go again in December on the way back from Austin as it's such an opportunity. Kevin was a live touring engineer for years, with artists like Marilyn Manson, Debbie Harry, etc, and has a lot of contacts, and wants to shop the album or EP around to people. It would be great to get some help professional booking and promoting. It gets a bit much doing everything myself and doesn't leave much time for music.

- - - - -
In other news, I'm one of the featured artists on www.reverbnation.com this week, which gets a lot of publicity.

Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines

I stayed with Mark in Des Moines. He's a doctor in casualty (ER, A&E depending on which country you're in) and is now on a career break, just taking photos and drinking and having a good time. It was an experience out on the town with him. Imagine Richard Bull in heat, on speed, and American and you're halfway there.

The show went well. Again not many people and no money but I've long since come to expect that. The other bands were good. Des Moines is a nice enough place. It was an experience walking across town to the gig through the Skywalks without having to go outside. The city is a cross between a space station and a hamster run.

I almost couldn't walk to the gig because Mark made a Chicago-style pizza - the first one I've tried - and I stuffed myself. Truly deliscious!

My new friends

Record Bar, Kansas City

Just had a great show in KC. Nice to play in a professional sound venue. Sissywish from Norway are playing now, a cool electro duo with sharp melodies. Scandinavians are always so refreshing, especially in the mid-west.