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from mike baggetta:
"How lucky and fortunate is this band that right after we tour the US for our 3rd album On And On release Haru Tour 2025 that we get to bring all the new music over to Ireland and the UK for the first time ever for mssv?! I can't wait to get the chance to play this music for a whole new part of the world that we have never played before as a band together!
"There is something really exciting to me about getting to play music in a land that I don't live in. The unknown ways in which things can translate, or not, about the music to audiences is what I mean. "They" say music is a universal language, but there are also things in the music I make that I know are inspired by my "American-ness" - whatever that means - and I always am curious how that plays out to an international audience. I am also excited to wonder about the new friends and ears we may make over there in this new place for us to play.
"The other thing I am thankful for in thinking about this IE-UK Tour is that even though it will be a new land for mssv music to be played in, we will still be together to do it (I know, kind of obvious, but still important to me). Its exciting and a little scary to explore a new place alone, but I find it even more meaningful to explore a new place, AND bring the music there, with friends in this band that I look up to and get inspired by every day and have a long time friendship with. I don't feel so alone, in a traveling way, but have some familiarity with my homeland while still venturing forth, even though every show still kind of feels exciting like I don't know exactly what's gonna happen!
"Anyways, all this to say that mssv is psyched to bring this music to our Ireland and UK friends for the very first time this May and June, 2025. Please come out and say hi - can't wait to meet you all!"
(click here for tour flyer)
mssv
"ie-uk tour 2025"
thu, may 29 at the prince albert
48 trafalgar street
brighton, england
fri, may 30 at the ramsgate music hall
13 turner street
ramsgate, england
sat, may 31 at the joiners
141 saint mary street
southampton, england
sun, june 1 at fuel
5 womanby street
cardiff, wales
mon, june 2 at a-r-c
67 greenland street
liverpool, england
tue, june 3 at gullivers
109 oldham street
manchester, england
wed, june 4 at nice n sleazy
421 sauchiehall street
glasgow, scotland
thu, june 5 at voodoo
11a fountain street
belfast, northern ireland
fri, june 6 at luca records and decks
23 michael street
waterford, ireland
sat, june 7 at cleere's bar
28 parliament street
kilkenny, ireland
sun, june 8 at the grand social
35 liffey street
dublin, ireland
mon, june 9 at the blue lamp
121 gallowgate
aberdeen, scotland
tue, june 10 at the cluny 2
36 lime street
newcastle, england
wed, june 11 at the trades club
holme street
hebden bridge, england
thu, june 12 at exchange
72 old market street
bristol, england
fri, june 13 at the face bar
ambrose place / chatham street
reading, england
sat, june 14 at the lexington
96 pentonville road
london, england
thursday, may 29, 2025 - brighton, england
from mike:
Driving feeling good
Cool weather, feeling jitters
Good first gig, clams too!
from watt:
two days ago on tuesday morning my pedro town I pop at five of three, been doing those early pops since I got back from the first stage of this mssv touring, lots of times earlier - whatev, this is where I am now in my life and I feel it fits me. yeah, I'm the most fit I've been since I was first helping the stooges, in 2003 which was right after that illness 'pert-near killed me. it's been three weeks and three days since the last gig of our "haru tour 2025" and cuz mike lives out in florida (gainesville), we're starting the baby off w/no prac! well, fiftytwo gigs in fiftytwo days might've pounded the set pretty good into us so we'll see. I cook myself up some mollejas (chicken gizzards) in olive oil sauted w/onions, a whole lot of ginger (I don't want anything left in the 'fridge while I'm gone), the rest of the celery I got and some brussels sprouts. my missingmen drummerman raul's gonna take me to the airport, so very fuckin righteous of him, he's gonna alley at one, pally. I get my all my backups done along w/packing - taking just two wack sacks, one for the 'puter and one for my ropas. I've gotten real tiny on shit-bringing for tour, I'm gonna say two here but understand one is on me so the other one's in sack: two pairs of socks, two pairs of levis, two of those turtle neck shirts my sister melinda got me to go w/the jacket she sewed for me from photos off the internet of "the prisoner" (that was my favorite tv show when I moved to cali from virginia) I wore last tour and maybe I wear it for all my tours now cuz I love it so much. got it dry cleaned at the dry cleaners a couple blocks from here, it's made out of thick wool so washing machines for this bambino. mail my last checks for my last bills... just over three weeks away but that's still away, correct? my sister melinda will get my mail when I'm gone, very key. I drive down to warehouse one and by the pilot's station to get one look of these parts of pedro, I go up to my prac pad too so I can look down on 'pert-near my whole home town in one look. crimony, no wonder the built fort mac here... the whole fuckin harbor right there...
raul gets to my pad a little early - he's that way, no prob from me about that. we have a real good rap about stuff like our new "static" album - all his parts are done, I gotta bring the spiel and a little more bass... it was twentyone years ago when I first toured w/raul... he took jer's place in the secondmen for sixtyfive days in sixtysix days ("el mar cura todo") and he tore it up, so much respect for him, of course peetzo too - solid cats for watt to count on, let me tell you: they are still doing that, tearing it up w/me all this time later. really good fuckin cats. we have a real good spiel, seems like we're at lax like that! crimony. he drops off at the bradley terminal and I check in at british airways, they let me bring bof sacks on w/out charging me more. of course it's smart for someone like me to get there three hours before take-off, it's 'pert-near a half hour for my crutch when I go through security, no prob though if you take it easy and that's what I big time do at airport cuz I kind of really having to go them, big crowds are scary cuz for me, a little dangerous. I find the most isolated place I can near my gate and cool the fuck out. I can see the boeing 777 that I'm gonna be on. I had to do so much of this to help the stooges but still it was worth. last time was last year for the fratelli and our third album "terzo" and it was well worth, very happening for me to get to do that. I got an albert ayler seat but damn if the ten (eleven all told being in the back of the metal tube breathing farts) hour flight don't beat the fuck out of me. crimony. I just ain't used to it and my body in that position... well, I don't wanna belly-ache too much about cuz I really wanna do this for mike and hodge - oh, hodge is in the seat behind me. crimony. that was a good thing cuz no knees ever in my back cuz of him but the "hey I'm in the dentist chair" clown all over me was some real hell. what to do but bear it and be glad I made it safe. entry into england was really quick w/this e-gate trip, I had to do a "eta" form via my leash last week so hardly any line and the 'puter face scan was like that, no people involved. mike's there to pick us bof up at terminal five (though we landed at terminal three) just after noon. crimony. he's got a 2021 mercedes-benz vito 114 minivan outfitted for touring, most happening I think for our sitch... fits us four and all the stuff in the back real ok. mike's doing on the wheel-work this tour, not one mile from watt. he even came a day early to prac cuz he's never drive on the wrong side of the road before (at least not on purpose) and one thing in our favor, even though he's never driven starboard-drive before, it's more suited for this sitch then me when I had dutch dude carlos booking my europe gigs where we always rented tour boats on the continent where it's port-side drive cuz of driving on the starboard. he's being careful and he's doing good, I think. big respect to him. heathrow is on the west side of london and not too far from there is ealing where mike got a konk pad over the interent. there was a little drizzle but not much, looks like it's blowing out and I lay real sore body out to recover that fucking hard thing for me, that flight. of course it could've be so much worse, absolute but still, it took it's toll. I can get back to where I was though, just need the rest of the day here being real calm. I do got work to do moving the hoot page cuz of a migration my hosting company's doing so I can just do 'puter stuff all laid out. there's several times when I konk - the other thing is my pedro town eight hours behind england time here but I can do it. fuck, it's tour seventythree for me... I can do this. I take the biggest fuckin soak I can in the tub here, that helps buttloads. I can't remember how or when I konk.
gig day and I pop at seven. I hose off and swallow coff. man, my body feels way way better. whoa. at sixtyseven I can still snap back. crimony. I do as much as I can 'puter-wise 'til mike has us pull anchor at eleven for gig number one. the traff of course is plug city but at least it's fuckin 'm' roads mostly. mike told me yesterday it took him and hodge three hours to go eight miles total to get the fuckin cymbals. crimony. I'm riding up front along side mike, just like the other mssv tours we've done but he's on the conn cuz of the sitch, aitn't that a trip. ok, before the 'm' road, there's our first fuel-up of the tour - diesel - not gas (called petrol here) unless you wanna end the tour w/a dead boat and big time fix-it cost - at an "esso" for £1.42/liter, about $7.25/gallon... based on one pound being about $1.35 u.s. right now. not cheap and no squeegees either... can understand the first part of that statement but not the second. crimony. trippy too cuz you see lots of times big-ass jugs of cleaning fluid for sale out in front of filling stations over here, for me some kind of taunt... gets to me thinking about my drinking thing - maybe the fifth tour w/out and smelling the stuff at the gig pads doesn't bother me... what gets me hankering kind of big time is signs on liquor stores - yeah, that shit is crazy on me! over here their liquor pads let you know by saying "off license" over the hatch or in the window. crimony, I saw one yesterday across the street from the konk pad in ealing and it seemed it was also a physio pad (maybe kind of like a chiropractor?) but maybe it just looked that way cuz it was right next store. whatever, I gotta a hold of myself when I'm either hobbling or driving and see one - ain't that a trip? crimony. 882 days w/out alcohol for me today... big time crimony. it's like deja-vu all over again heading back to heathrow but then we get on the m-25 ring road so we can get to the m-25 south to brighton, southest you can go in these parts. mike drives good and calm. there's pendejos alongside us driving like pendejos like in the u.s. but he thinks fewer... well, I'm w/that for fuckin sure!
great job from mike for his first hellride to a gig for the tour! we drop anchor a quarter after one: 135 minutes to do 73 miles, ok. first gig of the tour, the gig pad's in downtown brighton and called the prince albert - familiar big time to me in a way - I've played this pad once before... twelve years ago w/my italian fratelli on the il sogno del marinaio europe tour 2013 and damn if it don't seem like bof just yesterday and at the same moment a fuckin lifetime ago. crimony. yep, right by the main strain station and yep, that graffiti of them two cops kissing still on the bulkhead where we load in the gear, first one of the tour. an olde-timey england style pub all the way, we play upstairs where's there's a little stage and memories coming flooding back to me of the gig we had here, dug it much and hope to tonight also... even w/no prac! hey, we did just fiftytwo gigs straight of this stuff a little over three weeks ago, correct? we can do it! a helperlady named liva shows miss hiyori how to run the washer, most happening they got this in the dressing room where I plant my culo to do my first dairy chimping of the tour. the pad co-managerman (I think that's his rank) will comes up w/some drum stuff we rap some, he's very cool people. he's a stickman w/a beat in his hand and I go on about drummermen from this land I really dig, there's a buttload of them.
mike comes by w/some "mozambique chicken" which is half a broiled pollo w/some spices plus on the side some steamed broccoli and some salad that's w/out lettuce which is prolly lame description but I like chowing all three together. yesterday I had shawarma miss hiyori said was from a an iraqi bakery near the konk pad which was real good. the doorman chris comes to say hi and we talk about pads I've played here in brighton... from "the zap" to here to "sticky mike's frog bar" (where he says he met me) to "the green door store" to "the hope and ruin" to back to here. crimony. he's very kind to me, good cat. it makes you feel good to be alive to help people like mike w/music and then folks like this you work w/one night but they bring the good spirit, you know? most bitchin. speaking of which, alex from barefaced arrives around four - his company's pad is real close though he said he's moving to the suburbs soon...
love his bass stuff and he's letting me borrow a supertwin for the tour along w/his wattplower that reverend gutiars boss ken hass gave him. what a kind kind bassbrother! I was also gonna use his new amp but it's still in development, he gave me an aguillar tone hammer 350 to use instead. we have a real good spiel about all kinds of stuff - like music being made of sounds and not just notes (notes are a subset of sounds, correct?). alex does part of my soundcheck, yes! it's w/soundman matt - he's also happening - everyone's happening in brighton... hey, maybe it's like the last gig of a tour, nothing goes wrong. we do two tunes for a soundcheck, our first time playing w/each other since recording the album twentyfive days ago, I blow some clams but not too bad. matt's got my amp on a rubber bad, seems gentrification is coming for this pad so they gotta help w/scissoring some of the rumble. I meet the three members of barbican estate who came down from london to open the gig, alright. I be the cat who booked this tour, jack, knows them cuz they say they're playing the last gig of the tour w/us also - at the lexington... that reminds the last time I played there, it was w/this band manflu and willy was the drummerman from brooklyn who never lost how he talked from there even though he's been living on a boat here on a canal in london for what, thirtyfive years? then there's cats who got these part's accent after six fuckin months - get me a fuckin shovel! anyway, I can't remember willy's name so thank god I chimp diary, huh? I leave to bof cure myself of the forgetting shit and that gets me into chimping what just happened so I don't fuckin forget that! eight bells comes on though and the gig starts so I go check these cats out... two of them are originally from tokyo... some one real kind comes up to bring me a stool at the front-side of the stage so I can witness the gig from a perch, safer for a cripple like myself. I really dig these cats, maybe only three tunes cuz they're long ones but that's ok, a set is a set no matter how it's divided "tune-wise" and they ain't bogarts about sharing the stage, they're right on time. I ask the drummerman when they're done if he's into jaki and he said yes - fuck yeah! I tell the other two I enjoyed very much also and can't wait to share the stage w/them again for the tour's last gig: we're bookending it!
our turn at nine, here we go: head out like a baby! right away big kindness from the brighton gig-goers though it's hard for me to see cuz of the bright lights but that's show biz, no prob. I try to bring big enthusiasm cuz what better way to get a tour lit, correct? another reason to be grateful for such kind gig-goers. mike and hodge are bringing it - remember that the two tunes at soundcheck were the only playing we've done w/each other since recording the next mssv album back on four may sunday w/chris schlarb in north long beach! trippy how the muscle memory works, especially if you don't let your mind memory get in the way! "knowing by doing," what a fucking thing, huh? I do blow some clams, the band also but they ain't that big and get this: no set list either! hodge was hesitant but mike insisted and I think that it's a good idea - I gave it up the last two weeks of last tour on purpose. look, I use a crutch to get around so I know about this kind of stuff and sure if you really need it but if you kind of don't then it's 'pert-near "like a magnet" to pull you in ways that maybe ain't the healthiest as far as bringing artistic expression to gig-goers in the moment, that's my experience anyway. I read john coltrane said you played stuff better if you had it memorized, just saying... I do fuck up the last part of the last verse of the dick hell interpretation ("another world") we do in the encore, damn me for that, got kind of stumblebummed in me trying to bring it, arrrrggghhh. I owe that man so much, so much... maybe only second to d boon as in early motivation in the movement - he blew me away on so many levels but it was in a way to make me really wanna have a punk band w/d boon, really did. I just found out about this tune him and voidoids did called "time stands still" and wrote him the day before leaving for this tour about the lyrics cuz it was hard for me to cipher but he wrote back and says he has to remember himself! crimony, it's such a mindblow for me to be able to write him like that... I would've never imagined as a nineteen year old that I would some day have that chance, no fuckin way - that shit is fully blown for me, big time. I wanna do my version of this tune, wanna do it w/brother steve reed for _uncommon sense_ proj.
first gig in the sace, I put away my stuff which is really easy w/what I'm using this tour, meanwhile much kindness and good word from the gig-goers... so many kind cats, truly. I also big time thank soundman matt for being our fourth man - I got the word from miss hiyori he was on a every moment of every tune for our set and it sounded so good - man, what a blessing to have someone like that on board w/you, truly. hey, karl's here! we gotta get that album we did five years ago out, crimony! also here is my buds from the go! team: bossman ian, jamie and brother sam (he's also my cuz bandmate), so fucking happening to see them and damn if ian don't tell me that he's glad he got to be here cuz he thought last year (when I was in town w/il sogno del marinaio) would be the last time he'd ever see me play again - what?! fuck, that scared me to hear that, I try to bof relieve him I got a buttload of tours still in me and how I fit in this mssv proj of mike baggetta's... he asks me "you alright w/that?" and I 'pert-near do a gut-split from laughing, "of course!" I answer him. I explain that maybe if I had only this going I might come down w/some kind of "sidemanitis" but I ain't that kind of sitch, far from it w/the buttloads of projs I fuckin forever wrestle, it's good to have different perspectives on the music trip for someone like me. he's from wales so I think he gets what I mean even... I then have the longest spiel w/jamie (he's a fellow bassman and can relate) about my health journey and the fucking grappling I've had w/the bottle, why I had to face up to it cuz that shift had just wound up where it did and I had put the plug in the jug. I feel good explaining it to him, he's most sincere w/me. they're ain't a greater gift a cat can share w/you I think then that, truly. brother sam ain't got a lot of time cuz he's gotta get a train to hastings where he now lives but we talk a little about the two albums worth of stuff I've given him but tell him not to worry cuz he's helping raise his boy obi and that's a bunch to do and is very important. love cuz though and hope one day to do another tour w/him... that's a great dream for me. also realizing the music for the spiels charlie plymell did for us... man, I know I've always asked a buttload from him. oh yeah, I get to share w/all the story of this coat I'm wearing that my sister melinda sewed for me - cuz actually played a festival in the village that the prisoner "took place" in back in 2015. crimony. ok, another old buddy - jose came down from london to see the show, so very good to get to hug him and rap some, so glad he got to see me in this band cuz he's seen me w/so many different things - I konked w/him and kyoko many times when the stooges had stuff in the london area, many times. big abrazos, big ones.
all packed up, no case for the little bass amp so I got it w/me in my hand! hodge says he can fit it in his throne (that's what they call a drum seat) sack if we rap in a towel, most happening. mike gets us to a konk pad he got off the internet not too far away and I hose off quick after we get in. then it's in the nightwear and konk time, so happy the tour's off to a fuckin happening begin, yatta!
friday, may 30, 2025 - ramsgate, england
from mike:
Another nice town
Really good folks here, good sound
stage confusion, broken string
from watt:
pop just before eight, crimony... must be getting used to "england time" real quick, alright! good weather out the window, alright again! still got more stuff to do w/my hoot page migration (it's bday come november will be twentynine!) so more stuff on the macpurse craptop 'til we pull anchor at eleven. exchange spiel w/peetzo back in pedro regarding the next mike watt + the missingmen album "static" cuz he's got tom watson coming over to _casa hanzo_ (his studio at his pad) to put final or 'pert-near final guitar stuff from him for it, I mentioned I think raul having completed all needs to do on drums and percush. I can a lot my stuff at studio tHUNDERpPANTS (what I got in my apartment) so peetzo can rest easy 'til I get him everything this summer, a big focus for watt - this album is important to all involved and don't wanna let anyone down including myself. I'm really kind of excited for it. next year I plan to make a secondmen one for peetzo and jer, excited about that too but like werner herzog says: "do the doable" which for me makes good sense.
bye bye brighton, we head whence we came yesterday 'til we get to that m-25 ring road and then go east instead of west. ramsgate is in a part of england called kent and is seaside town like brighton but in lots of ways different. again mike is happening w/the rudder, much respect to him. at twelve we do first piss stop of the tour, one of those "service areas" where they sling garbage chow kind of like food court thing on a u.s. turnpike (turdpipe) back home. I just get out to move my legs and this other person my age near the rented boat detects an accent I guess and do what they call "chat" or what we call "shoot the shit" and of course like the old days I say I'm from california (worked back in 1983, it works now!) and we have a good chat... she tells me she was in a four hour plug yesterday and decided "fuck it" and went home, I don't blame her. some stuff is universal, correct? mike gets to the gig pad, the ramsgate music hall" (way happening parking lot right there by their hatches!) just after two... maybe it was 110 miles? double nickels on the dime for the speed average, correct? look, it is what it is and like I ain't used to fuck staus in so cal? crimony.
mike then goes to forge for chow for us... he's a back an hour later w/the same chicken (though it didn't have the same name) as yesterday (it's also good eating) but w/a more happening salad on the side, much more arugula which I am glad for. I then hobble through the olde-timey streets down to the little "royal harbour" (the way they write it) and damn if the weather ain't like it usually is in pedro after the "may gray" (I'm spelling this way) burns off. there's buttloads of olde-timey for someone like watt to trip on so it's a slow-go as I mosey and survey...
I get back at four which is when mike says load-in is but damn if it ain't done... usually my role is guardiano cuz of my lame knee. oh well. soundman al remembers me from ten years ago when I was here w/brother sam, first and only time I played this town and dug it much. good to see al again and we have a good spiel while stuff gets set up. he tells me doug wimbish has played a bunch of times, an event called "wimbash" and man, do I wish I get to witness one of those... I just dig him so much. I tell about this one time in west hollywood I got to play all the tunes off of "maggot brain" w/him and three of p-funkers: george clinton, blackbird mcnight and kid funkadelic (michael hampton) - eric mcffaden made that happen and it was a total surprise to me... I thought it was gonna be some "blues jam in e-minor" but nope, it was the "maggot brain" album and the whole enchilada. crimony.
they got a great back stage downstairs and that's where I got to chimp diary. there's openers from a close-by town called moron butler and get myself topside soon as I hear they get the show going at eight bells. the chair I'm using for the gig is actually off the stage and by the front on the bassman's side, way happening for me to park my crippled ass and witness their gig. I really dig them... beautiful we got the first two gigs bof w/happening bands to share the stage w/, fuck yeah. they get me good and lit... I'm ready to go.
ten after nine is our turn to man the stage and we bring it. we blow more clams than last night! still I enjoy the gig - great feel from the ramsgate gig-goers, a cat named chester (mike tells me later cuz he helped w/the drum schlep) stomps up a dance storm right before us, respect. like last night, we can do the tiniest stuff and there's yammering competing w/it, zero. that's major respect in my book and I bow deep their way in recognization of such consideration cuz they big time deserve such from me, I really mean that. you cannot take for granted anyone giving you full-on focus and you know I think that's something you gotta work hard to earn, just do. I really couldn't see much cuz of the lights again but I ain't complaining, just describing the stich - I really enjoyed this gig - like last night... you know I'm thinking of last night and how I wasn't so freaked out, not just first gig but the whole thing... I think I'm getting a handle on mssv where I can bring an edge to it in a way that's still kind of developing for me, something newer these days though it's been a while coming. I mean, this was me think about stuff for just a little bit cuz mainly I'm giving mike and hodge plus the gig-goers a big part of the attention enchilada. I think I even hear the gigs in different places now during a show I'm doing - not just in the "control boof" of my head. trippy.
we get done (hey, I got that verse together in richard's tune, yatta!) and I pack my stuff - ollie's here, he's brother sam's brother and damn if he did just move to this town today, ain't that a trip?! fuck. so good to see him, I gave him and his lady a tour of my pedro town when they we're in cali a couple years ago, so glad to get to do that. I just did one for stephen blume, maybe a two weeks ago? takes about four hours and I still miss out on some of stuff but love doing it. I have a good rap w/ollie but also w/a bunch of other gig-goers, lots of interesting cats... one talks w/me about david thomas, someone we just lost. david was almost kind to me... me and my missingmen did a gig w/him in highland 'pert-near two years ago and it was the last time I saw him. over the years I got the chance to do stuff w/him, one big collab was two unkown instructors albums that was an incredible experience and in fact he "conducted" the session that gave birth to those, I'll never forget it... he wa stripped down to his chonies cuz we were waiting and waiting for georgie (he was real REAL late) and it was sweaty as fuck at total access - I think joe carducci was a producer or co-producer maybe? anyway, david ran down the bits we improved and I loved it fuckin big time. I reminded him of that dealio that night in highland park - it was a pad called _the lodge_ and now that I think of it, I remember the last words he ever said to me, he said "mike, I wish you lived in england" - I'll never forget that, I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he said that... I drove back to my pedro town and after and thought about that much... thinking about it now. this cat here's wearing a pere ubu shirt, maybe that's why? yesterday we were in brighton, that's where david last lived...
I'm the last out the pad, so sorry. mike's got connect probs w/this rental boat and his leash so he just goes w/the leash, good man. "do the doabable" mr herzog learned us, correct? he get us to another konk pad he got on the internet - I'm way into this over the fucked up 'tel scene, big time. buttloads better - even w/me having to do some steep many stairs and that has many waiting for morning to hose off I'll take a sitch like this over a 'tel any fuckin day of the year, I'll tell you what. oh, I forgot about the debrief... well, what I learned: mike had broken a string and that's why he had hodge do that drum solo that seemed to me like to have come out of nowheare... well, actually I thought he was have "walk off" a rough ride in "another" cuz damn if it didn't sound like those two had it backwards but when I brought that up, they bof said they had no I idea it was backwards - ain't that a trip! I did confess to blowing a bunch of sharp/flat clams in "no words" like a baka and promised to get that more together. mike discussed the importance of dynamics, of forms - at the end I ask him if we can please have that snare on the three in richard's tune more calm cuz it's killing me some times. I'm way into these debriefings, I'm into hearing mike supplement his direction w/after-the-fact spiel, to get us more happening for the next time - yeah, like we do gigs to prepare us for the next debriefing - I'm way into that. I konk happy!
saturday, may 31, 2025 - southampton, england
from mike:
Short drive, but long time
Nice folks here, good feel with band
Forgotten rack tom
from watt:
pop at six - no curtain so taiyo ('sun' in jap) is this morning's alarm clock, big time. it's the last day of may. now I go hose off and while I'm chimping diary, hear dr collier do one of her shows about these cats I listened to in the 80s who had a radio show called 'car talk' (hosted by the tappet brothers)... these guys were a trip but my pop having me learn to work on volkswagons... ended up having five of them (one at a time though! I recently did a radio show called a spiel on my cars for a site called 'hagerty') so fixing them yourselves big time interested me and as a boy I was way into drag racing, used to get all the magazines, love that shit... my big drag race dream was to have a willys coup gasser, I really fuckin dug those, really did. also, talk about jamming econo - a) have a vw and b) working on them yourself? chik-ching. one more youtube.com thing for the morning, I hear horace tapscott's the giant has awakened" and I remember raymond taking me to one of the watts towers festivals w/him playing w/three standup bassists, one of them roberto miranda who I always dug big time.
we pull anchor at ten cuz we need to be in southampton at two and a half, a bunch of the route is the south part of the london ring-road so an accounting of that has to be considered (trying sometimes to write like they talk here) if we don't wanna get sandbagged by the reality on the dealio (writing like the way they don't talk here), correct? fuckin bitchin so cal weather for us though, yatta. it's plug city heading west and then southwest, buttloads of vehicles to make for a slow go. I've always tripped on the interesting how they word their signs:
just before noon we drop anchor at a 'service area' and I do guardiano while everyone goes to piss, dump and bulk up on health chow. back on the road for more plug. crimony, it's a slow go... get to the gig pad ten after two (twenty minutes early) and what's more important: arrived alive. four hours to do 150 miles, there's some cure for homesickness, huh?
fourth time I think I've played here at the joiners and yes, I brought the so cal weather this time. load-in's from a tinty alley (ha, the sign for it says street!), mike backs into a car before backing into it and a driverlady (who's coming down the street) points that out him using her finger and miming [?] words w/her mouf)... mike ain't no dick and as soon he docks us, he goes across the street to tell the cat (he guesses right when he goes into the shop it's parked in front of) who tells him it's ok cuz there was no mark or damage and also he though his car w/already a piece-o anyway (no compared to what I've seen in my land though!). anyway, the bossman ricky's sure is a good brother and helped us out tonight like he's done two other times before, shit that came down in a matter of days, can you believe? most grateful to him. it's acutally a shonen knife gig so we'll play shorter and before them. before us is a band from not to far away portsmouth (hey, I'm born in portsmouth - portsmouth, virginia!) called cowboyy and I get to meet their guitarman stan who has a real good rap w/me, he is very cool people and interesting. him his peeps after a while go and chow so I start chiimping diary and man, I dig this old building w/it's old feel even thought there's been new stuff brought in... there's plenty of old still and I can feel it, 'pert-near fucking coming up through my converses and up in my feet, then my knees... all the way to my fingers chimping this right here. some cats are working setting up stuff but it's still mostly quiet... then gig boss ricky comes to rap w/soundman harvey in their way of talking and I trip on that. after a while it's shonen knife soundcheck time and I rap w/their road boss david (real good cat) about "thunderbirds," "stingray" and "fireball xl-5" (my favorite of that stuff) - all "supermaionation" trips, correct? ...and I believe itc and damn if there ain't a connect involving "the prisoner" - sir lew grade, huh? crimony! we check w/soundman harvey and tell him we want our stuff where shonen knife doesn't have to move any of there's. understand, this was their gig and we got added on - bof our tours are being run by the same cat, jack at ran touring so there's the connect. I think it's most kind of bof jack and shonen knife, much respect to them and their kindness. I rap more w/stan and kai of cowboyy - kai was gonna direct but I tell him to use the stuff I'm using, no prob. the doorman john's wife made up so fuckin happening lasagna and salad, I really dig it and get this: last time I had shawarma right across the street, an afghan bakery so that comes in chunks of meat separate from the flat soft bread (the size of a medium pizza) so I use that to wrap inside lasagna w/the meat chunks and plus the salad from bof chows and damn if that ain't a most bitchin symphony in my mouf, yes! oishii.
cowboyy hits at six and they bring it... whoa, they tear it up. the tunes have all kinds of stuff going on but the three of them keep real connected. half the tunes are instrumental? the other half I can't understand what's up but that doesn't matter. it's a real good time I have experiencing them. stan is really relaxed in contrast to what's coming from him, whoa. kai's real strong on the bass and dan, damn - I can't believe we're they're done stan telling me it's their his second gig w/them ever. I congratulate each one. this cat comes up to in a little bit and says he's stan's pop, whoa, that's a trip. I tell him his boy did real good, I dig this band.
we're next and 'pert-near everything's already set up so we're ready at our seven and a half go-time, no prob. tonight's a rough start for me. I clam the opener "on and on" much, I can't hear mike over hodge, the drums are really really loud. some I get to get together and other places I fucking am oblivious to what's up, where we're at and where I'm supposed to be at. it's frustrating but I laugh instead of getting weirded out or angry cuz what the fuck's that gonna do? I've been here before and of course getting it together is the best strategy but damn if humor ain't our savior, correct? much better for the next tune but there places that stumble too, really w/me but hodge seems lost... where he's at w/drums has moved since soundcheck, he's a few more forward and I think this adds to him being kind out of connect w/me and mike. next two improve much and I can feel the southampton gig-goers getting a better feel for us and digging what we're bringing... even though "all things come" has it's form all tore up from we intended, what we do bring gets over good and I think that's what making a gig happen is about, not just regurgitating pre-ordained instructions but being there in the moment w/your band members and the gig-goers, the cats working the pad big time including the cat on the knobs. the whole bambino is such fuckin collab of stuff I get to realizing more and more w/every gig. it's ok and in fact I'm into it cuz that "other way" (whatever the fuck you wanna call that) is too not-w/it for me, too unatural/fucked-up.
we finish up and load-out is too difficult w/the gig still underway so we'll do that after shonen knife's turn. I pack my stuff and get out on the street to get some air, it's a nice hobble real slow and easy down saint mary street... I hobble past the college and there's all kind of interesting cats, very friendly w/everyone smiles. someone asks me if I need help maybe cuz I'm moving slow? I'm moving slow on purpose, correct? back towards the pad, ok, I'm a bass player and not just a crazy man. like I said, very kind people. the cowboyy folks find me again and we do more spiel, the bassman kai has welsh relatives, we're going there tomorrow. the gig boss ricky comes out and tells about his most recent trip to a small town in east texas, he had a good time. I wish more u.s. people could see over and the same those here getting to see my land. I think it be healthier if everyone got buttloads of first experiences w/each other that were trippy and interesting, that's I wish and that's why I'm so glad for this kind of work I've had for over fortytwo years now - that's when my first big tour was, black flag and minutemen in bof the u.s. and over here... our first england gig was a the 100 club on february 10, 1983. that was a total mindblow for me - d boon and georgie too, I know it.
I watch shonen knife some and then two cats come up and rap w/me about the time twelve years ago they saw me here w/the fratelli ("il sogno del marinaio europe tour 2013") opening for maps and atlases by chance - it was another last minute saved-by-the-seat-of-pants gig provided by the gig boss ricky, his first one for me and damn if bof these cats and ricky himself still here, no matter who I'm playing w/and it's 'pert-near enough to make me cry, so I grateful I am for such kindness, truly.
gig over, we load-out and say our bye byes, I get a photo of gig boss ricky, yes!
the konk pad is same dealio as the others this tour (mike got it off the internet) though the head is on the same floor making it easy for me to hose off so I do and then konk tonight naked, don't know why but maybe cuz of the cali weather I brought to share w/my southampton friends?
sunday, june 1, 2025 - cardiff, wales
from mike:
Yemeni chow day
Nice walking around this town
Good gig, getting there...
from watt:
pop just before seven. sun came blasting through the window again but that's ok. I wanna get these photos for the diary up on the hoot page... it always seems to take me forever to get this happening, it's the html coding that's the bottleneck so I think of a way to get that stuff more happening. I code in ascii html so stuff loads as quick as possible, something you had to do in the old days, capito? I'm gonna really try to be day-by-day w/the photos in synch w/the chimped spiel so as to try and temper the 'word diarrhea' effect my expression might flaunt w/out me realizing it, wouldn't wanna do that. remember this chimping is first a kind of therapy for me and THEN it's a document, in that order. miss hiyori brought a french press coff maker so we never have bullshit swill to force down in order to wake up, so very kind of her. no morning shovels but that's ok. tour is different life than life at my own pad, you learn to "swerve to avoid," correct? we pull anchor at eleven and head west. trippy, the boat was docked on this astroturf kind-of stuff but mother nature's got her real grass bursting through!
mike gives us a addendum to last night's debriefing: he had to go back to the gig pad to get the rack tom cuz it was 'pert-near donated so attention to 'baka checks' is big time essential. this is a big reason I carry as little as possible on tour but damn if we don't not to bring a rack tom, correct? I feel mike makes a great point and at the same time feel bad he had to get that call interrupting his konk from gig boss ricky but we're bof grateful for gig boss ricky being on it like that, much respect. anyway, I see an "off license" sign... trigger! I laugh out loud at it, have to. they got "essentials" written next to a photo of eggs, bread and butter in the front window but eighty percent of the rest is fucking discount prices currently for different alcohols! I guess for some that is "essential" though, huh? for keeping the withdrawals at bay? I can relate... not far is shoppe for "objects d'art" - a wheel and a chair sit out front, I'm into that! some southampton art saying bye bye to us as we take a bridge out of town...
pull over at a 'service area' quarter of one, I remain in the rented boat... we do this in the u.s. also as much as possible, not leaving the boat unmanned on short-stays. miss hiyori brings me plain nuts. then mike wants to diesel up the boat, I enlighten him to these disposable gloves they got for administering that stuff, kind of necessary. he's into it. what he ain't into is£1.80/liter (about $9.19/gallon u.s.) here at "bp" station... says we're changing the rented boat fueling policy: only in the towns when we have to, after leaving the konk pad - no more 'service area' buttrape sitchs w/the fuel, we relegate ourselves to deposit only mode w/their pisshouses/dumpers facilities.
onward wesward to brisol and then over the 'prince of wales bridge' at one and a half, we're into wales. it's not long and just before cardiff we get a light rain, not much. took 160 minutes to do 134 miles... numbers, correct? miike and hodge's first time to wales...
my first welsh gig was that festival in portmeirion ten years ago I already mentioned, hope to play as many as I can - I love playing everywhere and of course that includes the ones I ain't been to you yet. please world, bring it! now that cuz gig was in north wales and cardiff is opposite and the time I played here before was "the moon" w/the fratelli in 2017. tonight's gig pad is fuel and the rain's quit before we get into town but we ain't finished... the gig pad's in the middle of the old town w/zero parking so we wander...
we find the konk pad and nothing available there so I suggest we just venture down a main road 'til stuff does open up and we find that on paget street just near the end of the city center and drop anchor about twenty of three. whoa. good to stop cuz these olde-timey tiny roads stress on mike, I can tell - they'd fuckin stress on me. he also says this rented boat has this trippy "idler control" too close to the turn signal. anyway, we drop anchor in a residential part w/easy parking but close to some shops, he goes and gets us some chow at a yemeni pad that's nearby, he brings me some lamb w/rice and along side that is a little salad and some potatoes in a kind of curry sauce. it's all real good, first time for me w/this cuisine I think.
four and a half when we return to the gig pad and do a quick load-in so mike can put the boat somewhere where it can stay.
the gig pad soundman james is a very interesting cat, says he likes all music genres except "musicals" - we are a particular species, correct. says one day he wants to visit the u.s. and I sure hope he can. he's telling me into he's into deathmetal and I'm trying to think of an olde-timey band that kind of started that scene... damn me, I cannot think of their fuckin name... we spiel about other stuff like robert in metallica or darryl in bad brains and also old welsh stuff, about these land having the most castles built in it by one of the neighbors and stuff like that, he's a happening to hear him talk, his rap is interesting and so is the infos w/it - about this pad, two hundred years ago he says it was an econo 'tel for miners to pay one shilling to konk under a washline" (something you use to dry clothes?), fuck... well, he's gotta get back to setting us up though so he leaves the backstage and the that's when it comes back to me and I holler craddle of filth - yes... see you don't try and it comes back, if you just let go of being conscious of it. we check and I think definitely hodge's snare has got this this high-mid rang that's bogarting stuff in the range where mike sings and it's also there in the hihat area, maybe tame it some w/some tape? maybe softer hits? anyway, we have a good spiel about this, later I'll that actually he's got a different snare and had to cuz fuck if a few weeks ago that camco drum kit we've used the last couple of tours got stolen from his storage space. crimony. that's terrible, really is and I feel bad for hodge... that was a righteous kit... guess mike have to write a "drum song" now. on another note: some trippy graffiti on the bulkheads of the backstage here:
brand new band (they got asked to do this gig four days ago!) _cottage vipers_ hit at seven and a half to get this show on and I watch from the back which kind of strange but no way to get out front except through them and that would be lame, my hobbling right over their trip. I dig what they're bringing though, they're a duet made of guitarist martin and lloyd working electronics, I dig their sound and when they finish, invite them to be a guest on my show when I get off this tour and am back home.
our turn next and prolly our best gig yet of the tour in my opinion. the cardiff gig-goers are very kind - all the crowds this tour have been, even those yammering last night cuz I could hear in their yammering that they were digging what we were bringing starting about the third tune, made me laugh harder! respect. here tonight in wales, mssv is really playing together I think... only tiny clams and even better, buttloads of real good connect, I love it. very very happening gig. good sound from soundman james too, respect to him.
brother kliph is here, last time I saw him was six years ago when I was helping flipper w/a europe tour but he actually saw me w/the fratelli the first time I played cardiff... right when he moved here - so good to see him again! I ask him to please send me tracks (he's a drummerman) so I can bring him bass to go w/them... he says he's gonna visit relatives in kansas and I tell him about last tour finally getting to play wichita. crimony! I get to rap w/a lot of other cardiff gig-goers too, really good and kind cats. whoa, one of the soldier dolls is here - I first them in 1983 at "brixton ace" when we opened for black flag there, we used their recording of us doing "fanatics" (their cassette got x-rayed so you could barely hear anything recognizable and we thought that was hilraious!) for the "the politics of time" comp! crimony, I ask him if I can have him on my show... maybe he's david - arrrgghhh, my fucking memory. terrible. I hope he emails me...
so much kindness, a real good time here but time now to go. mike gets out of the little alley and to the konk pad, giving us a good debriefing while doing so... using the memories of the gig just done to help build better the next one, correct? I'm into it. the konk pad has the head right next to where I konk so another easy hose-off but I get into bof chonies ('skivvies' in espanol) and numaki ('nightwear' in jap) for tonight and am out pretty quick, whoa am I beat - but it's a good kind of beat!
monday, june 2, 2025 - liverpool, england
from mike:
Yemeni chow day
Nice walking around this town
Good gig, getting there...
from watt:
pop at seven and a half - this pad has thick curtains that close all the way making for a great konk chamber. I get much caught up all things 'puter including way to keep up to date w/baka photos for the diary, html kind-of template to expedite. the internet sometimes brings happening news (always some) and this time it's a statue of john coltrane in the town he was born in - back in 2014 I had an experience w/this town regarding this, scroll down to the 'tuesday, october 21, 2014' entry here for the actual spiel I chimped, also the fratelli's... it was quite an experience. we pull anchor at eleven...
more happening so cal weather out the hatch as I get in the boat, really grateful for this on us. bye bye cardiff, very kind time in the little bit we had. I get photos together that I took yesterday, I must scissor ten for everyone three I keep, the great thing about digital stuff where you ain't burning up zeni (real old word for 'money' in jap) developing film - one reason that really kept from picture-taking though I tried... I got some "photo albums" that got lots of lame-ass that stays on the shelf. crimony. still a mindblow to someone like me has a book of photos I've taken of my pedro town, along w/some tour spiel I've chimped. laurie steelink really helped w/that, I'm most grateful to her for that... like when greg us asked us minutemen to be sst-002, crimony! people should realize it's all about people working w/people even though you might be the one being the ball-roller starter or somewhere along the connect chain that goes into a work... very interesting the way that stuff "works" to me, so many angles you can trip on it from. back to the now: mike really digs the way the m roads here are set up, the chevrons painted to help w/avoiding tailgating (you're supposed to keep "two chevrons" between you and the vehincle in front of you) and stuff like that, things he thinks helps w/making travel safer. of course I'm way into that shit big time. I will say a lot of drivers don't use their turn signals and will just bogart on you out of nowhere, just putting it out there but that's an "operator result" in my mind and not from how stuff is set up... every fucking vehicle has such controls to let others know they're "coming over" and it's their choice to be a dick and just spring it on you. we've seen some wrecks not in the moment but some soon after, some later... there's been real fucked up pieces of vehicle on truck flatbeds being transported... I wonder what the stats are compared w/back home and here? not everyone uses that "two chevron rule" either. ok, I'm done w/this spiel, please don't bum on me too hard. this stuff's in my head either in rudder mode or having my ass toted, sorry! we're east on the m4 whence we came yesterday, back over that big bridge and back into england...
at bristol we get north on the m5. we've had no music in this rented boat all tour - one way things are different than our last sally-forth. mike has us drop anchor at the 'frankley service area' (sometimes I ain't too stupid to notice a name and damn if this ain't a great one!)... me on guardiano duty staying w/the boat while the rest piss, dump and do minor (?) chow forage... miss hiyori brings me back two hard boiled eggs that's got some spinach leaves w/them, I use the "lowensenf" (german mustard) and "cholula" (chili salsa) to gussie them up. you can go wrong w/cold hardboiled eggs w/watt, nope. back on the road, we gotta skirt birmingham and do that while rapping about the idea of subjects of songs being like ways of using handwriting over printing... conventions you learn to make for some common ground that let you communicate some personal kind expression but at the same time not too smothered up by cliche and jive. same ol' struggle I think all of us who have had to that think about such things but in my head, that doesn't make it any less an important, it's actually important shit and especially in the way it ends up manifested or whatever.
we dock at the gig pad just before three and a half ('pert-near four and a half hours to do about 200 miles), it's called a-r-c and brother phil's there to welcome us, righteous! he's got a new band, it's called _yield_ and tonight's the cherry gig for them, most bitchin. weather here is showing on brother phil, he's totally red like a lobster. crimony. just so good to see him, so very fuckin good. I meet the pad boss lee, great cat but I gotta foul his facilities, fuck I 'pert-near cuz the dump I bring has so much girth it takes like ten fuckin flushes, I shit thee not (know what I'm saying). I am a patient man though, especially like such stuff. I finally emerge and everything's fine... I can hear hodge in the music room finally realize the dude he's been yammering at is thee very brother phil who fuckin greeted us a the curb. crimony. "no wine before its time" was what mr welles learned us, correct? this pad is really knew, part of a old big (not tall but a whole block around) building near the waterfront. "acoustic room coffee" is what's on the sign so I guess we've solved that acronym riddle but what? trippy sequence of those words, huh? there's a back room here near the head that appears to be a head itself but now converted to backstage so that's where I chimp diary.
I hobble around the neighborhood and kind of guess it was very industrial at one time. repurposed now, that's prolly why brother phil and lee are down here. I get back and brother phil's also the soundman, we do soundcheck w/him. michelle brings us middle east chow that's really good, the meat's chicken and there's salad w/a happening taste, hummus too - all very happening, so kind of them.
eight bells is showtime and brother phil's new band brings it. he's rocking a older fender 'music master' bass and I dig the way he works it, much respect to him. people say short scale basses have their own sound and me listening to him agree w/that - understand I'm too close to notices so much but he's illustrating here w/some real life and especially in a context of not man-alone but w/guitar and drums: an ensemble. so much bizarre yammer I hear from what jim bergantino calls "pajama players" - cats who do bass in their pads w/out other people or instruments w/them which for me is a distorted perspective unless that's what it's about: man-alone (or woman-alone) mode. I first heard brother phil w/super fast girly show (by the way, brother pasha's here - yatta!) and he known how to aid and abet the way I love, much respect to him. he's in space also - one day I gotta witness that live, just got to.
our turn is nine bells and I'm really impressed w/how hodge has gotten this snare he brought over happening w/the mssv sound... these first gigs I was finding it maybe "too sensitive" and/or "too live" for our mssv sitch w/the kind of extreme dynamics we try to bring. I'm also into the liverpool gig-goers, they're most kind. trippy about people yammering - in southampton w/that happening right in front of me I can only laugh but near tonight's last part I gotta call some borrachos way in the back motherfuckers for their obviously ovlivious shit (god, how many times have I done that myself in my more-younger days?!) but maybe cuz that was in our version of richard hell's tune and he just means so much to me. 'pert-near all the gig had none of that and most kind people gave us big time focus. the band plays good I think though "see through you" had a strange end-up going for it, very strange - mike will address in the debriefing later but it still kind of trips me out now even as I chimp about it. I'm really grateful for the pad boss lee and brother lee for bringing this gig sitch - mike thanks brother phil for also getting the drums hodge is using together for us, respect!
packing up - I do it immediately when we finish, w/out getting up from my chair cuz what the fuck, correct? it's at this point when gig-goers will talk w/me and have me sign stuff... I use to want people to wait but w/the sitting thing and everything close enough so I can do it that way, there's no prob and I'm glad to show my gratitude and listen to what most-kind folks have to say. this one young man said he came from boston just to see the show. crimony.
mike gets us downtown where the konk pad is, brother phill comes w/us cuz he's gonna park the rented boat at brother pasha's pad after dropping us off. again the head is next to the konk chamber so hosing off is real easy so I do. a real good time in liverpool tonight, yatta!
tuedsay, june 4, 2025 - manchester, england
from mike:
Good gig for ‘The Beeb’
First coffee of tour, yep.
Good gig here! Good feel...
from watt:
pop at six, "curtains" useless agains taiyo and very urusai ('noisy' in jap) but that's ok, I think it's enough even though we're supposed to play twice today. especially w/out the alcohol (today I'm working on day 887), konking ain't such a hard thing for me at this point, another good thing resulting for quitting... wasn't easy getting to this point at all but I am at that point and way grateful for it. gonna see mr riley see in a little bit so gonna shave for sure. guess it rained like a sieve last night but I have personally no account of it cuz of konking so hard. there's big clouds out the window but no signs of wet, I know mike had like a twenty minute schlep to get the rented boat at brother pasha's...
mike arrives to get us at nine and a half and we're off to make the thirtyfour miles (weather a little gray but no rain) to the salford part of manchester, where marc riley does his bbc radio6 show in "media city" - we arrive aabout ten and a half... in fact see marc's most righteous and essential assistant michelle walking on the sidewalk near we need to be (total coincidence!) and she guides to the back part where we load in... not much though cuz we're mainly using their stuff, it's my fourth time here and I've found everything here very ok to do this. brother phil arrives via train from his liverpool town, yes! soundman chris sets us up and we run through a couple of tunes and then record "on and on" for keepers - that's when I see brother marc through the control room and I get a little nervous! I got this material though, another good thing about my confidence w/parts, 'pert-near like when I was a young minuteman, I had it back then but... yeah, life got in the way and some unhealthy ways took root. anyway we get the next three ("careful what you wish for," "boat song" and "human reaction") and I'm way on board, so glad I can be here for the band this way. marc then does a spiel w/us and he's really good about that for making you relaxed by asking good stuff. he quotes some of my diary and asks what the fuck am I trying to say regarding the slang and then suggests my getting this stuff published so I suggest maybe that stuff is "published" when I put it on the hoot page maybe? I mean not a traditional book but it's out there for folks to read... I tell him about when john doe asked me to do a chapter for his book, that publisher then sent a young man to talk to me about them putting out a bio but said they didn't want me to write it and instead have it as a "as told to" kind of trip cuz (this were the gist of his words) "you don't write correct, what you do something that's more like poetry" so that's when I tell him what I just told marc: it's already published when I put it up at the hoot page... go to mikewatt.com if you wanna read what I chimp on tour. my only regret is waiting 'til 1998 to really get into doing them, I'm a fucking slow learner. anyway, marc talks a bunch w/mike about mssv and to hodge about working w/tom waits which I think is happening. he also likes the the coat my sister melinda sewed me in tribute to "the prisoner" cuz he said he dug that show also. the spiel is a real good time, much respect to him and all the most kind people helping out. we're done by one, say our byes - oh, michelle asked me to "draw' captain beefheart on this white tshirt and try w/the aid of a photo of him from around the "doc at the radar station" period so I write a couple lines from "dirty blue gene" to go along w/the scrawl. she's so nice, she's been here for all my appearances and just the best. I guess they give this away for some kind of thing. soundman chris asks if we wanna review anything recorded and we tell him we trust him, he knows his room and seems most happening, anyone w/marc and his aesthetic is fuckin right on w/me, so happy mike's into letting all these first takes be the very documents they are, great spirit. everyone so kind, the two young assistant men also, sam and max, great cats.
we find the gig pad - a new pad for me, called gullivers
- in downtown manchester, in the older part but there is nada parking anywhere near so we wander 'til we do find a lot near newbeck street and drop anchor there. he then goes to forge for chow for us and brings back from a pad he said was called "bab" w/a flatbread for me w/lamb and salad along w/giant couscous. I really dig it. very good. it started raining pretty hard w/the wind kind of blowing soon after he left but somehow he got all this chow safe for us. besides the driving, he's always getting this part of tour happening for us, even the other tour we I was driving instead, he always rustles up the chow when get into town. brother phil arrives from salford, don't how but this cat's definitely got the skills, much respect! he gets in the boat w/us as we shove off for the gig pad. we finally find a way to it (difficult w/the road layout) two minutes before the five pm load-in time, brother phil being here's most essential w/his schlepping skills, hear hear! it's a older shotgun kind of pad which means a long room, the bar downstairs and where you play the floor above that, I meet the gig boss adelaide who's most kind and soundman martin who is as well. nice people, I'm way into that.
set up time so I go to hobble around the neighborhood. the rain has quit (lots of on and off w/the rain in these parts) so not dangerous that way. it's real important for me to get exercise even if it's a slow go (so I'm careful) cuz last tour I was starting to get "fat ankles" and that ain't an expression, I mean literally which big time can mean poor circulation. a couple of weeks on my elliptical trainer and that all went away, pretty amazing... I'm trying to be w/this though while actually on tour - maybe not as good as elliptical trainer but damn if my ankles are in pretty good shape now. I hobble a big loop in an orbit around the gig pad, snapping photos along the way.
I return just when it's time for check and we work on "see through you" to make sure we don't lose the "mungo jerry" mantra we hang that tunes backbone on, real important - that tune's fuckin backbone, I shit thee not. I go to the back room after to chimp diary and damn if marc riley and his buddy steve hanley don't arrive, much respect to bof of them. whoa, I'm a little nervous and start yammering about all kinds of whatever - they bof played together in the fall and did a u.s. tour when they were younger so I get to hear some about that and then also cats we all know in common, love these guys. you know, d boon got me into history and I start doing a dance regarding that stuff I think mostly cuz I'm so nervous to play in front of them - I did play in front of marc before w/a cuz gig at the 2015 festival no 6 and man, was that scary but he showed up there right before showtime... this is different but I'm so glad they're here, real good cats and they actually make me happy even w/all my nervousness. fuck, forgot to take a photo of them, damn me.
we're on at quarter after eight and there was no opening act, first time this tour - maybe the only time? last time I played a live gig in manchester was ten years ago so I'm really into this for so many reason, marc and steve being here a big one but also all the manchester gig-goers here tonight. james from sheffield even came I find out later, whoa! crimony. I can just hobble up and get to it, my stuff is so simple and I dig it that way. funny mike has to ask if I'm ready... how many tours have we done together? took tav falco only a few gigs wised up and ceased. no big deal. I only use some feedback for the first improv but damn if I don't hear where "on and on" starts... sounds like hodge came in early (later I'll find out I guessed wrong here) but we got on board... I'm nervous still cuz of marc and steve but I'm up here now and not in the back room, no matter - I clam the spiel to "careful what you wish" for cuz I'm thinking of changing up the lyrics since we did this one for marc earlier today but why the fuck am I thinking of that now when it's showtime? crimony. I did some of the second verse first and then repeat some of that for the second. crimony. most of the rest of the gig though I do rally and I did feel from the manchester gig-goers and feel of support, that was most kind of them. hodge kind of (kind of?!) stomps all over my 'money shot' part of the richard hell tune in the encore but it ain't on purpose... we'll discuss it in the debriefing.
our set done: much much good word from the manchester gig-goers, most kind! I get to also thank marc and steve for being here as well. more than a few bassbrothers, yes! as I mentioned before, james from sheffield, so good to see him again... he's got work in phily and I tell him if he can to see the pad john coltrane bought his ma w/his g.i bill. soundman martin has a good rap w/me after the gig-goers go, he tells me he was working on the last album by the fall - he said h 'pert-near threw mark e smith through a window cuz he called him a nutter (england slang for kook) but then became good friends w/him. you know earlier during the taping for marc's show we were talking about that cymbal (yeah, "cymbal" and not cymbals) on the fall album "dragnet" - I'm wondering what soundman martin would've resulted in their collab if we wouldn't have lost mr smith... I thank soundman martin for being our fourth man tonight, respect.
brother phil's here to help w/the schlep back down the stairs as mike goes to get the rented boat from a lot that was only £3 for the night. he's taking the train back to liverpool. mike gets us to some konk pad called "the hacienda" (yeah, funny) and he leaves in us in alley to organize what takes way-long labyrinth but that's the way stuff goes and we're a earlier tonight cuz of no opener. what's scary is some big fuckin rats I see running in the back of this alley, big as the ones I saw behind the old "930 club" in d.c. back in the 80s. crimony. it sure a long schlep to get to this chamber but we do and like I was saying earlier, I do need the exercise. what I don't need is the slip I fuckin take in the head when I go to hose down in it. there's nothing to grab onto when my foot hits the slick part of the tub and luckily the part of the tub my head hits as I'm on my way down is the think back part where it's hollow under and the edge where my bof left shoulder and knee hit and I lay there for a while... no head hurt at all but bof left knee and shoulder do but not broken hurt, just slammed hurt. crimony, I was lucky. I hose off anyway - fuck this tub but I am much much more care and slow slow slow. shit, that was scary. the head is the fuckin scariest part of a pad, even more than the galley, huh? I might konk hurt but more I konk feeling really lucky it wasn't worse.
wednesday, june 5, 2025 - glasgow, scotland
from mike:
Bye England, for now
Farmhouse stop GF Scotch egg
Tough stage sound for me
loop back to mike watt's hoot page
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