21th May 2005

We have just finished our longest Bird tour yet… Starting off in
Zwolle Holland we played an outdoor festival for Dutch Liberation
Day. Stayed in a mad hotel in possibly the pinkest room I have ever
been in…(very scary!)

Then we went to Germany, Bremen to play for Nordwest Radio. I did a
really long interview with the presenter and got to pick all the
music for the show which was really cool – basically got to play all
my favourite songs and talk about them all – not a bad afternoon's
work… We finished with an hour and a half live gig for the station
in a beautiful concert hall that's part of the station building.

Back at the hotel we did a gorilla gig in the hotel bar for a bunch
of very drunk but very lovely Swedish people – and yes we even sang a
bit of Abba (be rude not to really?)

Then back to the UK to join Rodrigo y Gabriella again as their UK
support act.

Highlights of the tour for me included:

….Another gorilla gig in the hotel bar for me and Michael at the
Jury's Inn, Glasgow – where we met a bunch of fairly drunk but very
lovely Belfast lads….

….Finding a talking darth vader mask in the staff room of Borders
Bookshop while getting ready for our instore gig there in Edinburgh
(didn't get to keep it though…)

…..Playing at the Star in Guildford – this gig wasn't part of the
tour but our manager likes to keep us busy on our days off….

..Michael's guitar part idea for a new song…

..And of course staying up late and drinking with everyone on the
tour on the last night…no tour would be complete without a last night
drink up in a bar and a complete loss of voice with accompanying
headache the next day….;)

Lowlights of the tour……service station toilets, Little Chef in
Carlisle and Lemsip…

So all in all a great tour and great fun to tour with Rod, Gab and
their lovely gang again…

 

21th April 2005

Back from Dublin which was a brilliant experience….Being half Irish,
it was an ambition to play my own songs in Ireland and it was
fantastic to realize that ambition in a venue as beautiful as the
Olympia Theatre.

We supported Rodrigo and Gabriella again and the gig was sold out to
over a 1000 people.. We couldn’t have wished for a more attentive,
warm audience and as with the UK tour, it was great to be the support
for an act as talented as Rod and Gab.

It’s fair to say I did sample a pint of two of the black stuff (for
anyone who hasn’t been to Ireland yet, it’s really true that Guiness
tastes completely different, and much better, over there!)

I was also introduced to the joys of malt shakes by a lovely girl
called Nora…They taste like the honeycomb inside Maltesers…We went to
a club after the gig called, Sin – Michael made some very interesting
“shapes” on the dancefloor, all he needed was a pair of white gloves
and a glow stick for the full raver experience…..heh heh…(me? I stuck
to sampling the local brews…;)

The next tour dates are a couple of weeks away so I should get a
chance to work on some of the new material…and Michael and I are
planning a second cover to perform in Germany on the 6th May….Bx

 

11th April 2005

So we've just returned from our first tour of Italy which was a
fantastic experience....We started in Milan - got to catch the AC v
Inter Milan match before the gig in a traditional pizzeria which was
quite a laugh! After the gig the locals plied us with shots of sweet
Italian alcohol..

Next morning we played on MTV Italy brand new show which was
hilarious as we had to interview each other with questions from
fortune cookies - then we flew straight to Rome (rock star moment heh
heh) to play a live session for national radio RAI 3 - then a bit of
getting lost in Rome with our tour manager Lake! Finally got to the
next gig in Rome supporting a great artist called Patrick Wolf
(definately one to check out)

Because of the Pope's funeral we couldn't leave Rome the next day as
they cordoned off the city - it was amazing to be there though on
that day and we all watched the funeral on a tv set in an Italian
home of a friend of the tour mamager's called Bene who was fantastic
and looked after us while we were trapped in Rome! Lake cooked us a
traditional Italian pasta lunch which was gorgeous...it tasted so
much better than my tuna pasta special I attempt every now and again
at home...(think I'll stick to playing cello then...)

Once we could leave we drove down to Naples for the next gig in a
tiny bar which was packed...The crowd were lovely and we played a
cover we've recently added to the set which everyone sung along to
which was fantastic..

We got to stay in a traditional Napolese house that night and took a
proper Italian breakfast of expresso and sweet buns the next day in a
crazy packed cafe... We drove all day to get back up north to Bologna
- passing all the Polish pilgrims n coaches who had made the journey
from Poland to see the Pope's funeral...

The last gig was also the biggest for us - supporting a popular
Italian band called Afterhours - 600 people and they were a wonderful
crowd - it was a great gig for us and the headline band's crew were
really friendly and helpful so we had a great night...Michael made
some new Italian friends who gave him lots of Amaretto which left him
a bit wobbly heh heh...

Next morning (with suitcases, instruments and hangovers...) we left
Bologna for London - couple of people had a fight on the plane which
was quite funny! Nothing serious though, everyone got off the flight
in one piece and Michael and I said goodbye and went our separate
ways to catch up on sorely needed sleep...

Few days to rest the voice now before going off to Dublin this Sunday
to play with Rodrigo y Gabriella again which I'm really looking
forward to....

Bird x

 

21th March 2005
Been working on new ideas for lyrics over the past week or so -
inspired by an art project I'm working on...We're preparing for our
Italian tour in two weeks time at the moment - rehearsing and working on a couple of new tunes/covers to slip in the set!


 

4th March 2005
Currently touring with Rodrigo y Gabriella - it's been a really
good experience for me and Michael..We're playing the perfect types
of venue for our stripped down acoustic set and the audiences have
been very warm whereever we're played...We're also learning from
Rodrigo and Gabriella who are both amazing musicians..They inlcude
some covers in their set which they perform in their own style and
it's inspired us to put a cover or two in our own set which is
something we have been thinking of doing for a while but hadn't
done..you'll have to get to a Bird gig soon to hear what we've picked
to cover...;)

 

16th february 2005
Just back from a trip to Oslo Norway....Have been doing some writing
with a brilliant musician called Gisli (check out: www.gisli.co.uk)
-I wrote amongst others, a new song called Hawaii (must have been the
weather that inspired me heh heh...)
Gisli also helped me discover the powers of falsetto vocals for added
weirdness (I promise not to become the Bee Gees...imagine the
mullet...) Went to see the Icelandic band Jan Mayen play live while I
was there - they are brilliant and well worth checking out...

Now back in UK and am in Oxford working with Eberg who I worked with
on the first album - so it's busy but creative times for Bird...my
favourite..also experimenting with slide guitar - I sound like a very
drunk Ben Harper impressionist...;) Bx

 

1th Febuary 2005
We've just arrived back from the second part of our January tour in
Spain. Started in Tarragona and Barcelona and went on to play in
Madrid both in a venue and on Disco Grande, a Spanish national radio
music show. Just as with Belgium and Holland, it's been a great
experience, we met loads of lovely people, Xavi, Gareth hello! And I
also got the chance to catch up with some friends in Madrid which was
lovely. It was a great experience to play Disco Grande and the host,
Julio Ruiz was a really cool guy - it's great to meet people in the
music industry who are so passionate about new music and promoting
it...
It was also very inspiring to hear the quality of music from local
bands (at the Mini Festival - Barcelona) and I hope we get the chance
to visit Spain again soon to listen to a few more.
Touring this month has also been a massive learning experience for
me. Although I've toured as a session musician I'm starting to
realise how different an experience it is when it's your own music
and you're fronting the project...I'm learning all the time about
ways to improve performance and skills required to perform in front
of different audiences...And also just how to handle gigs late at
night and traveling alot between venues, which can be quite
draining....But I'm enjoying the challenge and getting the chance to
travel and do something you love doing....well you can't get much
better than that...and I know I must be enjoying it because I can't
wait to find out where we're off to next! Bird x

 

24th January 2005
First entry for the new Bird diary, which with the help of Soffia our
Icelandic web whizz, we wil try and update as regularly as we
can...next gigs planned are in Spain later this week, which we're all
looking forward to as we played out there last year and made some
good friends there...We went to Belgium and Holland last week which
was brilliant, really lovely people at the gigs and lots of sampling
Belgian beer (how could we not in the land of beer and
chocolate....?;) Before we leave for Spain I'll be working on new
tracks - am currently experimenting with an old Yamaha PSS 270
keyboard I got for my 14th birthday (can't believe it still works)
and guitar.... Bird x