Foals Tour Blog

This is another very long post by Foals. It basically tells you the ups and downs of months of solid touring and, once you're past the introduction, is easy enough to decifer, so I haven't bothered changing it.



summer seasons greetings

hope everyone's well.



I thought this would be a good time to write to everyone. Now, today as the lustre of our ill acquired fame fades to a colonic grey and the busty, botoxed fairweather friends we made find the next hipper-than-hip band to hang and bang with i thought:..... yesss why not connect? why not indeed spread spores of love and misinformation to the world? the lattice, the earth, the people in it..Here Ya Go! Can You Hear Me?? it's getting quiet.....sssshhhhhhh....

in our time of R+R ( read roofies + rum):

Walter has been watching stuff on youtube, getting a "to the bone haircut" which makes him look like a charming pimple and putting in the hours in his nest.



Jimmy after a brief time stoking the fire of the rising gangland troubles in Wooton, returned to his watering hole of Oxford and got promptly trashed after making himself a pseudo medicine shoe from a flipflop and some ageing bottom-of-the-bag type masking tape. He's now in Cologne.



Edwin, who's basically not stopped touring due to his fast rising star as the band's only willing DJ, is probably exhausted. It was his birthday too; so wish him well. He also had to endure the hell that is Ibiza..again we applaud yr courage Colonel Congreave.



Jack, who i saw the day we got back home, has been buying DVD's he doesn't really want, soireeing at anniversaries and weddings like a lovely redhaired rooster and is probably RIGHT NOW destroying cambridge while worrying about his callouses. word.



Me...i'm in Greece. i flew here on Olympic Airways (tsh!) where the service still sucked and listened to my Grandma tell the same stories she has told for the past aeon while her peacocks ran around fucking each other. no joke. she has peacocks. and its mating season. i wish you could all, every single one of you, be here. with. me.



Anyway enough self-worship, here's some more, in the form of WORLD TOUR PRO'S + CONS ( brought to you by NTV + Tepsi Cola.....a better, greener way to subvert yoof kulchur..with added neon for the modern era.

)

+ simple.

The fact we got to play our songs all over the world ( with some exceptions which will be rectified on upcoming world tours)

- the jaded, soul crushing effect this can and does have to everyone who experiences the aforesaid euphoria. boo hoo.



+ deal with it.



- no need to mention bad cuisine.



+ Japan. our first time. the shows, the people, the vintage keyboards. each and every one amazing!!! thankYOU.



- watching Edwin get lured by Middnight Juggernaut's tour manager into some pleasurably macho mano a mano eating games involving ( Scroll Down Now Vegeterians): raw horse. squid intestine. & eel intestines.



+ Edwin's totally unfazed facial expression whilst doing so.



- shame the same can't be said for the following facial expressions:

: Jimmy, when he fractured his foot and woke in the shower getting scalded by burning water.



: Walter when we buzzcutted his hair.



: Jack, anytime anyone mentioned his death and/or food poisoning.



: My face probably around the 18th time one of our things broke on tour.



+ Anyway...the West Coast USA bit of the tour was great. we got to drive around in a porsche, breathe in the forests of Oregon, destroy $1000 worth of stuff at Neumo's in seattle and go to the beach!!! what do they say again.."Off the Richter??" yeah that's it.



- the amount of different types of change which we were carrying around by the end.



+ the completion of the Red Socks Pugie video by David Charles Wai Koi Ma viewable here: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=xaU6MFRrXGw

- when all the David Cross satnd-up had run out....BOO.



+ leading us to listen to these great records :

Third - Portishead

Person Pitch - Panda Bear

Best Of...- The Ventures

21 - Mystery Jets

Sensuous - Cornelius

Harlem's Finest - Big L (archives)

anything by Holy Fuck, Wild Beasts and No Age.



- not having time to learn or write anything new really. come on Men In Suits! let us let us let us pretty pleeeease.

it is " WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR" after all

+ the fact we will be writing a new glossier more hook laden record some time soon.



So anyway i feel harrowed by this whole writing experience and am going to go eat some souvlaki.

Keep an eye out for the following sideprojects:

Jimmy + Walty = Infinity Penis

Me + Andrew Mears = Bins Are For Bombs

Edwin + Jack = Boring Room. heh heh.

heh

We hope yr all well and rested and hopefully see you at the summer. Red Socks Pugie is out. whatever you've already heard it. though the b sides are good and new.



BIG LOVE from the island with guns and goats

Yannis b. e.

Philippakis

xxx

Lightspeed Champion On Tour

This is part one of a video documenting Lightspeed Champion's American Tour. It sees Dev receiving an... interesting gift and talking to some old roadie, followed by various performances by some unnamed bands.

Latest Gigs/Festival News

Gigs
Hacienda (Todd Terry, Graeme Park, Peter Hook) - Friday 20th June, 22:30 - Sankeys
Bullet For My Valentine - 16/11/2008 - Manchester - Apollo

Festival
The Automatic will be headlining the left field at Glastonbury this year on the Saturday night as part of Rock Against Racism. The last few weekend tickets for the festival (yes, it still hasn't sold out) are at HMV stores across the UK (including 90 Market Street, Manchester) as of Wednesday 11 June at 8am.

Barely Worth A Mention

We Are Scientists are playing IndigO2 in London on 18th June and are giving away 100 pairs of tickets. You just have to go to EMImusic.co.uk and know the name of their recent album.

Pictures Of You has a new song called 'Not The Best Of Starts' up at Myspace.com/wearepicturesofyou. It's good and loaded with distortion and beeps.

Foals On Tour (Part 2)

This is the second part of that Foals interview with the NME from Dublin. It looks the same at the start, but they go on to talk about new bands and karma and stuff, while Jimmy (far right) gets so bored he swirls his Guinness in a somewhat distracting manner.

Making Waves

The best I've had all week.

RUN TOTO RUN

Who?: Rachael (guitar, flute, recorder, glock and melodica), Mike (guitar, backing vox and various percussive things) and James (double bass)
Where?: Manchester
What?: Cute folk music fitting for an Orange advert
Listen to: Your Face
If you like RUN TOTO RUN, you might like: The Postal Service

Myspace.com/runtotomusic




IT'S A BUFFALO

Who?: Ben Thorley (guitar, vocals), Steve Warbuton (guitar, vocals), James Cole (bass) and Nigel Bennett (drums)
Where?: Manchester
What?: Very Courteeners, with a smoother, lighter, poppy feel.
Listen to: Divorce Song
If you like IT'S A BUFFALO, you might like: The Courteeners and

Myspace.com/itsabuffalo




JOHN & JEHN

Who?: A couple called John & Jehn, surprisingly enough
Where?: Parisians in London
What?: Sweet pop songs with a dark sound
Listen to: Make Your Mum Be Proud
If you like JOHN & JEHN, you might like: Joy Division and The Cloud Room

Myspace.com/johnjehn

iTunes Live

The Ting Tings have confirmed that they'll be taking part in the iTunes Live: London Festival '08 this summer on Wednesday 9th July at KoKo in Camden Town with support from Florence and The Machine. Their performance will be recorded and you'll be able to download tracks afterwards on iTunes. Tickets to the festival are free and available only to competition winners, so you'll have to go to ituneslive.co.uk/lineup if you fancy it.

You can also win tickets to see other acts, including Hadouken!, Lightspeed Champion with Pete & The Pirates, Death Cab For Cutire with I Was A Cub Scout, CSS, Guillemots with Lykke Li and Pendulum.

Foals On Tour

This is one of the NME's interviews with Foals, discussing their European tour antics. You can see pictures from the tour at Gigwise.com.



You can also watch an episode of Dave Ma's 'Foals Suck', filmed on their American tour, by clicking on the title. This part is based around their very tired arrival in Seattle. It open in Windows Media Player.

Tired Of England

Here's Dirty Pretty Things' new video for 'Tired Of England', containing lots of theatrical costumes.




The band also have a YouTube Channel at Youtube.com/officialdpt, where you can find all of their previous videos.

And if you preorder the single you get badges.

The Courteeners - Covers, Signing & Live Videos

You can get clips of The Courteeners covering Laura Marling's 'New Romantic', on which Fray's voice is very warm and calming, and The Mamas & The Papas' 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me', which sounds like it was recorded over the phone, if you click on the song titles. The files open in Windows Media Player and might play like broken records, so you'll have to stutter through it the first time before it'll play smoothly. They're nice if you persevere though.

Lead singer, Liam Fray, will be doing an acoustic performance at 5:30pm on 23rd June at Zavvi before signing copies of the single, 'No you Didn't No You Don't'. Entry is by wristband only, available on a first come first served and one per person basis from 9am Monday 23rd June at Zavvi in the Arndale.

There are also live videos for 'Slow Down', 'Kings Of The New Road', 'Trying Too Hard To Score', 'Please Don't', 'If It Wasn't For Me', 'Bide Your Time', 'Aftershow' and 'Fallowfield Hillbilly' at Thecourteeners.com. Click on video.

Bands With Free Music

You can get the first track from CSS' new album, 'Donkey' for free from CSShurts.com. It's pretty good actually, moves away from their 'new rave' tag - I like it and I'm not the biggest fan. You don't even have to sign up to a mailing list.

Johnny Flynn's new single, 'Tickle Me Pink' is free this week on iTunes. And if you join his mailing list at U-download.co.uk/jfmojo you get a free download, or if you sign up at Zaphod.uk.vvhp.net they'll send you a free 10" vinyl.

You can get Sir Yes Sir's new EP, 'Real Gold' for free from Myspace.com/siryessiryessir or, as a shortcut, Zshare.net. It's actually new, slightly different and acoustic, recordings of stuff they had on their Myspace anyway, as well as a new song called 'Bass Hit'.

Barely Worth A Mention

Razorlight are playing Rockness this weekend and will be updating their Myspace blog at Myspace.com/razorlight with regular video, picture and text updates.

The Subways are performing and signing single, 'Alright' at Zavvi on Thursday 19th June.

Cage The Elephant will be doing a session for Channel M Music, and you can be in the audience if you email guestlist@channelm.co.uk to reserve your place. You'll have to meet in the Urbis foyer just before 1pm on Wednesday 11th June, and you'll be shown into the studio by the floor manager. It should all be done by 2pm. If you're into that kind of thing.

New Releases

Singles
Bjork – Wanderlust
Black Keys – I Got Mine (7”)
The Cure – Freakshow [Fri 13th]
The Duke Spirit - My Sunken Treasure
Ejectorseat - Not My Girl (EP)
Feeder - We Are The People
Florence And The Machine – Kiss With The Fist (7”) [Limited]
Foals – Red Sox Pugie
Hercules & The Love Affair – You Belong
Infadels - Free Things For Poor People
I Was A Cub Scout - The Hunter's Daughter
Little Man Tate - What Your Boyfriend Said
Metronomy – Heartbreaker
The Music – Strength In Numbers
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man - The Lay Of The Land The Turn Of The Tide
Portishead – The Rip
We Are Scientists – Chick Lit

Albums
Coldplay – Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends [Thurs 12th]
The Fratellis – Here We Stand
Lykke Li – Youth Novels
My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
Semifinalists – 2
Weezer – Weezer