here's nothing quite as brain ripping as ducking out of a family Xmas & jumping on a plane 2 New Zealand.......it takes 3 days .......& your upside down........& suddenly in the middle of Summer ..................& there's Father Xmas everywhere.There's an added ingredient which I like 2 call the "1972 Effect" whereupon large parts of NZ appear 2 be stuck in that strange decade.....still nice & quiet & just what i needed.Slow place up on the side of Mt Eden - which is the highest of the 5 or 6 volcanic hills around Auckland (16,839 kms from London)....sleeping/swimming & reading...ah yes the simple pleasures.....
Once normalized I headed up 2 Whongerei & the best diving in NZ out @ Poor Knights Island............which is an island that hasn't been infested by any of the outside predators that were brought here along with "civilisation"...........so it has plants that grow nowhere else in the world & certain species of insect - one a sort of grasshopper thats bigger than a handspan.......with about a million birds...........The water was 25 m clear...incredible Blue Maui Maui....pigfish........the biggest Nudiebranchs (which is one of my favourite undersea dwellers - google it they're beautiful) I've ever seen............Next day we dived a couple of wrecks which always feel a bit strange.......diving thru kitchens & bedrooms
Onwards & downwards 2 the South Island & Kaikoura - home 2 Whalewatch..........
despite a fairly choppy sea we went out....I'd decided on the ginger pills & magnetic bracelet option - just 2 be safe......& wow there the gr8 big buggers are - they can work out from when & where a whale has dived it's surfacing time & place..........& tha she blows !!! Except it's actually a teenage boy sperm whale.......majestic i think is the word......... also languid.Some of the best Fish & Chips (Blue Cod ??) i can remember later & it's off 2 bed @ 9 as i'm getting up @ 4.30 2 swim with the dolphins.........
Full of sleep & a slight foreboding @ the chillyness of the night I staggered off 2 Dolphinwatch (!!!!) Where it was explained that we might not see any dolphins....with much groaning from disgruntled dads who'd got up far 2 early.........& general other blah.Off we go & there they are jumping around like maniacs...backflips....forward rolls the lot.....The Dusky Dolphin.....& I'm finally swimming with them- over 200 of the crazy things in layer upon layer beneath & around me............me singing madly 2 keep them interested.........& the weirdest thing of all - eye contact...like some strange watery disco..........I thought they might be performing 4 us with all the leaping & flipping,but,my last memory is looking back a mile or so as we sped away 2 see 'em still flipping & jumping away
Back up 2 Auckland & The Big Day Out - (a mini Glastonbury twice a week 4 3 weeks starting in NZ & stretching across Oz)............nothing can ready U 4 it.....Billy Bragg & I stumbled in2 the 1st one like men who'd been in a cave 4 a month suddenly staggering out in 2 the light....indeed a lot of the 1st half of the gig was spent by BB berating me over a very large PA 2 several 1000 people about how I wasn't on holiday anymore & could I stop all the feedback !!!!! & yes it made the national press the next day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh Joy...........also discombobulated by the guitar tech 4 Enter Shakari recognizing me from Stonehenge Free Festival (& thats a long time ago.).............however we are all calmed by the wonderful Kate Nash & her band the Nash St Kidz ( who all appear 2 B 12)....she's mad & gr8 & has a voice of smokey soul when she wants....................as we head 4 BrisVegas the bonding begins & BB starts doing "New England "in her set while at the same time teaching her "Great Big Kiss" by Shangri Las - which she does with Bill in his set...it's a song The New York dolls used 2 play that starts with the brilliant line "When i say I'm in love U better believe it - L.U.V."
The bands on R stunning - Arcade Fire - all 150 of them or so it seems with added Hurdy Gurdy..................Bjork & her multi coloured munchkin orchestra..............Spoon with their wierd indie/Motown................Battles cutting up music & reasembling it2 some new thing......Rage Against The Machine riding high over audiences & lifting them up with their revolutionary raprockmachine.......Dizzee Rascal rapping faster then it's actually possible 2 cognitise ................there can't have been many wierder sights then me & Bill bopping away 2 his grime craziness......LCD Sound System made the dance album of 2007 & they're playing their last ever dates on this tour - like an American Mark E.Smith fronting Daft Punk - except everything is played live................got 2 love it................The Cool Wise Man R from Japan & pull off the trick of sounding exactly like a ska 7" from Jamaica in the 70's - after Hanging out with Gaz Mayall & his lethal rum BB ends up dancing & singing with them .....Not 4getting Lady Saw whose the genuine item - a dancehall rapper from Jamaica who pulls off the amazing trick of rapping in a rather genital centric fashion while at the same time singing the praises of the Lord - complete with singjay who not only plays the tracks but sings backing vocals & indeed seems 2 spend rather a lot of the show having a protracted row with Ms Saw.
On top of all this there's the aftershow parties that go on 2 dawn where all press R banned & it's just the bands & a free bar & DJs...most notably when Gaz Mayall & his brother DJ which results in records being played at the wrong speed then played at the right speed only 2 B taken off after 30 secs & replaced by another tune all2gether....@ one point the record stops only 2 be followed by Gaz shouting "play it again"- which after about 2 mins of silence it is..........as the night goes on there R several more rows between brothers & much snatching of records from decks........god knows what our Australian friends think of it......but in my enlightened state it appears 2 B theatre of the highest order.........Gaz is both wonderful & terrifying & any subject raised will result in at least 30 mins of mad,joyful,meandering,invective which is all encompassing......................
U have 2 pace urself over the 3 weeks & @ several points I fail 2 do that & have 2 grate my teeth & just keep going.......surfice it 2 say that Bill & I manage most of it with aplomb & it's only when we hit Perth that everything starts 2 go a little blurry...having said that Perth is the show where everyone appears 2 pull out all the stops & go fairly crazy - Kate Nash puts a brilliant almost "Fall like" brittle avantpop spin on her studio material.........Tom Morello is incendiary as The Nightwatchman.........playing the best gig I've ever seen him do - stunning he ends with a cover of "Beds Are Burning"by Midnight Oil 4 which he is joined by Anti-Flag & Billy........Dizzee just wrecks an early afternoon crowd with enormous beats & mad rhyme........LCD's last show is an emotional & beautiful bit of CanFunk- complete with James (The Leader) publicly apologising 4 breaking up the band onstage................................, & while Arcade Fire & myself bop like mad things (they join him every night 4 the brilliant "North American Scum") - A weird thing happens 3 woman turn up completely"happy"& one of them tries 2 rush on stage only 2 B dragged back by her pals...Oh I think it's - perhaps crazy friends of the local promoter waving their bottle of Champagne about.............but no it's Bjork..........so i spend the rest of the set sandwiched between the giant Win from Arcade Fire & a tiny very "happy" Bjork .....eventually her & Regina from Arcade will sing happy birthday 2 James..........
love it
hey Grant...ta loads for the add...!!! we're huge Fall fans so we're dead chuffed we found you too (through the Rev. Ted Chippington's page)...!!! i know its askin a lot but try n have a quick listen to the show sometime...!!! all the best, love+respect=FatLatch xx
Hiya Grant! I Just wanted to wish you an early Happy Christmas and hope that 2010 will be your best year ever:)! Good luck & all the best from Paul in the Holy Land:)!
CLUB INTEGRAL RADIO SHOW - THIS THURSDAY 10TH DECEMBER - 8.00 - 9.00PM
The Club Integral Radio Show returns with a programme showcasing bands playing at our upcoming event on 18th December at Whitechapel Gallery, and live music from the Club Integral archive. And don’t miss our regular "Devils Island Disc" feature in which we invite a special guest to share with us the piece of music they would least like to be marooned with on a desert island with. Club Integral; "Quality music at low, low prices".
Hi Grant, I'll be releasing my debut CD, "The Long Road of Doris Voxy" on December 11th! Give a listen if get a chance! Peace. Mattie ps, love billy bragg's music! A hero and inspiration of mine!
Hey!!, come sit down Under the willow tree Rest on this low mound Let the time pass with me.
So here we all are again Back down by the railroud track Don't feel so long since we were here before Same old tents and little more.
More,more each dawn Nowhere to go and hide Nothing to sell or pawn Victims of broken dreams.
Now you gotta learn From what you seen Never were no saints In the American Dream Work all day To make ends meet Then one day Out on the street Can't pay the bills Can't afford the rent End up here In a government tent
Here comes Godot Here comes Godot Here comes Godot Here comes Godot! Help, Help, Help, Help, Help, Help, Help, Help!
Hi Grant - really looking forward to the new Fall record, which i believe you are once again involved in. That's always a good indication of it's high quality!
