Glasgow belated

Glasgow was fast and furious. Our hosts were awesome, dinner was great, sound was good, and the show was furious. We got there at 630 and were on our way to Manchester, our half way point to London, by 1150. The show was at Captains Rest, a nautical themed pub and restaurant with a show space in the basement. Our friend Allistars band Streets of Rage were killer! They really went off for Japanther there. I'm in Manchester waiting for everyone to wake up and then it's off to London for the final show over here. The entire tour has been amazing! The London show tonight is at Tufnell Park Dome, and then we play in Brooklyn at Williamsburg Music Hall tomorrow.

The Harley and Islington Mill!

The Harley is rad! We were there early, about 230 pm, and the sound check was smooth and we had a hotel room right upstairs. We took a break after the check and watched the movie Red, it was pretty good. The show started at 7pm, 5 bands. Cusswords were on the bill with us again. Three young guys, really sweet, and their band name comes from the Big Lebowski. "do you have to use so many cusswords dude?". They play trashy garage punk, quite excited and fun. We are gonna have them in NY soon, you guys will dig it the most. The other 2 opening bands were great as well. Shag was hammered drunk for this one, but it was still great, and we destroyed the crap outta the drums at the end. Japanther killed as well. We got good sleep and after hanging at The Harley all morning, we were on our way to Salford, right outside of Manchester. We played the Islington Mill there, and met the other two Carlin brothers Mark and Morris. Paul Carlin hooked up Berlin for us, and Mark and Morris teamed up to take care of us at the Mill. A really cool brick complex with art, a show space and a sweet bed and breakfast! Our set at the Mill was one of our finest, we played really well, and the crowd was all smiles and so friendly. Japanther had a great night, all dancing and smiles. After the show we danced to the killer DJ's, who also did projections all night. We danced with cute friends and later got some nice rest in our room. I'm up now having coffee in the courtyard. Three shows left, Glasgow, London, and Brooklyn!
See you all soon-
Shell

Dial House

We were only 10 minutes from going through the border patrol and English customs, so before i was completely awake the dogs and French and English cops were done doing there thing, and we were driving onto the train. We pulled the car right onto a train and sat in the car for 30 minutes, and presto, we were in the UK. So I am driving on the left side of the road now, with the steering wheel still on the american side, so I'm way over against the left side. I've been doing a lot of the driving, I've been doing pretty good. Like being in the mirror now, no big deal, I'm driving on the left. Keep left, keep left. We drove up to Epping where we spent an hour trying to find this hard to find farm house, the Dial House, in the countryside where we would meet Japanthers friends Gee and Penny, members of Crass. We finally found it, and it was a really cool old farm. They had tea and soup waiting for us, they were quite nice. So I'm chatting with Tony, bass player for the Buzzcocks, and I'm wishing I had my  brothers knowledge of Crass and Buzzcocks. Instead, all I can hear in my head, are the lyrics to the Hickey-Million song 78666. "I don't know dick about the Buzzcocks". I'm looking at Pete Shelleys old guitar case and the Buzzcocks original bass players bass cabinet and Crass amps, talking with Tony about his new recording studio in a little cottage on the farm. These guys were so nice, and it was really cool to be around such old schoolers. I was young again. I was the guy with the shorter history in music. I was the kid. We stayed as long as we could by the fire eating soup, but had to be on our way to Halifax, we were running late. We arrived to a crowded bar and a really loud band was playing called Cusswords. They were quite fun, we are hosting them in NY this spring. We had to load in and get set up really quick, I had a few shots and 3 beers in about 10 minutes and I was ready to rock! We couldn't find the UK adapter for our power transformer, so we had to use Cusswords gear, which they were super cool about, even when I stood on the guitarists really nice amp which he had borrowed from his dad. We were loud and trashy, but the crowd was loving it. While we were playing, an altercation caused the night to end earlier than planned, and after a lot of commotion and a visit from the cops, we left early, and you guessed it, got an Etap hotel. Up next, The Harley in Sheffield-
Shell

Moulin Rouge

Bordeaux was much different than everywhere else we have been in France. We arrived after dark and there was dinner waiting for us. We played at Le Saint Ex, a punk bar filled with smoke, and there was much less English and way more French. The gang got haircuts from this nice man Vincent, everyone but me. We had great sets, but wore out quickly afterwards, it was so smokey and everyone there was so trashed. A ton of fun. We headed out late, about 230am and drove 1/2 way to Paris and got an Etap hotel- slept 5 hours and then we had to get going to our 3pm load in at La Machine in the Moulin Rouge! We arrived right on time, and this place was really cool- huge! Loading, parking, and sound check- it was a little chaotic, but once we were done we relaxed and hung out. Japanther had a bunch of interviews and photo shoots, and we all played together for a recording. We played this song we wrote together, Red String, inspired by our friend Alex Hiller who is on tour with us. These music blog guys filmed us. We went for a traditional French meal, it was really good! I had duck and a steak. Shag had a tomatoe anchovie salad and fish and veggies. Back at Moulin Rouge we began to drink and socialize. The band, Ninja Wolf 2 played first and they were amazing!! Really cool 2 piece band. It was a wild Saturday night crowd, and shag and I played accordingly- wild! They loved it- we had guest singers and did our AK77's cover in French; kind of. Petan' Societe!
Japanther killed it. So many dancing girls, it was a sight to behold. We stayed and danced and partied til late, it's Moulin Rouge! Our host Sofia had set all this killerness up for us and she was such a fun person! Our friends Alexione and Camille from Lyon trained over for the show and hung out with us. They are the sweetest girls. We had a hotel down the street and I was asleep by 4am- back up at 10 am- load out. Then we went to Kiki's Apartment, he's the drummer of Death Set, and we finished up a recording Japanther had started a few weeks earlier. It is such a killer track, Kiki is a really fun guy, and fast as lightning on the recording work, so we got a lot done. Paris was all it's said to be  and we really enjoyed it. We drove to the edge of the English Channel and got a room. I'm sitting here now and soon we will take the fairy, car, gear and all, into the UK. Tonight is at Bar Up in Halifax! Looking forward to English and seeing the Slits gals this week. 5 shows to go, then our Back in the USA show is this Saturday at Williamsburg music hall!! What a phenomenal tour this is, and we are ready to rock the UK all week!! See y'all soon,
Shell

Frito!

Hell to the muthafukin Yeah!! We smoked tonight at the Apolo! We're playin at Apolos! Like a frigging circus show, traveling around, we killed it! We, knight toilet, shellshag, and japanther, had a really great show! The night before in Toulouse was really fun, our friend Patty had made us an excellent dinner, and we were ready for Spain.  We had headed out right after that show to increase our time here in Barcelona. We had arrived early in the day and enjoyed the sunshine and atmosphere. Ian's  brother Matt and his band Knight Toilet were here in town, and after a great day we all met up for an even greater night. Knight toilet set the tone with their wicked slide show and noise set thru tiny orange pignose amps.. They conjoured a spirit that carried shellshag and Japanther into a seamless night of good times and memories. We got the guitar up high in the ceiling during our set and Shag was making drum sticks stick in the ceiling right next to it. We danced up a storm. After the show, we were so amped, we slung all the gear on our backs, amp, drums and all, and carted it all on foot the 7 blocks to the hotel! I must of looked insane hauling this big amp down the street, and Shag and Ian renamed me "Frito" because of it. We hung out in the rooms for a while and then headed out to a party. We walked into a sing along acoustic jam session and Japanther quickly took over and were playing songs. I jumped in and played the one Japanther song I know how to play, come back home. We made friends with a fellow Texan, John, who lives here doing underwater sub operating. He came to the party with us. We walked back to the hotel and I crashed. I woke up later and had obviously missed a movie party- there were extra people sleeping in our room, and I learned this morning I missed The Fly, in Spanish. Now it's Friday and I'm sitting in the Magoo, our tour car, chillin in the sunny weather about to drive to Bordeaux France. Spain rules, I wish we could stay longer. Adios-
Shell

Grazi Italy!

Pescara Italy was really killer. Pauolo was so cool. We arrived after dark and had calamari at a place called Posidens. After a walk we loaded in a met our host Pauolo- we had a great dinner across the street. A home cooked meal!  Spaghetti, except it had a cooler name, chicken, salads, and expressos. The show was really great! We all sounded good. We went over to Pauolos house for a while and met his girl. We talked for a while. He's like a brother now. We had a cool little hotel with a balcony. It was a great stop. The next days drive was 6 hours to Trieste, a seaside cliff town that was extremely windy. The venue was hard to find- little narrow streets, hills, and there is no sign at the club. It's called Tetris, and was like a private club. They were fun there- Juan Marie and Max a million. We had a nice band room where we had hashbrowns and Pizza. What I gotta say is, Pepperochini Grappa. Grappa is like a liquor that we had tried the clear version of in Milan. This nights Grappa was made locally, and we were doing shots of it. It was so good! I tried the apple grappa first, but once I had the Pepperochini grappa, that's all I had. I'm going to try to get a bottle sent over to the states! You all would love this stuff. The show was packed and the promoter, Adrea, was really cool. We had a killer set, so fun in fact we made them turn on the house lights so we could see the smiling faces better. We hung around selling records and drinking grappa til late, then went over to the hotel. We awoke to a sunny morning on the water, frigging beautiful! We went back and loaded up before going shopping and for a picnic. This was to be a night off, but we had 12 hours to cover to Toulouse, so we drove 9 and got an Etap (motel 6) near Nimes and slept good before driving the rest of the way today. We drove along the French Riveara and it was really pretty. Now we are in Toulouse at Le Saint De Seins, the place we play tonight. It's pretty cool, like a youth center, game room, show space and bar all in one. We are about to do sound check and then have a look around. Italy was so great, and being back in France is pretty magnificent as well. With 10 days left we still haven't had our fill. We got plenty of juice left to rock these final shows, and although I could stay in the EU longer, I'm excited to get home and play the DG showcase in Brooklyn. That's it for now,
Shell

Pierre's Roma

Okay, we are still talking about Rome 2 days later. We made such good friends with Pierre and Aubrey in Rome. Pierre gave me this really cool ring, and Jen a killer little coffee maker. We were talking at the show and a few hours the next morning, and we bonded so hard we wanted to stuff these guys in the Kangoo and take them with us! We are hoping to have them in NY asap, as they feel like family already. Come to NY! We have a lot more to write about, as it's been a few days since, but I had forgotten to mention our two new best friends, and they certainly deserve there own blog anyway. I wish I could get a picture to upload from my phone so y'all could see how pretty and sharp these guys look- we love you Pierre and Aubrey!!