Fields - Journal

30/4/07 Do you wanna go to Franks?

You know, very occasionally, you have a day that you know will stay with you for the rest of your life, and which you would want to re-live again and again. That was today.

So, we played at Coachella, it was about 101 degrees hot and we had an awesome turnout. I pulled out of the bag all my best stadium moves: guitar on top of head�check, standing on the lip of the stage�check, punching my guitar in order to extract the screeching noise of doom�check. The crowd were brilliant and I believe we even had people singing along with �Song For The Fields�. Mental.

Anyone who has ever read one of my blogs before knows that food plays a vital role. No exception here, and the catering was OUTSTANDING. Possibly the best burger I have ever eaten for lunch. With salads and soups and piles of other mouth-wateringly delicious bits and bobs to choose from. Maybe it tasted even sweeter as it was eaten in the post-playing glow, but that sure was one sweet juicy burger.

We then hung-out at our trailer for a while, where someone had made us a fields logo poster out of astro-turf. The back-stage trailers at Coachella are really lovely with little white picket fences and hand made decorations of butterflies and flowers all hung out inside. It is funny to be neighbours with the Kings of Leon, Peter Bjorn and John and The Rapture, amongst many others. Celebrity spotting became almost like a sport as we went about the various press requirements for the afternoon (Cameron Diaz was one of the best). By the time evening rolled around and we had hit up catering a second time for another INCREDIBLE meal we were all in the party mood.

We stuck around for Arcade Fire (who were stunning) and then drank and danced our way around the site. Come the end of the evening I already felt like I had had one of the finest days in recent memory, but it was made even sweeter when the offer came to continue the party at a house in Palm Springs. Not any old house though, but one of the residences of Frank Sinatra. Insane. Needless to say but there were many beautiful people rocking it at Franks, it was quite a sight. And what a way to end the day. Blinding.

30/4/07 The 'Gifting'

It�s not everyday you can say you have learnt a new word. Yesterday was one such day. 'Gifting'�..ahhhhhh�sweet 'gifting'. Possibly my most favourite new word. Gifting is the curious procedure of being given free stuff by companies who want to have you seen with their stuff. At Coachella this means you get taken to a fancy hotel suite or back stage area where you can have free drinks and snacks and then pretty much help yourself to whatever freebies they are giving out. This includes mobile phones, designer sunglasses, clothes etc etc. It was a pretty surreal new experience to enter a huge hotel suite with piles of clothes everywhere and then get told to take whatever you fancy.

Surreal and fantastic.

It seems that 'gifting' is an accepted part of the festival experience, I felt at ease with it the moment I saw Sonic Youth turn up at the Motorola 'moto' mobile bar for their 'gifting' and free Absolut vodka.

Anyhow, it is now 7.30am and we are playing at Coachella in a few hours so I must go and ready myself. How exciting. Even better than the gifting. Just.

27/4/07 Only play pump-up.

There is a sign in my flat in east London that was put up by my landlord when a party was thrown there, it reads

�Notice to all DJ�s, only play PUMP-UP music. We need to get REAL HARD�

I was never entirely sure what �pump-up� music was but I had it in mind last night as we had been asked to DJ at a party for Filter magazine, as part of the pre-Coachella warm up. The party was taking place at a club for model boating (!) located somewhere in the darkness of the dessert near Palm Springs. How our tour manager found it I will never know (the dessert is a dark, dark place at night), but upon arrival we found ourselves at what appeared to be a scene from Beverly Hills 90210, all glamorous Californians throwing exotic shapes around a palm-lined mini lake side.

Having never DJ�ed before a few complementary drinks were in order to enable the inner DJ to emerge and it wasn�t long till (after a slightly rocky start due to a CD player that jammed) we had the party�..ahem��.�pumping�

The rest of the night has now become a little of a blur but I am sitting on the balcony of our suite in Palm Springs looking out at the mountain. I have to admit that life feels pretty sweet this morning.

Nick

27/4/07 Henry's blog - The end of the tour...

So it's the end of our UK tour with fantastic Hush The Many. Who were quite simply amazing musicians and wonderful people.

Some kindred spirit vibes pumping over the gaff.

It got very emotional on the last night and it ended up in a fruit and jam fight...I've personally never seen grapes at that velocity before. I must say it was like Butch Cassidy meets the man from Del Monte! Of course we all said............yes!

To you.........to me..........to you....ohhhhhhhhhh.......to me.......

No it's not the Chuckle Brothers. It's Mattie and me on the plane, playing Tetris. Battle mode. We didn't play it for long on the flight from London to L.A. only about 9 and a half hours, of a 10 hour flight. It was great. Whichever brick lines you get rid of, they go straight into your opponents� column. I must say.........Mattie and me are truly, truly wild.

Hen.

25/4/07 How a day can pan out.

So it begins with driving round industrial estates looking for a Travel Lodge that doesn�t appear to exist. We had just played the final show of our U.K. tour at Kings College and it had been a total stormer with a brilliant crowd who really showed us some love. Finally we found the Travel Lodge and managed to get about 4 hours sleep before being woken to get to the Airport for an 8.30 check-in. Mattie the realises once we get to the check-in that he has left his suitcase at the Travel Lodge and has to make a trip back there almost missing the flight. Then follows a pretty uneventful flight (apart from some poor woman having a fit and looking like she was about to die, then spending the entire flight hooked up to the oxygen mask making wailing noises).

We get to L.A. after 10 and a bit hours and after meeting our rock n� roll new U.S. tour manager Pete (who is a great fan of good food and drink! Yay!) we check in again, but this time at the Saharan Motel (the place where Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette head for in �True Romance� among other film appearances) on Sunset Boulevard. A quick shower precedes some excellent Mexican food in SilverLake in the building where the Elliott Smith album sleeve �figure 8� was shot. Here we also get some amazingly strong Margaritas that give us the fuel to continue our night at Spaceland, where some crazy bands are playing and where more beers are sunk. Only when I realise I am stage diving off the stage to a virtually empty room do we consider going home, but not before flagging down cars on Sunset Blvd to get them to drive over the sensor at the drive in �Wendy�s� in order to be able to place an order for a tub of chilli. Even after this I can only sleep for a couple of hours as jet lag confusion kicks in and I get up at 6 am U.S. time to have a hot bath and mysteriously discover that my previously stubbly face has miraculously shaved itself in the night! Weird, I blame the margaritas.

18/4/07 Thorunn On Tour

I�m in the van and we�re somewhere on a motorway...coming from Glasgow and heading to Bristol. I�m sitting backwards so I can�t see the road ahead, which I kinda prefer anyway...

Didn�t someone once say you�ve got to know where you�ve been to know where you're going�So all is good as I know I�m coming from Glasgow and going to Bristol...and thought I�d kill some time by writing you a little bit about what�s been happening...

So whoever is bored enough to be reading this I am going to be writing my take on things and what I see�

Nick�s reading a book he bought at the last service station, Mattie is air-drumming whilst listening to his iPod, Henry just woke up and lit a cigarette and Jamie is yawning and listening to his iPod...I�m listening to Fionn Regan and some Emily Haines. It�s really sunny outside and we�ve been driving for hours and the car is really hot inside. I wish we didn�t have to spend our day inside a car doing a 7 hour journey but to be honest it�s not so bad. I�ve got a blanket I bought from a service station and I stole a pillow from one of the travel lodges we stayed at so I�m pretty comfortable...(I�m sure the travel lodge won�t mind as we pretty much keep them in business!) and in a way it�s nice to just create a world of your own with headphones and magazines. Nobody is talking and there are no worries, sometimes it gets a bit heavy on tour as you�re never ever by yourself but constantly surrounded by people and noise...so today this is perfect.

We played King Tuts in Glasgow last night and the show went really well, we saw a few friendly faces, got a hot meal and got to climb trees for a nylon magazine photoshoot...which I tell you is pretty tricky when wearing stilettos!!!! So it was an all a round good day,

Newcastle was pretty funny to...as I got woken up in the middle of the night by Nick, Henry and Mattie. They had been out drinking with Hush The Many and a couple of other mates and they tossed a coin which room they should have a party in. Needless to say it was mine and Mattie�s room, so I partied with them in pyjamas and took full advantage of Mattie�s drunkenness and painted a cat's nose and whiskers on him and took some photos...

In Sheffield we nearly got kicked out of the hotel along with Hush The Many (who are such a great bunch by the way). Nima is like Vince from the Mighty Boosh�s long lost hippie brother...seriously funny!!). So we gathered after the gig, headed back to the hotel and the obviously grumpy middle aged tragically tattooed '�hotel keeper'' dude on the desk gave us some grief for being so many of us in one room and kept knocking on the door and generally being quite scary and menacing, and to be fair to the frustrated oldie he was only doing his job and a pretty boring job that is has to be said. I'd definitely power trip on the kids drinking and smoking and having fun if I had to be stuck in a job like that at his age!! But it was fun having an authority figure like that. It sends you instantly back to being 13 and having to keep the music down and smoke out of windows with the air freshener ready in one hand...so there where a lot of giggles that night...

PS, sorry for the spelling I�ve got the attention span of a 5 year old and you get my drift anyways! Next stop Bristol for a night off so I predict some badminton playing and a few drinks in the setting sun.x

Songs of today
...............................................
''The Lottey'' by Emily Haines
''Put A Penny In The Slot'' Fionn Regan
''Love The One You�re With'' and ''Helpless'' Crosby Stills Nash and Young

16/4/07 Blog From Thorunn

Right so first night of this epic UK tour! I�m at the Leeds Cockpit chilling upstairs in the dressing room; the boys bought some Badminton spades (or rackets or whatever they are called!) So we played some badass badminton in the venue as we waited for our soundcheck. Then we got drunk and I decided to get changed so I get the keys off Steve our tour manager and go into the dark alley behind the venue...I got in a bit of a pickle!

Next thing I know is while my head is well inside my suit case trying to find anything decent to wear in the dark there he is this totally random man on a mountain bike and luminous yellow get up standing in front of me with this bright light (which happened to be strapped to his head) and its blinding me as he asks me questions like �are you playing the arches?� and �is this you vehicle�

Jesus, do I look like I drive a van?? I was completely confused...he looked so fucking random so I thought either he's a policeman or a total wierdo!! (I ran away coz I thought he was a wierdo and it turned out he was a �city central security guard�). He told Steve, our tour manager that he thought I = was breaking into the van and I looked confused!! Which I was!

Ok so being from Iceland I don�t mean this in the wrong way, but we don�t have people on bicycles with lamps strapped to their heads and think that�s normal...but on the other hand we do eat sheep�s heads!!! Got to go now and sleep at a travel lodge. xxxxx

5/4/07 New Blog From Henry

I'd like to tell you what my Fieldsy drum kit is actually made from:

The snare drum is made from 14 pairs of old council issue NHS style glasses (yes with cello tape holding the arms on!) That all belonged originally to Jack Duckworth of Coronation Street fame.

The bass drum is made from coat hangers used in the stage adaptation of Post Man Pat. Which sadly i never could perform at my local town hall (Hackney) due to my cast going on strike over pay!

The bass drum beater is made from a squirrel tail (mock, of course)

I choose squirrel tail on the bass drum beater because it leaves such a warm rustley sound.

Perfect for that "I just got out of the woods" sound. It's the sound that we actually used on �Song For The Fields�.

The cymbals are made from a mixture of vegetables. Fennel: I tend to add a little rosemary too, but don't be afraid to bring whatever you like to the flavour/sound. Aubergine: (always roasted, Never fresh!) I had a bad experience whilst recording the album. The studio was suddenly awash with raw aubergine. Needless to say it took ages to clean up. Finally: Red onions, for that spicy rock sound, just that little edge over regular onions.

There you have it, 'Fields' drum kit, exactly as you hear on �Everything Last Winter�

Enjoy

4/4/07 New Blog!

I'm in Brighton at the moment about to play an instore.

Our album came out yesterday which is well obviously great and exciting as it was quite some time in the making. (Also bit painful today as I've got THE biggest hangover), but hey I'm willing to suffer under my shades for a great night...

I'm really excited about our tour, which starts on Sunday and I hope to see all of you there!!

Big up team Fields!!

Love Thorunn. xxx

20/3/07 Jamie & Nick Go To Church

North Sea Radio Orchestra, Tuesday 13th March, 2007

We cut through the side streets of Soho, propelled by Breton cider and an over-riding sense of curiosity. The spring sunshine has been remixed into inky twilight skies as we bounce ungracefully between the cute office girls, camp muscle boys, frowning suits and florescent eurotourists like a pair of crap ninjas. We�re on our way to see the North Sea Radio Orchestra play a special candle-lit concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields church just off Trafalgar Square.

I can�t speak for Nick but I often feel slightly uneasy walking into one of The Lord's properties. It�s like I�m somehow lowering the tone and the biscuit-breathed old biddies who arrange the flowers and empty the collection boxes know it. They give you that glance. The one that says �We�ve counted the hymn books, my lad, so don�t even think about it�. My apprehension fades as we finally approach St Martin�s to find that its usually imposing fa�ade of weathered antique stone and toxic modern pigeons has been replaced with melancholy steel scaffolding and featureless wooden hoardings. A shame. A small queue dribbles out of the entrance door and after waiting a few minutes, we collect our tickets and slip past the attendants into the huge body of the church. As promised there is the soothing lapping of candlelight. Washed out shadows scatter amongst the alcoves. Cherubs with old-skool trumpets smile down at us and play cool little riffs in silent welcome. It feels calm. Cosy. Comforting. As concert venues go this is the anti-Carling.

Nick spots a row of pews near the front that haven�t filled up yet so we saunter over and flop down. It turns out to be one of the most unforgiving pieces of wooden furniture either of us has ever encountered. Shockwaves reverberate through the base of my spine, up my back, along my neck vertebrae and directly into my mind which goes fuzzy for a moment. I make a mental note to keep movement to a minimum - and begin wondering how more regular churchgoers deal with the really 'long-haul' services. Perhaps there's a PrayerMiles reward scheme in operation where you can upgrade to something more comfortable with extra legroom. Maybe even a celestial massage afterwards. Whatever, this particular pew definitely lacks a sense of humour.

Nick and I chat about a good friend of ours who became a Jehovah�s Witness and Nick tells me a mildly unsettling story about a black spot of ash that landed on his hand when he was sitting in church once, just as the preacher was talking about how certain �marked� people will never make it to heaven. Ominously, the lights dim. There�s some movement from the vestry door and soon over a dozen musicians take their places behind a small plantation of music stands. There�s no preening, posing or posturing. Not a trace of Hoxtonian self-awareness. They look like they�re dressed up for an aristocratic dinner party. They are strangely, unselfconsciously cool. They are the North Sea Radio Orchestra.

An acoustic guitar is all that can be heard at first. Folksy chords that are soon joined by glockenspiel, cello, bassoon, violin and piano amongst other instruments. It�s like Sufjan Stevens meets Tortoise. No it�s not, it�s Prokofiev meets Steeleye Span. Hold on a minute, now it�s gone all Seamus Heaney meets Broadcast. The congregation is so quiet you can hear the gentle whisper of breathing. Few people have the imagination let alone the conviction to make music like this right now. It�s at once timeless and weirdly contemporary.

They play half a dozen songs and then there�s a short interval. My spine audibly creaks with relief. Outside the church, we bump into a friend called Justin who once engineered us for a BBC6 radio session. His dad is one of the original members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and Justin has just been on tour with them. He tells us how funny it was to see his father in �touring� mode rather than just being �Dad� and then we head back to the Pews of Punishment for the second half. It is equally magical with the North Sea Chorus adding goose-pimple harmonies to the baroque strings. With the candles flickering away along either side of the church, it feels like we�ve been teleported back to the 17th Century. It's mesmerising. They play a few more pieces from the album and all rise to take a bow. They get a long applause and decide to go straight into an encore. Then it�s over and they melt back into the shadows of the vestry.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing Nick and I can think of doing that can possibly improve on what we�ve just seen is to go and find something exciting to eat. We end up in a Vietnamese restaurant eagerly chowing down on pork belly with yam, fried ho fun and spring rolls, all washed down with Vietnamese beer. The waiter likes Nick�s ringtone and asks him to Bluetooth it to his phone. Nick obliges and the waiter plays it over and over spinning between the tables with a giant grin. He�s a big guy, which makes the scene peculiarly endearing. We split the bill and then split the restaurant, heading out into the Soho streets once more, contentedly bobbing and weaving our way to the tube.

2/2/07 Back to school � pencil case and rulers at the ready

Well, I�m finally getting around to writing the first blog of the year.

It has been ages and it is almost like I have forgotten what a laptop keyboard looks like.

Well, we have been really busy over the last few weeks, mixing the album, recording B-sides and looking for new places to eat.

The album is finally finished and we are just getting all the artwork together. It sounds amazing and we are all very happy with it, I think it is going to look fantastic too as the artwork is looking incredible.

I don�t want to spoil any surprises but there are some beautiful hand drawn images for the album.

The B-sides we recorded a week or so ago turned out brilliant as well and we are now starting to think about what we will do for the second album!

On the live front we played a couple of shows this week. Supporting Metric at Dingwalls and then Bloc Party at the Astoria.

It feels like an age since we played so it was really great to be back on the stage. Thorunn has had throat problems following a bout of pneumonia so it was a relief to see her back to almost full health again!

Poor Thorunn!

We head out on tour with Bloc Party in just over a week and I will once again return to writing my gastronomic diary of life on the road! Mmmmmm.

So until then, Happy New Year!

Nick

28/11/06 Welcome To The Enormodrome

This year has seen us play some pretty mental shows.

From early gigs in The Tatty Bogle Club playing to 50 people through to Fuji Rock, Reading and Leeds festival and Brixton Academy, we have certainly seen a broad spectrum of venues and audiences.

It felt pretty astonishing however to walk into the NIA and witness the vastness of a 14,000 capacity venue. Needless to say, being the first of three bands on the bill, when we played it was only half full but still the view from the stage was enough to give us a taste of what it must be like to become a band who play to stadium sized crowds.

Oddly, it was one of the least nerve-wracking experiences. Something strange happens in a venue of this size where you can�t quite comprehend the scale of it and slip into a dream-like state. There were a few moments when I would look across at Jamie or Thorunn and see them stood against the backdrop of this enormous space and just laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

The other major bonus of doing shows like this is the catering. Seriously, anyone who has read any of my blogs will know that playing and eating are pretty much top of the list of priorities (yeah, alright; eating and then playing) So it's always a delight to go somewhere and have a delicious spread laid on.

I wont bore you with the details (pork in a calvados gravy, buttered mash, sticky date pudding in butterscotch sauce and more besides) but I would like to thank the catering staff for looking after us so well.

We play Wembley in a few weeks. I wonder what will be on the menu then?

20/11/06 Tales From Zombie Town

28/10/06

I have always had a desire to visit Canada, I think probably from having grown up loving Kids of Degrassi Street (look it up). So I was really excited to find that we were going to Toronto and would be staying just a few blocks from Degrassi Street itself. Also, to be going at the start of fall (it always seemed to be �fall� on Degrassi St) added to my anticipation of a charming city of autumn trees, coffee shops, vintage stores and pumpkins on porches.

It really hit us on leaving the plane just how much colder it was here, and how I still hadn�t rectified my situation of inappropriate clothes for the season. As is now the routine our first stop after checking in was to find something to eat and so, in our haste to get something hot inside us we went to the nearest place to the hotel. It was instantly noticeable just how friendly the locals were, as we tucked into the ridiculously proportioned �surf and turf� burger with sweet potato fires. Maybe it is just that service culture is more highly regarded in the US and Canada but it really put most British places to shame.

A few beers with dinner gave Henry, Matt (our tour manager) and Me a taste for a few more drinks so we jumped in a cab and headed down to Queen(s?) Street, where most of the cool bars are situated. Travelling down there it was interesting to see how there were hardly any recognisable shop names and most places were independent stores with quirky shop fronts and signs. It made a nice change from going places where everything looks the same, and gives Toronto a pleasantly kooky quality. This was also enhanced by the fact that everyone on the street was dressed in some sort of Halloween costume. It would appear that Halloween is not exclusively the preserve of witches and vampires but also equally suited to Mario and Luigi, Freddy Mercury, Pirates, Leprechauns, walking trashcans and any other crazy character you could imagine.

We headed down to a bar recommended to us and met up with some locals who had been collared to look after us by a friend at home. They succeeded in getting us royally drunk and it was at about 4AM at a random warehouse party that I decided I needed to go home and lie down. My last memory is of dancing with a white mannequin mask on my face and almost falling down a flight of stairs. A pretty good start to the trip, all told.

29/10/06

The good start to the trip suddenly seemed like a bad idea when I awoke the next morning with the Hangover From Hell. I had wanted to see a bit of the city today though so I hauled myself out of bed and went to get some breakfast. With the others all looking rested from their early night (apart from me, Hen and Matt) we went to a nearby diner and ordered some food. The place was run by a hilarious Chinese guy who made us laugh by asking �who is juicy?� when bringing a glass of orange juice to the table (It was Thorunn!). I had the Peameal bacon breakfast (Peameal bacon is an Ontario specific specialty, made from the centre-cut or rib end of the loin. It is cured in a brine containing salt and sugar, and then rolled in corn meal�.errrrmmmm�.yum?)

We all went for a walk together (like a proper family) round various parts of the city, stopping for yet more food (French toast with brie, banana and apple!) and then made our way to the CN Tower. This is the main landmark of downtown Toronto, being a huge needle-like observation tower. It is, I believe, the tallest building in the world (although I think there is something being built in the far east that will be taller � answers on a postcard please). Now, it doesn�t look so tall from the ground, but by some curious optical twist when stood on the glass floor of the observation deck it easily feels like the most unnaturally tall building I ever made the mistake of visiting when hung over. I swear I almost fainted (one hapless victim was throwing up in a paper bag to our right). Even though you know the glass can take the weight of 20,000 squirrels (Fact!!!) it feels like you are a breath away from death as you stare past your own feet to the ground below. Henry couldn�t even bring himself to stand within 10 feet of the glass floor, its effect was that profound. It took a hotdog with extra Jalape�os to calm my nerves!

By the time evening rolled around I was almost in a comatose state such was the effect of my hangover, lack of sleep and near death vertigo experience. In fact you could have mistaken me for one of the locals as once the sun started to go down it looked like we had taken up residence in Zombie Town, such was the quantity of crunked up weirdo�s wandering the streets. I tried to keep the momentum going with some whisky at the Horseshoe bar, but such was my weakened mental state I felt like my brain had booked a ticket to Bermuda and left without me.

Hen, Jamie and Matt (bah! Outdone by the tour manager!!!) kept the dream alive by going to the New Moon Bar and engaging in what sounded like a hilarious number of conversations with some of the aforementioned locals. From what Jamie says it sounded like �Cheers� meets �Night of the Living Dead�, with one local character claiming to be able to fly. Apparently he gets up to 20 feet from the ground and then lands on his feet �like a cat�. I think he must have been drinking the same thing I had the night before.

30/10/06

A day of rest was definitely required, so with the exception of getting up for the hotel breakfast (sausages, waffles, lucky charms!) the morning was spent in the hotel room lazing about. It made a really nice change to get some extra sleep, although I felt a little guilty about being somewhere so lovely and not making the most of it.
I was glad for the rest though, and by the time we made our way over to College Street to the Revival Bar I was looking forward to playing tonight�s show. College Street West is a really lovely part of town that totally lived up to my Canadian fantasy. Its houses with pumpkins on the porches and autumnal parks and cafes was really endearing, and I almost wished I was about to board a yellow school bus with orange ear muffs on and a rainbow striped ski coat (but to be honest that would probably have gotten me arrested!). So I had to make do with delicious Pizza in a really nice place down the street from the venue.

We were all a bit freaked out by how big the venue was, having not promoted the gig in any way, or anyone in Canada knowing who we were. We really expected to be playing to an empty room, but thanks to the band �the coast� who we were playing with, and some other roped in friends, a nice audience was present for our debut Canadian performance.

It went pretty well, and it was good to remember why we were there (not to eat and get vertigo). It felt like a good introduction to the town and we were all keen that we would return soon to continue to build an audience here.

31/10/06

Getting up this morning the weather felt a lot milder and excitement was building at the prospect of going to New York, which I think I can safely say (at the moment, and no offence to anywhere else) is my favourite city in the world. It really lives up to expectations and we have some good friends there now. On arrival it was noticeably warmer than in Toronto, feeling like the last days of summer, and I was glad I hadn�t forked out on an expensive winter coat as it wouldn�t be needed with weather this warm.

I cannot express the excitement of driving over one of the bridges to Manhattan Island with the city growing in front of you (I was also rediscovering my love for the album �Emperor Tomato Ketchup� by Sterolab, I hadn�t listened to it in ages and it is BRILLIANT). New York is such a wonderfully vibrant place and always to me feels like a city drawn by a child who has used neon pens and tried to fit in as many things as possible. Also with Halloween in the air the city was (as with Toronto) populated by an insane amount of insane looking people.

We checked into our hotel which was fortunately situated in the East Village (our favourite neighbourhood) and we immediately made our way out to indulge in some happy hour drinking (following a swift hotdog in Katz Diner, the place made famous in �When Harry Met Sally�). Frozen Margaritas in �Pianos� were to be the introduction to our evening, where the happy hour really has the desired effect (great Nachos too!). While Thorunn went off to the Halloween parade Jamie, Matt and me went to see Amiina play in a really lovely venue whose name I now forget. It was incredibly beautiful music (they are the string quartet for Sigur Ros) and we all wallowed in its loveliness in a margarita induced haze.

01/11/06

Ahhhhhh, New York breakfast. Today was going to be a pretty full day so a hearty breakfast was definitely required. Thus we made our way to Schillers in the East Village for a bite to eat. Oddly for New York the Cuban Sandwich (ham, pork, gruyere cheese and hot pickles) looked fairly modest. However, the density of filling rapidly had Jamie and myself soon lying crippled across the bench seats. Considering we had eaten in order to feel energised I was actually pretty ready to go back to sleep. That was, however, not to be as we had an early gig to play, and so we made our way over to 88 Delancy for the Fader Party show.

CMJ (for this is what we had come to New York for) is kind of like the Camden Crawl but on a much bigger scale, with all manner of gigs and parties going on in every possible venue in the city over 4 (or maybe 5) days. The Fader (an uber-hip US publication) party was taking place in an empty shop unit that had been covered in graffiti. It was all pretty surreal to be playing a show in the early afternoon to an assortment of tastemakers and industry types. But despite the fact that you simply turn up and play without any sort of sound check, we played a more garagey version of our normal show at deafening volume. Plus they had free vitamin water (a really great drink that should make it over here) and beer so that was a bonus.

Our next stop was further uptown to a club called �Bed� where we were to play that evening at the Atlantic records party. This was in far more sumptuous surroundings, with the edges of the club having tiers of king size bed style foam platforms covered in cushions. We had a chance to chill out here while equipment was set up and then after a quick trip out for Pizza came back to play our second show of the day.

It�s a slightly odd thing to play these sort of industry things, with their free bars and executives out on the piss but we had a really good time, and Mattie was the source of much drunken amusement. His dance moves have to be seen to be believed. We also met some really lovely people, hello to Josh if he is reading this! What a lovely guy.

With the party having the theme of Zombie Prom there were some pretty good costumes on display (Pac-man and his nemesis the �ghost� were two of my favourites, although they didn�t really qualify as Zombie Prom). I also had some make up applied so that I looked like I had a black eye and blood pouring from my mouth. I had forgotten about this when later that night I was sat in a diner eating grilled cheese and getting very strange looks from the employees and customers�

02/11/06

An early start today for Hen and myself as we had somewhat foolishly agreed to get up to do an interview for XM radio. However, we had a lot of fun at the radio station, with Hen introducing his own brand of cockney rhyming slang to a new audience (He had a chilly �Gregory� � peck � neck). Everyone we met at the station was really lovely and we were glad that we had got up early to go there. A further bonus was that the station was right by Central Park, and so with a couple of hours to kill we went for a bit of an explore in the glorious sunshine.

As I found on our previous trip Central Park is a place well worth visiting, with so many hidden corners and interesting characters. In fact we totally lost track of time and found ourselves running about half an hour late for getting back to meet the others. We just about made it back in time to get another cab across town to the KEXP radio studio where we were playing a gig in front of a studio audience live on the radio. The atmosphere here was buoyant, as they had just won an industry award for best US Internet radio station. Also, we bumped into Forward Russia who had just played a set and were on their way to another party. It was nice to see them, as we had met before at a show in the UK and would be going on tour with them once we got back to England. They are a lovely bunch.

Following a really good gig Hen and me once again got into interview mode and filmed an interview in an elevator for a local TV channel, with a guy who was acting the part of a pasty white geek MC with limited social skills. It was a lot of fun, and I have now officially decided I like doing interviews, especially if you get the opportunity to have a bit of a laugh.

It was good to get another evening off and following some excellent sushi in the East Village we went back to Pianos where we saw an awesome band called �Darker My Love�, who sound a bit like early �Ride� (again look them up if you don�t know them) meets Krautrock. Really, really good and their album is well worth checking out.

The day ended with one of my favourite memories of the trip as Jamie and I drank champagne in Pink Pony with Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth at the next table and Simon and Garfunkle �America� playing on the stereo. Surreal to say the least!

03/11/06

BAH! Last day in New York!!! However, to compensate we did start the day with yet another amazing breakfast in 7A (once again in the East Village). It was a pretty serious affair with pancakes, bacon, sausage and gallons of maple syrup. Hardly a health conscious start to the day but my god did it taste good!

This was the day of our biggest show of the trip at the Bowery Ballroom, which is somewhere I had heard of before and was very excited to play. Most of the day was taken up with setting up the gear and faffing about at the venue, but we did find time to get back over to Pianos and get a few more frozen Margaritas and some killer buffalo wings.

I was really excited about the show, largely due to the fact that we were playing with some great bands � Annuals, Mew, and the Grates. But the biggest and most pleasant surprise was the discovery of someone we hadn�t come across before, a really lovely guy called Kevin Devine, who delivered an awesome set of acoustic based songs that were instantly affecting. He really is someone worth looking out for and we hope to be able to do some shows with him in the New Year.

Thorunn had become really ill today (she had been sounding progressively more poorly over the last few days) and there were real concerns that she wouldn�t be able to play tonight�s show. We shipped her over to a doctor who prescribed her a tonne of medication and somehow she found the strength to get on stage. Thanks to a receptive crowd and the power of medication we played a really good show and once again felt like New York was somewhere we could build a good audience.
We then had our last few hours, enjoying the company of friends and a final slice of Rays Pizza before making our way to the airport for the flight home.

One last memorable part of the trip was flying over London the following evening (our flight had been at 7am US time) and seeing all the firework displays from the vantage point of the plane. It was a really awesome sight to see so many fireworks going off over the city and was one I don�t expect many people get to witness. An inspiring end to an awesome trip.

24/10/06 'A slice of Iceland'�

��which apparently turns out to be chicken cordon bleu, savoury rice with peas and a Twix. Or at least according to the chefs on board the Icelandair flight from Heathrow to Reykjavik. We were fortunate enough to have been booked to play at the Iceland Airwaves music festival and thus a short break from our U.K. tour with GoodBooks (who are incidentally one of the nicest bands you could hope to meet) had been scheduled in for us to make our way north to play in Thorunn�s hometown.

Flying into Reykjavik, the lunar-like scenery instantly made me aware that we were travelling somewhere quite unlike the places we had been before. It was one of the most stunning approaches to a landing strip I have ever experienced, and it occurred to me that I had really not thought much about the fact that we were coming here, and had built up very few expectations for the trip. I suddenly became excited at the prospect of being somewhere that was totally new to me, and as we left the airport drinking in the amazingly clear air I had one of those �Christ we are lucky!� moments.

Thorunn was also clearly excited about being back home and gave a running commentary on the drive in about things of local interest. Including the fact that her grandparents had tried to convince her that the huge red and white striped containers by the roadside were full of similarly coloured pyjamas.

On arrival at our hotel (the lovely �Plaza�) it struck me just how tiny Reykjavik is. It has a relatively reasonable amount of suburbia, but once you get to the centre it is literally three streets and a square (on which our hotel was situated). It is more modest that most small British towns by quite some way, almost feeling like a village. But has a very charming quality and I instantly liked it.

Our brilliant manager (who we almost ran over as we drove into Reykjavik, as he crossed the street in front of the bus), had the foresight to book an evening trip out to the famous blue lagoon, and so after a quick check in we got the bus back out of town to the hot springs that lie about an hours drive from the city. I have to say that it was one of the most dream-like and amazing experiences of my life to be lying in a huge, steaming natural pool, surrounded by volcanic rocks, with the deep night sky stretching above and with a champagne cocktail in my hand. All of us were pretty blown away by what a unique experience it was, and I would totally recommend anyone who is able to do so to take the night trip out there. Good hot dogs too, although we felt bad about eating these in the lagoon, all of us recalling being told by our mothers that you should never eat before a hot bath, and especially not in the bath. The sense of decadence was clearly palpable. Sorry mum!

Feeling such an amazingly relaxed high we returned to the city to go and catch some bands and soak up the festival atmosphere. We headed to the art museum where some of our friends already were, and watched some really good bands in an amazing venue. The crowds in Reykjavik really are as glamorous and cool as you would imagine an Icelandic crowd to be, and even wandering the frosty streets afterwards the place had a magical quality that you don�t find in many British cities.

21/10/06

Waking this morning it felt like the polar opposite of any other festival experience, to find myself in a tidy hotel room with no hint of noise from the street outside. Polar actually being quite an appropriate word, as it really was pretty cold outside. Made worse by the fact that I haven�t been home or done any laundry since leaving Ireland and I am now reduced to wearing the few clean shirts I have left, with no winter coat to surround them in. My only concession to the cold being a pathetically flimsy scarf that would have difficulty warming the neck of a toad (I say this as after some consideration the toad was one of the few animals I could think of that doesn�t really have much of a neck�anyway you get the idea).

Saturday morning in Reykjavik feels more like Sunday lunchtime in a sleepy village, with a few scattered pedestrians making their way around town and a sense of calm and quiet that is almost disconcerting. Jamie and myself, always up for a gastronomic adventure took a stroll down to the Hotdog kiosk that is locally famous for serving Bill Clinton and sampled the in-house speciality (to be honest all they serve is one type of hotdog and coke, and you can�t eat in as it is just a hut by a car park, but still...). Anyhow, it was a particularly good hotdog, even though we couldn�t quite work out what the origin was of the faintly green sauce that lay along the �dog�.

The bulk of the day consisted of a slow amble around town. I had a brief sit in the cathedral (a good excuse to get out of the cold) and enjoyed some waffles and hot chocolate in a cosy caf� (as you can tell, food is of great importance to my daily comings and goings). The early evening saw the entire band taking a visit to see Thorunn's family (who live a mere 2 mins from our hotel) for a really fantastic dinner (fish, that they had caught themselves!) and some good conversation in their lovely home. In fact by this time we had sort of forgotten the fact that we were in Iceland to play a show, and it was almost with some reluctance that we went down to the venue for a change of pace.

Drink. The locals certainly like to enjoy a drink. This is something that seems to be widely known, but I was still amazed by the speed with which some of the local bands were knocking back the spirits in the dressing room. However, for all their reputation the same persons were staggering about uncontrollably and collapsing in painful looking heaps in the same rapid time that any of us would have done. I decided however, that it would probably be unwise to be in a similar state before playing and merely paced up and down in anticipation performing. I think the fact that it was such an important show for Thorunn (being home town and all) meant that we wanted to play at our best. However, any doubts that we had about our ability to create a healthy racket disappeared as soon as we got on stage and the reception we got from the packed venue was really good, people were even dancing (that�ll be the spirits again).

It was then a good opportunity to hang out with some of the nice people we had met while being here, in particular the lovely folks of Tilly and the Wall proved to be great company and it was lots of fun to witness the carnage with them. Waiting to get into bars also seems to be a local tradition that we got to enjoy. Not so good in my flimsy scarf though as the temperature dropped to its lowest yet. This is where Vodka comes into its own.

22/10/06

Leaving sucks. That was all we did today. Lots of leaving. Rubbish.

16/10/06 Fields US Tour Journal

29/09/06

Dublin. We just can�t seem to avoid the place. Having spent nearly 3 months acquainting ourselves with the city and it�s people we found ourselves winging our way towards it once again en route to America. Due to arrangements and rearrangements we had flights booked to the US from Dublin airport that could not be transferred, and so we were flying there to pick up the Air Lingus flight to New York City. You really can�t complain ever about going to America for work but an extra six hours on a long journey is never as much fun as it sounds. Still, as we landed in New York roughly 12 hours after arriving at Heathrow that morning we all started to get excited at the prospect of our 8-day US adventure.

A few drinks in a local bar and some pizza was a nice way to ease ourselves into what would be a hectic week, although Henry and Jamie were a little concerned by the scary-eyed freak who accosted them at the bar demanding to know who they were. Seems to be a recurring theme with New York, but it has to be said that they have the most friendly and helpful freaks of any place I�ve yet been.

30/09/06 � Video shoot

Today was the day that we shot our first big budget video, to accompany �If you fail, we all fail�. It was hard not to feel bowled over when stood on a rotating disk surrounded by blinding lights, deafening music and a crew of nearly 30 very lovely New Yorkers gathered there just to make us look good (good luck!). Mattie seemed more impressed by the catering and spent most of his time seeing how much food he could put away, including 2 roast beef dinners, bowls of cocoa pops, beef and chicken burritos, bagels, platters of cold meat and cheese, assorted snacks and as many jelly bellys� as he could manage. It�s a definite perk of going to things like this that you are provided with a huge table of food from which to graze.

The shoot seemed to go really well, despite Henry almost passing out from spinning on his own rotating podium for too long, and we are all excited at the prospect of seeing the finished item, although it was quite hard to picture how it will turn out. Our director, Shawn seemed to have a very clear idea of what he was doing and made the shoot run to course.

After we finished it seemed rude to not sample at least some of the nightlife on offer so we headed down to the east village to meet up with friends at one of our favourite watering holes �the annexe�. A few drinks later all thoughts of jet lag and video shoot exhaustion were forgotten and we began to feel right at home. New York is a really welcoming place.

1/10/06

Hard to believe it is October already, especially on a blissfully sunny day off in New York. Finding it impossible to raise the others Jamie and myself decided to head off into the city to make the most of the day. Thinking it wise to start with a light bite we made our way to a Texan BBQ place somewhere near Times Square (I think it is called Virgil�s). Perhaps the clue as to what we about to do to ourselves lay in the name of the platter we each ordered � �the pig out�. One of the things that always impresses in the US is the size of the portions on offer. The �pig out� did not disappoint with wood smoked cuts representing most of the animal kingdom being presented amid BBQ beans and coleslaw. No one likes to see an unfinished plate of food but when midway through we both started to hallucinate through the meat sweats we decided to admit defeat and look for someway to clear our heads.

Spending the afternoon in Central Park proved to be a wise idea and between watching the crazy New Yorkers at the roller disco in the park and rowing on the lake we began to feel like we were on a proper relaxation holiday.

The night was spent at dinner with friends (which I had no appetite for, still being stuffed with smoked meat) and at the Town Hall watching Sufjan Stevens, which was so good I almost considered giving up music for good in order to follow him around the world, but then that would be a bit creepy so I gave up on that plan.

2/10/06

The morning began with me and Hen getting breakfast rolls (sausage patties and egg) from our friendly local deli and eating them in the sunshine in Hells Kitchen Park, which resembled a scene from Sesame Street as cute little kids ran amok amongst the drunks and hobos. It was then a quick dash (with a hilarious taxi driver who asked if we knew his friend in England � as if it had a population of about 100) over to the Fearless TV studios to film a short live set. We played the usual numbers � Song for the fields, Charming the flames, Brittlesticks and If you fail. But it went really well and was good to get in some practice before tonight�s show at the Mercury Lounge.

Next stop was to meet up with Janine (our lovely press officer) and Pat from the NME who was over to do a review. We decided to butter him up with a trip to the Stardust Diner where �on the up� actors wait tables and perform songs while you eat. It�s a vaguely surreal experience to drink a foot-tall milkshake with a cherry on top while someone dressed in a 1950�s style apron sings the Darkness back catalogue, only in New York surely�

With the taste of onion rings and ice cream in our mouths we got ourselves over to the East Village to set up for tonight�s gig. The Mercury Lounge is a wicked venue and we played a corker of a show, it is good to remember how much fun it is to play live, especially when the venue has a PA loud enough for us to rupture the audience�s internal organs. We met plenty of really lovely people and got to hang out with our elusive manager, who led us to a variety of our favourite east village bars. Thanks must go to Jason from the Dark Rooms who always makes us feel at home there. Also there was a tinge of sadness at the thought of leaving New York so soon. Even though we have only been here a couple of times we have met so many nice people it almost feels like a second home.

3/10/06

Thorunn�..Thorunn�..Thorunn�. Thorunn has many wonderful traits and is a truly lovely person, however, her sense of punctuality is pretty nonexistent. This was particularly apparent this morning as the rest of us waited anxiously at the Skyline Hotel foyer for her to return. We had a flight to LA to catch and were seriously running low on time to make it. After calling every number we could think of to track her down an executive decision was made to leave it to fate and go without her. I must admit a feeling of guilt as our taxi made it way out of the city without her, but we are all a happy go lucky bunch and stuff always seems to work itself out. Although the thought of playing our debut west coast show without her was not a pleasant one.

But credit where credit is due, there we were, buckled up and ready for take off some 3 hours later when who should appear dashing down the aisle in glamorously dishevelled fashion but the one and only Thorunn. Always one for a dramatic entrance, the mighty Thozza!

The bulk of the day then consisted of a really uncomfortable, hung-over and sleepless flight to LA in seats that seemed to reject your body and try to stick you in the back just as you are getting comfortable.

Upon arrival though we began to feel the west coast �vibe�, that is until we got stuck in LA traffic and spent 3 hours on the short drive to the hotel. Not even a trip to Mel�s drive though Diner could stir my exhausted body as I almost fell asleep in my mushroom Swiss burger and black and white malted milk shake.

Time for bed.

4/10/06

The morning began with some bad news. In the rush to get the video ready for airplay it had been hastily shipped over by air to LA during which it was mistakenly put though an X-ray machine en route. This resulted in the entire footage being wiped from the tape! We quickly realised however that this would mean staying here a couple of extra days in order to re-shoot the whole thing. Expensive way to do a run through!

Despite the annoyance at the video disaster we had a fun day doing promo. We played an acoustic session for Indie 1031 FM (I shook hands with a very disinterested looking Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols), did a really fun interview for an unknown radio show (sometimes it is really odd when you are doing things like this and have no idea who or what they are for) and then a live performance for a show called �the daily habit� on Fuel TV. This also provided a source of great amusement as they had some promotional material for a solo male artist going under the name of �Ponce�. Odd to think that particular phrase hasn�t made it over the pond.

Having got all the promo out of the way we headed back to Beverly Hills to the Troubadour where we were to be playing with The Dears. They seemed like a lovely bunch of people and really impressed. It felt like a very comfortable match and the resulting gig was really good, despite the fact that our transformer blew up, forcing us to play almost the entire gig without keyboard and some guitar effects. It didn�t seem to alter the reaction from the crowd though, and it felt good to have gone down so well in a place with such an impressive heritage.

We made the most of our evening in LA hanging out with a variety of lovely people, and again thanks must go the wonderful Ray and Chandelier, and also Chris and Cassie for making our brief stay so good.

5/10/06

Road trip. I�ve always dreamt of doing the classic west coast road trip and so was really excited to get in our van and head out of town on the way up to San Francisco. The sun was shining and we had some great music on (�darker my love� in particular need to praised for adding to the atmosphere). Pit stops on the way for burritos and fresh fruit added to the feeling that I was in a road movie (although I prayed it wasn�t to be �duel� which I couldn�t get out of my head all day).

After a wicked drive through amazing countryside the arrival at San Francisco was unbelievable. It is a place I have always wanted to visit and I was worried I had maybe built it up a bit in my mind. However, as we crossed the bridge over the bay and the city opened up in front of us, we were all really excited to be here. The local air force even seemed to have put on a display for us as jet fighter planes were looping the loop and flying in formation alarmingly close to the tops of the buildings. It was actually a bit worrying as the noise they generated shook the buildings around us. Mattie made us laugh as he compared them to oversized metal birds who did a �constant blow off�. It was the use of the term �blow off� that caused Particular amusement � being straight from the infant playground.

We checked into our Hotel, �The Phoenix�, which had a great kitsch charm, being like the apartments Daniel Larousseau (spelling!) lived in, in the �Karate Kid�. All turquoise, glass fronted rooms around a pool designed by Andy Warhol. And once washed and unpacked we made our way to 330 Rich Street where we were to play at popscene later that night.

The gig went very well, and there were no technical hitches tonight of the generator variety. Following the gig we hung out at the venue and then were introduced to the delights of �Sparky�s Diner� by some of the friendly locals. Our guardian and team leader Matt almost fell asleep in his burger though and we decided to call it a night. It felt like we hadn�t really got to see San Francisco and I am very keen to return there at some point next year to see a bit more of it. The people were very friendly though and it had a nice atmosphere about it, even with the hoards of drunks roaming the streets like the zombies of night of the living dead.

6/10/06

A bit of a non-day really as we flew back to LA to get some rest for tomorrows re-shoot of the �if you fail� video. However, on the plus side we had been booked into the Long Beach Hilton as some form of compensation for the inconvenience of staying an extra day. This also included dinner from room service, and so we settled in for some mindless entertainment in the form of Pizza a beer and �Snakes on a Plane� viewed from the most comfy bed of recent days.

7/10/06

Well, we finally arrived at the last day of our trip and it was oddly like the first. A 3.15 am call did nothing to reduce the dream like weirdness, and the whole day felt like some sort of surreal Groundhog Day, as we re-enacted the same shots we had filmed the week previous. The crew were really lovely though (as was the catering � again) and it turned out to be very enjoyable. Also this time we got to see some of the footage and so left with a better idea of how it would turn out � pretty good to be told.

By the time we reached LAX airport to get our flight home we were all feeling the exhaustion of a hectic week and that is where I am now, typing in a state of semi-confusion and fatigue. Still, it had been a wicked trip and we are all sad it has come to an end. Mattie in particular seems to have lost the plot, leaving his passport in the toilet and being summoned by the security desk to come and retrieve it.

Still, at least we get to start our British tour in 2 days. Busy, busy, busy!

27/9/06 The quite long night of endless night.

I�m quite excited by this whole posting blogs thing. It�s not something I�ve ever done before, but in some ways it feels quite cathartic to just pour your verbal diarreah (not sure on the spelling of �diarreah�, and �word spell-check� refuses to admit its existence, the fool) out somewhere (which doesn�t sound very nice, but anyway).

So, we have finally gotten home after one of the most laborious journeys known to man. We left Dublin last night at 7 o�clock, and you would think that seeing as the flight home takes less than 50 minutes we would have been back in good time, but it was around midday the following day when we finally sat down at home! What is that all about? Fifteen hours! Added in to that was the fact that the crossing was made in a force ten gale, that made you feel like you had drunk about ten pints (quite a nice sensation then), and that we got stopped by customs, who were slightly bemused by the rubber deer we had in the back of our van. Also, that our lovely driver Ray started hallucinating mid journey through lack of sleep, and that I began hearing voices and became momentarily convinced I was being haunted by the spirit I saw in the recording studio.

However, everyone was so excited at the prospect of going home that even Henry�s endless air drumming couldn�t dampen our spirits, bless his little be-hatted heart (it�s true, it wears a tiny hat and has a little beard). To see Mattie�s excited face as the bright lights of Chingford appeared on the horizon made the endlessness of driving through the night seem quite insignificant (sort of).

So, it�s back to work tomorrow, with preparations to be made for our impending tours, and plenty of catching up with friends to be done, and goodbye to Dublin, with its fiddle music, bad regional television and top quality sandwiches. Thanks must be sent to Michael, Steff, Lucy, Eoin, Ken, John, Ritchie, Connor and Paddy (and anyone else I�ve overlooked, sorry) for looking after us and sorting us out while we went mad in a darkened basement. How are you now? Grand.

Nick

20/9/06 The 'something'�.

A weird thing happened to me last night and I thought I would make a post about it on our journal. So, it was just before midnight, and we were finishing up recording on our last day at Sun Studios in Dublin. As usual we had decided to make some changes at the 11th hour, and so we had rewritten the lyrics and harmonies to our newly recorded version of 'the Death'.

As a result I was holed up in the basement re-recording myself when really I should have been in the pub celebrating the end of the recording session. Anyhow, the way we have been recording our vocals is that we have been left in the vocal room on our own and we each operate the recording equipment ourselves, so that we can basically be more in control of what gets committed to tape. So there I was running through my vocals when I turn my head to see this rushing white shape move past me quickly a few feet to my left. At first I thought it was smoke of some kind pouring from around the side of the computer, so I leant over to see what was causing it, only to see that everything was as it should be and that nothing was on fire. Also there was no more smoke. It had gone as quickly as it had come.

At this point I should explain that the studio has a history of 'sightings' being a vaulted cellar, which is reputedly haunted by the spirit of some woman (clearly I don�t know the facts, but a few people have claimed to have seen things down there).

So there you have it. No explanation or anything, but I have to say it really freaked me out, especially as I was working on 'the Death'. I�m sort of hoping that when we listen back to the takes we will hear some message from the other side or something. Creepy.

Nick

19/9/06 Starting The Journal!

Well, I thought that seeing as we had a journal section on our website we had better start using it, so here is our first entry.

We�ve been meaning to do this for weeks but have been a bit rubbish at finding the time and getting our thoughts down. At the moment we are in the recording studio in
Dublin and I have just put down my vocals for the new version of �Song For The Fields�. We have finally added on the end section that we have been playing live for a while and it sounds incredible.

I am celebrating by catching up with the first series of the Mighty Boosh, which has become a bit of a tour bus favourite.

Mattie is currently trying to get some sleep and is sat next to me on the sofa with Jamie. Henry has lost his mind to his PSP and Thorunn is checking her emails. All in all a pretty productive bunch.

So we have been here in Dublin for almost 3 months now and are in the final few days of recording our debut album. We�re all really excited by what we�ve done and I think we�ve definitely captured some of the sonicassault
of our recent shows � the sound is definitely bigger than anything we�ve recorded so far.

The ten songs we�ve chosen for the album are all pretty diverse and include some that we�ve played live in various incarnations on our tours this year with the Spinto Band, Editors, Mystery Jets and Larrikin
Love.

There are some pretty fearsome moments in the shape of �The Death�, �Song For The Fields� and �Feathers� but there are also lots of downbeat moments of introspection all wrapped up in gorgeous layers of harmonium, mellotron and an assortment of other weird and wonderful instruments that we found lying around in the studio.

The website is starting to come together nicely and we�ll be updating it a bit more regularly than we have been doing so far, in between soundchecks, van journeys, orgies and sponsored boozeathons. Make sure you check it out for our latest tour info and new tracks as well as outrageous rumours, scandalous gossip and general Fields nonsense.

We�re back in London next week for a homecoming show at the Legion with Radio Dept and then we head straight off to the US to bring pain to the eardrums of the unsuspecting Americans. Should be awesome. Oh yeah, and then there�s our October UK tour with GoodBooks and Kid Harpoon...oh....and the MTV2 Wolfmother tour...phew...no rest for us then!

If you see us out and about make sure to say hello.

Fields