LA LA LAND! I LOVE IT!
Current mood: tired
Category: Life

Well travellin on the 5th july is nowhere near as much fun as the 4th!

i was next to this meixcan guy with the biggest shoulder's i have ever seen! i spent most of the flight leaning into the aisle, dodging the bloody trolley? thankfully only an hour's flight to L.A. Staying opposite the riot house, or the hyatt hotel on sunset, for the uneducated , THE ONLY ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL IN L.A. since the tropicana motel went anyway, now that was a rock n'roll hotel, i thought the ceiling's in the room were decorated with black dots? in our jet lagged state we swore they were moving? looking closer they were! must have been a hundred cockroaches on the ceiling me and dave pils started screaming, didnt sleep a bloody wink, one saving grace tho' was DUKE'S coffee house downstairs, great breakfasts! i can remember sleeping outside in the carpark with the gear, we didn't want a repeat of new york and the roadies wouldn't do it , so 50 dollars off rob later! who died in the pool at the tropicana i cant remember? anyone know?

AVALON, LOS ANGELES.............


was really nice to be with HYBRID again, lovely lads, gonna guest on ther new l.p. too , bloody bass for hire or what! AVALON is a gorgeous club , really over the top, and i was a little worried at 10.30 when there was not one person there! but by 11 it was packed, i got the shock of my life when i saw where the dj booth was? at the top of a flight of stairs on this wonderfully lit stage, stupendous , i was at least 30 feet above and away from the nearest person? i felt like tiesto , curiously detached! turned out it was a set from BEVERLEY HILLS 90210 they had hired the place for a month for filming and the club were using it , didn't help me tho' i prefer to be able to smell my audience, sometimes not a wise choice , but flanked by my beautiful go-go dancers , wendy and judy knocking spots off the ones on stage, it went ok, a funny crowd , seemed very saturday night to me? , but it seemed to go ok? so at the end of this gig and this tour..............9 gigs in ten days! your hero was feeling a bit emotional......................ah you old softy i hear you say? went to bed and...........

slept in for the first time this morning ,then it was off to the ed hardy superstore on melrose, great spent nearly all the tour money on clothes! i look like a pimp! TOP!
Lunch opposite the sunset marquis and the dome for old time's sake and then the airport and home I CANT BLOODY WAIT, ADIOS HOOKYXX

5:05 AM - 5 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

WORKING FOR THE YANKEE DOLLAR!
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Life

Well we may as well start with the big one....................................

IAN CURTIS'S HEADSTONE..............it saddens me this world , without a doubt, i fear for our children , what could you possibly say? it defies sense and words............clint boon reckons someone will wake up and think " oh my god" and do the right thing........i hope so! what will probably happen , just like with all the other stuff is they'll sit on it for a few years then offer it us back for a ridiculous price, , i hope ian haunts you forever!,

A REQUEST?..................Can anyone tell me why these new pioneer cdj1000"s put a gap at the start of blown cd's ,? it's driving me MAD! All mine are cut to the beat and now every cue has a gap and every gap is different?, hardly any of them start on the beat anymore? Also why , when you load a cd does it start playing, mine at home dont do that, it's really doing me in aaaaaaaaaaaaargghh!

AMERICAN TOUR 2008

HIRO'S NEW YORK CITY..................i love this place , it's got a great sound system, and especially for me they got rid of the rotary pot desk, which is a pain , sounds great but is a pain, had a nice trip courtesy of KLM, but arrived with a minimum of fuss, in the dark , which is always a treat , driving into MANHATTAN, at night, is one of my greatest thrills i, always reminds me of the first came we made it as New order, we had had a wild tour, just high on life, really good fun ! was it? thinking on we had all the gear stolen! , ah well, typical northerners make the best of everything! but i remember all the shenagins, the trannies, the hookers , multiple car crashes, dalliances in your y-fronts, all night drinking and clubbing, losing the gear.......and that was just the road crew! At the end we were knackered, rob got us this limo to go to the airport , as a treat , we all got in and promptly fell asleep, i woke briefly as we were crossing the 59th street bridge? looked up and the whole of manhattan spread out before us , all lit up like a mad christmas tree, it was breathtaking!, i tried to wake everybody so they could appreciate it with me, no one moved, only rob , who looked with his eyes shut , grunted and went back to sleep, ah well! we even slept all the way home on the plane too, unheard of? till we touched down in manchester, went home, "how was it love?" "quiet you know?" "is my tea ready?" we had some great adventures on that tour, ill save it for the book!

oh yeh,We have just been offered the film of our performance at HURRAH'S in 1981 , as a three piece? which i think is the only one that exists? correct me if im wrong , refreshingly this came without a price tag , thanks merrill , i hope it works out!

Anyway i digress, had a great night ably supported by alex english, who isn't english? was very nervous, usually am on the first one, but the crowd were very very friendly and well turned out, god i sound like my grandma! a great start. thank you all.

PETE MURPHY AFTERSHOW.............toronto was cancelled!

PETE asked me to play TRANSMISSION with him (must have forgiven me for throwing him out of the hacienda that time? i thought so , but he mentioned to me just as he was leaving the bastard, just to see me squirm), but without a practice i said no, im chicken , i was doing a documentary about lemmy as well, one of my heroes! so i was a bit late, reminded me of the time we came to record POWER CORRUPTION AND LIES, we moved in to BRITTANNIA ROW, and the last band in were MOTORHEAD they hadn't zero'd the desk and all lemmy's bass settings were still there, so i said to mike johnson "come on i'll use all lemmy's settings, great" and you know what?..........it sounded shit? what can i say, nice theater, see american again! I was downstairs in a the bar it actually could have been great , but they kept the volume really down , which i thought was weird ? for a gig venue,? but the old goth's with me seemed to like it so fuck it! was quiet tho?

METRO , CHICAGO...............

Nice to be in my second home , no joe shanahan tho, missed you mate, i always get looked after so well here in chicago its ridiculous, thanks lenny, lovely people and a great night again, what have i done to deserve it? I Dont Know, but im glad i did! lot of old faces but no corey? where were you mate? i even brought you your united shirt? ill post it you dont worry!

OLD MUSEUM , THE BOWERY, JOY DIVISION DOCUMENTARY LAUNCH.

Now this was where it all went wrong , had an early start , so i was knackered, then cos of the weather they shut La Guardia, which was ok , ? so the pilot said? then we circled for about 3 hours? until we started to run out of fuel? Am i the only on that that gets worried circling?, dont know why? just cos you know there's something wrong probably? they were showing the documentary at 7, so i had to be there for the Q an A, at 8.30. so we landed somewhere in conneticut? to refeul, and they let everyone one off? im like "oh come on!" but they all got off , then the pilot comes on saying the weather's cleared we can go to la guardia, and everyone's off buying a bleeding hot dog! im doomed, took 'em an hour to get them back on so we could take off! Off again, shortest trip ever 20 minutes mad rush to baggage, mad rush to the bowery, the driver was great really caned it , we were flying all over the place! if you think our roads are bad you should see theirs, it's like driving on the moon. So made it 5 minutes to spare...........and it was great really good Q an A tom was proper on form. Then on to the standard? for the party, the canapes werent as good as L.A. but i wasn't eating, now this place had the worst sound system i have ever heard, nothin worked, but...............it's amazing what a difference free drink's can make ........EVERYONE WAS ROCKING! Was great just like the old day's me and tom were grinning from ear to ear! some great character's no-one cared what you played!


HALIFAX , NOVA SCOTIA....................

had a hell of a job getting here , seemed to take forever, bit of a grim place , the weather was like manchester, went to sleep, then the gig was a really good band on too, called? cant remember.....didn't have a lead singer? which i thought was great , but then i would wouldn't i? ha ha . bit disorganised, but again ok.


JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA..........................

Another hell of a trip, brad what are you doing to me? left at 10, arrived in florida at 9, the time difference's are very confusing , don't know if im comin or goin! But jacksonville is lovely, most polite people i've ever met, everyone! Nice place to play, started well, no one paid much notice to me to be honest, kept kicking the bass amp off with my foot , daft place to put it! but at the end went a bit askew, bit of pushing and pulling led to a few ejection"s , the guy told me after i'd gone there was a full scale battle outside , what happened to the friendly people ?

DETROIT BAR, COSTA MESA.........................

i like this place a lot , great crowd and a great manager, hi chris, i'm glad to say i've done it every time, and got a great surprise in meeting the guy who designed the IDEAL FOR LIVING 12" sleeve seems he did all the sleeves for RABID too Dogs , jilted john etc etc, his two boys had gave me a lovely present obviously taking after their dad! great crowd again.


HOMME BAR , PHOENIX...........................

What a great thing travellin on the 4th july, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWINNY, there was no one about it was great empty plane no one in the airport, was like christmas day!
Not been back to phoenix for years, ever since we played the Mesa ampitheatre, that was a top gig it had a moat?, everyone was swimming in it , then after the crowd were having a great time showing us all their guns backstage? i know its america, they have a right to bear arms , just like manchester. lovely really sweaty venue, dead dark and crowded and it went great, got a bit paranoid halfway through though.........a lot seemed to disappear but sean assured me it was fine , so it must be me? heard a great mix of rebel rebel by soulwax i must get and one called crash by the whip( note to self) so lovely and sweaty, was funny at the end tho, the other dj william was using a cowbell, alway's reminds me of the perfect kiss, ah heady days, so he'd left it there and some kid purloined it , sounded ok actually , maybe not all the way through, but i couldn't reach him? so i'm just finishing off my dramatic end , from the madness that is wally gagel's mix of sirens call to moby, temptation , a poignant moment, i think, it just drops down and theres cry of "That's my cowbell motherfucker" and a tussle a proper girly one on the dance floor! well it made me laugh anyway! i did the photo"s and now im goin for a mexican breakfast by the pool, it's a hard life in't it! love hookyx

10:21 AM - 18 Comments - 29 Kudos - Add Comment

SANKEYS and TONY WILSON EXPERIENCE!
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

HOME TO MANCHESTER!

Virgin premier again, rubbish!, got a middle seat even tho i was there early!, i was really pissed off ,must book online, thanks richard! typical tho got offered an upgrade on the way out when i didnt need it? now no chance, aaaaaaaaaaarrrgh! Stamp off to duty free and its crap! i hate flying ,cant believe im on tour next week! I MUST BE MAD!

calm down, get back to manc at about 8p.m. nice to see the girls, then have to slap myself to stay awake til my dj turn at tonights...............

HACIENDA NIGHT SANKEY'S MANCHESTER!

this was supposed to coincide with the TONY WILSON EXPERIENCE idea being that the people at the experience come come and dj/hang out...but the booker at sankey;s booked the wrong date ? so todd terry was booked for the 20th? best laid plans of mice and men eh? so no rest for me ! was a great night tho , it must be me but i swear everyone's getting younger? great crowd, i was ably supported by the salford lot, really havin it! TWINNY, TEAR GAS, MANCIE , THE BESWICK BROTHERS TOP ONE! i phoned them at 5 the next afternoon and they were still at it really? thanks lads, todd terry was great , nice to see graeme park, letting his hair? down ha ha! there was a lot of old faces their , mainly for the tony wilson experience tomorrow, so a good mix. fletch and i are having 6 months off now concentrating on the rest of the world, THANKS MANCHESTER!

THE TONY WILSON EXPERIENCE.........SHAMBOLIC ENOUGH TO BE DANGEROUS!

Now i was very nervous about this , so god knows how peter s. felt? He has been so ably supported by , his team, vicky, sarah, rose , jane and all us lads, but they have done a great job! The struggle to organise this was amazing i dont think it would have happened at all without gina at ear to the ground too, i wanted to do it all but was so tired, i could hardly think, but arrived about 7, place looked great proper buzz around and about it! loads of people from the old days just hangin around, it went well i thought , if anything we had too many people talking, really enjoyed it, great to meet IRVINE WELSH, what a nice guy , love his twisted imagination tho, just reading his" secrets of the superchef's " (highly recomended) nice to see ALAN WISE too , but he'd done a me and fell over poor bugger, he didnt have three german's tho , only bag of spanners MARK E. with him, not even sure id wish picking alan up on him tho? he's a big lad! i could tell by the way STELLA from INTASTELLA was stumbling around , that it was gonna be interesting! heard she had a fight with sean and bez later , yeh kids learn somethin from that, eh? what a life! My hour had a CONTROL versus JOY DIV DOCUMENTARY feel you couldnt find two people more diferent than GRANT GEE and MATT GREENHALL, went very well tho, this one girl in the front asked a particularly intelligent question , then fell off her bean bag ! i thought it was a very poignant moment.....summed it all up to me!

I really do hope the 200 hopefuls got something out of it, i dont know ?, loved playing with Kevin H> to PHIL DIGGLES action painting , jack said to me " its on you tube" so i duly clock on ..................and there's me and him playing ...and no action painting? , flamin hell? I WANTED TO SEE THAT!

it was starting to get a bit messy as i left, i could hardly stand, walked thru manchester on the way home , my god it was so messy, there was literally beautiful girls lay in the gutter? What's the matter with the world, i tutted as only an old alkie can! BE CAREFUL OUT THERE, contemplative? im listening to hotel by MOBY thats why, in case you wondered?

11:45 AM - 7 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

WHERE IM DRAWN TO THE SUN!
Current mood: amused
Category: Life

CALIFORNIA.............here i come!

off to california for the launch of the JOY DIV MICROSOFT ZUNE, their new MP3 player, very early start, sets you up a treat for jet lag, met greg vickers,( sankeys dj )on the plane to amsterjam, so the 3 hour stopover wasnt so boring!

not a bad trip flyin during the day just means you cant sleep,thank god cos this virgin premier is crap, so no change there then, got to L.A.and it was beautiful weather, everythin goin well, board with my name on , always gives me a thrill! funny tho they always have so much trouble spelling TWATFACE! only joking..................felt really nice to be back, havent spent much time here for ages, the last three dj trips comprised , 14 18 and 12 hours respectively in the old new order days we would stay for weeks and paint the town red...........staying at a hotel right next to chinese theater, see how american im getting already?
good fun watching the guys in all the character costumes sweating their knackers off, working on the pavement outside , there but for the grace of god eh kids? good old tom had me very busy tho promoting the JOY DIV releases, the new order dvd, the new order documentary, control whatever?, quite odd tho i got banned by our press office from promoting the dvd it in england? kept saying nasty things like new order had split up you see?, but i must say it was nice to work on the DVD and make it as good as we could , the fight steve and i had to stop it being edited for hyperactive 5 year olds was unbelievable! the people who make these things obviously dont bloody watch them! Finsbury park to me was absolutely unwatchable.
steve did a great job with the old footage, which to me was much more interesting, i kept saying "cant we dump glasqow an just put the old stuff on?" wasnt a very a good tour for me for a lot of reasons , i wont bore you here with them ,we'll save them for the N.O. book shall we? Was hard to get in the rhythm of interviews doing 15 one after the other takes some getting used too.

Then it was time for the gig, so ably tour managed by Professor Wendy, we made our way, on time, to the launch space? miserable bugger wouldnt stop at all the shops i wanted to on melrose avenue?kept saying we'd be late, im like "i have to be late im in a band!" i felt like a child, crying as we drove past the ed hardy megastore man that dollar is great everythins dead cheap! ah well.

It was held in a beautiful building in hollywood, an art space? i was told, very futuristic, beautifully appointed theatre, strictly invite only, limited to 82? dont ask me why? and there in the middle of it all, like the holy fuckin grail, was the ZUNE! now i must admit , saville has done a beautiful job, its presented in a matt black case with all accessories , all embossed with the joy division logo, ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, preloaded with the joy division DOCUMENTARY, CONTROL, AND ALL THE MUSIC! they only had one marked PROTOTYPE? i definitely had my eye on it!

It was a great do, im djin in an all white room connected by huge open windows to an outside bar , so you could smoke, wasnt too exciting , the people were all movers and shakers, from the press and the industry?, but a few old faces,me and wendy amused ourselves by playing punk tunes way too loud , and some really wacky joy division stuff ive amassed, they'd done this kind of northern england themed canapes, free snacks to the more un refined amongst you!. you know things like , tripe and onions, miniature fish and chips, black pudding, steak and kidney pies, sausage and mash, eccles cakes etc all in wonderful miniature, with themed cocktails, you know like punk screwdriver, stirred with a safety pin, and little pots of glue you could sniff, one called the river irwell, god knows what was in that? it was like being back at the RANCH, apart from the fact they were being served by these beautiful busty girls, must of been out of work actresses, it was all very chi chi, dont you know !

so there we are grooving away on this balmy summer evening, when i glance up at one of the 72inch, screens scattered all round the room, and see this dreadful site of poverty and filth, of kids playing in the dirt, the ruins of a city, the empty shells of houses, the despair of its people written on their faces ..................... it really jarred against all this beauty?.............and i thought " where the fuck is that? Why are they showing that! " .......... " then realized with a shudder ................ it was SALFORD, in the 70's, it was the bloody documentary!, where i came from , where we began, never had i had a more sobering moment for years !, i shuddered, then thought "that was a lucky escape!" , grabbed a canape (eccles cake to you) , goosed a waitress and banged the enemy on............DONT......... YOU KNOW....... THIS SONG IS ABOUT........... IS ABOUT YOU!

Joking apart, it was weird to see it again , here of all places, very emotional seeing so much of tony , after all the planning for THE EXPERIENCE, and all, but it went well, Tom and i did the q and a, then i bagged the prototype, much to his dismay! YES! a lovely balmy convertible ride back to my rock and roll hotel and sleep!

I was up at 4 with jet lag, the internets great for jet lag tho, if a lot of you have been wondering why your getting replies to year old mail, thats why! im trying to catch up only 700 to go! . To finish off did a bass session with the boys in the CRYSTAL METHOD, great guys, top music , i think it will turn out really well, thanks lads, thanks again to jade, tom and wendy and all at microsoft , and rhino for lookin after me , i wonder if i can persuade the girls to move?

11:06 AM - 11 Comments - 22 Kudos - Add Comment

BLACKBURN RISING!
Current mood: ditzy
Category: Life

BLACKBURN, ENGLAND....................

our old friend ronnie doing this one , blackburn is a very interesting place, historically a real staunch supporter of JOY DIVISION, NEW ORDER and THE HACIENDA, we had a lot of great gigs at king georges hall over the years, very well supported, i remember the new order gigs were a bit heavy, very male heavy audience, in fact i remember there being a mini riot after one gig, with some serious consequences for one guy, great shame, but .........we were a little worried how it would go for the hacienda night, if at all? when i got there , it was an older crowd, with a lovely young lady from barcelona funnily enough, saying hello, i looked in her eyes..........it wasn't her!

JUSTIN , was great, hate going .. him.............too good! will definitely have to learn how to bloody beat match! very nice atmosphere, some lovely outfits ladies, so anyway im on arent i, and its ok, im warming up for graeme.........playing away , the halls a bit like the place yu'd have a wedding disco? but the people just kept coming........so half way thru, this guy gets up on stage, gets a record box from behind the curtain opens it next to me..........picks one out, im thinking "oh, graeme must have an new assistant?" i nod he looks up and he is CAPTAIN GURNER this guy is TWATTED! PEAKED TOO EARLY? you bet..............was always my forte that , but......so i say "what you doing mate" he says "i dont know" i think fair enough? then he tries to sit on the record box, very wobbly, by this time our live percussionist, smiler we call him, had finished, also the guy's wife's come to the front of the stage, and is screaming at him to" get off you daft bastard! " it is funny.......... so i grab him and steer to the percussionist's chair, good deed for the day, he flops down, f77ked..........i go back to playing hear and cheer, and he's only come up again and is bongoin like a bastard! shit he's hitting them so hard he's brought the compressor in , so the music's gone down and he's dead loud, and you know what ?
he was good! so im thinking "shit" percussionist isnt back," i know ill move the mikes away?" do that then it starts feeding back , the crowd however loved it, and thats all that mattered, he then fell off the stage, i asked someone who he was, turns out it was the co promoter?, nice one , wonder if he remembered it?
enjoyed myself very much , lovely people only met one arsehole, graeme goes on playing cd's like me and this kid is gesticulating wildly at me, i think ," crazed fan?, picture?autograph? " but......and i really must stop doing this, i go over.............conversation goes like this..............

"where's the fucking records?" "eh?" "wheres the fucking snap crackle and pop?" "what" "wheres the vinyl?" "ive paid 20quid to get in here and i want him to play some vinyl!" i think what a tosser, so i say" right stay here ill get you your money back dickhead then you can fuck off!" he says" fine" ah slight problem? ive got no money.......i ask fletch , no , jason , no, jon, no, percussionist, wish i knew your name? no, graeme, no, bollocks, i say hey were like royalty we dont carry money! he didnt laugh...........then he says "im a 32 year old business development manager, ive built loads of companies up and your a robbing bastard!" at this point, sharp intake of breath,so i took him over to graeme, before i twatted him,who being stone deaf said he'd would play his request later ha ha! people eh? takes all sorts doesn't it! lovely trip home 30 minutes dont tell the rozzers!

BLACKBURN WE LOVE YA!

12:39 PM - 10 Comments - 17 Kudos - Add Comment

onwards and upwards or in my case downwards!
Current mood: chipper
Category: Life

managed to grab a few days on holiday in majorca, but typically , it never stopped raining. had one great moment though, walking down a disabled ramp, i slipped and went right on my arse, ha ha i hear you say,didnt half hurt, but the irony was three old ladies came over to help me up? i thought......."hooky your getting old".........elbow hurt slightly more than my dignity, ah well!

PAMPLONA............

lovely place, bit tricky to get too , took a long time, saw no bulls but the gig had a 3.a.m. start? so im like how could that be possible? " club gets going about 4" they said? so i went down at 2 thinking ill start when i get there, and lo and behold, there was no one there! so i started at three, still no one, then magically at 4, they begin arriving , god bless them, had a very nice night, went very well.

ALICANTE.............

early start unfortunately, but id just been to alicante, camelot as you know, so i was interested as to how it would be? turn out this time to be a nice little club , bout 500, in the centre, alicante is a lovely city, as i think ive said before, very surprising, given its reputation in england. night went well, early start 2.30 to a packed club , which i just couldnt seem to get going? was o.k. just not onfire , you know, so i soldiered on, then as it thinned out , round 4, it seemed to leave the diehards? went from then on really well, had a great time, some very lenghty spanish requests, which i really wish i could have understood? i will learn spanish, when i finish FREEBASS, never mind, bed at daybreak, wet there too tho............


BARCELONA..................

looking forward to this one joined by fletch and on da silva in a lovely theatre right in the middle of barca, club looked fantastic, dressed very well, great crowd too , jon was top , really enjoyed it, i went on and it went very well, then just near the end..............right out of the blue.........or rather the dark.......came a glass, i was looking at the CDJ's so didnt see it, it hit me right side top chest! hell of a shock, what was weird, it landed fat end on my chest and shattered? all that time in the gym must of paid off, of course i looked up to see who my assailant was and no one else seemed to notice or acknowledge?all happily bopping away? puzzling? reminded me of that metallic k.o. l.p where iggy's screaming at the audience "you didnt get me this time fuckers" i suppose in a group there's a few more people to aim at? i always used to duck and steve would cop for it! ah the good old days.............................. i recovered and weve got a residency, so ill dig out my crash helmet, and my body armour, the trials and tribulations of djing eh?

really early start jon and fletch didnt even bother sleeping, then a scrum at barcelona airport, to get on the plane, no hen parties tho, shame.

12:10 PM - 12 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment

Where;s everybody gone?
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Life

B usy week as always……….freebass, just programming while gary does some lyrics, I had forgotten how long a bloody record takes, I suppose its like what they say about childbirth, if women remembered the pain they would never have another! Must be the same with records…………tony Wilson experience is coming along well , with EAR TO THE GROUND on board, its now really taking shape, the back room people involved in the planning of this are fantastic, they put up with our foibles very well, I think it will be really interesting and really unique, just like tony, sleep well mate.

12:19 AM - 20 Comments - 32 Kudos - Add Comment

JAKARTA? no i went of my own accord!
Current mood: blessed
Category: Life

RIGHT………….. Here we go, always takes a while to get the memory going, so where were we?

2:53 AM - 27 Comments - 40 Kudos - Add Comment

Back 2 Work Wiv A Vengeance!
Current mood: animated
Category: Life

Well had a few meetings on the go this week...........

Next HACIENDA CD!    WELL ON THE WAY TRACKLIST DONE , DEAL NEARLY, THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE MY FAVOURITE, ACID HOUSE SPECIAL, HOPEFULLY AIDED BY GRAEME AND ARTHUR B.

NEXT HACIENDA SHOE, SEEN THE SAMPLES ! 3 DIFFERENT PAIRS HOPEFULLY ONE DAY , ONE NIGHT, ONE INBETWEEN, KICKERS HAVE PLAYED A BLINDER WITH THESE IM DELIGHTED!

FREEBASS, TWO MORE TRACKS DONE, GARY WRITING EXCELLENTLY, IM GETTING REALLY EXCITED NOW! TRACKS..........1..THIS TIME I'LL BELIEVE HER...........2..I'M THE ONE

NEW ORDER FINALLY SORTED OUT THE RE-MASTERS OF THE EARLY STUFF, TENTATIVELY ENTITLED THE FACTORY YEARS, SUGGESTED BOX SET IN A COFFIN? NAH IT WAS A JOKE! WAS A PLEASURE TO LISTEN TO THE OLD STUFF AGAIN THO I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW WONDERFUL .......THIEVES LIKE US WAS , ULTRAVIOLENCE AND 5.8.6., GONNA DIG A FEW OUT WHEN I DO THAT GIG WITH SECTION 25 IN NOVEMBER , SHOULD BE INTERESTING.

HAD A WEIRD ONE THO RECENTLY , FOUND? A VAULT FULL OF OLD FACTORY /NEW ORDER TAPES REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO GOIN THRU IT, THE VAULT TURNED UP BECAUSE THE BANK WAS CLOSING DOWN , SO THEY HAD TO EMPTY THEM ? NO ONE KNEW IT EVEN EXISTED? BUT THERES SOME GREAT STUFF IN IT ........................SO WATCH THIS SPACE! ah shit i hate that caps button¬!

MADRID, LOW CLUB,  the latest gig of all! when i arrived there was about 200people queueing at 4 a.m.? beat that!  had a great night ably supported by HOME BOY, one of my favourite dj's, great night, great people, place was dripping! bed at 7.30 airport 10.30 and arrived at 7.

VERONA, this was a bit of a strange one i was supporting control, a great venue tho, but even i didnt feel like celebrating after watching it for the 10th time, still gets me , i find myself waiting tense as f*** for that scream and then bloody atmosphere! i was looking at the people faces when it happened , the shock is palpable!   So it was now up to me to bring it back up............it was a struggle but about 2hours in it went off, some very nice people there too ,i finished up smiling, so happilly went to bed at 5, airport 9.30, home by three. As gordon ramsey says.......DONE!

BENCH STORE, TRAFFORD PARK, opening gig!

played with jon da silva was great to see him again, lot of my family here too, weird but nice! the kids were very excited about the freebie promise , that unfortunately never materialised? The cast from hollyoaks(english soap american readers} turned up and robbed the place blind! man they had armfuls , from my vantage point i could see the descent that only free booze and canapes can bring , great shop tho , so when we'd finished and tried to get some stuff, had someone screaming "im head of retail and youre getting nothing" at us, so i had to pay! nearly had a nervous breakdown , ah well you cant get everything can you , was great watching the bench girls really goin for it , singing WORLD IN MOTION rap, top stuff! god knows how they ended up after the party in barca, i was glad to go home tho!

quick thank you to jonathon from scotland for the united tickets, what a match , id not been for ages and it was top! the smell of beer was wild tho, freaked me out!  will i got to moscow? not me .....its like the wild west out there, i was terrified, they dont seem to have rules they just make 'em up as they go along! when i played their i was so glad to get back in the B.A. lounge, i kissed the carpet and tried to barricade the door? TAKE ME HOME NOW!

P.S. DID A GREAT LIVES RADIO 2 PROGRAMME ABOUT IAN CURTIS, bloody button, which turned out really well , premiered a great mix of L.W.T.U.A.  let me know what you think?  off to asia see you soon h.

10:44 AM - 34 Comments - 49 Kudos - Add Comment

SNOWBOMBING!
Current mood: amused
Category: Life

 Would you beleive, after the rottenest virgin plane ive ever been on, stuck on the tarmac in miami for three hours in it too! then the biggest passport queue ive ever seen in gatwick! i missed my easyjet connection by 7mins! Aaaaarggh!  next flite in 7hours!

Ah well, look on the bright side?            there wasnt one, so flew to munich , 3 hour drive to wherever SNOWBOMBING  was? Ive no idea? crazy isnt it, going to these places and not knowing where they are, so when i arrived at 10 just went to bed, knackered! fletch came and got me up at 4.30.a.m. yes 4.30a.m.! to say i didnt know where i was let alone who i was ,was an understatement, so went into this basement? expecting no-one and it was rocking, graeme p. going down a storm! I WAS FLABBERGASTED! The stamina of these guys, had a really great time, what a bonkers crowd/ made me want to ski? no it didnt !last time i tried , this girl in canada took me up the biggest hill saying it was the       ONLY! way to learn? i went down miles on my arse, terrified......got to the bottom thank god, just in time to see terry mason{new order t.m.}who earlier had been braggin about his ski-ing prowess, go screaming straight through the front doors of the lodge, ski;s still on! nearly wet my front to match my back!

But i digress, does anyone know who the kid was who got up and did clint boon;s trick of singing through the headphones?  he was great , completely trolleyed , strange tho first time he was top , came back 5 minutes later and then absolutely terrible, made me laugh, and at half six in the morning who cared?some of them were at breakfast drinkin beer, yeh , fantastic conversations, had to be heard to be believed! Didnt bother sleeping as i had a three hour drive to the airport, then i had my holidays. thank god!
back to work...............brighton hacienda + bez

Bad trip this did my cartilage in in my knee, teaching my daughter how to ride a bike, so in absolute agony, but not a bad trip pretty empty plane to gatwick , so bearable, got to brighton , beautiful day, one of my favourite places , ever since the first N.O. gig at the top rank, great gig, were all in the dressing room after the gig, celebrating{rare for N.O}and theres a knock on the door..........i open it ? no one there,strange........close it.     knock again................humh? open it no one there again? now were spooked?    close!    knock again?  open .........look down and theres annie nightingale flat out on the floor? banging the door with her head, A RADIO ONE DJ! freaked us out ill tell you!  so began our life l;ong friendship with her and alex , and if you ask nicely ill tell you about Binky, the dominatrix the drugs , and the member of parliament scandal we got caught up in, with mad fee,news of the world and everythin, oh no ill save it for my book, ha ha! back to now...........

now the hotel was so rotten, the new maritime by the way, but had a GREAT CLUB DOWNSTAIRS, the walls were so thin, that when the couple next door started shagging, it was like a threesome without the awkward bit? i was pissing myself , like those fast show guys say , she was mewing like a frightened deer!good gig tho nice crowd, bez was late as usual,  turned up half way through my set, the little bugger, he went down a storm though, thanks to phil for coming to get me and drove me home, made it in three hours, DONT TELL THE ROZZERS! adios!

9:55 AM - 11 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment