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York postponed to 16th Dec!!

18 Nov 2009. 7 comments

Sorry to all York folk but I've had to pull tonight's show. I had a doctor tell me I shouldn't have done last night's show but I disregarded her advice thinking I'd be ok; how wrong was I!? I woke up this morning feeling like someone had filled my lungs with cement and replaced my brain with a waterlogged leather football.... I HATE cancelling gigs!! I always feel like I should at least turn up and do something, but in this instance I think resting for a couple of days is the best thing. I hope to be ok for the gig in Leeds... The York gig is rescheduled for 16th Dec and I'll try to make it up to you then! Speak soon...f p.s. If you're driving on the M1 today, watch out for the sickly Irish man trying to stay between the lines :-/

Tour and nostalgia

10 Nov 2009. 5 comments



The new EP of my live concert with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast will be available from the tour! (and then later from the website for those unable to make it)

It's strange to be getting ready for a tour at this time of year.  A voice within me is saying "what are you doing going out there at this time of year....let's just light the fire and hibernate". To which I reply "sorry little voice, no can do...duty calls. Cleaners are still cleaning, drivers are still driving, road workers are still working on roads, baristas are still making coffee and those of us that aren't good at anything normal in life are going on tour". I've often wondered, if I was good at anything else would I be as committed to music?  I don't know that I would.  Early last year I genuinely considered studying carpentry and having that as my main stay and letting music be my hobby.  A hobby that needn't pay the rent. I think I considered it for about a week before realising it would be the death of me. I can be so fickle sometimes.  I spent my life thinking how great it would be to make music for a living and do nothing else and then the second it happened I began to think how great it would be to do something else for a living and make music on the side.  I don't feel like that now though.  I've found my place in the whole affair.  The peaks and troughs of the music industry are part of it's challenging charm.  I did a gig a the weekend in Belfast for ATL.  It was nick named the 'recession sessions', all about hard times.  Playing there really made sense.  In every recession the one thing you can rely on, as being important to the people, is music.  Music always does well in recession.  I don't mean that in the mercenary sense, like there's a killing to be made or anything.  What I mean is, it can somehow re-establish the importance of music.  The power of music.  There's real solace in music.  Healing qualities; redemptive qualities, if you will.

I can't imagine that there is anyone out there reading this that doesn't have a record that you put on when you're feeling down and need a lift, feeling nostalgic and want to go somewhere through a song.  Or when you a record comes on somewhere, and you're instantly somewhere else... another place, another time;  breaking up with a partner, meeting a new one, saying goodbye to college friends and so on.  I don't hear this song often, but anytime I do hear 'Get out of My Dreams, get into my car' by Billy Ocean, I'm instantly 15 years old, drunk on a shared bottle of cider, in the Matinee Club in Bangor and dancing with Louise Edgar.  I even get that sickly feeling in the stomach that you got when you first started engaging with members of the opposite sex (or the same sex, depending on how your cookie crumbles).

Anyway, enough reminiscing...although  if you fancy doing a bit of that yourself then feel free to tell all in the comments section; what song and why.... this is turning into a sort of radio show phone in eh!

If you want to hear the 'Recession Sessions on ATL' then click the link. 

There are a few dates missing from the advert above, namely:
26th Portsmouth
4th Limerick
5th Cork
6th Dublin
9th Belfast - with Snow Patrol (not doing my own set, just playing with the guys....at least I thnk that's the case...come and find out...assuming there are tickets left)


See you somewhere on the road...f

p.s. I'm using a street team for selling CDs and T-Shirts on this tour and if you want to be involved and get free entry for you plus one and some free stuff then, speak to Paul by clicking here.

Since last we spoke...

03 Nov 2009. 9 comments

First let me say I'm really looking forward to going out on tour next week... I'm getting myself prepared as we speak...thrashing the punch bag, doing sitting ups and kicking trees with my bare shins: you guys don't even stand a chance!!

I'll also be doing a song as part of a live webcast gig from Belfast this Friday (6th), for which there are 10 tickets to give away.  Simply answer the following -TV like - question and email it to info@foysnoise.com along with the two names for the tickets:  Is the colour orange...
a) orange
b) magenta with a splash a cyan
or
c) burnt sienna with a hint of mint
????? 

Tough innit......


I've been home for 3 weeks today.  Well, I say home but a week of that time was spent in the the autumn hues of Aberfeldy, right in the heart of Scotland.  If Scotland was an archer's target, bulls eye would be Aberfeldy.  Driving over the hills from Crieff before entering the village is one of the most breathtaking sights you're ever likely to see.  There's nowhere quite like Scotland in Autumn, it's sort of magical.  Or maybe mystical would be more accurate.

Team Vance drove up there from London in our camper van (full to the brim with paintings, which was an experience) for Joanne's exhibition in the Temple Gallery.  It was sort of a 'Hope & Homeless' affair again.  There was the work from my album and then the portraits she did of the homeless folk she'd befriended whilst working at Crisis.  I played a few songs related to the paintings that have inspired me and Joanne talked about her process.  It's funny how I've been around her work and heard her thoughts but when she spoke on the night of the exhibition it was like I was hearing it afresh... it was very touching actually.

The week was great.  We met some great people, ate some great food and drank great amounts of OK wine.  The Sunday night before our departure was spent having a full on dance off in the living room of Eric and Naomi, with themselves, Joanne and I and Ryan the gallery owner.  It was great cráic.  I tried to slide across the floor on my belly in an effort to take the dance moves to a new level, but to no avail. I stopped dead the second I hit the floor, so instead up upping the game, the result was simply seeing a grown man belly flop onto a wooden floor.  Not good.

There are a few things to tell you about but rather than write everything here I'll stick it in the newsletter (you can sign up on the home page here if you're not already signed up).

So...to the matter of the Tori Tour.  The last time I spoke with you was on the day of the last gig which was in Warsaw.  It was great to see Poland, not that I got to see too much of it but it was a real experience nonetheless.  En route to Warsaw we pulled in for a toilet break at this sort of wooden shack on the side of the road.  The closer we got to it the more we noticed all the wooden sculptures around it.  I should just clarify that this place was in the middle of nowhere! Nothing for miles around but cold air and fields split in two by a road; then this.  We opened the door to the most glorious smell of barbeque and spices not to mention the welcome waft of heat and the smell of wood burning on an open fire.  It was an oasis.  A strange little oasis, but an oasis all the same.  It was like walking into a scene from Lord of the Rings.  All the waitresses were dressed in ancient Polish garb and the interior was like the inside of an enchanted giant oak tree.  They served beer in goblets, and cut meat from a spit over the fire. It was dimly lit and the foot of every table had it's own wooden sculpture of a goblin.  I reckon they came alive to serve the undead after the place closed to the public, assuming the place closed at all.  I wouldn't be surprised if it never closed; just existed there in the middle of nowhere suspended in time.  A surreal and wonderful place!

The last night of the tour was great, although I think I maybe celebrated a little too much.  They had a post gig ritual where Marcel (one of Tori's sound guys) would disappear for a while then reappear with trays and trays full of sea breezes (cranberry, orange juice and vodka)... it would have been rude not to eh..... I fear that I got a bit over excited on the last night and the breeze blew me right into the sea where I was well and truly drowned (see what I did there).

Right, I'm off for a 6 mile sprint with a weighted ruck-sack.....or maybe I'll just eat biscuits with fervor...yeah, that's it...

Speak soon
f

p.s.  Get on that mailing list will ye! I've got more to tell you.....


Various stages of Tour Mole beard-ness throughout the tour
No beard


Craig David beard


mid life crisis beard


full on back broke mountain beard :)


wee wee instructions in Denmark... in case you thought the grass was the toilet(?)


a wonderful sight at Auswitch 


Polish Time Warp Tavern


Wooden sculptures


View from our hot tub in Aberfeldy (The White Tower)


The Birks of Aberfeldy
Now simmer blinks on flowery braes,
And o'er the crystal streamlets plays;
Come let us spend the lightsome days,
In the birks of Aberfeldy
Rabbie Burns

Days 27 & 28 Zabrze, Poland

10 Oct 2009. 19 comments

We travelled to Zabrze yesterday from Berlin, a mere 5 hour drive, which seems like nothing at this stage of the game.  The thing about Zabrze (pronounced Zarbshu - for some reason-) is that it would seem, to all intents and purposes, that no westerner has ever been here.  Which, incidentally,would be a great thing in my opinion.  I had such high hopes, so the second I saw a McDonalds sign I was devastated!!

When the Tour Mole checks hotels he just goes online and looks at everything available in that particular area.  However, when he checked for hotels in Zabrze, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING came up! It took a bit of working to find anywhere at all, but he eventually found somewhere... mmmm somewhere.... This hotel is the closest to Hotel California as it gets.  A very bizarre place altogether.  It's very clean, the few staff that man the place are very nice, and it has everything that you'd expect a hotel to have but there's just something extremely odd about it.  Aside from the staff, Tour Mole and myself, there didn't seem to be anyone else there!

We went into the restaurant which had around 16 tables complete with white cloths and roses...very well laid out, BUT... NOBODY there!  Tour Mole and I sat having a meal together, in a very large, and very empty, restaurant listening to Elton John's Greatest Hits full blast.  The English menu had things on it like Readies(?), which turned out to be cabbage, and crudes, which meant 'vegetables in general'...odd!  It was a real experience though.

The waitress didn't speak a single word of English and we don't speak a word of Polish aside from thank you, so ordering was interesting.  I finished the meal with a cranberry flavoured Vodka.....well I am in Poland after all...it was very nice.

We woke up this morning and went to Autswitz.  I sort of feel like the less said about this the better really.  Enough to say that it was a very heavy place to be, and yet somehow completely unassuming in the cool Autumnal sunshine.  Joanne asked me to take some pictures for her so I did, but it wouldn't feel right posting them here, I don't think.  It's not a tourist attraction, it's an historical documentation of what to avoid. It was sombre, and I'm glad they've retained that reality for people to experience.  I've been to a lot of historical sites and there's nearly always a café close by so that you can relax there for a while, but there was no such thing here, and rightly so!!!

I'm glad I've been there to see it, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to go again, unless my daughter starts studying the holocaust or something.

Anyway, enough heaviness....the world is again discovering hope from East to West, in spite of everything!

The gig was great tonight, it didn't go where I expected it to, mainly because I broke a string.  Funny how such a simple thing can change the direction of an entire set!  The Polish people are a great audience to play to!!  Looking forward to Warsaw....and of course, the road home!

Till tomorrow....THE LAST DAY OF THE TOUR!!

p.s.  Matt and John are gonna come out and play the set with me tomorrow night in Warsaw, so I'm looking forward to that....keep you posted...f



Last bit of the Berlin wall still standing (although not for the wrong reasons)


Why have a table for two, when you can have a restaurant ?


This tasted just how it looks - fake! (that's meant to be fish by the way)


Days 25 & 26 - Berlin

07 Oct 2009. 5 comments

Arrived in Berlin last night around 5pm and checked into a hotel room that's reminiscent of a cabin on a cruise ship...in a good way!

We (Tour Mole and I) headed out for a drink and a bit of grub with Evo, Mick and Danny, some guys from the tour, or team Scouse as their commonly known here (scouse being a term for people from Liverpool, for those of you outside of the UK).  It was good cráic, I always laugh a lot when I'm around team scouse.

Anyway, it was an early one so I got to bed around 11pm, very proud of myself that I was having at least one early night on this tour.  I know this is a ridiculous thing to bring up in a post, but I'm not telling you this to talk about my sleeping routine, but only to tell you this.  I then woke up...BING....wide awake at 3am!  I don't know why?  It clearly wasn't jet lag....maybe it was delayed jet lag or something..... no matter what it what it was, it 3am and I was up and Adam.  I tried getting myself back over for about an hour, to no avail.  I entered the stage of major annoyance at myself, and lack of ability to sleep.  Do you know what I mean? I started getting really pissed off, which made it even harder again to sleep. I decided that the best thing to do was to pretend it was 11pm, stick a movie on and hopefully trick myself into feeling tired again.

I put on Carlito's Way, but no sleep came (although, admittedly, it's not the best film to sleep to)... to cut a tall story short, I eventually fell asleep at 8am this morning.... what a night.

I spent some of that time hanging out the window to get some cool air around me, and into the room, only to notice a plethora of pants, knickers and socks on the roof beneath me.  Clearly from when people washed their smalls in the sink and hung them on the window cill to dry, before the wind caught them and they ended up on the roof.

I had a walk around Berlin today:  Beautiful city altogether!  I sat and had a coffee at Checkpoint Charlie, albeit a redundant checkpoint these days, and couldn't help but imagine what it must have been like!?  There's something about walking around Berlin!  It feels like a very friendly and hopeful city, and yet the smoke from the embers of it's past still gets in your eyes.  Not that it feels austere, just that there's a remnant of austerity.  I must say though, that none of this comes from the people, who a clearly as appalled by the whole thing as the rest of the world, but more from my own knowledge the the cities history.  even though I was  aware of its history, it didn't stop me from falling in love with the city.  It truly is a stunning place!

Right, the tour mole is getting upset now, that I'm still here tyoing when he wants to get going back to the hotel, so I'd best sign off.

We head for Poland tomorrow....two more gigs then I'm homeward bound!!!

p.s. it's Joanne's birthday now (8th Oct) and she's feeling lonely, so please stop by her site and leave a birthday wish will you!!!!

This was an interesting welcome to the hotel room!


Evo manning the beer outlet


Mick's new haircut


Danny (flipping a sly bird?)


Tour Mole taking a picture of me taking a picture of Tour Mole



Checkpoint Charlie


This was a heavy place to be.... a memorial to the Holocaust

Days 23 & 24 - Antwerp & Frankfurt

05 Oct 2009. 8 comments

"It's OK, wee man!  You've got 'two third tour' syndrome, that's all."

These were the encouraging words of my mate - Steve Jones - on the phone yesterday.  I was telling him about feeling a little bit cranky, cantankerous, irritable and just downright tired and ready for the hills.  I then spoke to Matt (Tori's drummer on this tour) about it, and apparently it's a well know thing, this old 'two thirds tour' syndrome.

I'm feeling a lot better now though.  It only lasted a couple of days.

I knew things were going sque-wiff when the Tour mole and I had a huge row about wind turbines, and whether or not they're a good thing.  I was arguing for them.  A valid discussion but hardly argue worthy!

Had a good gig in Antwerp last night.  It was good to learn a bit of another language.  You see, I'm introducing myself each night and saying that I'm happy to be where I am, in the local language.  So far it's been OK, but I haven't tried out my Polish yet.  It's funny learning things in other languages.  It all just seems like sounds to me.  I know what I'm saying, but what I'm hearing doesn't sound anything like I think it should.  For instance, to say "I'm very happy to be here" in German you use the word 'glücklich', which means lucky.  But every time I say it all I can think of is pouring a glass of wine or something: glücklich glücklich glücklich.... anyway...it makes sense to me....

I got evangelised in French at the gig in Paris, by a security guard.  I didn't understand everything he said, but I got the gist of it.  Essentially telling me about the imminent apocalypse, and my need for Jesus.  That's about all I got out of the 5 minute barrage.  I always find it interesting with zealous evangelists of whatever religion, that they tend not to ask questions about you.  They tend to not be interested in your story or even whether or not you're already a part of they're religion; they just plough into you with an onslaught of quotes from their given book, and speak in a way that only they themselves can really understand.  It all seems so utterly futile to me!  Whether it is or isn't is hard to say, but it certainly seems pretty useless.  It's like trying to interest someone in the restorative power of music by bombarding them with the beauty of minor 5th augmented 7th chords, relative minors and the mixolydian mode... it means nothing right!?  Better to play you a piece of music, wouldn't you say?

Speaking of (or speaking around) the afterlife.  I'm reading a book at the minute (another one of the many I've brought with me) called 'SUM - 40 tales of the afterlife'.  It's a great book with 40 (as the title would suggest) short stories, or fantasies is maybe a better word, about the afterlife.  It's often funny and always thought provoking.  The guy doesn't have an axe to grind, he's not pitching ideas that he hopes will catch on and become religious doctrine (at least I hope not).  He's a Neuroscientist called David Eagleman (cool name eh) how is just musing on the possibilities of the afterlife.  It's a very good read if you're interested.  And the best bit is, you can read a chapter in about 2 mins...perfect for the likes of me!

So, I'm now being ushered out of the venue, so I'd best sign off.  We drive to Berlin tomorrow and have the evening off, so I think we're gonna meet up with some other guys from the tour and go to a Rum Bar that the mighty, and ALWAYS informative, Steve Jones told me about.... till we speak again:

May the wind be always on your back
And the sun upon your face
May you never get a kick in the arse
When you bend to tie your lace

I think that might be Yeats... or Butler...I can't remember....f

Snow capped mountains of Monte Blanco, Italy


Living the rock 'n' roll dream in a Parisian tunnel at rush hour


people watching at a French café


Anyone for crabs?

Days 21 & 22 - Milan & Paris

03 Oct 2009. 6 comments

Days 21 & 22 - Italy & Paris

We travelled from Milan to Paris yesterday, via some of the most stunning scenery I've ever experienced, in the form of Monte Blanco.  Is a ski resort in the Northern Italian mountains.  Stopped off for a coffee and to soak in the vista!

After this is was a long old drive to Paris (11 hours all in), but it didn't feel too bad for most of it as I've been listening to Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington. They fairly make the time fly!!  It's the old XFM shows that they did a while back but I never got the chance to hear at the time.  They're hilarious!  Karl is hilarious; primarily because he's not trying to be.

I had the morning off today in Paris, but chose not to go into town with the Tour Mole, but instead set up my studio and did a bit of recording.  I of course made some time to find a café and sit down for a bit and write in my journal.  I always enjoy people watching in a country where you don't really know the culture all that well.  It means you've gotta use your imagination that bit more.  Wondering what kind of jobs people have.  What does their house looks like. Whether they're happy or not.  All that stuff is a bit easier to decipher when I'm at home.  What AM I talking about!?  Anyone's guess!

I used the little French that I have last night in a restaurant.  I simply asked for another beer, using the same words, tone and accent that I always have, when in France, BUT... this time, the girl wasn't having it!  She looked at me like I told her she had bucked teeth and a squint! I know my French isn't that good, but it's surely not that bad.

Anyway... had a good gig tonight.  The Parisian audience where second to none; enough said.

Till we speak again.  Merci Paris, et bonne nuit...f

p.s. no pics today because the old t'internet is playing up here....it's taken over 10 minutes to even load my login page...NIGHTMARE!....well...maybe not a nightmare, but definitely a pain in the arse!

Day 20 - Milano

01 Oct 2009. 3 comments

Oops... forgot to upload the Florence pictures with the last post, so let's start with them.  Was asking Tour Mole why - in his opinion - do we call it Florence when it's actual name is Firenze?  I always find the local term more interesting than our adaptation.  Take Cologne for example.  I think Köln is so much better!!! anyway, here are the missing photos...

The alley


Main bridge West


Main bridge East


Church/Chapel in the centre


Scooter central



I wrote the previous post at the venue in Rome, out on a balcony backstage overlooking some ruins, to the sound of cicadas singing their hypnotic twilight songs.  I say hypnotic because to me the sound of crickets is associated with being on holiday, but I imagine if you heard it every day in life it may be more monotonous than anything else.  The ruins that I overlooked during last night's blog was in the middle of one of Rome's largest venues, which leads me to the conclusion that no matter where you dig in Rome you're gonna find an archeologists dream!  What a place!

The drive to Milano (now doesn't that feel better on the tongue that Milan!?) was a mere 365 miles, one for each day of the year.  Every time we stopped I drank an espresso, which in turn made me quite the manic passenger for the poor Tour Mole. He's already upset that I'm telling everyone he's an awful driver, so the fact that I was double twitchy today made him somewhat irrate with the very sight of me.  So, in an effort to turn my attention from his driving I watched another film.  This time it was a film called 'Lars and the real girl", and in my humble opinion, if you have a heart that beats, you will love it!  What a beautiful film. The guy that acts Lars is outstanding.  Good enough to make you seek out anything else he's ever been in.

Another thing that happened today, that added to my twitchy-ness was getting a call from my daughter's school, telling me I need to come immediately as she has fallen and cut her head open on a table!!!! I was freaking out, to the point of feeling like I might be sick.  I didn't know where to put myself.  I think it's called parental guilt!  My baby's hurt, and I'm not there to do anything about it, to hold her, tell her it's all OK, to say "I'm here".... it was awful!  She's a tough wee cookie so it didn't really phazer her that much, but I was at my wits end, calling every other second for updates.  If anything she was quite pleased with her new scar.  Can you believe it!  That wee'n has been in casualty so often that it's only a matter of time now before social services come knowcking on my door... "Mr Vance!  What on earth are you doing to that wee girl!?"  I'm hoping that this accedent prone stuff is just a childhood matter as I don't think I could bear it into the teenage years; I'd be an almighty shadow of my former self.

Moving on.  I'm now backstage at the gig in Milan and listening to Tori go for gold downstairs.  She just played 'Winter'... I forgot how wonderful that song is!!

So... here's some more phone pics of today's events, and some pics of crew members, all of which pulled ridiculous faces that make them look either mad or 'not all there'!


Looking forward to a late evening off in Paris tomorrow night... till then...f

Ruins in the midst of a venue


Olive groves everywhere


Danny ( of the Mick & Danny catering extravaganza)


Mick (the other half.... but only in the catering sense)


Bill, pulling his nonplussed face...this guy runs the show!


Evo - always looks like this!  Can't see him without laughing now...such an up guy!


When in Rome

Days 18 & 19 - Bologna & Rome

01 Oct 2009. 1 comment

There's something clearly amiss in UK Service Stations that's well and truly present in German ones. The first stop we made en route to Bologna was at a service station that was surrounded by corn fields!  Have you ever seen that anywhere else? I certainly haven't...

I walked into the corn field, and although it was in broad daylight I still found that I got flashes of horror/suspense films that I've watched.You know the ones. The innocent victim -usually a girl - is being chased through the long corn by a killer/extra terrestrial sort of affair.  Then there's that moment where for some reason she stops, as does her pursuer.  Her eyes dart from left to right, in front to behind seeing nothing but the long corn.  Then there's that silent suspense where you hear nothing but the whispering of the sun dried foliage rustling in the breeze.  It was this very noise that made my walk through the corn today a bit eerie. It actually does sound like whispering.  I kept thinking I could hear words(?)

We made it to Bologna, after 13 hours in the car, for a much needed rest.  However, though I'd planned to go straight to bed, we ended up having a lovely meal over a bottle of wine, followed by a walk through the village we were staying in.... would have been very romantic if it hadn't have been just me and the Tour Mole.

The Tour Mole started the driving today from Bologna to Rome.  Now I don't want to generalise, but I'm going to anyway.  Everything you've ever heard about the outlandish behaviour of Italian drivers is absolutely correct!  I don't wish to be unpleasant here, BUT....The Tour Mole's driving is.....well, suffice to say that he isn't the world's greatest driver! At the best of times it's hairy, so driving in Italy in excess of 90mph creates in me a feeling of.......mmmmm, how can I explain it?  Well, if you tied your Granny to the roof of a Rally Car doing a circuit in the snow, her emotions would begin to capture it.

We stopped off in Florence this afternoon for a coffee... what a beautiful place!

Here's some pics of our journey....f

The ubiquitous kick starter


The whispering field


I was tempted to take this....but I didn't


Coffee Break in Switzerland



Speaks for itself



Gotthard Tunnel - 10 miles long, cut into the Swiss mountains

In between days 17 & 18

29 Sep 2009. 2 comments

My power is about to run out (long story!!) so I can't update you in full right now.... will try to sort out my power issues tomorrow..... till then, here's an anticlimactic picture of today's events.....f

entering Italy

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