That was wierd...

I just watched myself on the tele for the first time. Never done that before. It took me a while to pluck up the courage to do it and, while I'm glad I did, I might not be in a rush to do it again. It looked good though. It's kind of bizzar watching a documentary about Tommy on the show, seeing footage of him win and Alex James crying while I had no idea at the time that I might be involved. While all that was going on I was convincing myself, very slowly, that I was going to have nothing to do with music, probably, ever again. It's a funny old world.

I still haven't fully adjusted to being home. I wake up every morning and feel a strange sense of guilt that I have nothing to do and knowing that I can't afford to do nothing. I want to fill my time with things. So this week I am going to start driving lessons again if Nazir is still talking to me. I am going to think about trying to give drum lessons as well and register as self-employed and join the PPL and MU.

"Jackets" appears to have missed the charts and Michael Jackson has a record 43 of the Top 200 UK Chart. I'm not going to pretend it's not a bit of a let down but "ding, ding" it's time for round two. In the grand scheme of things it not enough people have been able to hear the song and that's a shame because it's a great wee tune with a smashing chorus and I think, given some radio play, it would have done a lot better.

Now I'm going to give you a little run-down of the tour stats and I'll let you in on the nicknames we all had by the end of the tour. So here they are...

1.. TV Rizzle, The Rizz, Tommy Rizzle (Tommy)
2.. Mr Skene, G Man The King Man G (Gordon, bass, celo, piano)
3.. Matty Roberts Drummer, McIvor, Fat Matt The Hit Man Hat (Me, the clue to what I do is in the name)

....... Someone is cooking a BBQ outside my kitchen window...smells magic...

4.. Brown Smoke (Calum, backline professional)
5.. DLo, One-peice, Justin, The Darkness (Darren, backline professional)
6.. Grahab... (Iain the Tour Manager, driver, sound man (lost out for some reason... think it's because no-body wants to annoy him incase he turns over another table))

We traveled 3802.8 miles (approx) over 26 days. We played 16 shows, had one production day before we left and did one TV show. That is 11hrs 30mins of music, 63hrs 56mins in a van, plus an extra few on a train for the band to go to and from T4. We stayed in 1 Dolby Hotel, 1 Brookdale Hotel, 1 Beacon Hotel, 1 Days Inn, 3 Ibis Hotels (one for 2 nights), 2 Jurys Inn's (one for three nights (two for the band)), 3 Holiday Express Inns, 3 Travellodge's and 1 night for the boys in the legendary Columbia in London.

We played in front of a few thousand of the prettiest people in the UK, played my first Ludwig kit, saw Prodigy arrive at Rockness in a helicopter, I shook Simon from Biffy Clyro's hand, got lost up the hill where they film Skins in Bristol, had a day out in the Historic City of York, sat in a wheelchair for the first time in Manchester, played to a sit-down crowd for the first time and did my laundry in Exeter, got really drunk at a house party in Cornwall, left before the fighting in Southampton, slam danced at a club and drank a whole gallon of water on stage in Oxford, Iain lost his iPhone in Nottingham, I had a "moment" with Smokey and One-Piece on the beach in Brighton, got a Tommy Reilly drum skin, met Miquita Oliver and filmed my first TV show, saw up-close but didn't get to meet Naboo from the Might Boosh, got thrown from a shopping trolley and went for a drink in the oldest pub in England which is in Nottingham, found out what shape a napkin/serviette is and finished "Deception Point" by Dan Brown.

All in all it was a pretty good hussle. And, thanks to the power of the internet, even if I never do it again I'll always have this wee record.

Lots a love
M xx

Rest In Peace Mr Jackson.

This has been a tragic week in music. We lost Michael Jackson. Love him or hate him he is, without doubt, one of the best and most influencial musicians ever to have walked the earth. Although his life in recent years has been plagued with controvercy it will be his legendary dancing and cross-over music which should, rightly, live on forever. He was the very definition of an entertainer, a very limited breed and perhaps he will be the last real pioneer. For me he represented the extreme musical genius that very few people are ever able to achieve. Perhaps they are right though when they say that genius is very close to maddness. Even so I will miss him.

Mxx

Glasgow town is too hot!!!

A quick up date for you....

Tommy is embarking on a promo tour this week and the first single "Jackets" came out on Monday! It is a nervous week for us all a big big week! Lets all hope that it goes well...

We played a live radio show on Clyde One On Demand on Monday eve which was lovely. There was about 50 On Demand winners there to see us perform and we met some very lovely wee faces :-)

Tonight we are playing on BBC Radio Scotland at midnight. Its another live show with one of my favourite people Mr Vic Galloway. I'm very excited!

A couple of strange things happened this week as well. Whilst walking through the London underground with my Grand Dad Tom last week I saw two posters for festivals we are doing this summer with our name on them! I took a photo which might be a bit weird... Also last night on the way to the pub with Mike and Gaz I saw two massive posters for the single so a took a picture of that too... I think it's great and I don't care!

Yesterday I chilled in the Botanic Gardens in scorching 32 degree heat.... dynamite!














Gordon has been providing the entertainment this week as well. I've been to see him play with his other bands "Moth and the Mirror" who are awesome and "Brother Louis Collective" who are sickeningly talented too. On yersel' Mr Skene.





Lots a love
M xx

Why oh why....

...is the tour over? I don't ever want to come home again! Being on a tour is quite unlike anything else man. On the one hand you want to spend a day in your pants, lounging on the sofa watching Top Gear, eating some chicken and maybe some sex... but on the other you want to stay in performance mode, sitting in a van, watch a couple of bands, eat some rider and make love to a drum kit.

I know what you're thinking but thats not wierd.

So now I'm home for a couple of days and thats great. My Grand Dad came to visit and I went to Tower Bridge and the Planetarium and went to a party. Tomorrow I'm going to Glasgow at 930am to do a couple of radio show over the next couple of days. Thats all cool but I'm going to let you in on a secret............

............ the other night (the first night back home) I couldn't sleep. Instead of counting sleep I played through, in my head, one whole gig... every beat...every cheer... every song.... that's how difficult it is to get out of tour mode...

I love ya and I'm going to leave you with a picture of Clarko who played the last two shows with us... he is one of my favourite musicians in the world...



You're welcome :-)
M xx

Rockness... hell yes!!!

The most insane day of my life!!!! We left Glasgow at 7am to take a few thousand people to pleasure town. I mean I could sit hear now and give you a play by play of the whole day but that would bore me and you so I'll just shoot for the best bits.

When we arrived, at about 12 bells, we were sent to our dressing room which was only next to Placebo's dressing room... so that was a normal start to any day obviously...!!!! Then I got told off by Iain because I let the side down by forgetting a vital bit of kit which meant I couldn't put the brand new Tommy Reilly drum skin on my kit which Iain had had courriered up especially from London. I was not popular. We figured we ought to have a quick look at the stage we were about to play on... the band before us were the Magistrates I think... a great band but there was nobody watching... that made me a bit nervous I'll be honest. I certainly had been looking forward to this show and the last thing any of us wanted was for nobody to be watching. It was a big day for us.




The way it works at these big festival shows is that the drums are set-up on a "rolling riser" while the band before you are on. That means it's set up right for me and when that band come off my drums a literallly rolled on to the stage, locked in position and left. Very cool if you care about that kinda thing. Meanwhile, while the boys are taking care of that we are backstage getting our game faces on (lemon face, lion face styley) and I was praying that we weren't going to be playing to an empty field. Then, as if from nowhere, starting as a faint whisper and developing in to a thunderous roar, a "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy f*%king Reilly" chant from the crowd sent more eagles than butterflies in to my belly. As we walked on the noise nearly knocked me off my feet and the scale of what was about to happen sunk in. The rest was just a very noisy pop concert. I've never hit the drums harder in all my days. And, as if rehearsed, during the break in "Grab Me By The Collar" a dude threw a football at me and he actually hit the kit! I stopped to threw it back. appaerntly I was on the big screen at the side of the stage... me!! HAAAA!




It was wicked man we got a pile of love. I felt like we were playing a real show. I mean the Prodigy were on just a handfull of bands after us! THE PRODIGY!!!!! I learned to play the drums along to "Fat of the Land" when I was a kid and now I was them arrive in a bright orange helicopter man... how cool is that?... to play on the same stage as me. To give you an idea of the scale I've put some nice piccys in for you. I took some and Darren "one piece" Hawkins took some.

T4 Special!!!!

How many people does it take to make a TV show?? Lots apparently. . .

At 10am on Tuesday 2nd of June we were delivered by a flustered taxi man to a roof top on Bricklane... My television debut had begun! Upon our arrival a cool wee dude (I think called Luke) was handing out bottles of water to an already sweaty bunch, it was about 30 degrees. Tommy Rizle was screaming his way through "Gimme a Call" whilst we all looked on and a couple of guys walked around with their camera's. It was a strange specticle and everybody treats you so nicely.



After the initial singing and dancing we were hoisted to an even greater height where a lovely Scottish lady from Aberdeen insisted that we needed to wear make-up. Now I'm not going to lie... I have worn make-up before, just never in front of anyone. After Tommy had been interviewed on his own, co-stars Gordon and I, were summoned in front of a camera to be introduced to the T4 kids. When you realise there are two television camera's in front of you strange things start going through your mind and I became very conscious that everything I said and did was being recorded. It's a bit like that feeling you get when you walk in a room and everyone goes quiet and looks at you. Except you're walking into a thousand living rooms and bedrooms on a sunday morning. Very bizarre.



After that it was into another car and across London again (via a music shop, because guess who forgot to pack his drum sticks?) to Princess Productions where the T4 studio is. After an M&S Chicken Caeser salad and an emergency energy drink we went to film the playing of the songs. How cool is this? I got to choose the drum kit I played on the tele and have it delivered to the studio and set up for me (how mad is that!!!!) by a nice guy from John Hendry rentals. I went for my dream vintage Ludwig kit in a silver sparkle finish. After a few minor adjustments the camera was rolling again and we did a few takes... hang on, they don't call it a "take" like they do in the movies, they call it a "pass".... go figure.














Afterwards Tommy did a studio interview with Miquita, who is even hotter in real life boys and talked about life after the unsigned show. Bits about the singles and making the album with Mr Butler and a bit about not getting dropped by the label. And like that we were done. I hope you all get to see it. It was a magic day for me. I just feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a great opportunity and to meet so many great folks along the way makes it even better...

Who'd of thought eh?!
M xx


Ps We would all like to hear what you guys think of us.. So if you've seen us play or have put any videos on Youtube let me know so we can check them out!!!

Lots of love x

Sorry boys and girls...

I haven't been able to get on the net for nearly a week... it's been very frustrating! So what I'm going to do is spend ages tomorrow doing a T4 behing the scenes bit of chat and then tell you about the other shows and stuff.

Lots of love for now and thanks to everyone who has come to see us over the past few weeks... you cheeky little swines xxxx

Home home home!!!!

Back in London for a night at home!! YAAAAAASSSS!!! I'm expanding my mind with some Elmore Judd on the CD player and drinking a fantastic coffee and a smoke by my kitchen window.

Tonight is going to go:
1 Cuddle from Helen
2 A steak with mustard mash and gravy
3 A roasting hot bath and a glass of rouge
4 Scrubs
5 My own bed where I intend to sleep, star-shaped, until my name changes to Rip Van Roberts.
DONE

Tomorrow though it's an early start. We are filming a short documentary, behind the scenes style thing for T4 and recording a couple of tracks for the kids. We are doing Jackets and Grab Me By The Collar. I've never done TV before so I'm both excited and a little nervous and a bit wierded out by the whole thing. And then after that we are being driven up to Sheffield to do another fantastic Pop concert.... I love love love it! Somehow the are nearly 200 pre-sales for tomorrow... I think it might mostely be my family! I'm looking forward to seeing my aunt's, uncles, cousins, friends my brother and my grand dad!

I spent the last couple of days in Manchester. We played last night in the Ruby Lounge and there were lots of people there and they were making a lot of noise. Interesting manchester facts for you... did you know that it is home to the tallest residential building in the country? A-top the local Hilton hotel lives the man who designed it in exchange for the top two floors. Genius. I'm a fountain of knowledge eh?

Right I'm off
M xx