Start of UK tour - crazy busy!

It's spring! I'm writing in glorious sunshine looking out across the English Channel, with nothing but plumes volcanic ash between myself and the sun! Since coming back from America I've been insanely busy with a whole host of exciting things. One of which includes making the above trailer for the documentary I'm putting together for our U.S.A. tour back in 2007 - I've just gone through all the hours of video footage, and it's going to be hilarious! Thanks to my adorable friend Lucy (who's only fault is her love of Oasis, and her insane cat), I had lunch with the drummer from Blur, Dave Rowntree at the famous Groucho Club in Soho. He is a vegetarian who drunk water while I had steak and gin, but he was a thoughtful, interesting and generous man, who dabbles in politics, computer programming and animation directing as well as being a drummer in one of the biggest bands of the last 20 years! Blur's new single "Fools Day" is available for free download via their website now.

Our UK tour is now under way after a brilliant first gig in Epsom, and here's what we're doing (click on this or any other photo for the full whack size) :


This coming week, we're playing up in Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and Newcastle. Really excited about being on the road again, and only slightly worried about Aberdeen because of what ALWAYS happens after a gig there. Good days. Here's a little after gig report from "Native Tongue" in Epsom:




We've finished sending demos to John Cornfield at Sawmills, and will be setting dates this coming week for recording our first full length album - hopefully in July. It's going to be a belter, the hardest part is deciding what songs we can't fit on it! I'm afraid "Trauma Town", "Lover, Killer" and "Bill Hicks" are all to be left off it.

I've answered 340 questions so far on http://www.formspring.me/nigeljthomas - do keep 'em coming, your questions have been very amusing lately! And remember, you can ask me anything.

Finally finished reading "Walden; or Life in the Woods" by Henry David Thoreau. A tough book. I don't agree with everything he says about how to live your life, and what you should do (while I agree with him that you should be able to enjoy your life whatever you do, and find joy in just sitting watching the sun rise for example, I don't think it's something that you should spend ALL your time doing, and lacks any ambition and drive to use your skills and to grow) - but this is still very relevant -

"...if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagine, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind him, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour* in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the licence of a higher order of beings."

Having had a little time to myself, I've been writing (and recording) new songs almost non-stop, so do drop by my Facebook Music Page for a listen. I'm now giving away mp3's of my songs for free, so email me nigel@thefoxesband.com telling me which you'd like and I'll send them over when I've a free minute!

I'll leave you to check out the Spring shoot (click here) I did on a beautiful sunny day in Cambridge with the highly talented Heather. We had the best ice-cream in the world too.

Much love,

Nigel.

"Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are."

P.S. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new Chris Morris film, "Four Lions."
P.P.S. George Washington was naughty.
P.P.P.S Links to Twitter and all The Foxes and my other pages in the convenient "links" box on the right hand side.

* I've upgraded the spelling to British English.

Somewhere in America...the U.S. Mini-Tour

First off, have a look at the video above to "Get Me" which is the first track from our new EP, "Depression, Joy and a Moment of Fame." It was made entirely by piecing together clips taken on my N82 phone from the recording session, and I'll be making a full documentary type affair when I have a moment of time.

Incidentally, we're still looking for someone to make a video to the last track on the EP, "Country Low" - please get in touch if you can help, or if you know anyone who can (cartoon style or animated especially welcome!) nigel@thefoxesband.com

And so....to America.....(former British colonies, couldn't afford the tea, now prefer coffee so could have just left the tea anyway...)

THE FLIGHT THERE.

It ALWAYS rains on the day I leave for America, whether to New York, LA or in this case, Salt Lake City in Utah, via Detroit. We flew Delta, and thanks to my friend Amber, we had first class seats on plane. It was quite an incredible experience - as soon as you sit down in your giant chair, they offer you orange juice or chilled champagne, which you drink while looking through the well stocked toiletries bag they provide you, resting on your full size plump pillow. After take off, I mulled over my good fortune with another drink while casually nibbling some of the warm mixed
nuts while watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" - really very funny.

Because I stole a menu, I can tell you that for my first course that evening, I had the Caprese Salad with mozzarella, tomato and basil (with a warm wheat roll of course) and for main, the roast chicken breast garnished with olives and tomatoes, accompanied by sweet couscous and sugar snap peas. For dessert, I merely went for a natural vanilla ice-cream sundae, with strawberry sauce and chopped nuts, garnished with a pirouline cookie.

Before this turns in to a food blog, I'll just tell you that I was GUTTED that they ran out of my first choice of pre-arrival light meal (the roast chicken breast sandwich) so I was forced to somehow shovel down a cold salad plate featuring smoked salmon slices, potato cucumber salad and tomato, accompanied by bread sticks and fresh fruit. How I managed, I'll never know as I lay back flat to sleep...

LANDED.

Amazed to see snow in Detroit, thought about cars, then flew off to Salt Lake where we were picked up by my lovely "American sister" Karen Ashman who took us to Karma Banks beautiful house and where I met up with some wonderful people I'd not seen in SO many years! Karma made me a sandwich with enough meat for a large family (it was delicious though) and we enjoyed the most amazing spread before playing some songs to a packed out room and having a great evening generally. We stayed at Zach's house (Amber's friend) and got to sleep at around 7am UK time.

Monday 1st March.

After Amber made us a form of "French Toast" with butter and maple syrup which was the nicest thing I've ever eaten, we headed out to look round the centre of Salt Lake round Temple Square - it was great to see how well everything was looked after, and it really is a pretty place. Everywhere you turn, you can see the most incredible mountain range in the distance. I STRONGLY recommend you try a "Jimmy John's" the next time you're in the States. Their bins, aka "trash cans" have an interesting suggestion too, as you can see from the photo....

The afternoon show was at a coffee shop called "NoBrow" - and we played "au natural" without a pa or amps, with glorious sunshine coming through the window (see photo above). I'm grateful that so many of my Utah friends came along to see us play, and I think they enjoyed it almost as much as we did.

That night, my friend Rob Turner who is a master of the local music scene (he also works for Disney films, and kindly took us to lunch on set) took us out and we had a rather jolly evening. I won't go into details, but the guy at the Carl's Junior with the gun DID like us apparently, and it was nice to meet some more people from Zach's apartment!

Tuesday 2nd March.

Today we experienced "Taco Soup" for the first time in our lives, courtesy of the Draschil family (it was delicious), whom we then performed for them in their living room. There were about a thousand children there, but it didn't feel like it as they were all so well behaved and danced around to our songs - it was a real pleasure to play for them. I also found a new friend in the form of "Grace" - who wouldn't let go of my hand! We played at Club Velour later that evening, and watched some other very talented people play too - it was still very hard to get used to how friendly every was to us...even strangers were chatting and buying the our CD's. It was a refreshing attitude. We had a delicious "In 'n' Out" burger on the way, back, and I drunk more Dr.Pepper than is really healthy for a human.

Wednesday 3rd March.

This was the day we went for a quick drive in the mountains and got a bit lost, going a mere 80 miles out of the way! It was very pretty though, so that made up for it, though we arrived rather late at the Ashman's for a lovely dinner (with tasty cool whip...like Angel Delight, but you have it with the main meal!). We almost didn't make the gig at The Vertical Diner after that, because Amber's car was so exhausted from its mountain drive, it gave up about a mile from the venue. Karen saved the day, and we made it to the gig just in time to leap on stage, and have a great evening.

Thursday 4th March....trying to get home.

This was the day we were meant to be going on Fox 13's "Good Morning Utah", but they pulled out at the last minute because of some big news story, and they couldn't fit us in! Very annoying, as I've been told Channel 2 also wanted to have us on that day. Next time!

After very many fond farewells, we flew out of Salt Lake and arrived in the afternoon in Atlanta JUST IN TIME to miss our flight home. Running across terminals with your bag and a guitar at high altitudes after days of being stuffed on American food is NOT RECOMMENDED. Fortunately, there was a flight back at 10.50pm that night which we waited for and, as good fortune wouldn't have it, was full so we couldn't get on. Our friend Richard Ryea who runs a label in Atlanta (and whom we stayed with when The Foxes toured the U.S. in 2007) came to our rescue, and kindly put us up that night. The next day we caught a flight to Minneapolis (therefore going AWAY from home) but from there finally managed to get flights back to London, dealing as best we could again with the limitations of first class seats.

Thank you to Amber, Karen, Zach, Rob and everyone who made our mini-tour so amazing. We'll be back soon! I'll be putting up the full photo collection soon, and a little video. I think everyone agreed that my American accent REALLY was making progress by the time I left. A few more days, and I think I'd have passed for a local....er...maybe....

I've written FAR too much, so will leave you here with a song from our fantastic gig at The Barfly on Saturday. Looking forward to the big tour!




Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. Have a look at our latest photo shoot here.
P.P.S. Why not join my music page by clicking here?
P.P.P.S. Thank you for all your comments while I was away - I really enjoyed reading them, even if I couldn't reply!

"You're very annoying, stop taking photos" - What Jonno's expression said for most of the trip!

New EP, tour and American adventures!

The picture of beauty above is the front cover to our new EP, "Depression, Joy and a Moment of Fame." It's an original piece of artwork by a very talented artist called Owain Thomas (no relation...that I'm aware of). Do check out the rest of his work. It's not finalised, but we're looking at a release date of around 12th April, with a big UK tour (and maybe Europe if we have time!) in April/May. The new tracks should be up soon too. Exciting times...I love touring, despite the long drives, sleeping in random places and the dodgy petrol station diet! Lots of gigs already booked across the country. Check out our gig listing on our Facebook or Myspace page.

Mastering, the final touch to the tracks, went very well with John Davis at Metropolis, and he dealt with our usual pestering to meet Damon Albarn, etc very well. Also need to thank John for having us at his birthday party, which is responsible for my very sore head this morning! Our producer John Cornfield also drove all the way up from Cornwall to be at the session to. What a guy! Here's a little video clip of the mastering - check out his three GIANT speakers (that John later climbed on...)

In other news, Jonno and I are heading off to Salt Lake City in Utah for a week to play some acoustic gigs, and hopefully do a few TV and radio spots. We've got one gig booked already at the Vertical Diner on 3rd March, and should have shows every night if all goes well, thanks to my good friend Rob Turner, a local music scene legend! We're also going to be flying first class, thanks to the lovely Amber who works for an airline and is getting us a rather amazing flight deal! Having never flown anything above cattle class, I'm going to be an excited little child on the flight - sorry Jonno, but I WILL be taking stupid photos and video, and making a fool of myself.

Speaking of the U.S. it's looking very likely that we'll be doing a week of shows in Los Angeles in June for various industry folk...but I guess we'll let the public in too! Anyway, more details to come. Mmm....In 'n' Out burgers.....

Big thanks to Laura at Exposure PR for giving us a host of clothes and shoes from Ben Sherman, Levi's, Original Penguin and Farrah. We've several photo shoots coming up, so look out for them then...and at gigs of course.

I'll leave you with this video clip in the van after John Davis birthday party, where the following can be ascertained:

1. Steve is the drummer.

2. It's dark at night.

3. Alex loves "penis."

I've probably left out loads of exciting things, but am too tired to think at the moment! Oh yes, we've just been confirmed for the main stage at a major UK festival. Can't tell you which one yet though.

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. Part two of the Yeti Tour video is now up - check it out now, if you please!
P.P.S. A new song on my Facebook page.
P.P.P.S. CHECK OUT MY BAKING SKILLS!!

P.P.P.P.S. You can ask me silly questions, safely veiled behind anonymity by clicking here. 221 questions answered to date!


"Happy Birthday to me!" - John Davis, yesterday.

"He didn't really say that, but it WAS his birthday yesterday" - Me, right now, to you.

Sawmills - Day Four & Five

Day Four.

The final day has been perfection - we had a lot to do...overdubs on all the tracks, guitar parts, vocals, percussion, claps...."chuka chuka's" (you'll understand when you hear them!)...but we got it all done, and the tracks sound amazing. Really...we worked together in a way we never have before...John Cornfield was fantastic to work with (yes, I'm full of it tonight, but it's all true)...let me tell you about the tracks, in the order they'll appear on the EP:

1. Get Me. A track unlike any we've done before, and one I wrote quite recently...it starts with just guitar and drums, and is a short, tight, exciting track with a huge middle eight. I'm making a video to this track from footage from this week....lots of people seem to love the lyrics to this track too.

2. Something About You. We got this nailed in just a couple of takes because we were so full of excitement and energy! The big climax at the end of the solo is breathtaking! It's full of joy, which I can remember when writing it.

3. No Reply. I'm not sure what to say about this one. The first part of the track is just vocals and two guitars, and has a very melodic Sinatra feel to it (you'll probably disagree with that entirely....I just want to sing swing and jazz!). It was written a few years while ago about how someone I cared about drifted away from me.

4. Country Low. This song had the most tracks by far - 69 individual tracks at last count! My brother Ian came down to put piano at the end, and it has a huge crescendo to the end. Though we were uncertain whether to do this track or "Run" I'm VERY happy with the end result. I wrote this song in the garden as it started to rain at my parents house in Somerset.

We've got to be up early and leave by 11am at the latest, or the tide will be out and our boat will be stuck in the mud. The only low point of the day was when I smashed my head on an open cupboard door. The agonising pain was really quite diverting from the coffee I was trying to make.

We're having a bit of a party now, which started in the studio with a bit of tipsy playing and has moved into the main house where we've found a big megaphone and...well....that's enough for now!


Day Five.

We all managed to get up and load the boat before the tide went out! Here we are about to board ship with John outside the studio (click on any of the photos in this blog for the whacking great full size versions, or just leave them for nothing to happen).




The drive back took hours and hours and hours. We're all a little sad to leave our little forest studio home, but it's likely we'll be back for a much longer session in the summer. We're also all totally thrilled at how well the recordings have turned out...it'll take a good couple of weeks for John to complete the mixing and then the mastering by our main man, Mr John Davis, who did all the previous singles.

Anyway, here's a little snippet of video from the studio when Jonno was doing some guitar overdubs to "Get Me" - full documentary to come in a couple of weeks! I'll also be putting up video tasters of all the songs in forthcoming blogs.

Much love,

Nigel.

I'm going to be working on the second part of the 2008 tour video now, so it should be up this week...it's far naughtier. First part here, well worth watching!

P.S. I've had no phone signal (apart from the few moments I've had a walk in the woods) so that's the reason I've ignored any texts etc)
P.P.S. I've had hardly any time free (apart from the time I've spent doing these blogs) so that's why I've not replied to emails and Facebook messages.
P.P.P.S. There are no spelling mistakes in this blog Alexandra!


"Thumping great dynamic, I love it" - John Cornfield, yesterday.

"Goodbye" - John Cornfield, today.

"Goodbye John" - Us, today.

The Foxes Facebook.
My Facebook.
The Foxes Twitter.
Do ask me something interesting too by clicking here.


Loading the boat. It's amazing how much stuff you can fit in it:

Sawmills - Day Three

Today was a long hard day - but incredibly worth it. I woke up late, which was fine as Jonno was busy early doing some guitar overdubs. After a stern dose of medically necessary and industrial strength coffee, we then spent around four hours working on "No Reply" It has several tricky time changes, and despite exhaustive attempts, we weren't happy with any of the takes. So we left it and started on "Something About You" which we perfected in just a couple of runs - it has a really great vibe to it, and sounds just how I'd envisaged the "band version" when I first wrote it. It really is special.

It was quite late by the time we'd finished the vocals, but we launched straight in to "No Reply" again and nailed it in the first take. As John said, "It sounds like you're enjoying yourselves now!"

It's been pouring with rain for most of the day. Whoever decided that having a roof on the studio was a good idea, I commend you. We would have been both soaked and electrocuted otherwise.

Tomorrow we're doing overdubs of certain backing vocals, guitar parts, hand claps and various other bizarre noises. My brother Ian is also bravely leaving his cat for the day to come and add some piano to the end of "Country Low" (there's a baby grand in the studio).

I know you'd kill me if I left you without a...erm...food update, so for lunch we had real Cornish pasties, and dinner was a sumptuous spicy Spanish pork casserole. Lemon cheesecake dessert was as doubly enjoyable as it was listening back to the four tracks in the control room. There MIGHT have been a little bit of childish dancing around at how good they sound! Not me though.

I'm sorry there's not more to report tonight - it has just been a very long day of solid studio work, without time to explore the forest or drown one of the guys in the river for a joke.

We're relaxing and watching "Carlito's Way" now. Oh, Alex has just passed me a cinnamon biscuit. What a nice guy.

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. I do love reading your blog comments (it'll be quite embarrasing if there are none to this one now...)
P.P.S. I've tried to decide which track sounds best, but I can't! They're even better than I thought they'd be.
P.P.P.S. The same links as yesterday: The Foxes Facebook. My Music Facebook. The Foxes Twitter. Do ask me something interesting too!
P.P.P.P.S. We're all exhausted, but happy.
P.P.P.P.P.S. That's enough!
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Is it?
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Yes.

"There's no law against cheescake in the control room" - John Cornfield, today.

"Can I have Nigel on his own? Twice? " - Alex Douglas, today.

Sawmills - Day Two

We've just finished fourteen hours solid work, and despite my having only managed to get to sleep at 6am, it's gone extraordinarily well!

So far, we've pretty much completed the basic tracking for "Get Me" and "Country Low" and I don't mean to hyperbolize, but they really are truly sounding quite fantastic. Spending the first evening getting the right mics in place (two for each guitar amp, and about a thousand for the drums) and checking the levels really paid off. The sound is actually quite different from our previous singles - still the same energy and excitement, but far more rounded and full. As you can see from the quote at the bottom of this blog, John seemed fairly impressed!

So far the trickiest part has been getting the tempo right as we're not playing to a click track, as this is far better for getting something with a bit of feeling and soul, not some regimented piece of manufactured pop.

The studio is incredibly secluded, and there's ZERO phone signal, so there are few distractions from making the best music we've ever done (in the studio at least...there's such distractions as a pool table, internet, digital satellite TV, loads of DVD's, computer consoles and beer up in the main house...) Dinner tonight was steak and stilton pie, with potatoes, salad, vegetables and hot buttered rolls courtesy of the lovely Ruth!

I've been doing plenty of filming, so will be putting together a recording documentary at some point. You would have seen some footage tonight, but Geve's computer is just not playing ball. It's not even changed for the game.

I genuinely can't wait to start again tomorrow!

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. I've just heard on QI that people who sleep just 4 to 7 hours a night live LONGER than those who sleep 8 or more. RESULT! ;-)
P.P.S. Did I mention how fantastic the tracks are sounding?!
P.P.P.S. Some links: The Foxes Facebook. My Music Facebook. The Foxes Twitter. Do ask me something interesting too!

"To be honest, I'm fucking amazed" - John Cornfield, today.

Sawmills - Day One (arrival)

I write to you from a former 17th Century water mill in deepst darkest Cornwall and will be doing daily recording blogs. But before I say anything else, I hope you've all seen the first part of the mini documentary video I made recently from our 2008 UK tour with Yeti?



Part two will be up soon, and will have to have an adult viewing rating. Be excited!

Speaking of which...

....the drive took about four and a half hours. Alex drove, Jonno was dying of a cold in the back, and Geve kept him company....they had a little nap, bless them! This was the only photo where they weren't cuddling.



The only way to reach the studio is by boat, and we really didn't think we'd fit all our equipment on, but did it in one trip. It really is beautiful down here - there's a vibe and atmosphere in the studio too which we've not felt before, and I truly feel these recordings are going to be something special.



So, what are we doing here?!

We're recording an EP called "Depression, Joy and a Moment of Fame" and it will be a four track taster of the full length album we're planning on releasing later this year. The track listing is:

1. Get Me.
2. Something About You.
3. No Reply.
4. Country Low.

(You can hear the acoustic demos and read the lyrics to all these songs on my Facebook page by clicking here, except "No Reply" which you can hear here).

We debated for WEEKS on whether to record "Country Low" or "Run" - but decided that while Run is a great song, we wanted something a bit different for this EP than the bluesy rock feel of "Run" and something to showcase the vocal harmonies etc. Don't worry though..."Run" will feature on the album, and I think you're going to love what we're going to do with "Country Low!"

So far tonight, we've just set everything up and had a quick run through "Get Me" to make sure we have the right sounds and levels...tomorrow we start recording first thing...well, 10.30am. For musicians, that's the middle of the night.


Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. Ask me anything by clicking here.
P.P.S. We've all brought "lucky charms" - care to guess what they all are?!
P.P.P.S Click on any of the photos above for the full size images.

"Ok guys, time to make history" - John Cornfield, today.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day...

I've been way too busy to post anything since October...so what's been going on?!

Well, you won't be surprised to hear a lot of gigging has happened and we played with The Buzzcocks on the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago, from which the live video above to "Get Me" is taken. There's loads more live videos on our Youtube page, and photos from the gig are here. It really was a brilliant night, and thanks to Doug Alldred and Airon Baker from Blunt Promotions for putting on the show. Special thanks to Doug for the quite incredible aftershow party, of which we're not going to say too much (stronger Honey next time Doug?!) apart from it went on past 7am and Doug makes the BEST cocktails...oh, and his Guinness "surge" device is amazing, as is his vinyl collection.

The Buzzcocks were really nice chaps, and we had quite a time with them after the show. Must remember to include four bottles of Champagne on my next rider too....

Well, the big news is that from 17th to 21st January, we'll be recording a brand new 4 track EP at Sawmills Studios with producer John Cornfield. John produced and mixed several of my favourite albums, including "Origin of Symmetry" by Muse, and "In it for the Money" by Supergrass, though he's also worked with Razorlight, Oasis, Robert Plans, The Verve, The Stone Roses etc. The studio is in the most beautiful areas of Cornwall, and can only be accessed by boat...yes, we'll be transporting all the equipment from our van to the studio by the river, as you can see from this photo:


We've firmly decided on three of the four tracks we'll be recording...which are:

1. Get Me.
2. Something About You.
3. No Reply.

We're still pondering as to the fourth track....which will either be "Country Low" (which you can hear on my Facebook page here) or a new version of an old song "Run" (which you can hear here).

We also need to decide upon a NAME for the EP...which might be based on some of my lyrics - suggestions welcome on all counts, though don't feel bad if they're ignored...it just means they're rubbish.

Oh, and "Lover, Killer" has been used by a New Zealand company in a Skiing video which you can see here. It's also now up on Air New Zealand, if you happen to fly with them....

ANYWAY, all of this is all piffle, compared to the GIGANTIC NEWS that the FANS IN OUR VAN HAVE NOW BEEN FIXED. No, we don't carry repaired girls around in it, I mean the HEATING is fixed. What better time to have done that too, than after months of FREEZING COLD?! Honestly, this will improve my life immensely, and I might finally start to feel better. We'll be announcing a big UK tour shortly, and I think we all would have frozen to death without this. The wheel that nearly came off the van when we were driving (which would have killed us), has also been fixed. So that's good.

Those of you who have had the time and strength of mind to have read my previous blog entries will know that I had....er...ALL my stuff stolen on my wild European Road Trip with Jonno in September. Luckily I was insured, and you'll all be as delighted as I was to hear that out of about £2,000 worth of stuff stolen, I've received the princely sum of £164.74. Isn't life so very fair?!

However, on the bright side, I DID manage to get another Mickey Mouse top after months of searching Ebay.

The photo above and right is HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour, which I took just before getting the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Pretty pretty!

IN THE NEXT BLOG: There'll be news (and maybe even a snippet) of the World Cup song I've been asked to write, as well as video compilation I'm putting together from the filming I did on the YETI tour way back in 2008....PLUS more random photos and weird videos.

I'll leave you with photos from our Death Disco Christmas Party, and just for a laugh, a video (which someone uploaded just six months ago and I found by chance) of our playing a song we never play anymore nearly two years ago.....ah, the memories!

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. I ramble on Twitter sometimes.
P.P.S. I've got a new girlfriend.



"Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape." William S. Burroughs.

Good and Bad

Here's a tired and annoyed Nigel playing "Headlock" in Oslo, after a heroic battle with it's one way traffic system and nightmare parking. N.B. I wish you could have seen the strange collection of faces staring at me from behind where Jonno was filming. The Doors were right...people ARE strange when you're a stranger (you can see all the music videos I've uploaded so far here: http://www.youtube.com/user/thefoxes)




Since getting back from my epic travels with Jonno, good things and bad things have happened.

Bad Things.
1. I've still not been able to get a replacement for my much loved Mickey Mouse t-shirt. As you can see, it appears to be sold out. I'm going to write a real, physical letter. Honestly. If you can help me find a replacement (size small) you will be richly rewarded.
2. We lost in the football against Ukraine. It's ok though, we still qualify.
3. I am out of coco-pops.
4. I have spent WAY too much money. Care to have a guess on how much the trip cost Jonno and I....NOT including replacing all my stolen stuff?! Go on....
5. My smashed phone is beyond repair according to Professor Technician Brother with a Beard.

Good things.
1. I've finally organised and put up the full set of photos from the European road trip. Click here to see them! There are some really great photos here! I wish I still had the night ones from Paris. Ho hum.
2. I had a fantastic time playing at "The Haymakers Sunday Joint" for Doug on the Isle of Wight. Met some lovely people, and watched some great music.
3. I've finally managed to put "Get Me" up on my Facebook page, and a new version of "5476 Miles" both on there and my Myspace. Feedback welcome, as long as it's good.
4. Speaking of which, I will be travelling 5476 miles next month. I will need to buy a new suitcase for this (see blog on "Disaster" for more details). The duck will NOT be coming with me, he's hibernating like...er... magic ducks do.
5. There are a LOT of exciting things happening with my music and the band. I can't really talk about any of it yet for various reasons, especially because of how dreadful it'll be if it then doesn't happen! (which is possible...this is the music business, most people are [insert suitably dreadful word here] Read "Kill Your Friends" by John Niven or "Powder" by Kevin Sampson for more details.

Oh, I've still not decided on a new name for this blog. Might just leave it as it is to confuse the stupid.

I'll leave you with a short video of Jonno and I talking about how expensive it is in Copenhagen, and the billions of bikes in the city. My stuff was probably being stolen just as this video was taken. Ha!



Much love,

Nigel. X

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create."

Albert Einstein.

Amsterdam and Brugge

Firstly, if you want to drive in to Amsterdam - don't! The streets are flooded with bicycles, and it doesn't welcome cars. Due to being hungover from our Hamburg gig, photo above, we left Germany late after a very nice lunch with Christina (I hope your door is ok!) and it was already dark by the time we entered Amsterdam. We must have spent around two hours hunting for a space, ALL of which you have to pay for, even in the suburbs. Not only that, but the road signs are either non-existant or tiny tiny tiny...by the time we found our space (it cost 45 Euro to park there for the day) it was about 10pm, and a long walk to the station to meet my old school mate Rich, who owns a lovely flat in the heart of Amsterdam, and the red light district.

Rich's flat, which he's renovating, is awesome and has lovely original wooden beams (see, I pay attention!) and a more awesome view of "The Sex Palace" across the street (as you can see from the photo). I'd never been to Amsterdam before, but of course had heard about the women in the windows...it was still a bit of a shock to see it in reality though. The thought of paying for sex (other than emotionally) has never entered my head, and this only flickered for the briefest of moments when looking at some truly beautiful girls trying to get our attention from their windows. It seems like ALL tastes are catered for however, and some of the ladies on other streets had...um...a bit more to love, and on one street, more penises. It's a good place to people watch, especially seeing the sheepish look on guys faces as they leave the brothels, and sneaky, slightly shadly look of those selecting their lady pick 'n' mix...

You really don't need to smoke in Amsterdam to get high, as a huge number of streets have "coffee shops" with chilled, happy people in, and the sweet smell is unavoidable when you're outside. Thought of Bill Hicks, and how he wanted to make pot not only legal, but mandatory ("Shut up and smoke this.." "Woah, cheers dude. For a moment there I was taking life seriously!")

There is another side to Amsterdam however, which is one of incredibly beautiful and well preserved old buidings, quiant little art shops, elegant boats on the canal and a generally friendly, welcoming atmosphere. By total chance, we parked our car on Prinsengracht street, which, at number 267, also happens to be the street where Anne Frank went in to hiding in 1942. I'd only read her diary for the first time last year, and it had a big effect on me - so Jonno and I went to her house, and it was an incredibly moving experience. On one hand, it made me thoughtful and sad about how many millions of innocent people suffered and died during the war, but also filled me with a kind of happiness in seeing so many people queuing to visit her hiding place, and the thought that her greatest wish was to become a famous writer and how happy and amazed she'd be at how big an impact her diaries have had, and how positive their influence has been. If you've never read her diary, I'd really strongly recommend it. There are few other books of any kind which will make you want to sieze the day and follow your dreams, in a way Anne sadly was never able to.

Long ago, my Dad wrote a song called "Call Girl" which I always knew I'd have to play in Amsterdam, the video for which is below. I don't get stage fright, but it was a little unnerving playing this song in the heart of the red light district not only because of the lyrics, but because I'd no idea if an attack from a brothel house bouncer was on the way...I guess the girls aren't really used to being entertained themselves....



The drive out of Amserdam and along to Brugge in Belgium was the worst we'd encountered on the trip - lots of traffic and big delays. It was worth it though for Brugge, perhaps the most beautiful city we'd visited on the trip and on par with Stockholm in that if I had someone special, I'd want to take them there! It's a town entirely surrounded by a moat, and you have to go through a castle gate to enter it, a theme which continues throughout as it's like a medieval town, with virtually no modern buildings, and the most wonderful cobbled squares where you can relax by the fountains and watch horse drawn carriages clip clop by.

We only had a few hours there sadly, but I'm definitely going back one day. The little photo I've uploaded on the right really doesn't do it justice - I'm going to upload a whole feast of photos from the trip over the next few days, but for now I suggest you google Brugge, and you'll see exactly what I mean. Disney can only dream of making somewhere this fairytale, special and real.

Due to picking the wrong lane in Calais at customs we missed our ferry by 3 minutes, and had to wait an hour for the 11.15pm one. Jonno's war cry of "I HATE YOU....YOU C**T" a few seconds after a polite "thank you" to the ticket man will remain in my memory for a long time.

We're back in England now, and I'm having to slowly buy all the things which were stolen when our car was broken in to. I used to live out of a suitcase, now I'm just living out of a plastic bag - pretty cool, eh?! We really did have quite an adventure, and I'm sure I've missed loads out in these little blogs, but you get a general idea, and will have more when I upload the pictures and videos.

Total distance driven over the last ten days: 4,040 miles (to put that in perspective, if there was a bridge across the atlantic, we could have easily reached Austin in America).

Countries visited: England, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands.

I'm thinking of keeping this blog going to talk about all the things going on with The Foxes, our new manager, recording the debut album, touring etc....what do you think? Oh, and I think it'll need a new name too - can you suggest one? (be nice now...)

Thank you for reading, and for all your kind messages, either here or on Facebook, which really meant a lot when we were on the road. Thanks to Jonno too, for being a great travel companion.

They say travel changes you, and I think this is true. I feel good....better. In the words of Anne Frank, "I know what I want, I have a goal. I have opinons, religion and love."

I'll leave you with video of "Get Me" recorded next to a huge and beautiful lake in Sweden. The acoustic recording is here on my myspace.



Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. If you're close to the Isle of Wight, I'm playing a solo acoustic gig there on Sunday - details here. Blog will follow...