Adam seemed a bit tired…. but he woke up later on when we headed back to Koko to see our old friend Joe play with his band the New York Fund.
Mike bust out of the front door, onto the Soho streets, doing this. which is awesome.
We walked from Kings Cross to Soho (which, unbeknown to us, is about two and half miles)
Mike was trapped in a glass case of emotion.
But we were really tired, so we went home early-ish with our friend Joe.
My new B.F.F.
This room was a glass encased VIP room that overlooked the stage, but with it’s own set of DJs etc…. There were a lot of hip young London types.
At Scala a party called Chalk was happening. It was another proper packed London club event with DJs and bands until 5 or 6 in the morning.
Afterwards, we headed to a club called Scala
Self-Explanatory
Kenny ordered a Shirley Temple… for some reason.
I found it!
Adam knows he’s cool.
After we were done we hung out in the dressing room with our friends. Sean, on the right, is our fantastic booking agent in the UK. We owe him everything, and he always sorts us out completely when we’re here.
For example, when we got to our hotel, there was a box waiting for us. In it were Vans shoes in our sizes and Ray Bans, which you’ll be seeing a lot of in future pictures.
Jemma, who is next to Sean, sorted the ray bans out.
Joe stayed in New York with us for a while in January, and he really takes care of us when we go over to London. Good guy, through and through.
This is our dear, dear friend Joe. He’s one of the first people we met when we first came to London last fall. He plays in a great band called the New York Fund.
Mike does a little press in his spare time.
This is Kas, our lovely publicist who has done so so much for us over here.
With internet which is like… gold on the road.
The dressing room, which was up 64 stairs (6 and a half stories), was a nice hang.
This is what the stage looks like before the techs get their greasy hands on it.
We got to London in the morning and took a van into the city, to our hotel near King’s Cross. Mike got put back in the van with the gear. When I was a kid, like 15 or 16, I used to be obsessed with London. i had about a dozen websites that I knew by memory that sold real estate in London in my favorite districts. It’s come in handy now, because I never really get lost here. I know all of the postcodes and the good neighborhoods to see.
You can’t see the balconies in the picture, but they go up past lights at the top.
By the time we were heading up to the stage, there were a bunch of kids in the ‘green room’ (the backstage before the real backstage)
We got up this morning, quickly checked our e-mail
Sometimes we sit around Mike’s bed and tell him bed time stories.
The crowd was really amazing. Koko was slammed.
We played in Camden, which is an amazing neighborhood. Most of my favorite bands from the 90’s were formed in Camden, or at least hung out here. It’s like the equivalent of Greenwich Village.
Now the East End is the place to hang out in London. Anyway… the venue we played, Koko was incredible. we went to this party (it happens every Friday @ Koko) when we were in London in December. I was pretty floored… I love the parties in New York (esp our friends @ Ruff Club, Hiro, etc etc), but there really isn’t anything like this in the states. every week there are like 2,000 kids, with a line around the block.
The venue is an old Georgian theater, that is a complex maze of back rooms and VIP areas. In the main area, there are 4 balconies, and every week it’s packed out for the bands that play around midnight. We were the last band… Here is koko when we got there
When I was walking around after the show, I found a back room in the venue that had a whole different party inside. Some sort of “pre-vip” type situation. I think a band played in there at some point too…
We took a cab to our hotel with our gear, and went right to bed. It was probably 4-ish. Nobody ever knows, because none of us have phones that work over here, or watches. So we just kind wait for someone to tell us what to do…. maybe I’ll buy a watch. maybe.
The next day we had off. Which was very nice… We all needed to get used to the time difference.
Barry, who runs 7HZ, a record label in the UK. He is putting out our record over here. He’s pretending to know how to use an apple.
The New York Fund opened for OkGo, who we are touring with next week. It was another sold out night at Koko, and Joe’s band was unreal. They sounded like a British take on Ryan Adam’s Heartbreaker, or Wilco’s Being There. great songs.
Kas and Haley, our lovely publicists hung out too.
Afterwards, across the street, these lovely ladies threw a cocktail party in our honor.
We went to Soho, to a pub called the White Horse, to meet with Mark, a writer for NME. A very nice guy. Hope to see more of him in the future.
But it was a nice day out, so whateva.
Mike found this gross thing… I don’t even know. Martin, in the background, throws parties around London. He threw one for our first show here in the fall, with Juliette and the Licks, and it was hands down the best party ever. A proper London party with 50’s music in a 4 story club built out of an old building in Soho, with an open bar for everyone all night. He’s been a good friend ever since.
Later on, Sean, our booking agent, met us for dinner at an Indian restaurant in East London. He always knows how to find a good place to hang. He thought our Ray Bans didn’t look good on him, but they did.
I took a walk through a series of alleys towards the Thames river
Here’s a photo from one of the balconies after we were finished.
We met this guy last time we went to Koko, www.gregorynolan.com, he took some great pictures that I’ll post later on.
I ate about 95% of the candy.
Brian, our UK tour manager. We’ve had a lot of tour managers over the past year, but Brian really has it together. It’s been really stress-free due to his efforts.
Gregory is the equivalent of NickyDigital in London, and he also manages some great bands. He looks good in ray bans.
Mike and I headed back early. We wanted fish and chips. Kenny and Adam stayed out.
There was a lot of stuff happening tonight, so I’m sure they are going to have fun. There were rumors of a bowling alley.
Anyway, this is where I leave you tonight, waiting to get in the tub. we leave at 9AM tomorrow for Copenhagen. It will be our first time there.
I’ll post another blog in the next few days. we have so many shows coming up this year… It feels like it’s never going to end.
But like grandfather Hank Williams said, “when the lord made me, he made a ramblin’ man”.
Whether it's the nights you'll never forget or the ones you'll never remember, Nicky Digital's there to document it all in the city that never…EVER sleeps!
