Above - Deranged drummer Chris Phillips and his box
PART SEVEN
PART SEVEN
Saturday - Whitby:
A day off. We drove up to the Yorkshire
seaside town of Whitby. I won't go into detail because this isn't a travel
article. Although at times I imagine it does bear a certain resemblance
to one. The one thing I do want to say here is "GO THERE". It is a wonderful
place. I think we may have found the cover of our next album there as well.
More on that later, as the story develops…
Sunday - Leeds:
Through the day as we drove through the North Yorkshire Moors I had no idea that I was on a trajectory for an epiphany. Well, I was. Not that the trip had any shortage of powerful, inspiring moments to go along with the hijinx, but something was to happen that night that would darn near make my year. That is, The Frames.
This was our last show. We had to get to London by noon the next day to return our gear, so we talked about leaving right after we played. We were opening for a band called the Frames and all we knew about them was that one of the guys had been in the movie "The Commitments" and they were from Dublin.
As we loaded in our gear the Frames were soundchecking. After about a minute of one song I turned to John and said "We aren't going anywhere after we play". And John said, "Goddam right we're not". They sounded incredible. And beautiful. And perfect. About once every two or three years you see a band that inspires you and helps to provide you with the juice you need as a musician to keep pushing through the massive piles of detritus that are heaped in your path with every step. Well I saw one that night. I can't believe these guys aren't huge.., oh wait, yes I can.., it's because they are GREAT (ref: inverse relationship between talent/passion and fame/commercial success - as discussed in earlier entry) Glen, Colm, Dave, Dave, and Joe were all excellent fellows as well. We knew we were destined to be friends when we entered the dressing room and they offered to share their Jameson's with us. Like I said, it doesn't take much to secure our loyalty.
And then sometimes you get a lot more than you need.
More members of the Tribe. I had
no idea they were all out there. Or maybe after our break-up with the "redhead"
it just seemed that they were all dead or in hiding.
So that's it. The show in Leeds was our last one. We lingered in The Duchess after hours with their staff (the coolest in England by the way), the Frames, and some friends and fans that hung out. We were getting a bit of the "post-partem" thing going. Although we were exhausted, we had gotten such a boost from taking the reins and committing to this tour that in a way we felt like we were just getting started. Which I guess we were in many ways.
The next night we went to see the Frames in London and they were equally brilliant. I was off to Paris the next day to visit some friends and de-compress. Nothing like a Paris café to calm you down and straighten you out.
__________
Right about now you are probably wondering what happened to that bitchy, cynical, curmudgeon that wrote the first half of this piece. Oh he's in here. With the rest of us.
But what happened was that the bitter guy who broke up with his red-haired girlfriend went out there and was reminded of a few things…
I'll explain without the use of metaphors this time. Well, not as many.
One might think that with the biz the way it is right now there is no reason to keep trying. Well there is. Jolene could have easily packed it in. The Frames could have easily packed it in. A dozen bands could have easily packed it in. But, as we were reminded on our UK tour, there are still many, many people out there who still love music. Real music. And are moved by it and inspired by it and want it to keep coming.
Yeah, the scumbag usurers and money-lenders are still polluting the temple with their vile presence but eventually some guy with a beard and sandals who used to be a carpenter or something is gonna come through and raise hell. They'll get theirs eventually.
Sometimes you know that there might be good a reason to keep banging your head against the wall. It might just crack before your head does. And I know for a fact that Jolene has an extremely hard head (commitment as stubborn-ness).
At the very least you might have some fun and make a little dough in a foreign country while the climate at home clears up a tad.
Hey… Hemingway left for a reason. But he came back.
And shot himself…, okay, not a great example.
