Halle & yell

Small wig-out. Promoter hired backline (drums, amps etc) because they mis-read the contract. Of course, this costs them money unnecessarily so they're a bit pissed, but this is their fault not ours. Some little metalhead who's the assistant engineer made the mistake of being a bit curt to Chris about it and then got snarly when Chris said (quite correctly) that the piano - which is the only bit of extra kit we've requested - was way out of tune. 

Chris went for a walk whilst I played diplomat. You might think with all the levity about our suckiness that somehow we don't care about getting it right, but you'd be wrong. We'd love to be able to do the whole affair with piano, cello, trumpet, etc, but it just isn't practical. If you think about it, an extra man is an extra hotel room, bigger bus, more food and so forth. We don't get paid a lot for these shows. The advantage with Alex is that he plays piano too so it's nice that we can add an extra dimension to the show. If the piano is out of tune it's no good at all. 

I just listened to Chris and Alex playing "Signal Hill" and it sounded beautiful. Little metalman was pushed aside and the promoter, Mattias, got someone in to tune the piano. It was worth it. We also just practised "All Your Hopes Gone Cold" and "Chapel Rain" after the van-based

 rehearsing and they've all improved a lot. 

This should be better tonight and we'll certainly be in good shape by the end of the tour.... 

I also recorded a little video for my 2 year old daughter who's a bit young to understand why daddy's not home and that made me feel a bit happier. I don't like being away from home for so long (and I feel guilty about leaving my partner looking after her all that time) and little things like that make it a bit easier.