The tour has finally started. We left the Boydies’ house at 11.30 AM heading via the storage house in Wells to The Acorn Theatre in Penzance. We were looking for the FLN/AAE stools in the storage but the pile is so huge we couldn’t find them. We did pick up my Hofner bass to take back to Porto and my Takamine nylon string to lend to Noel who has in turn lent me his Tak 12 (tuned down to D) for the tour. Noel was lending it to me anyway but it just occurred to me that he might like to try the nylon out, it’s a kool addition to the armoury. That’s the thing about guitars, you can do almost anything and everything with one guitar, look at Rory, but the right one makes a big difference if you are more eclectic in your songwriting. A nylon string versus a Gibson SG probably means a different type of song, otherwise, AC/DC would be the Gypsy Kings.

We drove through Glastonbury and marvelled at the famous Tor. Last time we were here we walked up there to find a beautiful view and a whole lot of guys singing and playing guitars, it’s only what you would expect. The drive down to Cornwall was event-free unless you include the massive road works as they widen the roads to make access to this beautiful county easier for those from ‘up country’ as they say down in Penzance. As we came over Bodmin moor, the rain poured down as it often does down this way, green England, rainy England.

At the venue, we met Steve the sound man, and Rich the promoter, and loaded in. Regular faces from our time down there working with Dare at The VIP Lounge studio and building the collection for the In Deep Music Archive. Dare came down to help with soundcheck (he’s worked on a lot of the songs we were playing in the set) and the doors opened to a lot of familiar faces from our time in this town – I won’t list them all, it’s like thank yous on an album, you always miss someone out who was indispensable, and although they don’t exactly go to their grave wondering why, you always feel bad.

First gig, new songs, always a little tricky but everything went swimmingly, little errors here and there but nothing too drastic. It’s great to be back on stage again in England and it’s worked out perfectly as the landlord in Porto attempts to get the electricity and water on in the new premises before we fly home on April 30th. One issue, my TU-2 tuner doesn’t seem to like the guitar that’s tuned down to D, it doesn’t register the notes, so luckily I have a clip-on tuner that does work. It’s odd because these tuners do usually work with basses. Something to investigate in the coming days.

The drive back was four hours and the roadworks were as active at night as they were in the day – more so. Big lights and machinery, lots of men in hard hats and fluorescent yellow jackets. It looked rather like a sci-fi brain processing operation, the aliens working at night, the already processed humans in the fluorescent jackets standing still with blank stares as we passed.

We pulled into services at Taunton, Boydie needed a coffee pickup for the drive back, as soon as we walked in, the fire alarm went off. The four late-shift staff members filed out and told us they had no idea how to turn it off, we went to the garage instead. We arrived back at the Boydies between 3.30 and 4 AM. Pretty much straight to bed, Bristol, Thursday.

Music today has been Harold Budd and The Cocteau Twins – The Moon And The Melodies (1986). It was the music we played at the gig in Penzance, beautiful.

Music Of The Daze