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Morning all....
This is gonna be fun, my full stop button is buggered which means it's gonna
take me forever to do this......I have to press it really hard & then i get
lots of full stops.....see....
Hope this finds you all full of festive spirit?
So, we did a couple of nights with our old friend Dan Baird (
First night was at Lock 17
formerly known as Dingwalls in
I had intended to leave the venue after Dan’s show & get a good nights
sleep as we were due in Cardiff the next afternoon but Keith (Bass/Dan)
was waving a Baileys & Jamesons under my nose, which I might add is a mighty
potent beast & somewhat deceiving in it's slippery smoothness, I succumbed
dutifully & the rest is history, it involved little in the way of sleep
though. Hence the journey to Cardiff being a less than attractive
spectacle, and the hotel in Cardiff being even less attractive, it's called The
Big Sleep & it's owned by John Malkovitch & is possibly the worst hotel
I’ve ever been in. My room was painted bright blue & had huge plastic
windows around 2 walls & was covered in brown stains, it was like being in a
bloody goldfish bowl, really un-nerving, I can't imagine what the designers were
thinking when they did it..."just how can we make people never want to come
back again"....assholes....
The venue was great, an old converted church called 'The Point', am sure I’ve been here before, soundcheck goes well & everyone is happy. I'd say the place was only about half full but all bands gave a great show, I actually did a first, thought 'Maybe' had finished & walked off the stage, it was the middle 8...ha bloody ha, even though it was a mistake it was worth it just to see the look of sheer panic on Neil & Mel's faces, think they thought I’d just had enough & was buggering off. Priceless.
Had a few beers after the show
with the other guys, Dan & the band were travelling on to Scotland, think I
would have preferred that to our hotel. Especially as a certain member of our
party decided to have their own little party in the hotel, which resulted in a
bloody nightmare, you see age & wisdom are not always related. Although I
really should name & shame I won't bother....."this aint really rock
'n' roll".......
Last week we spent in Paris, the new artwork for the album looks great, it can
be seen (& ordered) from the Bad Reputation link, it's on general release in
January so we were over doing interviews & photographs & I guested at a
Janis Joplin Show which was a blast, it was hosted by a very talented woman
called B J Scott (www.bjscott.com). Was great to see Dominic (our French
promoter) who took us to see the Parisian illuminations at 4am, they are
apparently very beautiful but they must have been expecting us coz someone had
turned em off last Wednesday night. Also Eric, the main man from Bad Reputation,
always a pleasure...
I'm doing backing vocals on Jools Holland's Hogmanay show this new year for IH,
think I’m alongside Sam Brown which will be an honour & playing with full
orchestra, does it get any better? Gonna be a gas.
As for Christmas, I’m flying to New York at the end of next week to hang out
with family & shop......so I hope to see you all either at the album launch
in Paris on the 8th (New Morning) or The Borderline, London on the 14th.
Have a bloody beautiful Christmas, spread a little love if you have any to
spare...!!
Watch out for the Jamesons & Baileys........ (effin full stops.........)
Love TH xxxxxxxx
Greetings all
Hope this finds you all well & am sure most have given in to the central
heating by now....we had a wee thing going on here where we held out as long as
we could, i think it was more about not accepting that it's winter than anything
else but i was bloody freezing so that's it now...it's on for at least 6 months,
bit of a grim thought maybe but i think most of us Brits actually like the
seasons....bottle of Baileys & a log fire an all that.
The Borderline show went well, we had the usual disasters which i have come to
accept now...Washington ended up a few days late for rehearsals (i mean days)
the van didn't turn up, i missed sound check coz i got stuck in traffic after a
big accident & things couldn't have got much worse as far as feeling good
about the gig was concerned, it's a funny thing but sometimes when it's been
like that the show can be really amazing, it's like some extra energy gets
channeled in......what should end in disaster doesn't & we had a great
show.....It's a bit hard to just do one-offs, gigs are always better when
touring or when there's at least a few in a row so all in all a success & a
full house & a party all night as it was Mel's birthday. Matt &
Mel both had birthdays recently, think Mel's lasted 4 days & Matt went for
the whole birthday week.
As usual things are a bit behind schedule with the album but i believe the
release is set for this month & the new artwork looks fabulous, there was a
bit of a balls up with the Euro gigs & through no fault of ours we've had to
pull them, we're pretty pissed off about that as we were really looking forward
to them but there's not a lot we can do, hope to see some familiar faces in
London & Wales this month though.
I'm not even gonna start on bloody Bush getting in again.......perhaps if he
travelled around USA with a shotgun actually murdering teenagers people would
get the hint. That just defies any logic to me........
Love
TH
Mornin' all
I think the last time i wrote i was off to Barcelona for the last IH show, i've
never been to Barcelona before & was pleasantly surprised with what a
beautiful city it is ... very rich architecture, i recommend it highly. The show
was actually one of the best of the tour (although i didn't catch every
date)......the band we're on full throttle & so was the audience, i loved
every second of it & so did they, bumped into Tyla (Dogs D'amour) & his
missus afterwards, jolly nice people, popped in a local bar with the band for a
little post show vino & it was full of IH fans, don't think they could
believe their eyes, they all just stood up & clapped. A great time had by
all...just a shame it was their last show.
Swiftly moving on to our latest news, we've been spending quite a bit of time in
Paris of late, we've signed a deal for Europe in the past couple of months &
have been negotiating various things album related...we were in 'Top master'
studios a couple of weeks ago remastering the album, this basically means the
EQ's have been adjusted a tad, we're also in the process of redoing the artwork
as Mr record company was underwhelmed with our original work...this is fine with
us & all artistic control is retained so we get to make any final decisions,
the work we are considering using is my idea anyway so i'm still smiling. It's
actually a very difficult thing choosing artwork etc...especially when you've
written the songs & fully understand the meaning behind the title etc...it's
difficult to put an image that relates the title....i've found myself being very
precious about it, the original work was not a reference to the title so that
felt ok but the new work if used has subtle references. So, all being well it
will initially be released in
I went to Brighton Dome to see the Scissor Sisters last week, was like bleedin'
Mardi Gras...i believe they were filming for their new DVD so they had requested
that the audience 'Dress up'....was like an audition for the Rocky Horror show,
all good fun though & the 1,000 or so crowd were loving every second. The
sound was a bit weak but it was a good show, full of energy & some great
tunes, not completely my cuppa tea but you have to look outside of that
sometimes, i believe they are working with Elton on his new stuff....this
doesn't surprise me, the influence was very apparent.
So, that brings us to now.....the weekend was spent in a stinky rehearsal room
on
Alright, well i'm off to rehearsal.....hope you're all enjoying the rain? Can't
believe they dumped all that sewerage in the Thames last week......i
mean...concrete does not absorb water so let's build some more houses, make sure
the sewerage system which was built in 1860 gets overloaded & dump all the
sh**e in the river......Christ knows what's coming out of a tap near you.
Apparently this included hospital waste?? No wonder the freakin fish all
died.....rant of today.
Pip pip
TH. x
Mornin' all
Hope this finds you all perky.....
Once again, sorry it's been a while.
The whole band took a trip to Paris last weekend, we had a bitta business to
tend to (more on that later) & also caught the IH show at Le Plan, had a
great time apart from the 10 euro's a pint bit?
Spent most of May in a rehearsal room with our new drummer....Paul Brown, a
fantastic & welcome addition to the band, we've been knocking about some new
material & wanted to give Paul a chance to get comfortable with the
songs....the 1st gig with a new player is always a bit nerve racking but he did
us proud & all nerves dissipated after the first few minutes, the 1st gig
which was the Camden Underworld on 27th May, this was a last minute addition,
more to give us a warm up for the Astoria than anything, we were supporting Kee
Marcello (Europe), jolly nice chap too & well worth checking out but don't
expect Europe! The gig was good, been a while since we played & it felt
great. Funny coz we started the set with 'Mercury', the general vibe is that the
band go on & start the song & i wander on after a few bars, i'm just
about to go on and Matt comes running out, he's been out there for a few minutes
& the song has started & he's saying 'where's me guitar?', he was so
busy lining up his stunning pedal display he kinda forgot that an instrument
would be handy....so it was Tracie Hunter band 7.45pm & Matt Pearce 7.47pm.
The next day we did a radio interview with 'Twang' at Total Rock radio, as radio
interviews go this was great, all the questions were relevant which makes a
refreshing change & for once i enjoyed it, thanx Twang!! Then over to the
Astoria for soundcheck, i gotta say i love this venue, we've played so many flea
pits & it's uncomfortable when the stage monitors are shit & the out
front equally dodgy but here the vibe is great, as is the sound so all you have
to worry about is giving a great performance. The atmosphere at soundcheck was
quite something, as we arrived Brian May, Joe Elliot & all of dads lot (Ian
Hunter-for those who didn't know!!) were going over some old classics, silent
awe filled the venue & even my lot shut up for once, was a Kodak moment.
Dad respectfully buggered off
& left us with ample time for a great sound check...something else that is
rare when supporting. As great as the venue is the back stage is appalling, it's
up at the top of the building & about as big as a stamp, nice.....my lot
naked, god knows where to look for one’s lip gloss!!
Mel takes a last sip of medicinal brandy & we're on, the place was about
half full, not surprising as it was only 7.15 but what a great crowd, heaps of
them singing along & we loved every minute...of which there were only 30,
not long enough by a long shot but it wasn't our show. Must add at this point
that our newest addition Paul played a bloody blinder, what a chap.
Dad came on about 8.15 and played
2 hours of magic, what a great night. For those of you that have our album, the
last song 'Astoria Morning' pretty much sums up the end of tour/show
feelings......"it's a low low high"
On the business side of things looks like things are hotting up a bit, we've
been offered a deal in Europe which it looks like we'll sign, won’t go into
more detail yet but all looking good, the album has been selling great but
without the big boys involved we're kinda limited & this band needs some
more airplay!! Most radio/TV wont get involved without a label
backing....although i'd like to thank the ones that will....Bob
Harris.....Twang.....Finn....thank you.
Press has been great & i'd
like also to thank Classic Rock, Powerplay, Total Music etc for supporting the
cause.
We will be touring again shortly & it looks like some USA & European
dates may be in the offing so watch this space.
Just before i go, a minor rant.....against my better judgement & because i
had two free tickets i took an 8 year old little friend of mine to see Britney
Spears at Wembley last month, if i had paid for the tickets they would have been
£60, the car park was £10, a plastic bottle of Evian was taken off me as we
entered the building...."buy it inside", a crap Britney vest was £30
& a programme was £15, the show was meant to start at 7.15.....they
screened almost 2 hours of Pepsi adverts and Britters finally took to the stage
at 9.30.....(this is a venue full of tired kids?), looking completely bored by
the whole thing Britters begins another night of miming & going through the
motions while the sound in the venue is so loud & badly mixed it makes
merely existing uncomfortable, my wee friend (with bleeding ears) begged me to
get her out of there after 3 songs & i was perfectly willing to oblige....i'm
appalled by this, by her, by Clear Channel, by all that are involved with the
machine that creates such monstrosities in the name of entertainment or dare i
say Music? Whatever it is it's blatant corporate plagiarism......
You can see a great band play at
the Borderline any night of the week for about a fiver, probably a band that
spend their lives writing songs & trying to get them heard, probably a band
that spend 10 hours in a van each day coz they believe in themselves, probably a
band that spend their time working in a chip shop to buy a 4 track......sorry to
go on, rant over.
Anyway, must dash, i'm off to Barcelona in the morning, gonna catch dads last
show & have a wee bake in the sun, hope to see you all soon & for those
of you who haven't got the album yet, it should be in the shops late summer but
til then....check out the album page, also looks like the shop edition
will have new artwork so i guess that makes the current edition limited??
Hope to see some of you at the Underworld in
Cheerio
TH x
Well, hello......
USA
seems a bit of a blur now but i'll give it a shot......
(22nd) We all had to get up at
3.30am to make our 8am flight, we aren't usually even asleep at this time on a
Sat night & to be honest i was just grateful that the whole band + 'Our
Will' aka Nik, best roadie in the world (who refused to let us go without him)
were all present. Mel found his passport about 20 minutes before we left?
There's a scuffle for cheap JD at
the duty free shop & then we all settle down in quiet anticipation &
slight intrepidation, 4 of us have never been to USA before & most of us in
the current climate are not over excited about flying to New York. However it
was a great flight, great seats (special treatment for the two lanky brothers)
& Led Zep blasted through our headphones as we supped Screwdrivers &
headed across the
Dropped our stuff at the hotel
& straight out to have a look around, no gig until tomorrow night so we
walked for miles & ended up in a bar in the village with a great juke box,
all pretty chuffed, eventually after being up for 36 hours & having had just
as many tequilas.. we gave in....the city that never sleeps had to go on without
us.
Might add at this point that the
ever entertaining 'Steve Washington' was not with us on this trip, enter Mr
Steve Grant aka 'Bison'......
Next morning we all woke feeling
great, no signs of jetlag or Tequilalag.....so we walked, we did the whole
tourist bit....a film crew for CNN grabbed us in Times Sq & asked for an
interview....we took the chance to plug the band but the reason for the
interview was the new 'Christ' movie....they wanted to hang a nail around our
necks & asked would we wear it & did we think it "offensive?
sacrilegious? cool?"...... "Screwed" was my reply but Nik took
the day....he opened his shirt & underneath the word 'Satan' glared from his
T. shirt, Nik was aired world-wide at 7pm that night & The Tracie Hunter
Band album was floating around in the background. Photo's of this on the
website!!!!! Very amusing.
So, let's move on....the venue
tonight (23rd) is the 'Lakeside Lounge,' it's Eric Roscoe's place (Yahoo's, Joan
Jett etc) & we've never been, all we know is it's small but sounds great,
i'm thinking 12 bar club in London type vibe. It's a tad underwhelming upon
first site but we're ready to play & i don't think it really matters at this
point if it's Wembley or Hope & Anchor....we came all this way to play &
play we will..... Pretty good crowd, wont pretend Avenue B was busting it's
seams but the audience were there to listen, lot's of music people....of course
dad was there, along with Trudi & Jesse (my brother), Andy & Liz York,
James Maestro......the onstage sound was strange to say the least, one of those
'give it what you got & hope for the best' scenarios, the supplied backline
was 2 fender amps (20 w if that, 1 vol, 1 tone) & a Peavey bass amp (30 w).
We had to bring our own snare & cymbals. Luckily my old bass player Joyce (www.beyondblonderocks.com)
arrived from Mass with half of her drummers kit, a bass guitar & her lead
singer Lisa (as by this point Matt had developed a throat infection & could
hardly speak let alone sing..... wanted to kill him, being my evercaring self
just before a show)! Lisa luckily knows our stuff & stepped in on BV's. We
must have played for about 75 minutes but it seemed like 20 & for me that's
a great sign. The feedback was great & the booze was free, we stayed up
until 6am & just loved every second.
Funnily enough none of us made
breakfast!! Infact, i didn't even come home....an old friend of mine had flown
in from
(24th) Obviously a slow start,
the boys chose to go up the Empire State building....the weather has been very
springlike so far but today is overcast & snowing....go figure as they say
here, they could see nothing but clouds but were pleased that they found a
public place in New York where they could smoke...so smoke they did. Meanwhile,
i'm on the phone thinking 'what's the point of being here if we don't play' so i
call a venue in the village called 'Kennys castaways' & ask him if we can
play tonight...Rog from Kennys is English & loves hearing my accent so much
he "moves mountains" & tells us to be there at 9 & we'll go at
10. We arrive, the gear is barely functional, half a drum kit, guitar amps with
little discernible distortion other than the odd fart & a usable bass amp. I
think Nik summed it up great....."This is Man United playing Real
(25th) So, it's up at 8 to begin
the 4 hour journey to Boston....all pretty uneventful, on arrival we are once
again booked into the Hawthorn Suites, i get my own king which suits me fine
& this is all courtesy of the lovely Peter, our US promoter. We went over to
The Regent which is Friday nights venue...it's looking great, it's a beautiful
theatre, the light's are great & the sound is great & we all go for
dinner & make merry.
(26th) "Hurry up &
wait"....spent most of the day waiting for technical problems to be sorted
at the theatre, thus denying us of valuable rehearsing time, took a look around
some music shops etc, ended up in a bar waiting for the call to go the theatre,
it didn't come. In the evening most of the people involved in tomorrows show
meet up for dinner, said hello to Joey Molland (Badfinger) what a lovely chap
& still got his accent after 30 odd years stateside.
(27th) Check out
www.regenttheatre.com/press/aerosmith.html for a full list of artists that
played at this show. Turns out that Steve Tyler wont be here this year as he's
still in LA doing a movie, this slightly disappoints the boys but at least there
4th & 5th fave members of Aerosmith will be playing!!!! This night was a bit
chaotic, you could smell the stress levels at soundcheck....it's a pretty tall
order putting so many acts on in one night, everybody only had about 25 minutes
on stage & changeover was like a Benny Hill sketch, we managed to find
humour in it...just wished we could have played for longer. The show is a
charity event (MHSA) & the cause a great one, we're more than happy to do
our bit. There is no alcohol sold in the building (which figures as the charity
also helps families who are the victims of drug/alcohol abuse) but it's a bit
strange to play in front of 500 people eating popcorn & drinking
7up......However, our backstage area was not dry!!!! Thanx to Trevor, Justin
& mark we had a healthy supply of the demon drink all night. Mark wondered
if our involvement in the show was more an 'investment for our future!!!!
At this point i have to thank Bob
Hearne, a bloody lovely chap who chairs the MHSA & has an almost godlike
presence.
By midnight the boys room had
become the aftershow party, there were about 50 people in there including my
brother Jess who drove over from NY with a couple of his bandmembers & what
a laugh we had. Think we stopped laughing at 6am....ooph, be good to get home
& stop laughing.
(28th) Didn't need to go home to
stop laughing....no-one was laughing as Peter rounded us up at 10am. The venue
tonight, F1 in
Beyond Blonde take to the stage
about 8.30 & deliver a great set, unfortunately at this point the place
isn't even half full & i'm hoping this will change. It does and by the time
we go on there's a good crowd in, somehow it didn't all gel as well as it should
tonight, just one of those things i suppose.....can't quite put my finger on it
but i just couldn't relax & was aware that the sound wasn't quite as it
should be, we played for about 50 minutes & had a good time but in my
opinion the X factor was amiss.
Peter sent a message to us that
we were to get an early night as he wanted to show us about tomorrow & get
an early start.....did anybody remind Peter of this as the party resumed in the
boys suite till the early hours & he was the instigator??
(29th) Pack our bags & head
into Boston, play some pool & end up 25 of us having dinner in a beautiful
seafront restaurant close to the airport. Was a great meal & the end to a
great week, none of us want to go home & none of them want us to go home.
So there we were, all sitting at
the back of the plane heading back across the Atlantic, heads bopping to Led Zep
& supping Screwdrivers.......i think we were all asleep within an hour.
And that was that, we had an
absolute ball & now we're home & busy trying to book tours & promote
the album, which by the way has been flying out & receiving great reviews.
It's great to be getting such positive feedback & for that we thank-you all.
We're getting some new songs
together & basically doing what bands do & enjoying every minute of it,
here's hoping this album helps us reach a bigger audience. Plans are afoot to
return to the
TH. x
