Gig report: British IBM UK tour 2012

Band: The British IBM
Venues: See below
Date: 28/07/12 - 04/08/12
Audiences: See below
Set: Our set from the tour always started with Make It Happen followed by Pain In My Heart. For every gig we ended with The British IBM followed by Washing Machine. In the middle, depending on length of set and general vibe of the room, we played all or some of these songs: Animal, God's Front Porch, Sugar Water, 3 Years, Not Your Day, Cannibal, Guns, Down Like That.

Notes: Our second UK tour, and first under the name of The British IBM, Aidy, Dave and myself hit the road to promote our debut, self-titled album, which came out during the run of shows. We're really proud of the album - it's taken 7 months to complete, but it sounds and looks brilliant, I'm lucky enough to drum on lots of releases but this one of those special albums, the kind of thing you'd show your grandchildren. The run up to the tour has been stressful because, you know, it's hard booking a tour when you're trying to get established. It's hard booking a tour when venues are closing down, or changing their minds, or just a bit unsure about having a hardworking indie band play their arses off for absolutely no money whatsoever in their venue. But we got together 7 dates - well, I see 'we', it was Aidy, mostly, he worked so hard to put this together, he put so many hours in to make this one happen, and I really appreciate just how much this took it out of him especially as I was very little help what with my head in theatre land with the fringe looming. This was our first electric tour - but with that comes the issue of live drums, because drums are big and we tour in a battered Peugeot 406, and with amps, guitars, luggage, and ourselves, it was never going to work. One option was for me to drive separately - something I wasn't too keen on (touring by myself would have been an odd experience) but I would have done it if it wasn't for the fact I have wheel baring issues with my car and it couldn't be risked with the long trips ahead. Instead we opted to borrow and hire kits along the way and me just bringing my breakables, making each gig very different indeed not knowing exactly what equipment you'd be using. For the next tour we'll be acoustic again, that's already been mutually agreed, it's much easier. Not that this wasn't fun though, here is a brief run down to how the week on the road with my two chums went:

28/07/12: THE LEGION, MIDDLESBOROUGH
Back in the 'boro, we were pleased to be launching the tour here. As we've decided to leave our home city, Cambridge, out of our schedules for a while (we've played here too much, we need a break from Cambridge and it probably needs a break from us) it felt natural to have Middlesborough as our first date as we've played here plenty of times, our manager and friend Matt Speight is based up there, and it feels like a natural home for The British IBM as people seem to like us up there. We felt very welcome straight away - we stayed at Matt's who is a very friendly man and he looked after us well. The gig was a relatively quiet one but that's cool, and due to a mixture of tiredness from the journey and our kind hosts I was a little merry before the gig even started. It was a shaky start to the tour, performance-wise, but a nice wake up call (as far as I was concerned) to how much you can and can't drink before a show. A bit sloppy, but still went down well, and we carried on drinking, as well as eating pizza, until the early hours of the morning whilst watching a DVD documentary about a music shop in Stockton.

29/07/12: THE NORTHERN MONKEY, LEEDS
After a trip to that very music shop in Stockton (it's a great place), we made the short trip to Leeds. Stayed in The Raddison Hotel, which was really posh, intimidatingly so perhaps. After food, drink and a catch up with a couple of Dave's friends we popped over to the Northern Monkey. It was a Sunday night so another quiet one, but we played really well - even though there can't have been more than 10 people watching it just felt like a positive move in the right direction. Had a few more beers afterwards.

Monday was a day off as there wasn't any gigs available for us to play that day, so we drove around randomly looking for somewhere cheap to stay that wasn't too far away from the next show, and somehow ended up in Retford. Nice little place, with a Weatherspoons across the road from our B+B so cheap enough too. After a couple beers we actually had a night in, happy to rest in our fairly sizable triple room, Dave and Aidy watched a film (which to me sounded a bit girly) on Aidy's laptop and I read a book, like the civilised band we are.

31/07/12: THE AXE AND CLEAVER, BOSTON
In Boston, we stayed in the worst hotel you can possibly imagine. I won't name it, because there's no need to spread the bad word - especially because so many people have given it 1 star reviews all over the internet already. We read those reviews but still thought we'd risk it. I could probably get a sitcom about this, but I fear John Cleese may have beaten me to it. Good gig though - we were the main support for a local band who packed the place out. Nice drums to play, crowd seemed really into it, cracking little show surrounded by lovely people.

01/08/12: CAFE BRUXELLES, LEICESTER
We didn't sleep too well, or at all, because of the hotel. At 4am we were all still awake, nobody could sleep - you can't sleep in such filth. Fucking hell. We got out when we could, and then got lost in Leicester. If you don't know the area, and we don't, Leicester is a difficult place to get around. It started to feel a bit tense, we hadn't slept, and although we were staying in a much better hotel this time around we were running out of time and energy to do this show properly in time. We needn't have rushed as the drums were heavily delayed anyway, but we weren't to know that. The venue is nice - I didn't think it would work as a venue as it looked too much like a restaurant (it is) on arrival, but when they bunged a PA in the corner and a couple people moved out of the way it felt suitable. I like the promoter, I like the fact he said: "Die, motherfucker" to me as a means of introduction, instead of the routine, "hello." Due to the delay we played acoustically, twice, to keep the gig vibe going - we effectively played two gigs in a row there. And then we were the rhythm section for two local rappers, they seemed over the moon to have a real life beat and groove backing them, it was all pleasantly surreal. Later on that evening, we'd be the backing band for a man proudly singing a Ramadan song to his family. In between the rapper and Ramadan stuff, Dave and I popped across the road to drink Jaggerbombs to try and stay awake. Eventually went on stage at 11.30pm, exhausted, sleep deprived and weary. Played to a small audience, less than 10 people, but put everything into it, they seemed to appreciate that. It probably wasn't our finest 25 minutes, but I'm happy we just got through it. Looks like we'll be returning to the venue for another show later in the year, with a bit of sleep inside us I think it could work out really well.

02/08/12: THE THIRSTY SCHOLAR, MANCHESTER
Having actually slept, we arrived in Manchester in better spirits and instantly liked the city a lot. So vibrant - colourful, lively, I possibly prefer it to London. Nice venue - it's a pub, with a raised bit in the corner, and the promoter was friendly and organised. I went back to the hotel to get my cymbals, even though the hotel is next door to the venue I missed it, somehow, and had a bit of a wonder. I was gone for quite a while. We seemed to be playing a blues/singer-songwriter type evening, not always ideal for an indie rock band but we seemed to compliment each other well. Used a lovely Sonor kit - my favourite kit of the tour, and the drummer it belonged to - Greame, is friends with my mate Neil who lives in the same village as me. Small world, really small world. Played to a tiny audience, but played well.

03/08/12: FRIARS COURT, WARRINGTON
Warrington is an odd little place, you know. There just seems to be very little there, apart from some brand shops, and of course Friars Court - our venue. Nice venue - I know I've probably said that about all of the places but I mean it, it was a quid for a bottle of lager, and the other bands were friendly. We were the opening act for this show which suited us. Easily the loudest gig of the tour - they seem to like their music loud there, even the music between the bands, that was loud too. Loud room. Small audience, but still tight as a band, we seem to be getting tighter without even thinking about it - just playing lots has helped us a great deal. Got quite drunk.

04/08/12: THE ROYAL HOTEL,. SUTTON COLDFIELD, BIRMINGHAM
The final night of the tour, and poshest. This was always going to be the one I wasn't sure about, but it worked out an absolute treat. We were playing at a burlesque event - we made sure they knew what we were about, because let's be honest, we are not a burlesque band, but they welcomed us and made us feel comfortable nice and early on. It really helps when you're staying at the venue - the gig was downstairs, we were staying upstairs. It's a lovely hotel, after a week of being in each others pockets, it felt like a little bit of space. Rented a bass drum and hi-hat stand from a shop down the road, in retrospect should have hired the whole kit but we did okay with just the basics I think. Aidy's girlfriend, Jo, joined us for the final night of the run which was nice. The burlesque show was how you'd expect it to be - breasts and nipple tassells and all that, and then we played above the show on the little balcony bit. Easily the most fun night of the tour - biggest audience, went down well, I really didn't think it would do but we were happy with that. There was an aftershow party but we all felt a bit too tired to join in, so instead Dave went to bed and Aidy, Jo and myself sat in a hotel room drinking our complimentary cans of Stella until the early hours of the morning chatting like good friends do.

The journey home was sluggish, it was a long week. See - it's not always about the gigs, most of the time you're only on stage for half an hour. And it's not like we zig-zagged around the country this time, Aidy planned these dates well. But it's hard work being in a band - the lugging equipment around, killing endless hours in coffee shops, town centres, hotel rooms (Aidy and Dave went to a launderette out of boredom one day as I sat and worked on the new musical script for the Lodestar festival). As Aidy says - you're basically working nights. But you have to be out of your hotel by 10am. And then you soundcheck, wait for hours, eventually go on, play your 30 minutes in front of a handful of people, try to convince them to buy a CD, t-shirt or at least join the mailing list (in return for a cuddle from 'Cuddly Paul'), and falling back into the venue in the early hours of the morning. We watched every other band we were on a bill with (whether they be before or after us), it's the right thing to do. We had a rule that if Madness comes on the PA we have to down a shot. Madness are very popular band, we drank a lot. Our first tour last year was exciting and new to us, the second time around we're starting to know what to expect. We didn't kill each other; 8 days continually in the same hotel room/car/venue with Aidy and Dave and I'm still keen to do it all again, as soon as possible. They're awesome bandmates to have. It's a slog - sometimes a demoralising slog, but when you get back to the 9-5, back to your little desk and spreadsheets, you do find yourself getting the diary out and planning when you can do it all again.