Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 4
I've wanted to photograph a tour for a bit and finally had my chance with the joint Lightspeed Champion and Patrick Wolf UK tour in November. In the beginning of October I sent Dev a message and bada bing, bada bang, he was up for it. Note: I'd just been fired from my day job - what a great time for an expensive-ish trip overseas! Whoo! The possibility of self-imposed poverty rocks! Pitched it as a photo diary to Pfork who declined, so I pitched a few glossy magazines and URB was psyched for it. I blogged the tour for their site. Keep an eye out for the issue in January featuring my words and Dev's photos in a photo-essay profile of his project.
It's really funny cos I always want to be involved at a photo level in the projects Dev's involved in and that drive always nets me bylines in big places - first, my desire to shoot Test Icicles portraits led me to hunting down the editor of German Vice who bestowed me with the privilege. Now kinda with URB where I will now be contributing regularly (believe you me - I am trying to establish Portland's music scene even further in URB's Next 1000 issue out in March).
On with the tour...
First stop was Brighton. Because Dev's manager Rene couldn't find a driver, Dev had to take the train while I caught the bus, by way of National Express. At this point we assumed the entire tour would be by train. You can read about the whole Brighton adventure on Urb.com including a Test Icicles run in, Dev getting some prayers in, a tap dancing class and Patrick Wolf singing Britney Spears songs.
(I'd been looking forward to seeing Brighton's Pier. Saw it in the dark)
I came back to London as planned that night, only Dev did not, which I didn't learn of until after 1am. Due to Rene not transferring money into his bank account, Dev's phone bill did not get paid and he was levied a 300 pound fine and was no longer able to make outgoing calls. That caused a big kink in everything. Cue me outside his flat until near 4am (while hoards of foxes ran around having their fun) until I knocked on random doors at his direction on my mobile and ended up sleeping in the kitchen of Millers care of Pre and Comanechi's Akiko. That was sehr fun - she was recording, so we rewrote a song of hers, talked some Karen O solo material and had toast. Oh, and she cut her foot, but didn't feel it and thought she'd just stepped in ketchup so there was a trail of blood all over the floor.
In honor of riding the rails, a very appropriately covered person:
"Devil Inside Your Soul" (Train Chronicles Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3
Next stop was Exeter. Dev got a driver! Patrick's van broke down! Interview cancelations! Spice Girls songs! Read on Urb.com about what happened on the cobblestone streets of Exeter and at the venue which had a metal horse outside of it causing me to sing the Simon Bookish song of the same name (complete with inflection).
Patrick Wolf's tour manager Stuart really wasn't nice to me. After the show I went into the dressing room to check on my recharging laptop where four boxes of pizza were stacked near the garbage containing about two slices each. Even though this was a "solo tour" Patrick had a large crew along for the ride including his hairdresser Harri who said I could have a piece. As I was going to take a bite, Stuart walked in and grabbed the slice out of my hand and said I wasn't allowed to have any (while every one else was). I looked at Patrick thinking he was joking. He wasn't. It was like that a lot.
While Dev packed up his merch inside, his driver Tom and I sat in the parking lot. Previous to this short tour, Tom has driven for many acts including those on Dev's label Domino and for Feist. He hadn't heard Test Icicles so I played him a few tracks. Soon Dev was approaching. We decided maybe we should stop listening to "Who Ate All the Offal" and "What's Michelle Like" cos that might be weird. hahahaha
Bristol was my favorite afternoon/night. It was the most fun and relaxed one - everyone was in a positive mood. I assumed that on this tour there'd be at least an hour of free time to experience the cities. Not so. Every minute for Dev was scheduled for press. The second he arrived into each city it was time for a radio session, then to the venue for soundcheck and as soon as that was completed (it typically only lasted for two songs since he only had a guitar) it was time for in person interviews until stage time.
Another concert-goer had fun at the show in Bristol too!
We had a day off in London on the 24th before continuing on so I used the time to go to a party in a warehouse. Next was Manchester and partially Leicester which never went up on Urb, so that full blog will be my conclusion to this theme week.
I will be uploading ALL of my photos from headdresses to hotel rooms from the tour onto my flickr as soon as the New Year kicks in so stay tuned to it come the beginning of January.
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