Belated Happy New Year and that. I was advised to create a blog, as keeping my site updated whilst travelling around the world became impossible, so I did just that. Last year was, well, fairly mental like so I wrote some kind of year review :-
2008 started slowly as I was recovering from a broken shoulder, from an accident I had in Istanbul. In early January, a good friend of mine convinced me to spend a weekend in Portugal, where I ended up playing 2 gigs with Anathema's Danny Cavanagh, albeit with my arm all strapped up. It had been 14 years since I was last there and I felt an immediate warmth for the place, the people, the food, the bar prices. Was nice to meet the guys from Equilibrium Records too, who release the íon stuff. Further rehabilitation on my injury took me into March where I travelled to Belgrade for a weekend. Again getting on stage with Danny, this time without the sling, using cheap champagne as an anaesthetic. Then onto Greece for a St Patricks Day party in Thessaloniki, where I was DJing. During this time I decided that I would do the Caminho Portugues in May, a pilgrimage from Porto to Santiago De Compostela. I set up a sponsorship for the childrens hospital in Liverpool for which I raised over £1000. April saw the release of The Aftermaths debut album 'Friendlier Up Here' which I played on a few tracks, including a couple of top 20 singles. The album has seen cracking reviews so far and they band are making waves now in Ireland. Good luck to the lads. Onto May and the pilgrimage, which was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Not only for raising money for the kids, but on a personal and spiritual level too. Back to Thessaloniki again for another Irish party. June gigs in France with Vincent Cavanagh and a talented cellist Greg. During these gigs I met Colin Fromont, who was playing percussion for the support band - Averse, and got him on board to play on my new album. July saw another return to Portugal to work on my next album "Immaculada" which I laid down tracks in a small village outside Lisbon. The recording session went really smoothly, and I had the pleasure of working with some talented local Portuguese musicians who will appear on the album. September saw a reunion with Antimatter's Mick Moss for gigs in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Braga, before heading to Galicia for 2 gigs, finishing up in Santiago De Compostela once again. It was good playing together again after a good few years busy doing different things. Seems that the "Antimatter curse" has been lifted too, which brought us some ridiculous bad luck in the past. November saw a two week tour starting from eastern Europe, again with Mick, through Italy up to Finland and Latvia, finishing up in the Netherlands. Plenty of red wine, early flights, and chicken wings. I spent most of December in Monterrey, Mexico. One of my favourite places on earth. Back there after 4 years. Then back to Portugal for the fourth time in 12 months to see the year out.
Concerts from last year - 2008:
JAN 11, Lisbon, Portugal (IPJ)
JAN 12, Coimbra, Portugal (Via Latina)
MAR 9, Belgrade, Serbia (SKC Livingroom)
JUNE 15, Paris, France (La Pomme D'Eve)
JUNE 16, Lille, France (Le Visiteur)
SEPT 19, Coimbra, Portugal (Via Latina)
SEPT 20, Lisbon, Portugal (Transmission)
SEPT 21, Braga, Portugal (Auditório do Museu)
SEPT 23, Cambados, Spain (Esmorga)
SEPT 24, Santiago De Compostela (TNT)
NOV 4, Budapest, Hungary (After Music Club)
NOV 5, Bucharest, Romania (Becker Brau Live Music Club)
NOV 6, Trieste, Italy (Tetris Club)
NOV 7, Milan, Italy (Blues House)
NOV 8, Bergamo, Italy (Caffe Letterario)
NOV 9, Warsaw, Poland (No Mercy Club)
NOV 11, Jyvaskyla, Finland (Lutakko Bar)
NOV 12, Helsinki, Finland (Semifinal)
NOV 13, Turku, Finland (Dynamo)
NOV 14, Riga, Latvia (Club Depo)
NOV 15, Lille, France (Le Visiteur)
NOV 16, Tilburg, Netherlads (Little Devil)
Here are some pics from the Portuguese/Galician tour:
Portugal/Galicia pics 1
Portugal/Galicia pics 2
No comments:
Post a Comment