I've completely overhauled my website design at http://tomasford.com - I suggest you head over there and check it out. There's a blog I update more often than I should, streaming and download links for my entire back catelogue of releases, video, dj mixes, you can buy stuff, find out about shows and a whole pile of other stuff.

Head there now: http://tomasford.com .

....................

Friday night in Brisbane was great. I was really lucky to run into the guys I met up there at the show on Thursday night, they took me out for all the freaky BBQ meat I could eat; a personal highlight was the Ox Tongue, which was like making out with a cow and is a sensation that will pretty much stay with me forever.

Yesterday, after a delay turned what should have been a painless hop from Brisbane to Sydney into a full day of airport nonadventure, I spent half an hour pulling my wheely suitcase along the road to the Lansdowne. I arrive looking a bit like shit, but maybe a little art-ier than their average patrons. I receive raised eyebrows and a key to where I’m staying. I head up there, dump my gear in my room and head to the communal bathroom to start putting on my makeup. It’s nearly showtime. Glittery perfection achieved, I head back to my room to get my gear for the show. At which point I realise my key is already in there. So I trundle back down to the pub, not in costume yet but covered in make up. The eyebrows are really raised now. They send someone to open my room for me. I quickly grab my gear and head downstairs to set up. I ask if there’s a rider as I’m performing. The barman laughs at me and tells me there isn’t one. The bar crew all share concerned looks as they realise the wierd little man from earlier is actually going to play there on a Saturday night. Oh dear.

Sydney’s a wierd little town; it doesn’t really matter there what else you’ve done in other cities, if you haven’t got some kind of massive media presence there it’s like you don’t exist. So I’m playing a strange show tonight, opening for some funk bands, alongside a guy I know from the internets, Plate Captain Frank.

I put on my costumes and go on stage at 9pm. Those in the audience who have noticed, look at me like I’m about to slaughter an orphan. They are Rock Kids. So I slowly build up to Bash Myself, getting things started on a slow, quiet intro and chatting to everyone to try to get them on side. It’s working. I drop the bassline. They share concerned looks. That’s understandable. This is the city of Van She. They’ve had to endure an endless amount of bad dance music. But as the groove builds, people are starting to get where I’m coming from. The show is going well. I start to dance. And knock out all of the power plugs from my powerboard. I pull everything back together super-quick (my current setup is much better at this than my old one that required a full reboot) and we get back on with the show. It’s a lot of fun; they’re not really in a headspace to play with me too much, but it can be just as fun to push the limits of a reticent crowd, so long as everyone’s not freaking out. There were a couple of people who freaked out. “Get your hands off me! Don’t fucking touch me!” etc. Which is totally OK. It’s their loss, really.

Anyway, the show was great. The funk bands that followed were good at what they did, though it was pretty clear that they’d no idea who the hell I was. Plate Captain Frank played super late, doing a kind of one man nervous breakdown/industrial hardcore/commercial pop show in a gimp mask, which was a nice way to end out the night. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t put something out on Dual Plover as he seems a perfect fit for what they do.

Now I’m sitting in a park in Sydney, not doing too well on the cash flow front and trying to amuse myself by blogging and working my way through my inbox. It’s been really hard to find decent internet on this tour L Hopefully that situation will improve over the next week or so as I start to go to cities I’m a bit more familiar with (and who are, thankfully, a little more familiar with me).  Anyone in Newcastle or Sydney over the next few days who is bored and wants to hang out, hit me up.

....................

6pm Perth time to 5pm AEST: Trapped in an aeroplane. Dull.

Lismore isn’t boring as I’d expected. It’s actually quite a nice little town, lots of little cafes, plenty of music shops and an abundance of venues. All of which (save the crap ones) are closed tonight though, so for my purposes, it’s fucking lame. Which should have been fine; the point of being here was to play a show, have some drinks, go to sleep and catch a bus to Brisbane.

I know I mentioned this a bit before, but you probably want a bit more juicy detail; my show here was cancelled when the licencee and venue owner had a massive argument; next thing everybody in town knows, they’re carting things out of the place in boxes and the sound engineer is called in to remove the PA. This is all about five days before I’m due to go away. The first I heard of it was last week when the Northern Star lady rang to ask me if I had a new venue as the pub I was playing had shut down. A very strange phone call indeed.

But not as strange as the fact that I’m here; I spent the first half of tonight walking around town, looking at empty shops and the multicultural takeaways of the town. There seems to be a lot of homeless people here, particularly for a country town, which is a bit sad to see. But I’m always hit by that in the eastern states; I know WA has a huge homeless problem but it seems to be much more hidden than it is over here.  The regional gallery here has a window exhibit featuring the silhouette of Michael Jackson as made from small plants, which was a bit wierd to come across. The execution isn’t very good at the moment but it looks like it might grow into something interesting.

After wandering for a while, I came across a cinema and went to see the new Tarantino flick, Inglorious Basterds. In my travel-fucked haze, I totally forgot I’d scheduled a telephone interview with Inpress at the same time it started. So in the middle of the (great) opening scene, my phone rang and I had to go talk about myself for ten minutes. It’s a great film though, quite arrestingly constructed and quite hard to watch in parts. It’s so charming, it gets you on side enough that you’re willing to let it show you some fucked up shit. Which is a strategy I can appreciate in any artform.

Right now I’m sitting in the revolting surrounds of the “Lismore City Motor Inn”, which as you can see from the link is a stunning example of 20^th century architecture. If you think the street frontage is nice though, you should see inside; pale green walls that look like a mouldy version of off white, an entirely tiled floor of the most disgusting tiles possible, mismatched furniture (a wooden chest here, a bamboo table there, plastic dining table set, moss green faux-velvet chair, silver IKEA bedside lamps and a “feature” wall that is, I shit you not, plastic light brown bricks glued onto the plasterboard behind it, with dark brown paint filling the gaps. Adding to my pain, the internet doesn’t work. I can live without a lot of things. But not my internets.

I’m about to have a tinker with the remix of Lines I was working on a couple of nights back and maybe start looking at a bit of a weird ballad I’ve been putting together. Boredom can breed creativity. This room is so awful though, I really just want to go to sleep, get up and get the fuck out of here!

I’ll have to come back and do a show here sometime though. During daylight hours, I think this might actually be my kind of town. And I’m pretty sure, with Nimbin around the corner, that I could set up some bush doof  type live sets. I’ve always wanted to scare wasted hippies at a bush doof.

So two of my shows this week have suffered last minute cancellations, which means I'll be going to Lismore for no reason on Wednesday, before catching a greyhound to Brisbane for one show and a day off on the friday after my Woombye show was cancelled (any suggestions for Brisbane fun?). Both venues no longer support live music for varying reasons, so I'm not taking it too personally but both venues have left me in more than a bit of a tight spot. Fuckers. Still, the rest of the tour has come together so amazingly well I can't really complain. In any case, with my back a little stuffed up this week (I spent the weekend guzzling valium), a light week of shows (only two now!) could be just what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, I've put together my pre-show music compilation today. You probably won't hear this in all venues, but it looks like this:

1. Down The Hole - Brash And Sassy
2. One Day - The Transients
3. Pass This On - The Knife
4. I Feel Love - Donna Summer
5. Underfire - Belittle League
6. Relativity (Original Extended Mix) - Grafton Primary
7. Divine - Sébastien Tellier
8. Monstertuckdriver - T. Raumschmiere
9. Emerge - Fischerspooner
10. Disco Donnie - Theatre Of Disco
11. World In My Eyes (Dub In My Eyes Mix) - Depeche Mode
12. Nummern - Kraftwerk
13. Male Stripper - Man 2 Man feat. Man Parrish
14. Black Mirror (team9 Remix) - Arcade Fire
15. Pin-Up Boyfriend - Voltaire Twins
16. Vulture - Patrick Wolf
17. Homosapien (Special Mix) - Pete Shelley

With my website currently down and going through some changes, I'm going to be doing my tour blog on Myspace and Facebook.

Before I get to the actual night, as anyone who is my friend on Facebook or Twitter (yes, I know, I collect these things) would know, I totally fucked up my back on wednesday. On Thursday night, I was hopped up on Valium and thought I might have to do the show lying down or in a wheelchair or some such shit. I owe a debt of gratitude to my deep tissue massaging friend Dharma who spent Friday morning working on my back and did an amazing job (if anyone lives in the Freo area and need some deep tissue action drop me a message and I'll pass on his details). It's still a bit sore but I think by the time I fly out to Lismore on wednesday, it'll be fine. And if not, I've got 50 valium tablets to keep me going.

The first date of the tour was at the Hydey last night and it was extremely cool. A full bar, a great lineup and some very confused looking regulars. The man known as The Gizzards started everything off with his 8-bit prog epics and it was hilarious to watch the "blokes" come up from the TAB room to watch their reaction. After that Lil Leonie Lionheart and Rabbit Island charmed everyone with their folk and then I was able to indulge in some spoken word programming. Patrick Pittman, Mar Bucknell read some great stuff, before Gabrielle Everall took the mic and took control of the room for what was probably the most intense ten minutes of spoken word the Hydey has ever seen. The crowd looked completely arrested by her. Following that, Brash And Sassy took the stage for a set that started again with a very confused looking audience and ended with everyone in love with them. Then we had Byron Bard, who audiences seem to adore, Leon Ewing came on and did some surreal songs on his guitar and laptop and Jake Moore (who is shaping up to be a bit of a favouite of mine) revulsed everybody with  his powerful piece about being raping somebody from the inside out with his tongue. One of those pieces it's always fun to watch an audience member "enjoy" for the first time.

My show was surprisingly good, if a little beset by technical difficulties, but nothing that could stop the show. I had a pleasant little chat with the crowd while I reset my entire setup after my opening track Five Times and there were massive mic problems all the way through, particularly during Bash Myself. But I managed to pull off an epic instrumental build at the end of that song though that I thought made up for how shit my vocals sounded over the PA.

Oddly enough, I didn't drink much. I usually drink a bit before my shows, just to the point that the last remains of nerves are gone. But last night I didn't and it was great; I felt very much in control of the show and the nerves actually made the show more enjoyable; it's a nice feeling to be simultaneously nervous and able to overcome those nerves.

Overall it was a great night; I've got another cabaret party at the end of the tour at Mojo's in Fremantle (on Sunday December 13th from 5-10pm), and if that goes well I'll be turning them into a semi-regular event. It's nice to take a rock venue off guard with a cabaret and take the cabaret/spoken word kids off guard by putting them in a rock venue.

I'm off to the drive-in now.

Happy saturday,

Tomás

Hi everyone,

Wanted you to be the first to know that I'm touring Australia again, and this time I'll be playing my most extensive run of dates yet. Along with my usual kickarse shows all over the place, I'll also be putting on Pity Party Cabarets jammed full of fun performance from the outer fringes of culture in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. If that's not rad enough, I'll be joined for most of the dates by one of my favourite local live electronic performers, DOS4GW, whose set of grimy dubstep and mid-song conversationalism will keep you amused and up to your neck in booty shaking.

Anyway, I'm still finalising lineups, but here's the totally wanky press release so you can mark it in your diary. If you want to warm your ears up for it, you can buy my CD on iTunes if you click here or through your local record store via Firestarter Distribution ( tell them the order code is FIRE2007023)

Tomás Ford's Pity Party Tour

Tomás Ford divides his personality between synth-disco auteur and one man punk rock maelstrom. After years of shows in bars and at festivals around Australia, including this year’s laps around the country with the Big Day Out’s Lilyworld and as special guest on Birds Of Tokyo’s sold out April tour comes his first national release in the form of his new EP Bash Myself.

In a cluttered hallway-sized studio in his Fremantle home, he spends his nights crafting hyperanalytical pop songs and irreverent dancefloor remixes. By day, he focuses on keeping his show on the road; collaborating with his mother on gaudy neon costumes, booking tours, blogging feverishly and designing his own distinctive poster and cover art.

When the weekend hits, he puts on irreverent, energetic, borderline psychotic live dance music shows. He runs around the bar, climbing over everything in sight, flinging between costume changes, pulling off impossible dance moves and forcing himself into the comfort zones of unsuspecting audience members. It’s all about creating energy and fun from pushing people’s buttons any way he can. It’s intense, engaging and it’s probably the most fun you can have in a bar.....

But all parties have to end sometime; at the end of the night, he gets home, sits in his hallway studio with a bottle of wine and it’s a comedown. Cue his new single Bash Myself. Writhing in it’s own pathos while flashing a knowing wink to the camera, this is deliciously depressive disco purpose made for play at pre-dawn pity parties. Ford explores the depths of his post-performance low in a raw croon before breaking the track down and redirecting it to a hands-in-the-air peak. The lead track is the first taste of Ford’s new album due for release in 2010. The EP also features late night slow jam Get Used To It, featuring Emcee Able, along with three diverse remixes from Perth-based producers pulling highlights from Ford’s DIY releases into the worlds of house, electro and breakbeat.

Tomás will be taking his new record on the road around Australia in August and September, launching himself upon venues for what promises to be a not-to-be-missed run of dates.

THE BASH MYSELF PITY PARTY TOUR

FRI AUG 21 // HYDE PARK HOTEL, NORTHBRIDGE WA ^! //

WED AUG 26 // WINSOME HOTEL, LISMORE NSW //

FRI AUG 28 // STEP INN, BRISBANE QLD ^! //
SAT AUG 29 // VENUE TBC, SYDNEY NSW^!*//
WED SEP 2 // THE CAMBRIDGE, NEWCASTLE NSW* //
THU SEP 3 // GANGBUSTERS @ BAR 32, CANBERRA ACT* //

FRI SEP 4 // THE ALLEY CAT BAR, HOBART TAS* //
SAT SEP 5 // PONY (LATE SHOW), MELBOURNE VIC //
SUN SEP 6 // CROWN AND ANCHOR, ADELAIDE SA^!* //

SUN SEP 13 // MOJO’S BAR, NORTH FREMANTLE WA^!* //

SPECIAL SECRET CODES:

*: With special guest DOS4GW www.myspace.com/dos4gwhiphop

^{!: Massive Pity Party Cabaret party! More details soon!....}

Everyone I know who isn't on Twitter thinks it's lame. They're totally wrong. It's rad.

Come "follow" me if you're on there and if not you can read my little SMS-sized updates on the link anyway;

http://twitter.com/tomas_ford

As my first post suggests, I also started /tomasford a long time ago when I was a bit drunk and I was wary of giving my email address over so I used a fake one. Which was totally fkn stupid.

A huge thankyou to everyone who came down and watched or performed at my launch on Friday night. I was so delighted by it that I'm still glowing. My set was a lot of fun (even if I discovered that the new dancehall-influenced version of Five Times I'd planned to open with was on my studio hard drive five minutes before I was due to start), I got to monkey around the entire Rocket Room, which is a venue I really enjoy playing because its' shape presents a massive challenge in terms of engaging the whole crowd. The bulk of your audience is at the back and the bar is along the entire legnth of the room, down the centre, ending just a metre and a half from the stage. This often means you'll have disengaged punters drinking at the bar where you would generally have your front row, so I have to do a lot of work off stage. In any case, I had a blast.

Here's a review by Danielle Marsland that appeared in todays' X-Press. I don't like to publish too many reviews on here, but I feel like this captures the vibe of the show (though if you're reading this for the first time, maybe skip over the "crotch rubs" bit, there's different levels of interaction for different folks and don't worry, it's highly unlikely you'll find yourself on the "crotch rubs" level) in a way that most reviews of me don't:

Bracing yourself for a Tomás Ford performance is like preparing to go into battle.

Your ears prick up at the first sign of danger, as the booming voice of local cabaret-rock-electro-shockster of the hour, Tomás Ford, sounds from somewhere in the room, his profile invisible, buried deep in the crowd. Now alert; you begin to survey the battlefield; before the offender - armoured in a cream blazer, face covered in glittery war paint - leaps up on top of a window ledge.

The crowds' heads snap over to Ford's direction, and he begins his hex over the minions, spitting and oozing out words alternately; taunting the fighters with a familiar cry of old: "Why don't you kill yourself and all your children?", albeit a less melodic, almost unrecognisable version of Letters Of Complaint than that which graces Ford's inspired album Nobody Wants To Be You.

The spines of the crowdsmen begin to arch in fear; as Ford, launching himself into his second tune of the eve - new single Bash Myself - reveals his tactics for the night's show: to utilise the Rocket Room's centrally positioned, U-shaped bar, and the space around it, as a giant performance space.

One of Ford's previous live shows, Tomás Ford vs The Audience, is a title that perhaps summates Ford's interactive approach to performance best.

Ford's tactics involved grasping punters in headlocks and backing them down in duel, smooching their faces or smothering them into his armpit, showering them with water from his drink bottle, and an assortment of groin rubs and dirty dancing moves.

All the while through the antics, Ford maintained an eclectic yet solid repertoire, punctuated with comic banter, the musical content ranging from spoken word pieces over emphatic, electronic-pop beats, pre-crafted by Ford and crafted on-stage by laptop and manipulated live by MIDI; to rapping over mash-ups; to dark, twisted covers; and finally moody, melodic that allowed Ford's bona fide skills as a vocalist to shine through.

Whether it be performing in intimate venues like The Rocket Room or The Velvet Lounge; or in front of hundreds of strangers, touring Australia as part of the Big Day Out's Lilyworld stage, you've got to hand it to Ford: he knows his battle plan when it comes to live performance, and he enacts it to dangerous, flawless perfection damn near every time.

Gawd! WAMi awards and Metro City show is next week! Also, by the way, the Bash Myself tour has been shifted back a month to July to allow for enough lead in time to rework the show so I'll be able to present something a bit suprising for you. I'm really looking forward to it though. I've toured a lot this year but I've had to adapt the show to suit circumstances a lot, so it'll be nice to be able to unleash a bit more of an uncomprimising set that takes everyone on a bit more of a ride.

Holy shit. I just came back from the WAMi award nominations and it turns out I'm up for two of them, which is lovely. It's my first time so to get two is pretty amazing. Now, watch me lose in both categories to serial winners Pendulum! ;)

Best Live Electronic Act
Pendulum
The Transients
The Voltaire Twins
Tomás Ford

Best Electronic Producer
Adrian Sardi
Pendulum
Taku
Tomás Ford

Holy shit! My jaw is still agape.