And so as all good things have to come to an end, we headed down to Bath for the final date of the tour. It was a long but relatively uneventful drive from North Wales but we made decent time and were at the venue for about 6 to eat a veggie curry and meet Flash, a truly punk-as-fuck bloke who was promoting the evening. The pub itself - the Porter Butts if my already strained memory isn't deceiving me - was a very cool old boozer and the gig was set up in the sizeable back room.

First up it was Warprayer's crust attack to kick things off, then Flowers took their place, though it wasn't until ARU hit the stage that the gig really kicked off. Among the crowd were most of Defcon Zero, including a heroically drunken Monkey in bunches and a ripped-up girly style ARU shirt. Once the gig drew to it's conclusion it was time for a drive back to Bristol where we were staying - a very packed van duly whipped up the motorway quicksharp. Kebabs and cider were procured and we dropped most of the crew off at the house before Ben, Seedi and I nipped off to take another friend home and managed somehow not to still be stuck in the terrible Bristol one-way system.

Eventually we got some measure of sleep, but it was still an early start in the morning as various of us had to work / watch footie, so off we went. Reversing the van right up that road was quite an ask, while our tempers weren't helped by some bastard scaffies blocking us in but we made it onto the motorway and so back to London, where followed a lot of dropping off gear until eventually I made it to mine with an empty van for about 3 o clock.

So there you have it - 1700 miles, 7 gigs, 9 days and more fun than you should be able to logically have without taking your clothes off. Here's to plenty more like it!

Part 3...

Well we are all back in our respective singular pieces. 1700 miles, nine days, seven shows and some excellent memories.

To pick up where I left off, we enjoyed an excellent day in Edinburgh - shopping, drinking and catching up with a few acquaintances who were up for the festival. Many beers went down and the House Of Crust guys really looked after us, However, much as all good things come to an end, we had another gig to get to so eventually we left Scotland with many happy memories on another mission.

Next was the 120 Rats squat in Leeds - a somewhat established if dilapidated squatted house tucked away in a corner of n industrial estate. Seedi, Ben and I had played here years ago with our respective bands in the 90's. It has fallen down somewhat these days, the faces of the people who live there have changed but they are all a very cool bunch, fed us splendidly and gave us plenty of beer. There was a more than decent crowd too. We played with Torn Apart who we also rocked with in Nottingham, and Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair from Glasgow, both of whom were first class. A few of my friends had travelled from other parts of Yorkshire to see us and both ourselves and ARU ripped the place up good style. Kiara cemented her place as a Flowers collaborator - having already contributed backing vocals to our recording, for tonight and the rest of the tour she took over on bass for our Minor Threat double cover - Filler segueuing into I Don't Wanna Hear It - and, as comes very naturally to her, fucking rocked it - possibly best of all in Leeds. Later, we discovered the drummer from Wheelchairs had a bit of a thing for making simple single string guitars our of tin cans and bits of wood, so we immediately adopted one of his creations - the Shitar. The rest of the night went by in a haze of booze, spliff and salvia while we added our own stickers and graffiti to the melee. Word to Ciaran and Adam - very cool hosts.

Anyway, a jolly good time was had by all but soon we had to get ourselves moving again. The next gig was to be in Stoke but we first had to get my friend Daren - who had come to see us and stayed over in the van afterwards to party - back to his in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax in West Yorkshire. So we stopped at his for a loo break and midway through mine I checked my myspace on my phone,. principally to confirm a gig we're playing in Yorkshire on the 29th. Lucky I did as the promoter from Stole had messaged us to say the gig had been cancelled. So we hung with Daren and Helen for the day and night that followed, drinking beers, smoking and listening to Daren's amazing - and amazingly varied - DJ'ing. We had a party and talked long into the night of new songs and creative possibilities. By the next day we were fully rested and set out for North Wales.

This gig had been a bit of a mad one to get - due to various issues whereby Joe and Kee had been trying to book us on the same show via different people but had different dates - all of which I'll omit in the cause of keeping the story manageable. We did eventually make it and discovered we were playing in a cafe bar which was entirely glazed - a tad unusual for either band, but at least we could keep an eye on the van. This was Joe's home territory so this meant we were playing with the awesome Carpet - good friends of his and an excellent band as they ably demonstrated. The sets both went well despite my very evil-smelling farts which nearly derailed the Minor Threat tune... Anyway, Joes' dad made it down along with his sisters fella so we very much enjoyed playing for another part of the Flowers family.

We had some difficulties with the promoter here. I won't go into it but to say that thanks to Kee we managed to get the cash we needed for petrol eventually. We retired to Carpet singer John's mum's house in Rhyl for some munchies and some well needed rest, though I still had to get up and move the van at the crack of dawn despite crashing at 5 am - John's ma also had visitors coming the next day so we went to a cafe to get breakfast before getting on our way, as soon as Santiago had purchased a paintball pistol anyway (don't take it on the streets dude, the police tend to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to Brazilians they believe to be armed). Then - after disarming him - it was on the looong road to Bath and the last night of the tour - we'd all been having such a good time up to now there was certainly a twinge of sadness as we made our way down to the south west.

So here it is at last - the long awaited UK tour. We're a 3 piece for the next 6 or 7 shows, and are riding in our new (to us!) van Ruby with the awesoem Armed Response Unit and more equipment than should physically be possible to craminto that space.

It all started yesterday - got lost twice before we left London and stuck in loads of traffic to boot - made it to Basingstoke for the first show. Promoter Tank and his lovely lady Tess sorted us out with some awesome food and we enjoyed the stylings of Sniper before we played. Some minor guitar amp problems saw us off to a shaky start, while I realised I haven't even played bass at all for six weeks but I don't think too many people noticed (who knows?) Even sold a bit of merch. Which reminds me, we have t-shirts now so get em while they're hot! Then we had the stupendous Empress before ARU took the stage hostage though a suck ass finish time meant their set was cut short. Damn you licensing laws! Then the pub tried to scam us by insisting on receipts before they gave us any cash - thank fuck I kept them, don't usually! But we secured the cash anyway, Then it was a mad dash in the dark following Tank's car at breakneck speeds through Berkshire (Ruby ain't built for speed!) But we arrived OK and were treatedto some splendid hospitality. Early start then we shot up the road to Bolton, near where yours truly grew up, and I'm sat in the York pub now having had a couple of hours break from driving watching them all set up the stage. Here's to maybe getting a couple of beers tonight (oh, the joy!) and - wait for it - seeing my dad who's meant to be coming down! Bring it on! More news when possible....

See here:

http://www.markthomasinfo.com/section_policy_updates/thatcher.asp

No I mean it, really, do.

Here's a bonus and slightly related link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyIVTIpFvYs

Please distribute widely!

Flowers Of Flesh And Blood and Armed Response Unit are planning a UK tour in August. We're looking for shows between 13th and 23rd August - promoters around the UK, please get in touch if you can help put us on or if you know people who can!

So we have 3 new songs on our profile - or rather recordings, the songs aren't that new... but hope you all enjoy. They are rough mixes of some of the recordings we have been busily beavering away at since 2008 with Matt Jarman (Dissident Sound Industry / LamRatLazIt1st etc) at the controls, for which he earns our undying love and devotion...
We also have two new players, Santiago (drums) and Steve (guitar, ex-Social Schism) who have been rehearsing hard and getting into the Flowers way. We will be playing shows with them in May, at the time of writing we're confirmed as playing the Boston Arms on the 16th as part of a benefit for the Anarchist Bookstore, check the gig guide bit for more as we'll update it as shows come in. 2009 is looking like a full on year with loads of gigs and a tour in the plans. We will also be releasing the recording on CD, possibly as a split or possibly not, watch this space!

Fully rehearsed and with a harder, faster, heavier sound than ever before, Flowers are now seeking shows in London and the South East from the middle of June. Promoters, get in touch - we're reliable, cheap, available and we rock!