with frédéric on bass, julien barbagallo percussion with emma and kate and catherine bvox



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDZIy2LrOfg

Morning Star on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

lundi, we play in someones apartment. i dont know where it is except it's near the train station and that thjis is the kit, morning star and le cube will be playing. places limitées Possibilité de réserver en envoyant un mail à alex@maisondrole.com. Lieu : 5 place de Belfort (et non pas 5 rue de Belfort) *avec une conso (dans la limite des stocks disponibles, photo non contractuelle, suggestion de présentation, sous réserve de modification du fabricant, jeu gratuit sans obligation d’achat).

mardi hyperclean play in castres and thursday hyperclean play in toulouse

Morning Star on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

lundi, we play in someones apartment. i dont know where it is except it's near the train station and that this is the kit, morning star and le cube will be playing. places limitées Possibilité de réserver en envoyant un mail à alex@maisondrole.com. Lieu : 5 place de Belfort (et non pas 5 rue de Belfort) *avec une conso (dans la limite de

VENEZ all Francophiles for "they think they're having a ball tour" these two groups from paris will be recreating the atmosphere of a mid-revolution french ball by clever use of lights, props and word-play. hyperclean - psychedelic serge gainsbourg denounced for theatrical and unpredictable stage show. most recent album "grand tata" released on jack slams records may 2009. hyperclean.net morning star - hailing from bristol, mount the scaffold full of joie de vivre (with just a twist of triste), harbours a dangerously beautiful aristocratic guitar sound. most recent album "a sign for the stranger" released october 2009 on folkwit records. morningstarsmallorchestra.org.uk

Morning Star on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

ALLEZ all Francophiles for "they think they're having a ball tour" these two groups from paris will be recreating the atmosphere of a mid-revolution french ball by clever use of lights, props and word-play. hyperclean - psychedelic serge gainsbourg denounced for theatrical and unpredictable stage show. most recent album "grand tata"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAsIp3odMqY

live in the southbank club, bristol. filmed and edited by david bekkevold. thanks to ashkeys music

photos by lucille mouroux live at JAK 9th march, 2009 ..



on tour in japan 2008

18th oct - kcucharismo - Utsonomia
All night, tongue has been bad and throat too, starting to worry i've got aeroflot foul food extremely contagious disease. wake up determined to see a doctor. i break the news to miwako at 8pm insiting i'll just go there with my phrase book and a letter of recommendation from her. She double insists that she'll come too, and leon. i get kate (and mo) up too cos her tongue is bad and we toddle to thedoctors. luckily there's a 2 hour wait so we dont go in and already i'm feeling much better anyway. sorry about that miwako.

we all leave around midday and hit utsonomia a few hours later. strange how round the world there are place names ending like they come from the same fairy tale: snowdonia, transylvania, narnia, utsomonia, saganomia etc (theres loads in japan).

Miwako and Naoki take us for chinease style dumplings and mo and leon have great time running up and down and jumping off stuff with rachael
the venue is another very nice cafe upstairs and shop below selling quality items. sanski  the manager and toshi the owner welcome us. we decide i must start the night as my voice a pityful parody of its usual force. i croak and squeek my way through 30mins with alot of help from kit and rachael (and a bit too much from mo). the audience is very kind and smiley. all acts very well received as usual.i play 2 sisters with rachael.
we eventually get back to japanese style hotel after many friendly goodbyes
around 1am.

19th oct- tsukuba - shingoster living
wake up after very restful night except i dreamt bob dylan moved into my house and was being nice if a bit ambivalent and katkin took a tiny helicopter ride in his room and crashed but she was ok.
We walked directly to nearest hot bath spa via riverside walk. most congenial quite plush with lots of pools indoors and out, a sauna with a man personally fanning up the heat for everyone. after his labours he gave a short speach and all applauded.
We take mulitple trains to tsukuba and hang out in a park til being met.
mo and i go on an adventure through some trees with giant spiders in giant webs to a lake with giant carp having a feeding frenzy to get bread. they coming up steps and swishing their taila dn splashing mo. more said mo. we also visited a student robot competition and had a quick go on a mini racing car round a concrete pen. all in half an hour. one can achieve so much in this country/ with mo. the nothers had just been sitting on the grass all that time.

yoko met us and took us to her lovely shop, shingoster living, all cleared of products and ready for us to play. big black dog in the garden much impresses mo.
we play show pretty much acoustic.

my voice still sadly sub kareoke level and it sounds like some mortal from the stalls has just got on stage trying to sing my work. a good lesson for the artiste i tell myself.
after show the shop is brought back inside from under tarps and shelves are screwed back onto walls and we all go for a meal with all the helpers. then a drive to miyuki and uegis traditional japanese style house in the country to sleep.

20 oct - back to tokyo
the team slowly awake (commencing as usual with mo then me as her minder) take a stroll then a big leisurely breakfast with our hosts and yoko and shingo too.

shingo and miyuki..... mo leading us up the garden path


we take train back to tokyo. mo ports her new hat bag kit has been busy crocheting.
we head for saganomia, kiko is waiting for us at the station. in the evening kit makes about 30 packages to send to friends in uk and france - you probably got one - sorry if not it probably stuck in the post.

21st oct - a day in sagonomia
this is the city in tokyo where kiko and genta live. she has made us all sorts of maps to find parks and post office and swimming pool and we follow them all. here's mo in the park on an impossible slide - should fall down with no legs no?

22nd oct - chill monday - yurigaoka
after a shopping trip where we visit zero records and i buy some 3/4 length trousers (are they supposed to be like that?) we get on train with miwako for 30 mins and are met at the station by aota and wife and kids navy and green. aota's done a cover of my song "i heard beauty calling" so i ask him to join me on stage (see pic below). its a lovely little cafe and he's covered the floor of the stage with leaves and branches. rachael looks quite the greek shephard girl with bare feet and ancient greek style dress.
by the end of the night everyone is singing mambo mambo mambo along to "dance with you". good fun all round as usual aota and his MS record

23rd oct another day to chill in chitose-funibashi
mo gets us up at 8 as is her want (but not ours alas) and rachael and i go for a jog and a swim. amazing swimming pool with jacuzi and steam room.
here i'd better mention the toilet sink system which so impresses kate and me. the water when refillying the systern passes through a little sink ontop the toilet. what a great water saving/using idea!

some notes about this trip/ tour to japan.
rachael is already in tokyo staying with naoki and miwako and between them all they book us a tour between the 10th october and 1st november 2008.
we fly aeroflot to moscow then tokyo on the 8th oct. we are scared of flight with aeroflot but all is totally fine except we have "special" meals which means same dish every meal: mushy vinegar vegtables and salad (with no desert unlike non special passengers i notice) tasting a bit metalic. is this the cause of later mentioned tongue illness kate and i suffer?
Mo does well first flight but by the end of the second, 11 hour one everyone is quite witless with no sleep. we survive and plane lands in tokyo.

rachael meets us and we have spaced out day at naoki and miwakos house staying awake til night time to avoid jet-lag.
which we manage ok - mo takes a bath and a walk at 2am but everyone does really well.

9th oct
we hang out in chitoze-funabashi. kit has mouth ulcer. my tongue is feeling strange.
10th oct
time passes. we go and play a gig in koenji high. quite nice club with good sound but few patrons.

here is a video made by the club. naoki uploaded. thanks for that.

kits friend lowis surpises us by turning up and looks after mo when we play. we meet up with rachael, eri and all go for meal together.

11th oct
after meal we go back to stay in kiko and gentas house. next day kiko takes us to buy digital camera so now the photos can begin. we take a walk in the park.
here is kiko.
and here is kit and mo



12 oct - Osaka - Millibar

kiko and genta kindly drive us to shibuya and we take our first trip into japan unchaperoned. trains very fast and comfy. we are pleased (and exhausted) to find the venue using public transport. rachaels bags were already there and soon so was she.

the venue is an art gallery above a cafe and we played two acoustic shows each, morning star then whalebone polly. mo took part ofcourse.


i ask audience to follow peters improvisation signals which they kindof try very quietly. i have nice time as usual._


i now definately have tongue complaint
we go to sleep in a different venue cafe that rachael knows. very nice people - but that goes as read for every show we do and everyone we meet here in japan.


13 oct - kyoto - guild cafe

we arrive in kyoto a few hours early and lost the address so we sit by a brook on a busy street while we wait to find the cafe. rachael paddles. very hot day with our heavy bags.
eventually find with some random local standard help. 3rd floor wooden rustic bar. nice PA and piano.

i join rachael and she joins me on stage using piano

very nice again.
we go to sleep in cafe yugue where we will play tomorrow.

14th oct - kyoto -cafe yugue

we are welcomed late at night by owner dae and he watches us guzzle our takeaway food in our usual alarming western piggish manner.
it's a charming small place selling cds and quality handmade items. we sleep upstairs which will also be the venue.

we wake up and daes son, su is there to play with mo.they get on famously. its so nice for mo to find pals like this. its her favourite thing. her other favourite things at the moment are chairs and shoes (she always comments on both). mo can now say arigato _(thankyou) and oshi (tasty, cool, groovy etc).


todays big revelation is japanese style hot baths. (this is us outside what we thought was the hot bath but it was actually next door)

there is sex segregation ofcourse so i had to go it alone. one strips orf, wonders into the bath area, showers vigorously and steps into the nearest hot bath hopefully not the hottest. then one can progress up the degrees culminating with an eye melting, breath winding sauna (probably bettert way to have a cold bath then the sauna).

after the bath we all felt totally tired and quite rubbish. i remarked that it was a good sign that the toxins we on their way out and we'll soon feel amazing. which kit didnt take too well but surely proved to be the case.

the gig was very nice and intimate and people sung along and seemed to be pleased and said they enjoyed theirselves. mo finished whalbone set on kits back to everyones delight. she went right to sleep back there. kawai seems to be the word murmerred wherever she goes.

15th oct - nagoya - 空色曲玉

groovy vegan cafe. rachaels shoes have broken completely so we are driven accross the street to shoe shop and she and i purchase new converse. i feel like portishead.


everyone shoes off in cafe.
support band is asana

very nice loops by yusuke and nice drumming by satoko.

all the gang outside cafe.
owners gave me a mountain hat made by her son.
16 oct - hamamatsu - enn cafe

this gig takesplace in a barbers upstairs storeroom. the barber is hayashi, ex kyoto are prizewinning number 1 barber i later ascertain. i decide my locks must fall here and he kindly agrees/ succumbs to a busmans holiday on my head.

hayashi is in right of picture. on left in moto who gina said is my twin. chris and gina also came to hamamatsu one time.

we go upstairs to the venue and sing a song with rachael while the sound crew checks the pa.

went for a lovely meal at cafe NARO where natsumi works. they specialise in SOBA which is buckwheat noodles. totally delicious. buckwheat ground on premises which you can see.
while whalebones played, mo and i went to play on hayashis skateboard. his dog behind the door didnt like it and jumped up barking. mo said "jump" and "dog"

club enn gang
after gig and hanging around for a while, organisers miho and yuta told us we'll drive for a long way in a big bus then go for hot springs. i found that an amazing idea. we were completely wiped out. the girls hanging out with sleeping mo were also practically asleep. i said to them _guess what we're going to do now? go for a big meal says rachael. guess again say i. go for a really big meal says rachael. its like the biscuit behind murrays back in flight of the conchords.

we do indeed drive for miles but skip the hot springs and sleep on support bands mums house.
we had to wake up at 8 am but went to mihos flat for lovely breakfast .....
they gave us presents and a stick and ball for mo and took us to station.

17th oct - back to tokyo - day off

tongue still bad

.. and i'm losing my voice. we hang out chez naoki and miwako which reminds me, i'm not at all keeping up with my french homework. tant pis.