WED 14TH OCT
Having had a couple days off in Santiago, we were all itching to get back on stage for what was our final leg of the tour - 4 shows in a row, the last three being in Portugal.
On the way to the night's Santiago gig Marc had heard our song 'Get Closer' on national Spain radio which is always a good sign, and hence it was great to see people streaming into our gig when doors finally opened at 11pm. We got on at midnight, which was one of our earlier starts for the tour, and had a great time entertaining a hugely enthusiastic crowd, who seemed to consist of a large amount of Marc's in-law's and friends which made it a lil special for us.

THURS 15TH OCT
From Santiago we headed to our first Portugal show, in the town of Oliveira de Azemeis. Loading into the venue, Art Club, we found we were playing out on a massive terrace in the middle of the town square. It was very much like playing the Love Boat. The weather was brilliant, with a cool breeze at nite, and after another beautiful meal which allowed us to get to know our Portugese promoter, Pedro, we hit the stage in one of the weirdest settings we've ever played. We were so loud surely we kept half the town awake that night, but no-one seemed to mind! Especially the enthusiastic kids down the front!
We were staying in Coimbra, a close-by Uni city, and when we rolled into town after finishing up at the Art Club, we were witness to scenes of madness - drunk Uni kids all over the place like apes acting wild, with many couples indulging in acts on the street that really should be left in the bedroom.


FRI 16TH OCT
Waking up in Coimbra, we had breakfast with the lovely girls from US band Agent Ribbons, who happened to be touring Portugal and staying in the same digs as us. It was nice to share touring stories over a croissant and a coffee before hitting the road once again.
So then off we headed to the brilliant city that is Porto. We were amazed by the beauty of the city when we got there, and even more amazed by the sheer grandeur and size of the venue we arrived at, Plano B. Definitely the most stunning venue i've ever played. Huge rooms decked out with amazing antuque statues and furniture, it resembled more a forgotten palace than a venue. The lovely Xana, our promoter, was there to look after us and took us out to a great restaurants and bar in preparation for our show.
The show itself was a blast - huge stage, great crowd who danced and danced the night away. Again, starting at 2pm meant for another late nite, but we were all for it, espeecially after the once again enthusiastic crowd response to our new track Salvation, which included a stage invasion.
The rest of the night went by in a blur of whisky and dancing our asses off to the brilliant Pedro Chau's dj set - we love you Pedro!

SAT 17TH OCT
After running around Porto trying to see all i could in my only free 20 mins there, we all congregated at the car, loving the stunning weather we'd been enjoying all week. Next stop was Esposende, where we were promised the luxury of a pool at our hotel. We were all gunning it out of the car to jump in before we realised although it was a pool, there was no bloody water in it! Just our luck.
So heads down, we headed to the venue, Kastrus Rock, for our last show of the tour. It was the perfect local venue to play to finish the tour. Soundcheck went well, and all was looking great until an hour before our show the venue had a power failure, and when our stage time came and went and there was still no power, we had our heads in hands, resigned to the fact that our last show of the tour was to be cancelled.
We were impressed with the resilience of the crowd, who not only refused to leave, but continued to grow in size, streaming into the venue's darkness waiting for the show to start. They must've known something we didn't, because at 2am, and an hour after scheduled start time, the power came on. We didn't waste a second, jumped on stage and kicked out one of the best sets of the tour, getting 2 encores and an absolutely chaotic crowd response. It was like one of the best parties you could ever play - just sheer madness and good times. Smiles all around, and the perfect note to end the tour on.
After bidding farewell to the fans, we returned to the hotel for some wind down drinks, thoroughly exhausted but grinning from ear to ear.

SUN 17TH OCT
With an early start after a late finish and just a few hrs sleep, we jumped into the car with 2 days of heavy driving to look forward to. Poor Francois had come down with something horrid and was dying in the front seat, and after 7 hrs we said our goodbyes to him, dropping him at Bayonne. Then on we went to Carcassone for a much needed relaxing night before picking the now fixed tour car up the next morning. Well, it was meant to be relaxing. All that changed when late at night we decided to check out Carcasonne's castle. We parked our loaded tour car in a car park and headed to a nearby bridge to look at the view. When we started taking pictures (the stoopid ones in our photo album at the end) we noticed a couple of strange men kept walking up to us then walking away. Figuring we'd picked the only gay bridge in the village for our happy snaps, and conceding we were in a dodgy area, we looked down from the bridge to our car in the carpark, which to our horror was being rifled through by a stranger! We ran for our lives, hoping to all hell that we'd get them before they ran off with all our gear, and as we jumped off the bridge, hurtling round the corner and charging at the culprits, a split second before we tackled them they jumped back startled yelling "Police!" We all stopped wondering what the hell was going on, and then the guy explained they'd found the car unlocked in a dodgy carpark and thought it might be a stolen car as happens a lot in the area. The cops' partner was laughing his head off at the four band members, lying on the ground gasping for air after running our guts out. That was a close one! But yeah, so much for a relaxing night...

MON 19TH OCT
Basically, we got up, picked up our tour car, dropped off our hire car and drove like madmen for the Euro tunnel. Drove 12 hrs straight for what should've been a 14 hr drive. The highlight was getting back to my bed in London. The lowlight was waking up the next morning and not having a tour manager or band member telling me to get in the car for the next gig.

This was such an unforgettable tour. So many highs and so many lows, and so many moments we'll never forget. We'd like to thank everyone, from all the fans and friends, new and old, who showed up to the shows. We'd also like thank all the promoters - Pedro, Pedro, Mathieu, Xana , Pablo , Seb & the Rennes crew, Tono, Constan. And ofcourse, a massive thanks to Francois! We miss you man! Thanks for a great tour... see you all next time!!!!

It feels like a lifetime since our last blog when we are in Heinrichemont, about a hundred clicks below Paris. A lot has happened in the past week, read on for details...

SUNDAY 6/10 (Continued), HEINRICHEMONT
Had a relaxed day in Heinrichemont, stretching out our brekky and checking out the town (it..s not a big place so that didn..t take long). The locals turned out in force for our show at Hotel Du Nord and didn..t hold back from getting into our 2 sets (we played a lot of songs that night), it was pretty exhausting, pheww! I think even the very sweet resident German Shepherd, Verrone, enjoyed it. We were very well looked through the night for drinks so we carried on the night at the bar after, being actively encouraged to finish off the bowl of punch that had been made up specially.

MONDAY & TUESDAY 5 - 6/10, PARADOU
A bit slow to get on the road after the previous nights antics in and another traditional french brekky from Heinrichemont. Ended up arriving at the family place in Paradou, south France a bit later than expected, via a trip to the supermarche in St. Remy to stock up on cheese, meats & vegies. Had a great BBQ cook up, esp with Owen's skills cooking the vegies, a good way to finish off a long day of driving. Tuesday was very relaxing, spent eating & drinking rose at the house, and running through some new song ideas in the afternoon.
 
WEDNESDAY 7/10, BORDEAUX
Set off in good time to make the journey over to the south west of France. It was a good 4 or 5 hours on the Motorway passing places i wish we had time to visit like Carcasonne & Toulouse. Arrived in Bordeaux in the afternoon and had to wait around in this dodgy little street for a while waiting for the owner to arrive at the venue so we could unload our stuff. Was a bit of wary of some shady characters hanging around but they turned to be harmless and just waiting for some customers to purchase some of their 'goods'. Eventually we were able to load into El Boqueron club and were treated to a delicious meal by the chef - def our best gig meal on tour so far. Played a good sweaty gig and were invited out later to another club nearby. We caught a bit of a punk/garage band from Paris, the Four Slicks at the club Saint-Ex. it was a cool little club but very sweaty. Didn't stay out too late as had to drive back to Nimes the next day. Our accom that night wasn't the comfiest (though i slept fine!) - blow up matresses on a tiled floor of an apartment under renovation. It was above the venue we played though so very convenient.
 
THURSDAY 8/10. NIMES
This was some day. Everything was going smoothly as we made our way to Nimes, until we felt/heard something very disturbing going on with the back wheel of our Toyota Lucida as we were passing Carcassone. We had to get a tow to the nearest garage and basically the car was out of action until we could the right part could be sent over from UK (they didn..t have it in France at all!) This caused a bit of panic about how we could make our show that night, still 2 hours drive down the motorway. Fortunately I..d taken out europe roadside assistance, and they were very helpful, providing us with a hire car til the Toyota could be fixed. Our new set of wheels, a Ford s-Max was a lot smaller than my car so we had to leave the bass amp and drums and squeeze everything else in. Next hiccup, was a torrential rainstorm which slowed us down on route to Nimes, however we managed to get there just in time (missed soundcheck of course). Despite the weather there was a big turn out for the show and we had a really unbelievable gig. There..s a really cool little rock..n..roll scene in nimes, and after the show the promoter invited people back to where we were staying. despite an early start the next day we partied til late being plied with various types of liquor including the biggest bottle of whiskey i..ve ever seen. Things got a bit crazy when a couple of our new friends took out a knife and started cutting ..the kits..into their arm (see the photo..s - a bit gross actually!)

FRIDAY 9/10, MADRID
Waking up after only 2 hours sleep, we managed to stumble into the car for our early start to Madrid. Made the 10 hour drive to with no problems and another great show that night as well. Had a strong turn out at the Wurlitzer ballroom, which is one of the best rock n roll venues in town. It was the first time i..d been here and it was a pity to hardly see any of the city at all. From what i did see though it seems like a pretty crazy place, and all the people i met where really friendly too, which often doesn..t happen in such a big city.

SATURDAY 10/10, GIJON
Arrived in Gijon in the afternoon, it is a few hours drive directly north of Madrid on the Atlantic coast. The venue we played was the Savoy Club, a really cool 50..s club in the heart of the town. Gijon is not that big but surprisingly has a great rock scene. It..s also a very attractive town, which is right on the beach, and has a beautiful old town within the city. I give it a big thumbs up. Being pretty exhausted from the late nights and long drives from the previous couple of days we were delighted to find out we were playing two sets tonight, the first at 1am and the second at 3am! We managed to find the energy to get through these, helped along by the enthusiastic Gijon crowds who fortunately stay out pretty late, hence the set times. Made some more cool friends here and had yet another late one. After the last 4 days/nights we were all very happy to have the next couple of days off.


We are currently in Santiago De Compostela, where we have a show tonight, then on to Portugal for the last leg of the tour!

Jay

Hey The Kits fans,

Not long now til we hit the road and share ourselves with the cities and towns of France, Spain and Portugal as part of our 'Get Closer European Tour'.

We'll be bringing with us bags full of merchandise including cd albums, vinyl and t-shirts. We'll also be providing you with a stack of new tracks to feast your ears on.

So check the dates below, work out which shows you want to attend, and spread the word! Can't wait to see you all soon.

Love

THE KITS

EUROPE TOUR - 2nd-17th OCTOBER 2009
Presented by Kill City Booking & Mgmt/ Evil Genius Media

Friday 2nd Oct
Mondo Bizarro
w/ Johnny Casino
7 rue de la motte Fabet , 35000
Rennes, FRANCE

Saturday 3rd Oct
Venue TBC
Paris, FRANCE

Sunday 4th Oct
Hotel du nord
Henrichemont, FRANCE

Wednesday 7th Oct
El Boqueron club
83 rue des Faures 33000
Bordeaux, FRANCE

Thursday 8th Oct
Libanim
1 rue de la république
30000 Nimes
Ph : 33.'0'4.66.67.55.94
Nimes, FRANCE

Friday 9th Oct
Wurlitzer Ballroom
C/Tres Cruces 12 , P.O Box 28013
Madrid , SPAIN

Saturday 10 Oct
Savoy club
C/Pelago 2, 33206
Gijon , SPAIN

Wednesday 14 Oct
Perez y Perez
rua tomiño 17 1b , 15703
santiago de compostela(la coruña), SPAIN

Thursday 15th Oct
Venue TBC
Coimbra, PORTUGAL

Friday 16 Oct
Plano B
Porto, PORTUGAL

Saturday 17th Oct
Kastrus Rock Esposende
Avenida Margarida de Queiroz 82 , Igrega
47-40-438 Forjaes , Esposende
Braga, PORTUGAL

Hey The Kits fans,

Massive news today as we're pleased to announce our upcoming European tour in October that will see us playing to crowds in France, Spain and Portugal.

The tour starts on Fri 2nd October in Rennes, France and finishes up in Braga, Portugal on Sat 17th October.

Please see below for all the tour details, and note that we'll be making a few further announcements regarding a few dates we're still waiting on.

Can't wait to see you on our travels.

Love

THE KITS

EUROPE TOUR - 2nd-17th OCTOBER 2009

Friday 2nd Oct
Mondo Bizarro
w/ Johnny Casino
7 rue de la motte Fabet , 35000
Rennes, FRANCE

Saturday 3rd Oct
Venue TBC
Paris, FRANCE

Sunday 4th Oct
Hotel du nord
Henrichemont, FRANCE

Wednesday 7th Oct
El Boqueron club
83 rue des Faures 33000
Bordeaux, FRANCE

Thursday 8th Oct
Tontons flingueurs
Nimes, FRANCE

Friday 9th Oct
Wurlitzer Ballroom
C/Tres Cruces 12 , P.O Box 28013
Madrid , SPAIN

Saturday 10 Oct
Savoy club
C/Pelago 2, 33206
Gijon , SPAIN

Wednesday 14 Oct
Constantino Chao Paz
rua tomiño 17 1b , 15703
santiago de compostela(la coruña), SPAIN

Thursday 15th Oct
Venue TBC
Coimbra, PORTUGAL

Friday 16 Oct
Venue TBC
PORTUGAL

Saturday 17th Oct
Kastrus Rock Esposende
Avenida Margarida de Queiroz 82 , Igrega
47-40-438 Forjaes , Esposende
Braga, PORTUGAL

Hey everyone,

So the latest news is the world of The Kits is that we're playing down at Dirty Water Live @ Boston Arms in Tufnell Park this Friday 7th August. We're playing with label mates Thee Vicars and also Sex Beet.

We'll be showing off some new toons, as well as crooning the old classics out. It's our last show til September too, so make sure you make it down.

Lots and lots of love,

Kit
THE KITS

P.S. Don't forget our t-shirt competition we've got running at the moment. Closes tomorrow! Click on the link to enter -  http://eepurl.com/cmOO

Damnit! I just wrote a lengthy account of our German trip last weekend and then lost it all. That’ll teach me not to save as I go along I guess (not that I haven’t said this before! Well here goes again:

Ok, so as mentioned, last weekend saw The Kits over in Germany, our second trip to Deutschland, and again we played shows in two of my most favourite cities on the continent, Hamburg and Berlin. The other boys were able to go to Hamburg a day early. Along with our good mate from The Kidnappers, Phillip, Kit, Marc and Michael used the extra day productively by embarking on a 14 hour drinking session. This started on a ‘beach’ on the river in the early afternoon of the Thursday. Going through to the early hours of the morning, finishing up in the very gentile part of Hamburg called the Reeperbahn. If you haven’t experienced the Reeperbahn before think Amsterdam’s red light district but way more seedier.

I caught up with the boys on Friday afternoon, when they were still a bit weary. Thanks to Jens at Beat Club feeding us with pasta and beer that night we got the energy back to play a great show there. It was another late night as we hung out for hours after the show with our friends in Hamburg that we now know well after having been over there a few times now (Kit and I on other separate trips, mainly for the delicious currywurst you can buy there). We also got to see our cousin Jess there who lives in Hamburg and came to the show so that was very nice.

On the Sat morning, I dragged the others out of bed after only a couple of hours sleep, and it was time to hit the autobahn, next stop Berlin. Our trip to Berlin in our rented Skoda was much more successful than the last one in that this time we did not run out of petrol on the autobahn and miss our flight. Having become accustomed to the Victroian police state mentality under Bracksy, it still seems fairly unreal (and fun!) to be driving on a motorway without speed limits. It’s much more relaxing (and probably safer too) not to have to look out for hiding speed cameras along the way.

By the time we dropped stuff off at the apartment we were staying in, and drove round the Hauptbahnhof in circles trying to work out where to return the hire car we were running late for soundcheck. On top of this we were caught in torrential rain on the way to the venue with our gear (should have really just taken a cab). We struggled through a somewhat shambolic soundcheck. Luckily we did make it in time for one as we seemed to iron out various issues with the lent gear, and ended up playing one of the best shows of the year! The audience was fantastic as they watched us power through a very tight set of tracks, mainly from the album, but with a couple of new ones thrown in too. We were also treated very well there, with our beer fridge being constantly restocked and being cooked enough pasta to feed the entire city. Again no one was wanting an early night, so along with my mate Tania who was also visiting in Berling that weekend, we dropped by a late night Russian bar in Mitte that the other boys had discovered on our last trip there. It was again daylight once we were thrown out of the bar at close, and for me another short sleep before waking up to fly back to London (the other boys were able to spend the day sleeping in though!)

Sadly this weekend was also the last one playing with Michael, our bass player from NZ who has been with us for a good 18 months or so. He will be well missed although will only be across the water in Ireland for the next six months or so we should still get the chance to catch up a couple of times before he heads back to his homeland.

Of course this news means that we have a new member joining The Kits on which note I would like to welcome Owen Eszeki into the fold. Owen will likely be already known to many fellow countrymen as the singer / guitarist of Bit By Bats, the Adelaide band that were doing very well a couple of years ago in Australia. Owen now lives in London and has become a good friend since he moved here last year, so we are very excited to have him in the band.

Tania took some nice video footage of a couple of our tracks at the Berlin gig. Go to the following youtube links to check this out:

Hold Hand Hell
Set Em Up

A photographer at the show has also posted the following photo’s of the gig (and I will shortly post some tour photo’s that I took)

Berlin gig photos

For those of you in London, we have a couple of shows coming up in the next couple of weeks so be sure to catch at least one if you can. Here are the deets, hope to see you there!

Fri 17th July
The Kits + Alex Lapinski
Borderline
Orange Yard, off Manette St
Soho W1D 4JB
Doors 7pm , £7 entry (onstage 9.30pm)



Tues 21st July
The Branded (Sweden) + The Kits
Ryan's Bar
181 Stoke Newington Church St,
Stoke Newington N16 0UL
Doors 6.00pm, Entry £4 (Will be a pretty early one, I'd aim to be there by around 7.00pm to see us)


Til my next writing, all the best

Jay

Hey everyone,

Just filling you in on what's been happening in our world.

Played a great gig last week down at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen in Hoxton, London. Fantastic venue, and thanks to all who came down.

Just got back from an amazing Glastonbury, with highlights being Bruce Springsteen, YYYs, Blur, Neil Young and The Horrors. And also a 6am jam with Carl Barat, formerly of the Libertines, up at the Stone Circle, where weird things seem to happen every night.

We're about to head off on yet another tour, this time for a weekend in lovely Germany, where we'll be returning to one of our favourite venues, Hamburg's Beat Club. If you haven't been there, you have to go. It needs to be seen to be believed! We're playing there this Fri the 3rd, then heading to Berlin to play Cortina Bob on the 4th. It's also to be the last tour with our bass player Michael Cleverly, who is unfortunately leaving us to start a sheep farm in Dublin. We're very sad to see him go, but feel priviledged to have played with such a talented man. Stayed tuned for news of his replacement (mgmt aren't letting us announce who it is just yet - grrrr!!!!). But you'll definitely get to see the new bass player in the flesh at the Borderline in London on 17th July!

Ok, gotta go. Have a flight to catch in 3 hrs and need to work out where the hell i put my passport. Wish me luck

Kit

Hello everybody,

We here at The Kits HQ are damn glad to announce that you can now buy our EP 'This Is Your Ling' on iTUNES! The EP was released in 2006 and has been sold out now. Yes, that's right, just in time for Father's Day! Now that's exciting news. Now go here and buy it:


TO BUY OUR EP 'THIS IS YOUR LUNG' ON iTUNES GO TO:



THE KITS NEXT SHOW: Tues 23 June @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London

Love

THE KITS