I was listening to Emiliana Torrini this morning on my iPod. "Home alone and happy, nothing brings me down" is the first line of the first song on the album. I love how lyrics can speak to you and mirror your feelings, expressed in a way you might never put it yourself. This has been happening to me a lot lately - I will put my iPod on shuffle and a song will come on that is so devastatingly perfect for the exact mood that I'm in that I can't help but feel I was meant to hear it at that particular moment to receive that particular message.

I'm in Koh Samui. Dogs are barking. I can hear song taos blaring Thai-pop from my bungalow. Motorbikes race down the highway while the island's insects sing their night-songs. It's 2.30am. I can't sleep. I have a killer headache, and because I'm fasting and detoxing, I can't take anything for it. It's not much fun. I think it's come on because a Thai masseuse I've nicknamed "The Punisher" pummeled me to a pulp earlier this evening. I heart Thailand.

Konichiwa.

I've just come back from playing an arena show in Yokohama. Yes, an arena show. Jez and I were lucky enough to be invited to play at the Nano-Mugen festival in Japan - acoustically! We were billed as Jez&Michelle from Farrah, which kind of has a nice ring to it :) We shared the bill with Hard-Fi, Ben Folds and Nada Surf, who were all brilliant, as well as Japan's biggest pop band, Asian Kung Fu Generation. The Manics were meant to be playing but pulled out at the last minute, which was a shame, but you can't help a dodgy tummy. 

So, I'm off to Japan next week. I am going to be playing the AMAZING Nano-Mugen festival alongside Manic Street Preachers, Hard-Fi, Nada Surf, Ben Folds... and me and Jez with a Rhodes, an acoustic guitar and a bass. On the BIG STAGE. Just the two of us. With no band. Yep, it's just me and Jez flying the Farrah flag on that Yokohama Arena stage in front of 20,000 people...

I kind of forget to blog. I'm more into twitter now, not that I'm really into that either. It's hard to find the time, but I love reading everyone else's tweets. Sadly, though, somehow my own tweets are never as clever or funny as my friends' twitterings. Wow, that's not much of an advertisement to follow me, but if you're a tweet-a-holic and fancy knowing what's going on in Margs-ville, you can find me at www.twitter.com/mishmags. Or if you fancy following my band Farrah, zip on over to www.twitter.com/farrahtheband.

Anyway, I've been so busy lately I've barely had time to even tweet... My trip to CMW in Toronto rocked - met so many brilliant new people (er, including Gene Simmons! Yes, his hair really does look like a singed Sindy doll) and saw so many kick arse new bands. It was a completely inspiring experience. Yet, somehow, my trip to New York was EVEN BETTER.

Two days of conferences at the UK Consulate General and a boozy reception at an uptown Manhattan penthouse - brilliant. Eating hot slices at 2am - even better. Taxi over the Brooklyn Bridge at 3am, the NY city sky twinkling in the distance - my heart skipped a beat. You can tell I want to live there, right...

Went to Philly to see Nate Campany play with his band The Serenade. We got a Chinatown bus. Mysterious cargo was shunted underneath. We almost ended up in DC. Finally ended up at The World Cafe. We went for Philly Cheese Steak. I'm a vegetarian. The day was kind of weird. But onto the show... So... The Serenade hadn't rehearsed for 4 months. Nate thought they might possibly suck. What happened was they owned the night. It was totally magical. Atomic Tom and The Click Five (who admittedly actually ARE The Serenade) played also, but it was kind of an odd venue. People were sitting at tables and eating. Really. You really can't sit down to posh salad and pasta while those two bands are rocking...

The following night in NY at Piano's was a different story. It all clicked into place and AT and TC5 rocked the joint. They were the jam. Boozy fun afterwards with frozen Margaritas and an insane Ben Romans against the Manhattan skyline. Fun times.

Saw Nate get intimate and personal at Rockwood on the lower east side. He cosied up to his guitar and his audience, and they loved him for it. It was a treat. Especially question time. For any of you seeing Nate when he tours here in the UK during May, dream up some questions to throw at him - he loves answering questions. Especially if they're about bridges, metres or beer.

On a whim I went to Boston to see The Click Five play at the Lizard Lounge. Oh my. What a night. Two awesome sets, three brilliant covers and SCREAMING GIRLS at the front of the stage. Ha ha. Trainwreck afterwards with a keg of beer, dancing and a memory of being thrown around the room by aforementioned Ben Romans.

Back in London it's been insanely busy. We finally finished the Farrah album. Like, properly finished it. I know it only takes one line to write that, but for those of you who are musicians, you KNOW how many months it takes to make 40-odd minutes of music. So it's kind of a big deal to say that it's actually finished. So I might even say it again. It's finished! We even went to Abbey Road to master it. Now THAT was something else. If you're into gear porn, you would have been... well, let's just say, there was gear in there that would make your eyes water with envy. I saw that first hand. The Farrah boys were misty eyed with longing. Anyway, it's been a labour of love to complete this beast. Now all we have to do is remember how to play the songs in time for a festival we're playing in Plymouth on 4th May. If you live anywhere near Plymouth (I don't really even know where Plymouth is, only that it's going to take 7 hours to drive there. That's how long it takes to fly to NY) come along. We'll be playing new songs. Some old songs too. Woo hoo.

So that's about it. Except that I'm also playing bass for Caroline Lost and we're rehearsing tomorrow night. I imagine wine will be involved. Possibly hommous too. And I went to another music conference today. And I'm rehearsing all weekend... And the sun is shining.

I'm off to Canadian Music Week next week in Toronto. I've not been before, but I imagine it's going to be brilliant fun. And bloody cold! If you're going to be there, let me know - I'll be hanging around the British Independent Music area...

Then I'm off to New York for a week. I thought I'd have lots of time to hang out with friends, go shopping, eat, but actually, I'm thinking I should have stayed an extra few days, as virtually every moment I'm there has been claimed already. But I am excited to be seeing Nate Campany - a fellow Lojinx artist - play in Philadelphia and then again in Brooklyn. In Philly he'll be playing with his band The Serenade, which will be fantastic, as I love the arrangements on his soon-to-be-released EP, but I'm also really looking forward to the more intimate show he'll be playing at Rockwood with just his acoustic guitar.

It looks like I'll also be seeing a band called The Click Five, possibly even twice, as some of the members form part of Nate's band, and they are the headline act when Nate plays in Philly. They are also playing a headline show in New York on the lower east side the following night, so hopefully I'll be able to get along to that also. Farrah and The Click Five have a nice connection that goes back a few years, as Jez co-wrote one of The Click Five's singles and he has stayed in touch with them since. In fact, the lovely Ben Romans - keyboard anarchist extraordinaire - even contributed a shred-tastic keys solo to one of the songs we've recorded for the new Farrah album, which we absolutely loved. Thanks Romans!

So much to do, so little time, but fun times ahead...

PS - My friends Jez Ashurst and Caroline Lost wrote a song for Natalie Bassingthwaighte's new album that has gone to Number 1 in Australia! If you live in Oz, go check it out... Nice work guys.

I love that I'm surrounded by people that make music. My friend Lara sent me a track from her soon-to-be-finished album and it was a wonder. Jez has emailed 3 songs in the last 4 days and they're all astonishingly good. I was emailed some fantastic breakbeat/tech-funk tracks yesterday by a friend's DJ/producer partner to see if I want to vocal them. Tonight my friends Caroline and Jez and Andrew went to see a singer/songwriter friend play for the first time and were all impressed by how great her set was, while I was in a songwriting session with two friends at the studio where we record. And when I got home, I was chatting to a virtual friend in the USA who has agreed to rip some synth solos on some Farrah tracks. Fun times. I can tell it's going to be a good year.

The urge to be creative can wither when apathy or habit sets in, and it can be tough to get out of that mindset - only the most motivated and intrinsically driven people are immune to this. So I have a plan to only surround myself with motivated and brilliantly talented people. I'm hoping some of it will rub off.

Yay! We got through our first gig! Thanks so much to everyone who trooped on down to The Borderline in the freezing London weather last night to see Caroline Lost and I play. We hope you had as good a time as we did! A big big thanks goes out to Andrew for sorting out the backing track and especially Jez for the last-minute computer addition and for his excellent cameo last night with the banjo-tuning. We couldn’t have played the set without them and big hugs and kisses to you both.

So, with that behind us, we’ve got some new songs to learn and are going to get a lady keyboard player to share the fun with us. Think that might be you? Give me a shout…

This has been an incredibly busy month for me, what with Caroline’s rehearsing and gig and all the Farrah recording/rehearsal/pre-pro for the album. And it’s not going to stop – I’ve got a mammoth Farrah marathon weekend ahead of me eating biscuits, drinking tea, talking crap, goosing the boys, vlogging, talking about vlogging, recording ourselves doing stupid dancing, recording ourselves miming and then settling into some recording. Woo hoo!

Right – I’m off to the studio. BVs await…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47d5oDk0V3o

Yes, we've been working hard on the new songs...