Hello everyone!
Well, it's been a busy month for the band. The UK tour was a success and much fun was had by all. Meeting great people is always a highlight of any travel and we were no different.
We'd like to thank everyone who came to the shows and especially the guys up in Glasgow who showed us the sights and sounds after the gig. Oh and big Tam, who is now our official minder for whenever we're north of the border...
The Birmingham show was a cracker as well and this was in part helped by the band on before us called Crash Repeat. Total attitude and a fantastic prelude to Killaflaw. Even the band thought these guys would be a difficult act to follow, but hopefully they at least matched them :o)
There were a few days off before we headed south for the second half of the tour, which began in Brighton in a venue called The Hope. Another great night ensued and the band pocketed a bunch of new fans. The only downer of the night was Benn losing his mobile phone and a whole bunch of song ideas with it. We only figured out it was gone after we had returned to our hotel at Heathrow Airport. Such is life...
The next highlight was the show at Reading's Oakford Social, where we got the chance to play with our mates MidiMidis for BBC Introducing. It was a great night and had a tinge of irony, as Chase and Status were playing at a venue round the corner on the same evening. It was also Chase and Status who played with Killaflaw in London in April 2008. That night we stole their crowd and this time they stole ours. All's fair and all that.
And so to London, where the guys played at 93 Feet East. Not the best night of the tour as there were some considerable problems with the lineup which left the band effectively headlining a night where they were originally due to open. For those of you familiar with this scenario, you'll know what I mean. The sound wasn't all that brilliant, either.
The final show in the south of the country was at the University of Sussex. We arrived to discover that there was no sound engineer available and we would have to set the system up ourselves and make our own way through the bar's basic PA. That said, we use what we've got and surprisingly the set sounded pretty good in the end. The staff in the venue were also very accommodating and we had a great time.
On a personal note, after all the relatively short drives in the south, my heart sank when I programmed Liverpool into the satnav to see the miles left equal 270...
Talking of Liverpool, our show at Korova was unfortunately cancelled, as it had shut down the previous week. We had hoped to relocate to the new site but sadly it was not to be. The band is due to play there in December, however.
The final night of the official part of the tour was a showcase event for Filter Magazine, as part of the annual In The City conference in Manchester. The band headlined the night and proceeded to blow everyone away, despite some nervy moments before the set with technology not behaving. It was a great way to end the trip and as always we find that Manchester welcomes Killaflaw with open arms. There were many conference delegates at the show and I didn't have to force any promo CDs into anyone's hand. They came up and specifically asked for them. A positive sign indeed!
We met some cool people, including Nova and Loxley from a Canadian music company and forged a relationship that you might hear more about over the next few months.
Once again we'd all like to thank everyone for helping make the tour a success and a fantastic experience.
And that was it! Tour completed and back to the matter of making records. There'll be a further update later in the week about that including information about Set Me On Fire, which is available from Monday.
Catch you later,
M.