Just a quick one to let you know that I've been doing some production work with a great new band called "Cheeky cheeky and the nose bleeds " , check out a new track at http://www.myspace.com/brettshaw123 thier myspace is ,,, http://www.myspace.com/cheekynosebleeds

Well worth checking out , I love 'em . I'm also doing some work with a pretty big English band from the Midlands on some amazing new stuff, all will be revealed soon ,,

Cheers , Brett .

So we've been back home , relaxing after the last tour .
So here a little taster of what we got up to ,,,
This was the gang , From Left to right , Brett , Jonny ,Joel, Jamie ,Asher , Sheneeza and George .( Brett has his Jim Jams on , Naughty nuaghty !

On the way we saw the usual sites and sounds

As well as a few new ones , here Joels secures the score for the latest Pixar movie at Pixar HQ ,,,

and then steals trade secrets on the new toy story to sell to dreamworks ( not really guys from Pixar ,, especially big lawyer guys , we blurred this picture specially , it's not just a shit picture promise )

George really embraced the American spirit ,,,

And J really embraced George,,,

again,,

and again ( this time on a roller coaster , what a time! )

Anyway a good time was had by all ,well maybe not Asher who is prosponing plans to emigrate just yet , due to a few dietary issues .
Watch this space for more updates on how South fill their time ! We heard some of you out there might even be interested !
Love South . xxx

there is some strange thing happening with our myspace , It seem our account is deleting friends over 300 in the last week , and also messaging people saying our account is being deleted !!!1 It's not true , we've tried to contact myspace about it but no reply . If any of you know what is happening we would be very gratefull to know !!
thanks , South .

Sleepy blog

So on our musical tour of America sleeping comes at a premium .
We try and catch it at any given opportunity .
Some times the hotels aren't up to scratch ,,,,



. At these times we like to capture these magical moments of slumber time bliss by taking pictures of each other whilst catching triple Z's .
Here are a few examples ,

Asher lays back and dreams of England ,

Big J , a kip


Brett out for the count . It's always safety first


George takes a little him time .


But he needs his Teddy ,,,,


Joel counting the sheep


Asher needs to read for 45 minutes before any sleeping can be achieved (utilising his all purpose torch head gear unit ),,,


Joel gets a little flummoxed by this ,,,,


Although some say Ash is bringing sexy back with his thirst for literature ,,,



Some times Asher likes to visit a place called Zanzibar (zanex ) to achieve his dreams .


On one occasion whist being in transport from San Fran to L.A most of the night and only sleeping for 3 hours George and Asher decided to catch up on forty winks at a radio session .
the boys found them selves some big comfy cushions to rest there weary heads . The other boys waited until they were deep under the influence of great uncle sleep and promptly covered them in said pillows (and tied their shoe laces together ) anyway here's the skinny,,,,



Naughty boys!

Brett'-sleepy blog

Since its nearing the end of this epic tour across the United States, I (Ascher) thought I'd share my views. It's my first time travelling America, and we've been to many states, including Idaho AND Utah. So, I feel I've learnt a lot about this huge country, particularly whiling away the hours traveliing across this huge country.

Perhaps I'll start with the good things, the things that I love about America.

1) Paper towel dispensers in the toilets, particularly the motion sensitive ones. In the UK, its all air dryers, and they are rubbish.
2) The panels between the urinals, which offer a modicum of privacy.
3) In-And-Out Burgers - finally, some good fast food.
4) Pedestrian right-of-way, particularly handy when crossing the road in Manhattan. In London, cars turning corners can make life very difficult for us pedestrians.
5) Iconic lorries - and their wonderfully large sleeping compartments.
6) All the varying car number plates.
7) Cell phone numbers, and their 3-3-4 digit combinations (such as 917 152 9555) are the same as landline combinations. In the UK, whilst landlines utilise a 4-3-4 combo (such as 0207 226 0433), our mobile numbers have a 5-6 combination (07958 3044432), making life confusing at times.
8) Sport on TV in the toilets of bars.
9) Spelling - yep, yours is easier.
10) Thrift stores. 3 t-shirts and a tie for $2.70. You simply cannot get close anywhere in the UK.
11) Dollar bill y'all.

And the things I don't love:

1) Freeways are not nearly as smooth as our Motorways; sorry, but its true. Plus, they don't usually have cat's eyes, making night driving much less safe.
2) Toilet water is far too close to the bottom region, which is disconcerting.
3) Lack of the word "on", even in respectable publications; as in "There was a fire Wednesday 3rd July".
4) Why do all large US cities have such similar looking downtown skylines?
5) Unlimited fries. Nuff said.
6) Tipping; boy, is it confusing...and expensive.
7) Tax added afterwards. I spend all that time sorting through my change, only to find when I get to the counter its all more expensive, breaking into my 20.
8) Bars that have 27 different TVs all showing different sports - it can cause migraines, officially.
9) IDs to get into clubs/bars etc? I mean, calm down! I'm an old man.
10) Everywhere is so far away.

Thankyou America.

(Disclaimer: These views are in no way representative of The [sOuth] Company)

Whilst on the road, one of the most difficult things to contend with is dining experiences. It can be a long hard struggle to find anything vaguely edible; finding anything remotely healthy is a virtual impossibility. So, in America, food is generally rated "bad" to "awful". And speaking to our good friends from The Silver State, they compiled this list of the worst dining experiences one can have whilst on the road (worst at the top):

1. Waffle House
2. IHOP
3. Denny's
4. Cracker-Barrel

The wonderfull service industry of America


But there is some voices of dissent in the South crew. Joel doesn't like Cracker Barrel ("Everything is yellow"), and Ascher wonders if Coldplay wrote "Yellow" whilst on the road here. Jamie actually rates Waffle House for how dirty it is; you know what to expect there, unlike IHOP. But that's his subjective view. Basically, we are dealing in degrees of terribleness, and so the South list from worst to best is this:

1. Dennys/IHOP/Cracker-Barrel/Waffle House all are equally terrible (we could argue for hours about this)
2. Subway
3. Independent diners
4. In and Out Burgers (unfortunately, in California only)

And along our travels, we've seen some pretty strange things on the menus. Here's a little list of the oddest things we've either seen or eaten:

- Chicken-Fried Chicken
- Chicken-Fried Steak
- Deep Fried Pizza Burger
- Banana-Chocolate Crepes with a side of bacon
- Cheese Burger Omelette
- Burger Quiche
- Surf & Turf Breakfast
- Twinkies (particularly noting the ingredients list)
- Alligator Jerky
- Biscuits and Gravy
- Deep fired mac and cheese

However, at this point we should bring in the voice of reason, Johnny "Cakes" Lloyd Rollins, who is also on the road with us. He is surprised by how healthy we've been. This is the healthiest he's been in a long while. He's gonna say that the Pizza Burger was the best thing he ate on the road, IHOP wasn't great. (Please bear in mind, Johnny lives in Dallas, Texas, where Grits are the norm).

Another wonderful eatery


So, in conclusion, America is not kind to the inner workings of the human body. Everything is yellow, greasy and filled with either sugar or salt or chemicals (usually all three). In the city, you can find some lovely, healthy, well-cooked meals...particularly in Philadelphia, and their wonderful cheesesteaks...

The great dog bog

so we thought we pay tribute to some of the amazing muts we've encountered on our tour .

First there was bumper ,,,,,


a small tea cup Maltease who did circles when exited !

Then there was Slayer ,,,,


who was a Chihuahua but who was still bigger than Bumper .
They were both boys but spent most of their time trying to Nail each other when the other wasn't looking . Being both very wary New York dogs neither would let the other one have a good go ,,,, unless one was being distracted by something/someone else , where by the other would sneak round the back and give his good chum a hard roggering .


Slayer hands it out ,,,a little ear nibbling foreplay from young Slayer

..

In Boston we encountered Nero a Rottweiler who's head was a third the wheight of his body , he had a little body odour too . A friendly chap all the same .


Today we find ourselves in Chicago and staying with the wonderfull "Guinness" who has quite a party trick ,,,



We look forward to meeting many more K9 friends on this tour ,,,

So, here we are...and You Are Here. Finally on the road, after a wonderful few days in the Big Apple. Whilst it may be a return to an old stomping ground for Jamie, Joel and Brett, for Ascher and George it was exciting and new and filled with wonder and joy.

We started off playing a great gig in a fantastic little venue in Brooklyn - Union Hall. A great saturday night crowd, surrounded by the leafy Park Slope location, and the five of us feeling excited and happy to back playing gigs. This was followed by a jaunt across the Hudson to Maxwell's in Hoboken which was an interesting experience (with some rather die-hard fans), the highlight being the views of Midtown from New York's much maligned neighbours. Sunday was a day off, and that meant a day wandering round the awe-inspiring Manhattan, polished off with a rather wonderful meal in Williamsburg (a big thanks to James Murphy et al for taking us there). And then Tuesday meant ... in Manhattan, which was another fun night playing to a big crowd. And before we forget, big shout out to Illy and her brood, especially for those views from the roof of her block in Greenwich Village.

And so yes, here we are indeed, in Philadelphia. Ascher and George just took a little stroll to the famous steps taken by the greatest boxer of them all, Rocky Balboa. George was particularly astounded by this feat, but Ascher felt tired after running up those stairs. As great as Philly may be, we don't have a lot of time here, and its back to New York/New Jersey (depending on where you are sleeping). Tomorrow is a day visit to Boston, and hopefully a day off back in New York. Then its off on the road to Chicago for some long drives. Hopefully we'll have figured out how to get our laptops plugged into the TV on the bus...otherwise, it could be

tough...

Big love, South x

P.s there is a live track up on the site from Mercury lounge , It's a bit rough and ready and you can hear James Murphy (from Lcd souynd system talking a little too close to the mic ) we will be putting more stuff up from the tour in the next few weeks . we're hoping to record enough to release a live ep or something like that so if you come down and make some noise you might just hear yourself on it . .

P.P.s thanks to all of you who have come out so far , we have the b est fans . They make the most noise even when we have off nights ( we like noise ) , and bring much need Chocolate brownies for the bus , and especially Mike in Boston for his gracias hospitality. So thanks again to everyone !

So we have been working on a new live set , with our new line up of cast and crew , and it's going to be quite a new experience for us all , and anyone coming to see us .
We're still playing all the old favorites but some of them with new twist and themes . That should make it more exiting for all concerned .
We've been incorporating elements of other music in to different parts of our set , anyone who has heard sets from " too many dj's and remix's by soulwax is going to like this new set .
If you're quick you might spot elements of bands such as "Can " ," television " , "Silver apples " and others , woven in the the fabric of live pastishe .
We're also going to bring back some classics , one involving a re mix of an Ian Brown track with UNKLE .
But we won't give too much away as we hope you will come and see it .
Not long now ,,,
See you soon .
South .

For all of you who have seen us live , you will have seen Will and tom from the Brian Jacket letdown play with us over the last few years .
There off doing their own stuff and have recorded a great album , I was lucky enough to remix one of their tracks called "White sky " It's a great track and you can hear it at http://www.myspace.com/brettshaw123
Cheers ,
Brett .