Modern Roadie

Get out your party hats kids!

The big cat is unleashed tonight....

Well, ive seen a few official posts about this, and the lads have announced it on their forum, so I guess it's ok to comment.

Jimis voice has been gradually deteriorating over the last few weeks, causing him to adapt most melodies to a lower pitch. He also decided to skip Cedar Room on one of the final European shows, the first time in Doves history. Cedar is at the top of his register so would cause the most discomfort, and we could really see(hear) him struggling.

Ive seen this a few times when acts have a loud stage, and with a new album, bands usually have a busy schedule to keep up the promotion.

With all our technology, digital recall, and backups, you can't dodge the human body taking a knock and needing time to heal.

Wishing Jimi a speedy recovery.....

Last European show on this leg before a much needed break. Great venue with an easy loadin and cool backstage and dressing room area.
I was once told the area of land owned by Disney in Florida is bigger than the country of Luxembourg!!
Jimi really needs time off to rest his voice. He offered the audience the chance to come on stage and sing Cedar Room but no one accepted! Another airing of Space Face to finish the European tour. A week off before heading back to the US of A .......

Doves were the support band today so we would usually wait for the headline act to line check before we get the stage.
In reality, we are carrying most of the production that will be used for the show so sound, lights and most of our backline was setup early. This gave us time for a dash into the centre of Milan for a look around.

The headline act is an American band called Low, and they are touring Europe with the smallest of backline. We only had 20 minutes to clear all our gear before Low were due onstage. Would have got a few photos, but I didnt want to miss a second. Low were amazing, giving the crowd a treat playing Canada as the encore. Must buy a few more of their records.

Interesting article about the inclusion of downloads in the weekly UK singles chart.

A few shows with no inkernet access.

Rotterdam was a nightmare! It wasn't our show and we were between two other bands. It was only a small club and with so much production, changeover was a mess of cases.

The Munich venue was part of an entertainment complex joined by a sunny courtyard. First real hot weather this year! Had a bit of a mix up with the set list as the guitar tech and myself believed Words was included. This didn't affect playback, but jez's samples were numbered wrong. I re-program the samplers and playback each time the set is changed.

The Black Ball club in Paris was the smallest stage so far on this tour. There was no room next to the computer rack so Martin had to close and launch each song. We were meant to be using our own backline for Top of the Pops today, but this was wisely changed to hired backline so our truck could set off to Milan. Had a cool day in Paris and met with an old friend from the Phil Collins Crew. Had lunch next to the Cafe used in Amelie.

Hacked into the hotel lobby computer to post this. Off to Milan tonight...

A short drive from our bling hotel and we are at the BBC TV studios in Wood Lane.
Its an early start as the band is pre-recording their slot that will eventually close this popular UK chat show.
The host, Jonathan Ross, does a few link rehearsals and its our turn for a line check.
The band is brought to the set around 2pm for camera and sound rehearsals, but we had to stop the first check as the software sampler decides to detune by a few semi-tones!! Nightmare.
Martin believed it might be the upper keyboard pressing cursor buttons on the lower A90 controller keyboard so I raise it by a few millimeters, which seemed to solve it for the next run. Both Martin and I were a little freaked out by this, especially as it was in front of 30 BBC production staff, camera crew and EMI reps! Little glitches can quite easily appear when unfamiliar backline is hired in.
Just to be on the safe side I inserted a midi filter in-between the midi port and the EXS virtual sampler allowing only note on and off to pass through.

One recorded run through and it was in the can! Sounded great in the sound studio as well.
We were able to strike some of the backline before the audience were brought in and the show recording began.
Both Nicole Kidman and David Schwimmer seemed a little confused by Jonathans interview techniques and the spoof clairvoyant was, in my opinion, on a similar par to the cable guy.
The band were in the green room to give the impression they would play during the show.

We then saw a brilliant technique used by the BCC for the end segment. The screen was split in two with a long shot showing the whole stage with the host and David Schwimmer in the foreground. The empty band stage area was replaced with a still of the band about to begin Snowden. The host then introduced the band while the pre-record video ran giving the impression both host, guest and band were on the stage at the same time. Now that is cool!!!
After the show I managed to get a few photos before heading back to the Hotel. Its another early start with a flight to Rotterdam.

An hours sleep at the airport hotel before jumping on our early morning flight back to London. In TV rehearsals today at Music Bank in Bermondsey. This has got to be the best rehearsal spaces in London and we're in the huge North Studio.

There's not enough time to get our backline here so most of it is hired. Only guitars, a few drum bits and a bunch of my computer gear was brought with us on the flight.

The Director for the TV called in to check the lad's edit. Spot on the desired 3mins 30secs! Back to the hotel before an early start at the BBC tomorrow.

Went to a cool bar after the show last night. It was a block from the venue and was overlooking a court yard with buses and buildings covered in graffiti, as was the stair-well up to the bar.

A slightly bigger club today in Hamburg.
Had the same problem with the VK-7 keyboard not powering up. A little strange as this is the hired replacement while our is being repaired. Got me wondering if these keyboards are known to have power problems. Gonna completely check the keyboard rig for any possible problems, but with 3 other keyboards running from the same power outlet im tending towards the VK.

Off to the airport after the show as we've an early flight back to London for the TV show rehearsals.
We're in another hotel lobby 'borrowing' their wireless - don't think anyone will notice !!!!

Quite a shock to be playing small clubs!
Just finished soundcheck, and a few of us are stood with laptops on a busy street near the venue after wandering around with MacStumbler!

Dont know for sure, but I get the impression its easier to play to an anonymous few thousand compared to a few hundred close-up punters.

The Cologne show was fine, but the Berlin venue is compact to say the least!
Monitor, guitar and keys worlds are all stage right with a fire lane between the stage and us. Its only the second gig the promoters have put in here, and the staff looked a bit bemused when we loaded in our full production.

Ghost bus to Europe with only 7 crew onboard. Rolled into Koln around 2pm so had a few hours to wander around town. Know the route from our hotel to the Hyatt just across the river pretty well, checked out the Cathedral renovation on the way.

With the bus so quiet this morning I had time to start my Vermont Cocoa Recipes for OSX - a tutorial in building OSX applications.

No sound check today so we had loads of time to backup all the midi data for the TV show next week. Last UK show tonight so we say goodbye to our wonderful Caterers, oh and a few lampies and noise boys!

Here's a fascinating article about the possibility of crossing an all-time oil production peak.

Update : The band seemed to really enjoy the show. The crowd did a karaoke style sing along after Last Broadcast and Snowdon, so the band retaliated with their version of 'The Knight Rider Theme'!! The show had the relaxed feel of a normal soundcheck.

Early show tonight with a 10pm curfew. There's a 'disco' after Doves!

Have to say this crowd were going for it, making the Manchester shows look tame in comparison.

Last UK show tomorrow in Sheffield then it's off into Europe. We may be some time !!!

No loadin - gotta like that!

Got to the Apollo around 1pm so we had a good few hours before sound check. Tested the Playback from Logic on the second G4 Laptop via one of the 828 interface. All worked fine, but I'd need to pull the interface and lappie out of the keyboard rig if we had problems.

Spaceface in the set again. One of the lads accidentally played one verse in the wrong key. Don't think anyone noticed!

Caught up with a few really old friends at the aftershow.

Lost access to one of the Fostex playback machines after soundcheck today. I assumed it was the controller that has all the transport buttons as the main controller worked with both machines. The main machine's controller has now stopped working with the backup so we're unable to get to any of it's menus. Unfortunately its now stuck in the test program and there's no way for us to switch it to the show 'Chain Play' mode!

With no backup Fostex I decided to transfer all tracks into Logic on one of the two keyboard rig Laptops via an optical connection. I've two Firewire 828 interfaces for keyboards so we could use one for playback if it came down to it.
Would be a bit messy!!

Great wireless network at the venue, but leaving the router wide open is a bit sloppy. Enabled me to open a few ports for some fast Bit Torrent downloads though!

Manchester has changed so much in the last few years. Didn't recognise the city centre.
Had a good look around town and called into a few favourite record stores.

The band added 'SpaceFace' to the set last night - what a classic. A treat for the home crowd!

Manchester Apollo - real venue, real inkernet access!

So what's been happening?

The lighting boys had a nightmare time at the Leeds show with the stage going dark during the second song. A few minutes of torch-lit antics and lights started coming back to life. Unfortunately the projectors returned to their default setting causing the bright blue manufacturer logo to sweep majestically across the backdrop!!

The Newcastle show was brought to a halt by power problems. PA and stage power disappeared half was through the first song, forcing the band to walk off stage for a few minutes while the problem was solved. I was glad the keyboard/computer and playback racks have a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) built into them so I just switched to battery power.

The past few shows have been on University campuses with their poxy proxy servers, so it was great to get back to an old theatre for the Liverpool show. No major problems and the band seemed to have a great time on stage. Next show - home crowd!

3 days without internet access - AAhhh!

3 shows since my last post and a few gremlins to deal with!

In the hotel offices as the broadband isn't working on our rooms - hopefully time for a proper post soon....

It's a sunny day at Leeds University and everyone seems slightly less grumpy than normal! Students are on their Easter break so the University campus is like a ghost town - have to say it's for the better as today's show is in the canteen!

Looks like the Podzilla team are trying to get the Ipod accessories to work within their Linux OS. Here's a thread about the iTalk.