Creepy Colston Hall… Bristol

I’m writing the entry for Bristol a few days after so some of the details have now slipped from memory, but there’s enough to get it down.

 

We rolled into Bristol with lots of optimism. Having just played a string of arenas, I for sure couldn’t wait to get back into a hall and see the faces of the fans up close again. In addition, Colston Hall was standing (big plus), AND had hosted pretty much every band I could ever dream of sharing a stage with. From Hendrix- ‘Zeppelin, Gun’s and Roses- The Who. At some point (many years ago) they’d done the same thing I was about to do for 2 nights here… put on the best show we can… Actually, Andy (Quo’s Sound guy) even pointed out to me that he saw a certain Canadian band called RUSH play there back in like 1980…

 

Our stop in Bristol began with a day off. The hotel was on the quay and overlooked a river which must, at some point near by, either feed into the ocean or draw from it. I never made the trek to find out for sure, but I also didn’t feel like this was a huge assumption.

 

Anyways, I spent the night off enjoying the hilarity of the Adam Sandler classic, ‘Happy Gilmour’ and then being the night of Led Zeppelin’s mighty reunion, we were graced with a Madison Square Garden performance from 1973. Now I was REALLY pumped to play.

 

The shows both nights were maybe the most fun of the tour. I thought we played better on the first night (only marginally) but the crowd was on fire on the second. I’m sure many of them had been there both nights, and if that is true they must have been really into what we were doing, to come and see us the second night, and be even more into it than they were on the first. On the second night we added ‘The One I Want’ to our set and having not played it live for nearly 2 months, it just didn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong. We played it well and the fans seemed to dig it, but I thought it messed with our flow since we had been charging along to the same set for some time now.  

 

I will conclude this entry with a little side history about Colston Hall. Built by the family whose name still adorns it, during the days of the slave trade it was the location where the African slaves were “housed” before being sent off to their final destinations. We went down into the basement and it was one creepy-ass place. Apparently you can even go down one more level than where we got to AND we were also told that at one time there was a tunnel which ran from the basement to the aforementioned river, so the slaves could be brought in without anyone knowing… CREEPY. Several bands, including Bristol natives Massive Attack, still refuse to play there for these reasons… Oh, and speaking of Massive Attack, Bristol is also the home of Portishead and Roni Size, so I can only imagine how the scene there was during the early 90s.

 

PS We scared the shit out of T2 in the basement as well. I’ll have it on YouTube by the time you read this. During dinner, I mentioned that I wanted to get some video of the basement and OT took me aside and explained how there was this chest that he could hide in. So about 5 minutes before we went down, OT disappeared and the best part is that we really had no true intended target. Our only plan was for me to draw whoever came with me towards the chest and the cue was me saying, “Did you hear that?!” Only B and T2 came and OF COURSE it was T2 who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… classic.

NEW Video from Bristol

Just put up a new video from Colston Hall in Bristol for ‘Fading Fast’… Check it out because at the beginning I attached some video we shot in the creepy-ass basement there. Watch T2 get the shit scared out of him… So hilarious.

 More vids to come!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyAkEoSxdGc

A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words … PART 1

Hello all,

This is Tom (OT) again. I was just browsing through the photos on my camera and realising how many cool pictures there are that just haven’t been posted. For the most part these pictures don’t really have to do with our shows or our blogs so they just haven’t been making the cut. These shots are more about the times inbetween. The times we’ve spent wondering around cities for the first time, exploring venues and experiencing things unknown to us in Canada. And most importantly us just having fun. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so here’s a few thousand….

1. Bernadette practising her racing skills in Llandudno

2. Myself enjoying a nap in the gardens of Buckingham Palace

3. Tom and I forming the band name “The North”

4. Bernadette getting in your face and showing off her food on the bus

5. A picture in the reflection of the mirrors in the London subway system

6. Myself having a prayer for the band in Oxford

7. Practising for the paparazzi in London

8. Greg and Shona being drawn by a portrait machine in Llandudno

9. Tom drinking too much at NEC in Birmingham

1.   2.    3.       

4.   5.   6.   

7.  8.   9.    

Stayed tuned for more to come

Bye for now,

Tom

Birmingham & Nottingham

Fresh off a tremendous day in Birmingham where we played possibly our best set of the tour to roughly 7000 people, we were off to Nottingham. We’re into the meat of the schedule now, so we rarely have more than a day to see anywhere. We drive into town in the morning, set up, play, take down and move on. Thus I didn’t get to do too much in Birmingham, in addition to the fact that the arena was built a fair distance outside of the city.

Its interesting to think that at home every major city is virtually built around their old hockey arena, and the stadiums are usually built away from the downtown because the land is cheaper and there’s more room. Over here, it’s the opposite. Traditionally though, I really can’t think of any purpose an arena would have here. All the major British sports require a pitch (rugby, football, cricket). So I would have to assume that most of the arenas were built fairly recently and were therefore constructed outside of the downtown because A) there’s (by now) no room in the major part of any city and B) being the aforementioned cost issue.

Regardless, we’re in Nottingham now and the bus is about to get ugly because there is a day off tomorrow and after three consecutive nights trying to win over entire arena audiences, we’re gonna take advantage.

I never saw much of Nottingham either. The arena was nice. Our room was next to the laundry so I got that done. I’m thinking it may be the last time I have to worry about that. Fuck, home is coming soon. Back to reality once our bus turns back into a pumpkin again.

The show tonite was decent. Not our best, but certainly nowhere near the worst either. I think when you cut your audience in half, everything loses a little luster. They seem quieter even though they’re not and being the third in a row, I think we may have been looking ahead to Bristol cause we’re back in a hall again. I miss playing the halls. I think I may have even took them for granted. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought of ever playing an arena so for me, I don’t feel like its really happening still when I’m on that stage. In the halls, the people are right there. You can feel their warmth and even the people at the back feel like part of the show. In the simplest of terms, I CAN SEE EVERYBODY… Haha… At least there is still the after show, meet and greets. The one time I do get to see the people we just hopefully entertained. The people we met in Nottingham were gracious. We had this guy we called leather-vest who helped us sell CDs and he possibly outperformed us. Some of the lines this guy threw down were hilarious… “It could be 12 pounds or 11 pounds, but tonite people, for you, its only 10!” or “Purchase the musical experience of a lifetime AND meet the band who made it!” were a couple I can remember, but he had a bunch that he was throwin at people.

At some point tonite, we’ll be off to Bristol for a day off and then two nights back in a hall. After being schooled on arena-rock, I can’t wait to take it back to an intimate setting… ha did I just call 2000 people intimate?!?! Fuck, I really don’t want to go home… 

(L-R) Birmingham NEC, The streets of Nottingham.

YouTube Link to ‘No Money Anthem’…

I just put it on YouTube this minute. Its from the first night in Oxford, November 21st. Expect more to come now that I figured out how to get them up…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhX894JRKr4

GREAT TIME AT NEC!

Hello everyone this your friend Tom (OT). I just wanted to express how awesome of a show NEC in Birmingham was for us… As far as our time touring together as a band this was our biggest show we had ever played. Going into it anything could have happened, no one really knew what. Since it was an arena and our show time was earlier than usaual we figured the place could easily be half full or less. However as soon as we got on stage and looked out into the crowd we realised it was PACKED! I mean this place was huge… Now all we had to do was put on a good show And I must say the crowd was great. One of the fans and now friend even made up a sign that said “Bernadette and the North we love you for supporting Status Quo”. It made us feel great, thanks Doug!!!! As for the rest of the show, I’d say it was the best show we have ever played. Everyone really stepped it up, it made me proud of how far we have come. That is all I really wanted to say. Short and sweet. Oh yeah, in the spirit of one of our new songs in the set “No Money” I decided to employ myself at the pre-show in NEC arena for some extra cash. Haha… You’ll just have to see the photos.

 Bye for now,

Tom

                       

Live Shots and Video Blogs!

Some people have been kind enough to email us some of their photos of the shows! Figured we’d share with you all. Keep them coming!! By the way, we have 2 video blogs posted you can check out at:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=7448316815

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=7710281815

 

A couple days in Manchester

Everyone in Canada knows about Manchester. 90% of them couldn’t probably tell you where it is, but in the very least they know that Manchester United plays here because back home, if you don’t have allegiances with any other football city, it seems Man U is usually the default choice. I don’t know why this is. I do know they signed some sort of deal with the New York Yankees to cross-merchandise, but even when that happened Man U was already the most well-known football team in North America.. Well Toronto at least. Second is probably Liverpool or Chelsea, but I wonder if its Liverpool because they’re Man U’s biggest rival? For everyone back home, its like if Montreal and Toronto were less than an hour apart. Can you imagine how much crazier the rivalry would be then? Sure the Leafs and Habs spurn for each other is further fueled by the fact that one is from the French part of Canada and the other represents everything the French dislike about English Canada, but if they weren’t 5 hours apart there would surely have been riots in the streets every time they met in the Cup final back in the day…

I for one also know that Manchester is a blue-collar town. I believe Oasis, The Buzzcocks and Morrisey are from here and by simply knowing that, I somehow always knew the kind of place this would be when I got here. The kind of place that does all the dirty work and gets little of the credit they deserve. Sure Take That is from here as well, but we can’t hold it against it.

It also can’t be ignored that at this moment Manchester is the home of Britain’s favorite son, Ricky Hatton. I think he is a fair representation of what it is to call Manchester home. What I wouldn’t have given to be here tomorrow night when he goes into the biggest battle of his life. Mind you if he loses, maybe not…

 

So we checked into our hotel early yesterday morning for our day off. After Cardiff, where I thought we left it all out there, this break was well deserved. After the last one that felt like it would never end, we savoured this one. Our hotel was very modern and immediately felt more like the one’s back home. No history, but all the bells and whistles to make ones stay as pleasurable as possible. This fact was soon backed up when we got to our room and discovered they all had huge flat-screen Mac’s in them. Not only were they equipped with complimentary internet, but the TV also worked through it as well as the radio. The TV stations were plentiful and even if we couldn’t find anything to watch, the radio stations were just as good and the JBL sound system it played through was class.

While B caught up with her myspace and facebook duties, I settled into some serious TV viewing. I find it incredible that B still makes the time to answer all of her own emails and myspace messages. Because we hadn’t had good internet connections until yesterday, it took her more than 4 hours to catch up. The funniest part was that by the time she had written everyone back, half of them had already responded. It never ends, but she loves it as much as I’m sure the fans do that get some cyber-one-on-one time with her. Even if it is just a short note back and forth.

Our night off was fairly eventless. It rained hard for most of the day and after being refused service at the local Wetherspoon because they didn’t believe B was 18(??!??!), we took this as a sign and I watched Stephen King’s ‘Christine’ and passed out soon after to the music of Wilco.

Show locale was an arena again. MENA is another place I’m familiar with because it hosted a UFC not too long ago. Everyone laughs when I explain this fact, but hey, at least I knew of it. Our area was once again HUGE. Even bigger than in Cardiff. We had like 4 personal rooms, a bathroom with a group shower and then a large communal room with leather couches and lamps and shit. I wish we could have played via satellite from back here because there would have been a lot more room than the stage. Arenas have huge stages but the space we get to work with is actually smaller than in the halls. Quo has a mammoth kabuki (banner) that drops when they kick into their set. We play in front of this and because of all the lighting that gets rigged up for an arena show, it usually is within about 10-15 feet of the front of the stage. Once you put a row of our monitors across the front and Greg sets up his drums, there isn’t much room left. So little that I actually knocked one of the drum mics over during the set tonite. Funny shit watchin our monitor man Danny have to run up and reset it. Hell, he’s done such a wonderful job for us, I figured I’d give him his moment in the spotlight…ha.

Anyhoo, another fun show. I don’t think I have ever been so relaxed walking onto a stage. The best part was that everyone else seemed equally relaxed and I think it showed in the set. We just went out and had a good time. I think the crowd fed off of it as well. Tougher to tell in the arenas because they are so much further away from us and the lights are so crazy I can never see anything.

Our signing tonite was the most interesting one to date and I was thoroughly entertained by it. Arenas are tougher for us to sell at because, for the most part, we make most of our sales based on the fact we stand right by the door as they leave and guilt them into it… haha. No, but seriously, when people like what you’re doing and get to meet you, they want something to take with them. In the arenas there are multiple concessions and ways to exit so we don’t get to see as many people.

Here they gave us our own security to escort us to an area where we could meet as many people as we could. As we waited for the crowd to depart, the staff all seemed confused by the fact that we didn’t want a table or anything and that we wanted to just be right in the crowd. They were actually borderline scared for us.

Regardless, the crowds exited and slowly people took notice of us and gathered to chat. The interesting part was how incredibly patient everyone was. They actually organized themselves and allowed each person to have a moment or two with everyone in the band before taking their turn. We took more photos than ever before and even that was funny because the shy people would take pictures from far away, regardless of who was in them. A bunch of people are going to have B & The North shots with someone else’s kids in them… classic.

I don’t know how much we sold in the end, but that’s not what these moments are about for any of us. A handshake, hello and a kind word mean just as much to me as any sale does. The people of Manchester, like everywhere else on this tour, love their music and are simply great folks. Its my pleasure to thank them for listening and chat with as many of them as I can. Always the best part of the day, well second to playing of course… On to Birmingham.

 

 

(L-R) Waitin to check in with some crew… Two views from the ferris wheel… thats some clever shit… Millions of TOMS… Connect 4 anyone?!… Our best card table set-up yet!

Cardiff, WALES

Sadly we are only in Cardiff for the day. I’ve truly enjoyed both our stops in Wales and the weather was on our side again even. Well it did downpour a couple of times, but in short, intense spirts so I can deal. Tonite was our first arena show and so we were totally pumped up for it. When I think back to how nervous we were in Southend, its amazing how calm we all are now, regardless of the venue. The CIA wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined because when I think arena, there has to be a rink in it or at least something thats been taken down for us to be able to play. Here it was more like a massive room. Too big to be a “hall” and too small to be a “stadium”.

Our dressing room was hilariously large. Bigger than the appartments I’ve lived in and, as Liz pointed out, larger than many of the clubs we’ve played in back home too. Walking out onto the floor for the first time was certainly a crazy feeling. Nothing near walking onto the stage to play though. I thought for sure the seats would be sporatically filled but come showtime, the place was near full. We played as well as I’d hoped for a first arena. The sound was immense and the crowd was great, but sadly a seated one. I still have a hard time getting used to playing for people in seats. I suppose our music is more suited to a seated crowd to be honest, but when you watch them come alive for Quo, you can only stand back and watch in awe as they add that extra-member vibe to the amazing Quo show. I suppose it also helps that they know all of Quo’s material as well.

After the show we settled into our usual meet and greet, which is a little tougher in an arena because there are so many ways for people to exit. In the halls, everyone files out through the front door so we just find a suitable spot in people’s sightlines and go to work. SO we’re standing there and this massive gentleman approaches B and asks her what our band is called. This is a usual question we get because a lot of people either missed part (or all of our set) OR they simply couldn’t understand what B was saying. So she tell’s him, “B & The North”. He repeats her, “B & The North?”, gets approval from B, takes one step back and yells “Get your B & The North cds right here and meet the band!!” We actually had our own salesman!! Man if this guy could come everywhere with us we’d be set. He walked around all night selling our album and gathering people to come meet us. What a help that was. We just sat behind a table and actually got to spend some quality time with the fans, where as usually we’re trying to talk, sign, sell and organize photo-ops and I usually feel like I’m ignoring people or at least not giving them the attention they deserve for being so supportive….

On to Manchester for a day off and then 3 arena dates in a row!

 

(L-R) Big ass tree… Neal’s best Che pose… Hittin the streets after the show… Carl the bus driver.

Newcastle

Back in Newcastle again. We’d spent Saturday night here before our pretend-stop in Edinburgh so it was like we were vets. Once again we arrived in the night and were fortunate to be able to check into our hotel early. Our room was beautiful, with a picturesque view of the River Tyne and a living area with couches and such. It was late Sunday night and I was even graced with some NFL action on the sports channel. Though the game featured 2 dreadful teams (Arizona and Cleveland), I didn’t care because it was the first live (American) football I’d seen since coming over here.

Monday was a day off for us, which seemed like overkill considering we now hadn’t had a show since Thursday, but Newcastle was full of things to do to kill time. I went back to the Casino where my luck wasn’t as sharp. I went up and down for hours, never seeming to get on a roll and ended up giving them 30 pounds back from the 100 I took Saturday night. I later found out our bus driver John and some others took the casino for 1900 pounds that night in Roulette. Supposedly the wheel hit 24 three times in the 45 minutes they were there. Talk about a lucky number. I keep telling OT to hit the tables cause if you have ever played cards against that guy, he wins ALL THE FUCKIN TIME. Even in the chance games we play. I et he’s at like an 80% winning percentage on this tour… Anyways, the others went and saw American Gangster. OT said it was great, Greg said it was good but a little long and B said it was slow. I asked B where it ranked next to The Departed and she said “No where close to as good” so I was happy I still had those 3 hours of my life to myself.

At night, I took a long walk along the river’s edge and wow, is this place something to see all lit up. Right outside our hotel were 4 incredible looking bridges. One was for the subway which wasn’t that spectacular aside from the way it was lit. Then there was an older draw-bridge that actually looked like a boat itself. It was then towered over by what I imagine was the original bridge. The last was a suspension walkway, which was brilliantly lit and, as you crossed it, you could feel it sway ever so slightly.

Show day today was WARM! I don’t know the exact temperature, but I was comfortable in a light sweater. Even the breeze felt lovely. The city is buzzing because tomorrow night, Premiership leaders, Arsenal are in town to play United. Would have killed to be here to see that (turns out NU even ended up pulling off a huge draw). I have to see a football game before I leave. HAVE TO! I wonder if Birmingham is playing at home on Saturday. What a day for sport that would be with the Hatton fight going on that night. Shit imagine we were in Manchester THAT night instead of Friday. Craziness…

The venue was a lovely theatre that has just been redone supposedly. I just had a long chat with some local cabbies, waiting for Quo to finish and thats what they told me. Considering the age of the building, I know some work had been done to it. Funny enough one of the cabbies I just talked to is a huge Leaf fan. Though I truly would never consider myself a Maple Leaf’s supported, when you’re thousands of miles from home you do feel a little love for them. Not to mention the fact that I don’t think anyone over here would understand why my favorite hockey team isn’t even from the same country I live in. Go Bruins!

The show was another good one. I think the local papers have picked up on us because the crowds seem to be more familiar with who we are as the tour goes on. They actually hoot and hollar at B now constantly, which is great. In preparation for the upcoming arena dates, we’ve added a new song called ‘All These Things I Hide’ to the set which seems to be approved of. Everyone back home will now be officially jealous because its a song none of them have heard yet. Momager Liz and Francis absolutely love the song so it was an easy choice to be added.

Another note about this show was that our buses were parked right out front of the venue. This only adds to the vibe as we leave. Sure most people think its Quo’s bus, but they are more than happy to wave at us as well as we board. This was also how my lengthy conversation with the local cabbies started.

All in all, it was great to get back on stage again. I guess Christmas came early. Everyone in our band is healthy again, just in time for the arenas. With all the sickness behind us, should be able to focus 100% on the shows again, which we need to because some huge ones are comin up!

(L-R) The Gate where the casino was!… Buses out front… Newcastle City Hall.