S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

So here I am, back in London. My garden is in full bloom and really beautiful. The mayhem of New York City seems a long time ago, as once again the strange accordion of time pushes and pulls its dusty old bellows pumping haunting melodies into my soul. The last post was definitely the low point, and it was all up from there… until the flight home. Don’t fly Continental. You may as well get on a bus with wings. Actually, forget the wings - that would make it a special bus.

Most of America is pleasingly filled with lots of people who think George Bush is in fact an orangutan. I wonder where the vast hordes who voted the idiot into power are hiding. I know - its MIDDLE AMERICA. Places like North Platt. The truth is, however, that every American I spoke to, without exception, thinks the political situation there is so embarrassing they can hardly deal with it.

I met David Bowie in New York, as he was curating the music festival at Madison Square Garden we were playing at. Always strange to meet your heroes. I was delighted when the first thing he said was not some banal generic greeting but, “I see you’ve got my old teeth” (referring to my slightly vampire-esque canines). I responded by saying I’d picked them up cheap on eBay and intended to keep them for a while. He then told me that such dental peculiarities were a sign of aristocracy in Japan and that his fans there were really upset when he had his straightened. Seemed like a very nice man. Nico and JB were utterley starstruck and it showed in the performance a little - they just seemed a bit ‘urgent’, drifting fractionally ahead of the groove, performing like minstrels on speed for the Thin White Duke. Still, it was quite a good show. The aftershow was like all other aftershow parties… a royal hosebag where record company execs who’ve travelled a long way to be there jostle for position, throw a couple of bottles of free vodka in as their pitiful contribution, and where countless fans stay behind the velvet rope, wishing for the paradise within the VIP area. If only they could get beyond it some day and see that its all, well, complete bollocks. The only decent rock and roll party I ever went to was the pre-show party for the MTV music awards in Stockholm in 2000. We stayed up all night, and I got so wasted that I ended up throwing up over Ali G’s shoes next day at the Astrodome.

So… a month off before heading out to the European festival circuit. That really should be fun - I’m getting to visit many places that I’ve never been, such as Iceland, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, and beautiful locations all over France, as well as some old favourite places like Barcelona, Athens and of course Bournemouth. I grow ever fonder of the amazing Jean-Benoit Dunckel - one half of Air and a beautiful human being. He makes me laugh so much with his wonderful Franglais. I don’t want to give away too many examples, as its just something I want to keep as my private souvenir of touring with Air, but he did come off stage one night, saying, “It was hot on za stage - I am sweating like a pork.”

Playing with Air has more in common with being in an orchestra than a rock band. But imagine if just at the end of playing a Shostakovich symphony, for the final 4 minutes, the conductor just downed his baton and crowd-surfed, and the musicians got a chance to cut loose. Just for 4 minutes. That’s what its like. Its the most amazing release of pent-up musical fury and joy all rolled into one mayhem blast on my SH-101, as JB and I start to devastate forests and kill communities with our MS-20 vs. SH-101 battle during the final section of “La Femme d’Argent”… Some nights I involuntarily scream my head off in the noise - its truly fantastic, especially when Earl (the drummer) just keeps going and going, way past the point where you think it was going to end, and you have to find new heights purely in the moment.

Some days I want to just get back into music more than anything. I’m not sure how, or what I would do. Some friends are on the curve they should be on, and it fills me with more admiration and joy than I can tell you - Duke Special, Foy Vance, The Brent Flood, Leo Abrahams. Things are happening for them, and that’s how it should be. I just don’t feel it for my own music now. I’ve learned a lot from Air, things I will take with me to try and find my voice more than I have been able to in the past, even with Jules Maxwell’s help… the next era should be interesting.

Go look at The Imaginary Foundation. The guy is a GOD.