Andy blog 2 - A Glamorous Life

10/10/2008 by Andy.

When a lady in my local pub called me a liar a couple of weeks ago, it was in response to my statement that I don’t take holidays. She said that I was away so often that I was constantly on holiday and this got me thinking that peoples’ perception of my lifestyle must be one of luxurious glamour. Now I’m not saying that a bit of pampering is out of the question but you would have to go back to the 1970’s to find total hedonism. We were even sponsored by British Airways, flew Concorde so often that I was given a pilot’s flight jacket and bag. Flying was glamorous and in my eyes one of the better perks of being in a successful band but today things are a little different. We had a couple of weeks off in September to recharge the batteries (a spot of fishing, watching a Wrexham match etc) but it didn’t take long before I was missing it (the early starts, the angst as the guitar eventually appears on the carousel, at security - shoes on/off, laptop in bag or out, German security’s humourless search and wandering hands).

So here is an abridged version of last weekend’s trip, you decide whether glamorous or not.

Friday, awake at some ungodly hour to drive to Heathrow for a 7am flight to Berlin. I don’t know what I would do without on-line check-in, I fly through security and am found by Bruce and Adam, having my usual kedgeree at Wagamamas in Terminal 5. Not too bad so far. Arrive in Berlin as morning breaks and go straight to bed at hotel, we are not needed until 9pm for a “meet&greet” before the show. This weekend is the celebration of German reunification and there are events everywhere. Our event is well attended but it is freezing cold and the fingers aren’t quite behaving themselves but noone notices and the evening is big success. We have a reasonable 10am leave from Berlin on Saturday, 350km 3-4 hours in a bus and an early show in Suhl, near Erfurt, at 6pm. It is “Schwartzbier” time (dark beer) and our show at the Congress Centre is sold out. Marvellous. The bad news is that on Sunday we have to leave at 7am for Frankfurt Airport. Whilst passing through security with Bruce, my bag was searched, eventually my talc was held up for all to see and because I felt something needed to be said, I uttered that it was used to stop my balls from chafing, this completely sent Bruce into hysterics and the guy put it back in my bag and told me to move on. Humour can still be the best defence. Over the weekend I estimate we travelled more than 2000 miles, were out of the country for more than two days and literally worked for less than 3 hours. However I wouldn’t change much because I still love playing and travelling. A Tardis or Starship Enterprise would greatly improve the travel side of our business but the normal way keeps your feet on the ground.

Thanks for your interest - without it we have no audience.

Andy

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