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Matriarchy in the UK | |
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Matriarchy in the UK | |
The Evening
Session Tour is a frenzied attack on five cities with
crazed fans and three great bands joining in. Steve Lamacq, Catatonia, Idlewild
and Travis head the riot. Oh, and Travis's mums...
"They always turn up to shows in Glasgow, however much we try and keep
them away," grins bass-player Dougie Payne snuggling up to his mum
backstage at Glasgow's Barrowlands. A proper Mother's Day treat, tonight's show
is the first date of Radio 1's week-long Evening Session tour,
featuring Travis, co-headliners Catatonia, as well as Edinburgh noiseniks
Idlewild. First things first, though...
So cool, in fact, that they crashed the Oasis dressing room and finished off
Noel and Liam's champers. Rock 'n' roll huh? A tough act to follow for their
offspring and cohorts on this particular jaunt, but hey, I guess they'll have a
go.
Visiting Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and finishing up in Newport
with an extended four-hour show featuring live sets from all three acts, the
Evening Session comes live each night from a tour bus which parks outside the
venues while the bands get on with wowing the crowds inside.
"If somebody said, 'Would you like to book a tour with three bands you
really like and then follow it around the country and just hang out?', would you
do it? Of course you would," justifies Evening Session host,
Steve Lamacq, from inside their rather fetching silver double-decker. It's
difficult to miss, thanks to the words The Evening Session Tour
emblazoned in huge letters on the side and with a crew of seven and a fully
functional radio studio crammed into the tiny upstairs lounge area, it's not
hard to see why they think it's like being on a U-Boat.
"They had to actually saw one of the seats in half to get the studio
in!" chuckles Steve rather proudly. "Every night, we're doing busking
on the bus; we had all of Belle & Sebastian in playing a new song called
'Wrong Love' this afternoon, we've got the Pecadiloes in Leeds and then it's
Fuzz Townshend's drum school in Birmingham. We had to get Fuzz, because in a
previous life he used to mend buses for a living. Then it's 60 Ft. Dolls in
Newport. We've certainly got some characters around, in the bands and within the
production team. Our production assistant, Hannah, is already moaning that she
hasn't changed her knickers for two days."
After a fine homecoming show, smiling and dripping with sweat, Travis float
from stage to dressing room and within no time, the mums appear to cluck proudly
round their offspring. Fran's mum--a Catatonia convert after watching their show
tonight--meets Cerys and the pair hit it off instantly.
"My mum pure loves Cerys," offers Fran while Cerys takes it upon
herself to make sure everyone has a glass of wine and entertains the gathering
by playing Spanish folk songs on a weeny guitar which Andy procured for a tenner
that afternoon and--after Cerys fell in love with it--unloaded it to the new
Princess of Wales for twenty. Cerys used to busk Spanish folk songs on the
streets of Cardiff, which is how she met Catatonia guitarist Mark Roberts. Her
velvety Welsh lilt lends itself rather beautifully to Spanish, a language she's
also fluent in. A good night all round, then?
"I wouldn't really notice a good night," admits Fran. "To me,
that's when none of my plugs come out, none of the strings break and I sing all
right. If none of these things go wrong, I think it's a great gig. Then you go
off and your manager's standing there going, 'That was dreadful'. Then you have
the shows where everything goes wrong and they're saying: 'That was great'."
The next day, the Academy in Manchester finds
the clutch of tour buses
parked up outside, while pre-soundcheck, Travis get down to some serious
football inside.
"During the last World Cup," laughs Fran while catching his
breath, "Neil, our drummer, played a gig after we'd broken his leg in a
vicious sliding tackle in a game a few days earlier. We wheeled him up onstage
and his leg was sticking from behind his kit in this huge plaster cast. You
could chop his arms off and his head off and he'd still want to go up and play."
"Because we were booking this tour in November, we wanted to get bands
we thought were going to come through. At the time we had a really big crush on
Catatonia's 'I Am The Mob'. We managed to confirm them just before 'Mulder &
Scully' became a huge hit, so we were quite lucky really."
And Travis?
"I met them in New York at the CMJ festival. They're the kind of band
you'd like to go on tour with because they're really nice to hang around with.
Chipper tunes too."
Idlewild?
"They were our tip for the New Year. I'm really quite excited for them
but they really are the shyest blokes. Bless 'em. I first saw them at the Hope
And Anchor in front of about 30 people."
What are you most looking forward to this week?
"Apart from seeing the bands every night, we've got an aftershow at
TJ's in Newport. It's supposed to be where Kurt proposed to Courtney...I've
never been, so I can't wait for that."
As Steve
disappears back onto his bus to prepare for his show, we climb
aboard the Travis bus for a guided tour. Downstairs, there's a small
lounge-cum-kitchen complete with fridge which apparently needs emptying every
night. Can't imagine why.
"We ran out of beer last night, so I decided to raid the Evening
Session bus," clarifies Dougie. "I was sure they had a secret stash of
booze so I was standing outside the Barrowlands in my PJs banging on their bus
door, but nobody answered. They were probably quietly sipping sherry in that BBC
manner."
At the back of the bus, there's another lounge, complete with TV, video, and
stereo, which is where we find Fran, Cerys and 'Tonia guitarist, Mark. The
discussion turns to the previous night's Barrowlands show.
What's your favorite place to play?
What's your favourite food on tour?
What do you exist on?
Have either of you got a really annoying
habit which annoys the rest of the band on tour?
If someone shouted, "Get off" at you
during your first song, what would you do?
Which member of the band is the last to
get up in the morning?
What's been your favorite Travis
gig?
Fran:
"Can you remember the last time you did it?"
Cerys: "Erm...two weeks ago at the Cornershop gig. The last
time we
played in Manchester, I did a stage dive for the first time in my life. I just
thought, Fuck it. My skirt wasn't there when I eventually got back on the stage!"
Dougie: "What? You were standing there in your knickers?"
Cerys: "I still had my fishnets on...they were ripped to shreds
but at
least I still had them on."
Dougie: "It's funny because last night I was watching you
moshing about
and I looked over and this wee lassie from the record company came flying over
the top of the crowd...'hiya'."
Fran:
"How long does it take you to get back into regular life after a tour?"
Cerys: "I don't know, we've been so busy this year I've hardly
been at
home at all. I can't sit and watch telly any more, that's why I took up
gardening."
Fran:
"I've gone the other way."
Dougie: "Now you cannae get off your arse."
Fran:
"Touring's just like riding a bike, though. When you get onstange
your hands go into place, your legs move into that position..."
Mark: "But the moment you start thinking about it, you
forget
everything."
Fran:
"Last night was the first time we'd played for two months, so it
was a bit nerve-racking."
Mark: "Didn't you rehearse?"
Fran:
"No, we were like, 'Oh well, we'll just fly into it.' Five songs
in and I got an attack of diarrhoea. I woke up yesterday morning and you know
that thing when you go, qwwwwack...and I thought, 'Oh no', so I rushed to the
toilet and it happened. It continued through the day and I was thinking, 'Don't
let it happen onstange' and it did! If you notice I did have to kneel down at
one point."
Dougie: "That's so we could scoop out his pants."
Fran:
"We should have a guy at the side with fresh nappies, Baby Wet
Ones and that cream for sore bottoms."
As the Manchester Academy begins to fill for tonight's show, the Evening Session takes to
the air with some vox pops from the Glasgow show:
"Is it always this mad at gigs in Glasgow?" Steve asks one lad. "I
wouldn't know, I've never been anywhere else," comes the rather confusing
reply.
Favourite moments include "Giving Cerys my hair clip", "When
Fran dedicated 'I Love You Anyways' to his mum", and "The mosh pit for
Idlewild". Belle & Sebastian's busk from the previous day also hits the
airwaves. "What would you usually be doing on a Sunday," inquires
Steve. "Watching the football on telly," comes the reply. Which is
nothing compared to the shock Lamacq's going to get come Newport...
"We should get some replica pistols and hijack the Radio 1 bus,"
smirks Cerys. "We could do it with Balaclavas."
"Can I hold a gun to Steve Lamacq's head?" pleads Dougie.
With Cerys and her guitar entertaining Man Utd footballer, Brain McClair, in
the dressing room, tonight's show, and Travis getting mobbed on their bus by girls
wanting their breasts signed, it's clear the Evening Session extravaganza is only going to
get weirder. And better. May it be the first of
many.
Melody Maker
You want
rock 'n' roll excess? Tales from the darkside? Yarns of bad
behaviour? Fables of fearless partying? Just ask Travis' mums. But it's not
tales about their sons you'll hear, oh no.
"When we did the Oasis tour, our mums came to the Aberdeen tour," offers frontman Fran Healy.
"Dougie's mum was grabbing Noel and Liam by the
cheeks and going, 'Oh son, the show was fabulous'. They came to the gig in
Glasgow when Oasis walked off, too. People were ripping up the seats, there was
a huge Christmas tree in the middle of foyer which got pulled down... fucking
scary. Even our roadies were shitting themselves, but our mums were just
standing there cool as fuck."
Ahem. So that's the theory, now down to some practical.
Idlewild kick off
with their raucous romp much to the delight of an almost hometown crowd who get
treated to the first listen of their new single, "Film For The Future."
Catatonia fair rip through their fast-becoming greatest hits set, and Cerys
manages to upset a thousand or so Glaswegians by innocently asking who won the
rugby. And, as Travis take to the stage, guitar player Andy Dunlop's mum adds to
the Travis mum legend by almost finding herself on the stage after being
misdirected out of the dressing room! Sorry, Mrs Dunlop.
At which point, Steve wanders microphone in hand, in search of tales for
tonight's show. Looks like he's come to the right place. Travis are first up for
his Two-Minute Tour Bus Test where they answer a barrage of tour-related
questions. A good opportunity to turn the tables and fire some questions at
Steve: Why did he choose these particular bands?
Cerys: "I was moshing down the front last night for you lot.
There were
these two lads from Glasgow who looked after me. It was nice to be able to go
right down the front like that."
Have you
ever stolen anything from a hotel room?
Fran:
"A face cloth."
Dougie: "A bathrobe."
Fran:
"A stage."
Dougie: "Erm, Ginster's vegetable pasties."
Fran:
"Picking my nose and eating it. I think we all do that."
Dougie: "I don't put my fags out properly."
Dougie: "Go and kiss Franny."
Fran:
"Dougie."
Dougie: "Absolutely, definitely me. And it's always been that way."
Fran:
"Aberdeen with Oasis, watching 10,000 people jumping up and down. It was just like watching
the beginning of the London Marathon when you see all of the heads going like that. It was pretty
amazing."
April 4, 1998
All I
Wanna Do Is Write: Neil Mason
I'm So Snappy: Steve Hall
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