I just want to start this blog by warning anyone coming to England to live at any point in their life that no matter how well organised you are, you’re gonna get screwed. If not by the banks, then by the real estate agents. If not by the real estate agents, then by the mobile phone companies. If not by the mobile phone companies, then by the home phone companies. If not by the home phone companies, than by the hire car companies. And if you are ever going to come to England as part of a band called Philadelphia Grand Jury, make sure you’re prepared to get screwed by all of the above. At this point in time, we still don’t have internet access at home and have been going up to the nearest cafe that has free wifi and using theirs until they tell us to buy another drink or leave.
But apart from that, life in London is SWEET.
And most excitingly, after a month of searching every nook and cranny in the whole city, we’ve found ourselves a studio space. So not only does that mean we can start working on our second album (that for this week is titled “Safety Second”), it also means that Berkfinger now feels he has a purpose and doesn’t mope around the house all day being bored. The studio is right around the corner from Milwall FC, which we have now adopted as “our team”. The football season probably won’t start again until we’ve left England, but it’s still nice to know we have a team. Now we just gotta learn their song. Maybe we’ll put it into our set.
We’re starting to make new friends in England now. Well, we’ve had to since all the other Australian bands that were here when we arrived have gone home. But the English people are very nice, even if they don’t talk to Calvin on the street as much as they do back home (he keeps trying though). There have been really great reactions to our music at all the shows we have played so far; much better than what we expected. Although we expected to play to empty rooms, so even if there is only one person in there and they smiled faintly during one of the songs it would have exceeded our expectations.
Right now, we’re in the van heading to Germany for our first ever European shows. In fact, we’re in the van on a train about to head into a super-long tunnel into France, before heading through Belgium and Holland before we finally get to Germany. The only problem is that we don’t get to stop in any of the other countries, but I’m sure we’ll be able to see stuff from the van. But if I don’t see at least one person wearing clogs I’m going to be very disappointed.
Hopefully we’ll have another video diary for you soon. I think we’re getting better at them too.
Regards,
MC Bad Genius
Photo by Victor Frankowski
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
when yous are in conventry i’ve got a nice hotel yous can stay at its called “The Warwick Arms Hotel” its like 20 minutes away. Its where i work.
When we came over here from Sydney, we got screwed by everyone as well the banks the mobile companys .. even our first job here screwed us over. but then we landed at the warwick arms hotel.
seriously check it out.
xx
guys. belated welcome to london. mate of mine in melbourne has just seen you at a festival there (splendour something?) – says you nailed it, and that i should check you out. so i am. and you know what? i’m liking it. liking it a lot.
not sure i can catch the london show next week but will *definitely* get to a show while you’re here.
if you want any info on dear old london town just holler – i know a little about a lot. including some top coffee places if you’re north of the river.
oh, and i’ll be heading down to the (new) den when my team (ipswich) play millwall. see you there? you do know what the millwall chant is, right? looking forward to see that in a live set!