Leeds, as predicted, rocked pretty damn hard. As I type, we are sitting on the bus, all 224 of us (a slight exaggeration, admittedly), readying ourselves for a trip across the Irish sea to Dublin. The Shred Yr Face tour is going worldwide. Well, into another country at least. They use another currency, y’know. That’s going to confuse the fine American boys and gals.
Today was a fine day. Shit ran smooth, and sometimes on tour, that is enough in itself. Fortunately however, we punctuated a fine day by heading off to the Paws For Thought pet store just across the road from the Irish Centre where the bands were showing off their musical wares. There was an amazing cockateel that entranced Dean and Randy No Age by chirruping “hello!” in a near cockney accent and Neil and Gareth Los Camp were entranced by various reptilians wonders and mused on the poor unsuspecting fate of the average grasshopper. Of course, we videoed it dude. Share and share alike.
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Cuisine is an important part of any touring experience. Today, we split ourselves amongst various parts of Leeds in order to fill our bellies. I can only apologise to Ollie LC! for dragging him to the Wetherspoons for a Farmhouse Breakfast just so I could use the wireless internet in order to blog and upload. Others chose The Wardrobe, and claim that the eggs Benedict and chips were ‘second to none’. Of course, all notions of culinary excellence went out the window just now as we piled into a welcome break and loaded up on Big Eat Wotsits and the like. Ah well..
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Returning to tonight’s show; the largest crowd of the night got to see a finely humming machine of shred. TNV were furious and engrossing, No Age hit full stride halfway through their set and fucking flew and Los Camp sounded as good as I have ever heard them – like a harmonious bell.
Right now all band members are in the downstairs party area drinking and discussing which songs to cover on the last night in Manchester (Weezer? George Harrison? Blink 182? You decide...) while looking a little tired. After two nights running on adrenaline, we're ready for some heavy sleeping. Unfortunately, that’s a rarity on the ferry crossing to Dublin; chances are you'll get a Twitter about us drinking Guinness at 8am. Our Tour Manager says it’s compulsory. Jesus.
Dean No Age reflects on day three of Shred Yr Face:
"I am here in leeds at the irish centre, there is so much hummus and alcohol on the table. Some crappy English television show is on, randy is listening to a new cd he got for free in exchange for us playing an instore in brighton, we played with no drums, and it might have been my favourite show we have ever played. No drum load in, no setting up, it was like a dream"
Glass of red wine in the hand, Fistful of Dollars upstairs in the quiet lounge. Reflective mood, but still, very, very happy. I apologise for sounding like a smug so-and-so, but you get the feeling this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience..
ON THE SHREDYRFACE.com site:
Videos from night two and day three:
Alex Los Camp appraises day 2
No Age and Los Campesinos hit the pet store.
The full details of what happened in Liverpool on night two after our show.
Blogs:
From Ollie Los Camp
From Dean No Age
Tour Diary
Twitter updates:
Constant, mundane but oddly addictive.
Stay tuned and speak tomorrow folks.
