SLAGBLOG

Nearly certain we will be playing at the Pumphouse, Local Board Road, Watford on Saturday 12th December. This is a small gig for about 120 people with tickets available from Garce in advance costing £6 each.

Please contact Garce on simon.allard1@btinternet.com

See the new website on www.sadloverandgiants.co.uk

New album material coming along fine.

I'm back home now and knackered but happy. Last night was also a great performance to about 250 in the sort of club we like; dark, emotional and gothic. I wouldn't class SLAG as Goth but our music has many qualities that goths like.

It was a more mature performance and less frenetic, we did it more on our own terms and enjoyed it immensely. Also got some great pics of the band for the website.

There were a lot of people who were serious fans and who had travelled a long way to see us so it felt more like a private party.

The others got more involved afterwards so their experience was heightened and they came away feeling wow! Athens here we come.

Before we did the gig we had an afternoon in Venice and polishing off a half decent bottle of Rose at a cafe beside the Grand Canal will be a lasting memory. I also got some useful photographs from which to paint pictures towards my art degree.

Now I've re united with my family I've been able to look at all the various video clips of the Blackout gig and I have to say you'll love them; the audience are so into it, even singing the sax part to Things We Never Did.

So in conclusion two great but very different gigs. We have some work to do on various aspects of the SLAG project not least of which is recruiting an apprentice keyboard player. We need someone who is keen rather than good and who understands the natuire of the band ie.months of inactivity then some incredible highs in foreign parts, oh and of course they have to do everthing we say!

I want to thank the following people who made the trip so memorable;

Ava (the original Miss Whiplash!) and Emy in Rome, The Blackout club, it's owner and sound crew, Davide for some great publicity. The two twins Luca and Nicola plus their cute children in SLAG T shirts! Emi from Totem plus our drivers Marco and Nicola and of course some notable fans like Markus who drove 800 K from Manheim to see the gig and Bernadette the Imagination girl. And last but not least our support band Visionary Flowers with Maxi and Christian who played at both gigs.

Hope to see you all again but keep listening to the music becuase that is where you will find the still quiet place at the center of things, that is where you will find Sad Lovers and Giants.

Garce

Just when I was thinking I couldn't eat another pizza we found a seafood restaurant in Mestre where we are holed up in the Holiday Inn waiting for tomorrows gig which is 40k away. It took us six hours by train but it's definately a better way to travel from Rome than the car journey we had last time.

So how was last night you ask? It was a truely memmorable SLAG gig, up there with the top five but I've got to say it didn't top the gig six years ago in the original Blackout club which his the high point of all gigging experiences for us.

You have to remember that after this high point last time we had a massive bust up the next day which effectively meant we were without a keyboard player and bassist for several years. Personal I thought it was a fantastic performance to 400 fans who truly appreciated what we are about. We played a longer set at about 90 minutes than we've ever done and we kept them with us all the way. Also remember that we overcame significant logistical problems in actually getting the keyboard player up to speed not to mention other distractions like the crap hotel.

And you know what the best thing was? My son and daughter saw me perform live for the first time and I didn't fall short of their expectations. I think they were genuinely surprised at the number of people wanting to be photographed with me and asking for my autograph. I hope they were impressed with it all. I have always tried to give my best for our audience but this was different, there was more pressure.

There were apparently five music journalists in the audience so we'll have to see what they thought in their reviews but frankly it won't make a jot of difference; it would be nice to hear something good for a change but they've never done us any favours before.

So it's on to the next gig and then Athens. If we come away still in one piece after tomorrow night then we'll be in good shape for Athens which is promising to be a ground breaking event for us. Strictly speaking we are not an indie band in Greece because we were distributed by Polydor which is a major label and it is just possible we have under estimated the demand there. The venue is much bigger than Blackout and the agent is apparently first class. It will either be a total flop to a half empty hall or it will be a breakthrough triumph.

We got an entire video of the gig last night thanks to my son and a complete memory card of pictures thanks to my daughter so when we've sorted them I'll get them posted somewhere. Our website is currently being revamped so they'll deffinately go there. We've also got to get some T shirts done so the Sad Lovers and Giants project has a new impetus.

Perhaps the most important thing is we've been discussing new material and the ideas we have and organising ourselves creatively. This is the sort of thing you can do constructively when your stuck on a train for six hours with three other blokes. This is all subject to Tony's availablility of course but there's a lot the rest of us can do to keep the torch burning.

Anyway see you after the gig at the Totem club in Vincenza.

Garce

I am becoming a blog bore. Why not Twitter they say? Answer; becuase you can't do verbal disentry on twitter like you can on a blog.

The radio interview went ok. It was a proper station that does BBC World Service , Citta FM 97.7 I think. Nige and I did the talking and we got 10 minutes and two tracks. There is definately an anticipation about this gig and the Blackout club is a legendary rock venue.

we got six hours sound check which was more than we were entitled to becuase the owner and his team wanted to go out for a meal but they ordered pizzas in instead and stuck with us till we got it right. Why can't the promoter be this helpful?

We also met Maxi who is the guitarist with Visionary Flowers who are our support band at this gig and the next one. He was fantastically helpful in getting Marco up to speed becuase he knew all the songs, his brother is also in the band.

The Blackout is authentic rock n roll without being scuzzy, there are even locks on the toilet doors. It is extremely businesslike becuase putting on a great show is the most important thing. At the moment the sound is good (with some tweaking tonight) the visuals are good, my voice is bearing up, alcohol consumption in hand and adequate amounts of sleep. So I am inclined to feel positive.

As we had lunch yesterday we listed all the gigs we've done which amount to over 100 in every major european country over 3 decades and I think this is going to be one of the best.

Twitter? nah! The great diarist Samuel Pepys would have toured with a band if he'd lived in the 21st century and he would've nipped down to the local internet cafe just like me, then rocked till his wig fell off!

Last entry was posted by my daughter from a text I sent her but there's a few bits of the story missing. You will recall that the hotel was poor, in fact it probably resembled the sort of hospital you would end up in if you fell into a coma in Algeria and had no travel insurance. The promoter went missing but our hero of the hour was Tony who wrote some pithy e mails and texts (beautifully worded complaints capable of flaying flaky promoters) and low and behold we ended up in a decent three star hotel near the station. Yes the cost of breakfast has gone up from 5 euros for coffee and croissant for me and Twig to 17 Euros but it's worth it just knowing you are going to get some sleep. So checked into new abode and splurged on lunch, hence bottles of Chianti and secret pint entry.

One of the unknown quantities of these gigs is Marco, Our Italian keyboard player who we have never met. The deal was we needed two days of time in a rehearsal room to get it together before the gigs on friday and Sunday but it was quite obvious from Emilios comment in the ride from the airport ie. "so, tomorrow we do tourism!" that no rehearsal room had been arranged. Instead we could set uo at the Blackout club on Thursady at 5pm and then have an extended soundcheck before the gig on Friday. Again this was totaly unacceptable and Tony again fulfilled the "daddy" role in securing us a rehearsal studio. Only problem was it was 50 k outside Rome and the car that came to collect us was a Clio or some such small thing and an hour late. We ditched my guitar and took the two others and made the best of it but at the end of the journey I felt like one of those Chinese kittens that's been grown in a bottle.

And that's when we met Marco and Jean Marco. It was Jean Marco's studio we were using which was brilliant. It was down a track in a sort of suburban garden in the grounds of his house and it was well equiped and personal; the sort of place you can imagine recording an album, chilling out on the patio in between takes. We got four hours of good time there and managed to get through half the set list with Marco which we thought was good progress.

Marco is half German and half Italian, he has a callection of 43 synths, he lives for music although he is also a computer programmer, and wants to get things 110% right. The only problem is that what he thinks is right is a replica of the records where as we know we were shit at doing keyboards when we recorded them and have a pretty good ideas of how we want them now. He knew all the songs note perfectly but the idea that Less might be more is something we are working on. I like Marco a lot which is good because he's coming with us to the next gig and also to Athens.

I'm just filling in time now before a radio interview and another evening of rehearsing at the club. Got to daSH.

g

Just had a slap up nosh and a couple of bottles of chianti and they all went off for some kip. I slipped off for a secret pint after which I turned in myself for an hour. Twig is snoring in the bed next to me. I'm about to wake him up to go to rehearsals.

Flight fine, collected at the airport by Emy and Eve, same people as last time. BA kicked shit out of my guitar flight case so much so that I'm going to have to buy a new one in Rome before going to Venice. Guitar ok though (remarkably). However hotel not. Picture the scene;room on seventh floor (not penthouse), outside window flyover with goods trains, beneath which early morning trams, add normal traffic of a busy city and you get nil sleep. Tony is fractious on our behalf, promoter suddenly invisible. Having said this last night had it's interesting moments. We were taken to a late night bar which was in a sort of run down scout hut in which every body was smoking, which is unusual these days. It was apparently jazz night but the members were more than happily singing Beetles songs clustered around an old piano with some guy banging the keys. We did get a couple of beers though and enjoyed the atmosphere which was pleasantly free of the smell of toilets as experienced in UK bars now post smoking ban. It was a sort of Italian bohemia. We're due to meet up with the keyboard player for rehearsals on thursday evening and all day friday before the first gig then it's up to Venice by train. Got a couple of radio interviews to do and we've been invited to a a party which apparently has a buffet and Eve is the DJ. Not sure what it's about but we are going to get free food so it saves money for beer. Bye for now I'll keep you posted.

Garce

I am fed up with being defined by my job, my car, my neighbourhood. This blog is an attempt to reclaim control over how I am defined.

During the 1980's I was the singer in a band called Sad Lovers And Giants. It was the time when I felt more like me than at any other time in my life. We toured, we recorded, we did a John Peel session.

We argued, we made up, we were a team and most of us are still in touch with each other. I was more creative, more driven, more alive then and I want to feel that way again.

As Morrisey said "there is a light that never goes out" so..................

Lets reform Sad Lovers and Giants!

Tony McGuiness (guitar) the only surviving professional musician (with Above and Beyond). He's up for it.

Cliff Silver (original bass player). He's not up for it following words with Tony after the gig in Italy 2003. This was not surpring considering the amount he drank before going on stage.

Nigel Pollard (drums). He's up for it, spoke to him two weeks ago, lives round the corner.

Juliette Sainsbury (keyboards). she'd be up for it only she lives in Hollywood.

Liam McGuiness (second bass player) he's up for it.

Simon Blanchard (original guitar). Had a brief e mail some months ago but I think I frightened him off by asking too many personal questions. Even if he was up for it Tony and Liam wouldn't be.

Dave Wood (original keyboards). Strangely I speak to his mother quite often but I'm certain he would not be up for it.

So we seem to be short of a keyboard player which leaves...... Ian Gibson (third bass player but keyboards with The Snake Corps).

How do I track Ian down and would he be interested? ARE YOU OUT THERE IAN?

Bye for now
Garce