THE STRANGLERS -- FAR EAST TOUR 2007

FAR EAST DIARY (Baz Warne)

MONDAY AUG 6TH / TUESDAY AUG 7TH

After a 13 hour flight we get to Singapore and given the time difference it’s 6.15 Tuesday evening local time…We are mighty pleased to be here. Watched a couple of movies on the plane but didn’t sleep too much, so am hoping to get a decent nights kip if such a thing can be possible after such a drastic fucking up of the body clock… We’re staying at the famous Raffles hotel and it’s breathtaking…I’m on the 19th floor so the view isn’t too bad either…a panorama of the city at night.

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We then all convene downstairs to do what needs to be done here apparently…drink a Singapore Sling…they’re delicious actually and I end up having 5 before the night is over…the main ingredients are cherry brandy, cointreau , gin and various bitters and they’re served in a tall glass with crushed ice…not bad. We then get in a fleet of taxis and go to a place called Newton Square to eat. It’s a market style place with hundreds of stalls and tables and people all eating and drinking in the evening air…it’s smack dab in the middle of the city and is a riot of smells and sounds and is totally fantastic…We finally settle on a place and order pretty much everything between us…Sil our manager is with us and we have our tour manager Brownie and all the crew, plus a couple of locals to keep us right…pretty much everyone speaks English here to a degree, so we don’t have too much trouble ordering and when the food arrives(and keeps arriving for the next 45 mins) we all realise how hungry we are and destroy the lot…tiger prawns which are at least 10 ins long, curried crab, chilli crayfish, lemon chicken, beef, pork, rice, stir fry vegetables and jugs of Tiger beer to wash it all down with…all consumed in an amazing atmosphere…so far so good! We get back to the hotel and have a couple more slings, then head out to a bar for a pint. The lads go off to see a band but I’m feeling it now and decide to head back and try to turn in…I fall in a heap but wake up around 3 after no more than a couple of hours, and can’t get back to sleep until 8 …It’s a gig day…got to try and rest before we play…we shall see.

WED AUG 8TH

I get up in reasonable time as it happens, but having missed breakfast which I seldom eat anyway, have some tea in my room and head down to meet the band and head off to soundcheck. As soon as I step out the door the heat is stifling, and within seconds everyone is shiny faced and feeling it. We jump into a blissfully cool air conned carrier and are off. This is an amazing city with so many different types of architechture ranging from mandarin Chinese pagoda styles to Gotham City style tower blocks…It’s also a very green city with parks, shrubs of almost every different size and colour you can imagine, palms and exotic hanging flowers…not surprising given the humidity here. We arrive at the gig which is in a park on a hill and after inspecting the gear which is all hired save for our guitars and a couple of essential personal bits for Jet and Dave, and after playing through a few numbers, we’re given the green light from Louie our sound guy that he’s happy…and if he’s happy so are we…we balance the monitors and everyone is smiles… We head back to the hotel for a rest from the heat and Sil , JJ and I decide to have a swim and a spot of lunch. Afterwards I head up for a kip and after meeting up downstairs around 7, we head off to the gig. It’s a pretty diverse bill we’re on to say the least tonight and as we arrive we can hear the strains of Shaggy (Oh Carolina…) and his band doing their bit…He milks it for all his worth and runs overtime…seemingly not giving a fuck about the rest of the bill. I suppose when you play ‘live’ as little as he does you can have a tendency to get carried away. Anyway we take the stage around half an hour late and play a tight, sweaty set to around 7,000 baying locals. They don’t really know what to make of us to start with, the band never having been here before, but we win them over and leave to strong applause. I look to my left during our set and see the lads from American band Sugar Ray watching us with shit eating grins and thumbs up…turns out they’re big fans and have been name checking us in their pre gig press as the band they most want to see at the festival. I have a brief crack with the singer and he’s chuffed to see us…nice one. I amble up to see Cyndi Lauper who’s on after us…(told you it was weird didn’t I ?) and she looks pretty good…still sexy in that cutesy pie kind of way of hers, but can’t stomach tonights’ headliners the Pet Shop Boys, so head back to the hotel after a bite in the back stage catering. I can still hear them as I’m trying to get off to sleep in my room 2 miles away and it’s a bad omen…I don’t sleep a wink all night as the jet lag finally bites my arse, and after a fitful night of reading and T.V decide to shower and head down for a very early breakfast before the flight to Tokyo which is a 7 hour touch. Oh well…nee rest for the wicked.

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THURSDAY AUGUST 9TH

I sit next to Yarnee, Jets tech and sometimes Stranglers drummer for this flight and have a good crack with him…he’s a great lad and we get on very well. So much so that the flight seems to take no time and for the first time in my life, I’m touching down in Japan. Nothing can prepare you for the experience that is Tokyo. The band have been here quite a few times and JJ comes here for his karate probably once every 6 months. He’s been trying to vibe me up for this for weeks now telling me to think of Blade Runner and surrealistic cityscapes and all that, and he’s right…It’s like a science fiction movie. There are nearly 20 million people in Tokyo…a third of the entire population of the UK in 1 city. You’d need months to explore it properly and we’re here for 3 days so we’ll just make the best of what we have I guess. On arriving at the hotel we’re met with dozens of fans…they all know where we’re staying…and it’s very sweet. They’re so polite and friendly, and just want to take pictures and talk, and they’re all so grateful it seems that we’ve flown so far to see them…lovely. We meet up with one of JJ’s old pals and along with Sil , the EMI guy Hide’ and an interpreter, we head off into the city for food and find a lovely little place not far from the hotel. We take off our shoes and the 6 of us cram into a little booth and enjoy a lovely meal of pork, chicken and vegetables and of course plenty of beer and sake’…Sil and I then find an English style pub would you believe, and after a couple of calls hook up with the crew for a pint. We’re there for longer than we’d intended, but head back later satisfied and tired…a good sign. I get 1 last surprise before turning in when I sit on the loo and the seat is hot! I remember JJ telling me to watch out for the heated toilet seats…I might as well be on the moon…

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FRIDAY AUGUST 10TH

As this is a huge festival were doing, expected to draw 150-200,000 people, there won’t be a soundcheck on the actual showday for us, so the ingenious Japanese devise a full day of soundchecks the day before the gig…today. After breakfast we head off to the gig in another airconned bus and are stunned by the size of the venue…an immense aircraft hanger style building where trade shows and things are held. JJ was here at the Tokyo motor show a few months ago and he can’t believe the size of the place with no-one in it…colossal. We soundcheck pretty successfully although the Marshalls they’ve given me are lacking a little sparkle and Mikey our guitar tech isn’t particularly happy with them…neither am I and after a little bit of messing we get something that’s passable and keep our fingers crossed that all will be well tomorrow when we play. Ah well… On the way back to the hotel we encounter a huge accident on the main road into the city and it takes us 3 hours to cover a 45 minute journey. I’m particularly miffed because JJ and I are off to do some acoustic stuff for Japanese TV and I was hoping to get an hours kip before heading out to it…As it happens we have 10 minutes before we leave, and as you can set your watch by the Japanese we have to be punctual...so a bit fried, we clamber into a cab and are off to a TV station. It turns out to be good fun and after an hour or so taping we’re back out in another cab and out for some dinner…finally. We find a little place pretty close to the hotel and along with Dave G have another feast and plenty of saki…JJ heads back and Dave and I find the rest of the boys after a couple of calls and after the English style bar we visited yesterday its off to take part in another traditional local pastime…a pastime which none of us would be seen dead doing if we weren’t here…and very pissed…Karaoke! The next morning I’m laying in bed trying to figure out why my jeans are hanging from a light fitting and one of my boots is in the bath…and then it comes to me and I chuckle, and my jaw hurts…and so do my sides…from laughing at the Karaoke the night before…the funniest night I think I’ve spent in a very long time. It starts innocently enough with Chris, Sil, Louie, Mikey, Barry R, Yahnee, Kev and me (Dave having turned in) hiring a booth and having a shed load of beer brought in…then selecting the songs from a book the thickness of the bible and entering them into the machine. After that it becomes a bit of a blur but I can remember snippets…Mikey doing ‘Daydream Believer’…Sil snarling his way through Sid Vicious’ version of ‘My Way’ Bazza doing ‘Mack the Knife’…Kev with ‘Mony Mony’ and me doing my level best Barry White impression with ‘My first my last my Everything’ and it just goes on…by the time we come out I’m hoarse and totally fucked…but happy… If you ever visit Japan, go to an authentic Karaoke bar…you must have at least 6 like minded people, and you must all be very very pissed…can’t recommend it highly enough for what ails you…

SATURDAY AUGUST 11TH

So of course the next day which is a show day where we’re expected to play to an extremely large crowd at 2 .20 (precisely) in the afternoon comes, and because of the previous nights activities I’m feeling a bit rough to say the least…as are the crew…No worries though because as you’d expect here the backstage catering is superb and after some hot food and a couple of strong coffees I’m back on track and looking forward to the gig as much as I always do. I amble out to see a band called The Long Blondes I’ve heard of, and they turn out to be pretty good…wish the same could be said for a band called the Horrors who are on before us and are simply fucking dreadful…they look like a cross between the Adams Family and The Munsters…all skinny black legs, kohl eyeliner and wacky hair…you’ve seen a million bands like them before I expect…total style over content. As I’m walking back to the dressing room after the 45 seconds or so of them that is all I can take, I mention them to the keyboard player from The Long Blondes who has also been watching them with me and amazingly she turns out to be from Newcastle! All that way to meet someone who comes from less than 10 miles away from where I do…small world indeed… After what seems like an eternity we’re on finally, and I wish I could remember more about the gig itself…but I can’t I’m afraid…it just goes by in a blur. JJ as I’ve mentioned comes here frequently and knows a little Japanese…he introduces us to the masses in their mother tongue and the fucking roof comes off the place…After that we can’t really do any wrong and we blitz through the set with no worries…I can see a lot of musicians from other bands watching us from the wings but the lights render them as shadows. I do see J from Dinosaur Jr, Johnny Marr who is here with a band called Modest Mouse, and who has a big grin on his face, and the singer from Travis (Fran?) though, and also recognise the guitar player from the Horrors’ shoes in the gloom…wonder if he thought more of us than I did of them…? Afterwards I must have my post match shower and as there isn’t one in the building I’m taken, along with JJ, to a local hotel to use theirs. It turns out to be a traditional Japanese bathing spa and is fantastic. I feel great afterwards and as we head across the cool air conditioned lobby back to the waiting bus I’m looking forward to a light bite and the hours flight we’re taking to Osaka later for tomorrows’ show…All that is forgotten as I step out of the door into the hazy Tokyo afternoon heat, and before I get back aboard the bus my shirt is sticking to me again and I can feel sweat trickling down my spine…bollocks… The ride to the airport is uneventful and, true to their word, our plane lifts off bang on time and after a cozy hour we land in Osaka. After the run to the hotel Sil and I go out for some food before turning in for the night…but not before I run into my old mate Jeff Stretfield who played with the Wildhearts for a while and is now teching for the band Unkle…He wanders into the hotel bar and after a double take rushes over and lifts me off my feet (not a big lad but pretty strong aye…) and we have a quick pint together before heading off. Another long but action packed day…

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SUNDAY AUG 12TH

Japanese organisation is amazing…they think of everything. So without going into too much boring detail (probably because I can’t remember much of it anyway myself) today is a blur. We’re all starting to feel it now… I do know that we check out of the hotel sometime around noon and drive straight to the gig which is situated around a sports complex and huge outdoor stage. We’re not on until 14.20 so we’ve a little time to kill and so Louie, Yahnee and I head across to see American band OKGO…you may have seen this lot and their great video consisting of 8 treadmills and some blindingly funny choreography…never tire of watching it. They’re great live too and we watch their entire 35 minute set before getting out of the heat which is becoming a bit of a fucking joke now. We’re playing indoors but it doesn’t seem to be that much cooler and as we take the stage I feel the sweat starting to trickle before we’ve even played a note. There are around 5,000 jammed into the hall, and we play much better than we did yesterday. Dave hasn’t been feeling too good but he pulls it off in style and as we head off to the airport again he’s all smiles, cradling a cold one and looking forward to his bed… We board another plane and fly back to Tokyo ready for our flight back to Blighty the next day. We go to Narita and JJ heads back into the city. He’s got a day of press to do tomorrow and is following us back to England on Tuesday alone. Me, Dave and the rest of the lads have a couple of beers and then to bed…early start tomorrow

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MONDAY AUG 13TH

The first laugh of the day comes pretty early on this morning, with the Horrors refusing to travel on the same bus as us to the airport as arranged and electing to get a couple of cabs instead…shame really…we’d all rehearsed the Addams Family theme to sing to them as they boarded the bus…even Jet was up for it…ah the joys of infantile behaviour…you never really lose it..haha! Turns out they’d overheard our crew taking the piss the night before and didn’t want to sit next to any of us. Suits me… After that there isn’t really anything exciting or thrilling to tell you about for the rest of the day…sorry. We were on a plane for 13 hours and when I got off I was totally fucked. Drank a lot of sake’ with Sil early on, and fell into a black hole for a couple of hours, ate, went back to sleep, watched 2 movies, slept again, and that was about it. We were on the plane with Motorhead, Arctic Monkeys, Pet Shop Boys and of course our good mates the Horrors… and assorted roadies...Jet sat with Lemmy and they cackled a bit…the Artic Monkeys seem like really down to earth lads…the Pet Shop Boys kept to themselves at the back thank fuck, and the Horrors just got mocked from all and sundry whenever one of them emerged from their cave… Never been anywhere remotely like Japan…as you can imagine…and it was fantastic. My only regret was that the trip was fairly short and compact, as these things are, and we didn’t have anywhere near enough time to explore or have to ourselves…we were supposed to be working after all…But there’s talk of another trip in the new year to build on the success that 'Suite XVI' has gotten so far…lets see shall we?

BAZ SEPT 07