Nedry Tour Diary // Day 4

Bournemouth – The Winchester

Following the 6Music Breakfast Radio session, we headed out to our distributor to pick up some additional merchandise for the tour. It probably takes about as long as to drive to the north of england from the south as it does to drive from east to west London and after a short bit of road rage around Fulham we were on our way to Bournemouth for our show at The Winchester, which was on Poole Road.

We were also very excited at the prospect of staying in our first Travelodge of the tour. It is one of many. We read an article written by the drummer from Blood Red Shoes a while back, which was a band on tour do’s and don’ts, and he was absolutely right. They’re cheap, clean and comfortable. But it does smell like a burst air freshener has exploded across the building.

Bournemouth was very quiet. The Winchester, a very cool looking pub venue with a huge and towering stage was our spot for performance. There were no other bands on the bill and we were not going on until 1AM! Needless to say, following a 6am start with Radio6, this wasn’t exactly welcome. At least the 15 people who were in the venue seemed to somewhat enjoy it. The night was a bit of a washout but we’re learning as we go along that we must take the rough with the smooth. Gigging at this level is always an unknown quantity.

Some gigs that we play you can hear that the soundman gets it within the first song and everything sounds great quite quickly, others it takes a while for things to sound right. This was the first time that a soundman got it right so quick that he grew bored and decided that Jimi Hendrix style surround sound panning and slap-back delay on everything was a great idea. Well, it was different, but anyway this just reminded us how great the soundmen had been up to this point, it’s another learning curve with touring at this level.

Looking forward we’re playing at The Lexington in London on the Thursday (today) which is our flagship show really. The big event! Hope to see some of you there as we’re now warmed up and ready to smash it!