Friendly Fires

On the Plane to Japan now. Thanks to our charming manner and debonair garms (I knew these try-hard affectations would pay off in the end), Friendly Fires have been upgraded to World Traveller Plus. Basically it means a bit more legroom, a toothbrush that looks a bit like a sex toy, and some slightly better headphones with which to enjoy your Owen Wilson vehicle of choice. Ed’s re-editing some disco obscurity on Logic next to me, while I’m watching Almost Famous and trying to fathom why, 7 years ago, I actually enjoyed this piece of trite nonsense. I guess at that point the life of a touring rock ‘n’ roll musician was as exotic to me as it is to the maker of this film. What unexpected turns life takes, eh readers?

The European tour with Foals is now a distant memory. The last night in Utrecht was pure emotion, relief, sorrow, joy etc. We spent a large part of the night gushing over how much fun the whole experience had been, exchanging the latest dancefloor bangers, and generally basking in an endless bonhomie. It ended with us, Foals, Cut Off Your Hands, and most of the audience on stage for the end of Foals last song, bashing anything we could find with Foals Jack’s improbably heavy 2B drum sticks. Somewhere in the melee, the Flip camera which has been filming our tour diaries got lost. Doubly sad is that that with it went a wealth of footage of mucking about and mutual backslapping between us and our touring partners. Sorry about that, people. XL recordings were nice enough to buy us another one so I can assure you that the forthcoming Japan and USA episodes will be so in depth you’ll swear you know what each of us smells like.

Anyway a short highlights package of Europe would doubtless include:

Playing at La Cigale in Paris to a packed house with a sprung dancefloor.

An insanely meaty meal in Toulouse, like a mixed grill, but far posher and with more offal.

DJing in Berlin to about six half-interested people.

Leaving that and going to see Edwin from Foals utterly killing it at some graffiti-strewn warehouse space. Totally green with envy.

Saying hi to Paris remixer and utterly decent egg Justus Kohncke in Cologne.

A human pyramid, albeit a structurally unsound one with as many people at the top as at the bottom.

Oh well, back to the piss-weak entertainment.

Its snowing I think, but since our touring conditions have improved, having windows to stare out of has become a thing of the past. Oh yes, not for us the lowly dwellings of a van and budget hotels. Now Friendly Fires come equipped with an all singing/dancing rock n roll bus. Every person in our party has their own 6’ x 2’ x 2’ cubicle in which to go about their daily business. The cubicles come complete with carpetted walls to climb up, and pastel bed clothes whose calming hues of beige and lavender are perfect for calming one down after another claustrophobic freak-out.

We’re going around Europe in this ready-made asylum on wheels, in support of all-round diamond geezers Foals. Honestly, we’ve never had such great touring buddies. You should get to know them if you have the chance. Jack, their frighteningly deft drummer, has a thing called a Buttkicker installed in his drum stool. Its like a pneumatic drill for powering kick-drum up your botty. Needless to say, playing drums with one is like having the beat powering through your very fundament. Its bliss. I want one for Christmas this year, more than I want twenty Robosapiens.

In between returning from the USA and going to Europe we did the Mencap Little Noise Sessions at the Union Chapel, which was kind of frightening. We’re not really a get-an-acoustic-guitar-out-and-have-a-bit-of-a-jam-with-some-mates-like-you’re-Jamie-fucking-Oliver kind of a band, so we recoil when anyone says ‘stripped down’ or ‘acoustic’. When we arrived in its monastic hush, we began worrying that the foot stomping carry on that we prepared would offend the Dean or the verger or whatever. It seemed our worries were misplaced, as it went down pretty well. Mat Horne was moved to start mucking around with a blow-up doll, such was his enjoyment of our set, and it ended up getting reported in the Sun newspaper . I think this is our first minor foray into the showbiz pages of the tabloids. Maybe when we get a few days off we can dedicate an evening to getting the heave ho from Bungalow 8, or do a bit of swearing on the wireless, and turn it into ‘major inroads’.

anyway laters, yeah?

j

Howdy,

Unfortunately we have had to cancel our Effanaar show in Holland due to technicalities beyond our control. Sorry for any inconvenience caused guys and we hope to come back real soon to make up for it!

Much Love
xx

Hey yo

We can finally announce that we’ll be playing the NME awards tour in the New Year. The dates are:

29th Jan Liverpool University
30th Jan Glasgow Academy
1st Feb Newcastle Academy
3rd Feb Sheffield Academy
4th Feb Birmingham Academy
6th Feb Manchester Academy
8th Feb Leeds Academy
10th Feb Lincolnshire Engine Shed
11th Feb Nottingham Rock City
12th Feb Norwich UEA
14th Feb Cardiff University
15th Feb Bristol Academy
16th Feb Brighton Dome
17th Feb Oxford Academy
19th Feb Portsmouth Pyramid
20th Feb Cambridge Corn Exchange
21st Feb Brixton Academy

We’ll be sandwiched in between Glasvegas and White Lies who both wear black like it was a religion. Not sure what Florence and her machine wears on stage but if its black too, we’re gonna feel a bit out of place. Not that black isn’t good or anything, it just seems a bit dull to dress in it every day. Anyway, despite all the monochrome, it sounds like a good package all in all, so why not buy a ticket here:

www.nme.com/gigs

They go on sale at 9am tomorrow (Wednesday).

Our single Paris was released yesterday. We’ve been in America (as I will get on to), but I’ve got plenty of emails saying that the song was all over the radio, TV, adverts for Peter and Katy shows and what have you, which can only be a good thing… right? We’re simultaneously releasing a 12” with two remixes of Paris by debonair Cologne gent Justus Köhncke, and Belgian fellows Aeroplane. Aeroplane go for the detroit meets Human League vibe, while Justus sounds more like a ten minute holiday on a white yacht. Basically they’re both utter utter choons. Even Tongy’s been caning them for chrissakes. An extra-special present for you digitally adept people, is the Arto Mwambé remix, which is available here…:

http://www.7digital.com/artists/friendly-fires/paris-3/

..exclusively on 7digital (for only 50p! For one week only the album is £5 too). Its a bouncy analog house bomb, that’s been going down insanely well in Friendly Fires DJ sets. Its got some pretty hilarious pitch shifting on Ed’s vocals too, gotta love that stuff.

iTunes also has a special ambient version of Paris we recorded in Ed’s garage when we had an afternoon to spare, you can buy that here:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=293921868&s=143444

Anyway… that’s all the business out the way. How’ve you been anyway? How about that US election, that’s a turn up for the books isn’t it! We were in LA that night, playing a gig, and the atmosphere was incredible. The crowd shouting Obama between every one of our songs, DJ Falcon and Guy-Man de Homem-Christo (!!!) dropping clips of his speeches into their sets, people in tears all over the shop. What an amazing day to be in the USA. Will be telling the grandkids about that one. We filmed most of it, to see it for yourselves you can subscribe to our video podcasts here:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=288807534

Finally, our pal/live bass player/percussionist Rob released his album as Wax Stag this month. It got an 8 in NME and while I don’t think that necessarily means anything, it shows it can’t be complete rubbish. Check it out its consistently excellent.

l8erz potaterz

Jack from Friendly Fires
x

Photos by Rob Lee, whose excellent album as Wax Stag is in shops now.