23^rd Nov                 France Paris – Point Ephemere
24^th Nov                 Holland Amsterdam – Paradiso
26^th Nov                 Holland Antwerp – Trix
27^th Nov                 Germany Berlin – Privat Club
28^th Nov                 Germany Hamburg – Molotow
29^th Nov                 Denmark Copenhagen – Loppen
30^th Nov                Sweden Stockholm – Sodra Bar
1^st Dec                     Norway Oslo-  Blaa
3^rd Dec                    Italy Turin – Spazio 211
4^th Dec                    Italy Rome – Circolo Degli Artisti
5^th Dec                    Italy Bolgna – Covo Club

See the Live page for more info.

GOLDEN SILVERS have been added to the bill for Get Loaded in the Dark, the New Years Eve spectacular at the Brixton Academy.

Visit  www.getloadedinthedark.com for more information or join the Facebook Group. Tickets Available Here.

From the Queensbridge projects, the coffee shops on Bleeker Street to the jazz clubs in Harlem there is an amazing musical history to every corner of this city and the feeling of excitement is palpable as we pull into our first show at BLVD on the bowery late on Tuesday night. Unfortunately this first show is something of a disappointment due to a bad sound system, bad timing and the annoying fact that some of our gear was lost in transition… not wanting to blame our tools we put that one down to experience and the rest of our stay proved much more fruitful.

On Wednesday morning we set of to do a photo shoot for Vogue USA. The shoot was shot and styled by Steven Meisel and Grace Coddington respectively who I have since learned are both very respected in the biz. It’s quite a surreal situation, but quite fun. After having our hair sculpted by a chiselled and tousled by French hair alchemist we stood in different positions for a couple of hours until they thought the shot was right. After the initial band shot I had to do another shot which involved me doing the twist with a model -not something to be complained about.

We headed straight from the shoot to our second show which was part of an IAMSOUND showcase at the Bowery Poetry Club. Luckily this one worked out miles better than our first. Our missing gear had turned up and we played a short set to a full and responsive house. Tthanks everyone who came, It really raised our spirits after a calamitous start. (You can see a video of true romance from this show here http://tinyurl.com/ykn9yw2 ) Fools Gold finished the live music for the night and after a drink at the arrow bar we headed back to our apartment.

On Thursday, we were off to Brooklyn for what was our biggest show of the week at the Williamsburgh Music Hall for Blue Flowers. The Show went well and it was nice to see fellow Londoners Mumford and Sons. We had to shoot off after their set to DJ at our record labels’ party at the Bowery Electric. A strange situation ensued.. After a play through of the new Vampire Weekend album we took to the wheels and Played The XX’s remix of You’ve got the Love followed by Joker’s Purple City and then Ludacris – What’s your fantasy. It seemed to be going down well with the people but the proprietor of the venue came steaming over and demanded that we stop playing “Hip hop and Techno” or she would throw everyone out. We relented and played Yoko Ono’s walking on thin ice only to swiftly be told that “Disco, Funk and House” were also outlawed. This didn’t leave us with many options so we packed up and left – thrown out for playing dance music in a DJ set!

Thursday was our only show out of NYC and Boston proved a welcome respite from the hectic CMJ.

Back in New York on Saturday for our last show of the week at the Bowery Electric (the same venue our DJ set had been rejected at two nights before!) it was nice to catch up with fellow Camden tropical punks Man Like Me who were playing the same bill. As it was our last show and the sound system was limited we decided to do an acoustic set which was pretty unrehearsed but seemed to go down pretty well. After a trip to China Town to find the fabled Joe Shanghai’s we headed back to the Bowery Electric to catch up with recent NME tour buddies Yes Giantess and Local Natives. Alexis got on stage with giantess and the  rest of the crowd followed! After this we headed on over to Santo’s party house to see Man Like Me in their full glory-  in their element in front of a packed club. Memory of the night seems to disperse at this point and we awoke in an Upper East Side apartment on the day we were leaving New York…  After a hefty breakfast and a walk around Greenwich Village it was time to go. New York, you were good to us; hopefully we’ll be back soon…

BronzeBox

Jay Z – Empire State Of Mind

Bob Dylan – Hard Times In New York Town

Nas – New York State Of Mind

Woody Guthrie -New York Town

Gian Carlo Menotti  - The Saint of Bleeker Street

The Bronze Club returns this Friday the 16th October. Live shows from

Is Tropical

Samuel and the Dragon

Ice Black Birds

Dj turns from Bullion, Golden Silvers and Bronze Club DJ’s.

The illness I mentioned previously seems like it is catching up with everyone. When we arrive in a rainy Portsmouth, Marina is hardly with us and members of all four bands are coughing and whining. It’s all Lemsip and Berocca backstage today. We’ve got some fond memories from the Wedgewood rooms from past tours, we celebrated Henry’s (mystery jets) birthday here on one of our early tours and just recently played here with Jack Penate. Unfortunately, Marina is forced to run off stage mid set with sickness leaving a slightly strange atmosphere in the room.  We tried our best to lift the spirits and the show goes down well. We left Portsmouth hoping Marina is okay and wondering if we’ve all got swine flu…

Bronze Box

Panda Bear    Person Pitch
Richard Hawley    True Loves Gutter
Washed Out     Life of Leasure

Bristol

The tour rolls into Bristol one band down….Rumours of swine flu are flying around but it seems like everyone else is in a better way than the absent Marina. We are eagerly anticipating what is looking to be one of the busiest shows of the tour so far. The venue in Bristol is actually an old moored boat which is strangely warm at the top and cold towards the bottom where it’s in the water. It’s the first time I’ve played on a boat since playing at the river rat pack tour last summer where we played on barges up and down the Thames. We got some new arrangements together to play at our third in-store at Rise records which is a great shop. It’s encouraging to see an independent record store doing so well.  We brought a few records to play in the van later. Bristol is good to us as usual. There was a charming crowd at the Thekla and we ended up doing a two song encore for the first time. The others stayed on at the club for a dance and I headed back to the Travelodge where I finished reading Nick Cave’s “The Death of Bunny Monroe,” a good read.

Bronze Box
Hot Chip Bugged out mix
Jay Z Black Album
Nick Cave   From her to eternity

Before the show we headed to the local Oxfam to play a few acoustic songs as part of the “Oxjam sessions”  We found some gems in the Oxfam including Mick Jagger and David Bowie’s 80’s folly; dancing in the street on 12“ and Phil Collins “A groovy kind of love”  Marina and friend joined us on stage for an impromptu dance on  “true romance” in  an attempt to get a slightly morose crowd going- to no avail. After the show we vowed to make Stoke the one!
Bronzebox
The Invisible   Come Together
The XX remix of  you’ve got the love
Lil Wayne   A Milli
Stoke
We arrived at the Sugarmill in Stoke with whiskey and wine and the hope of lifting spirits. A walk around a very deserted Sunday afternoon Stoke didn’t help with our hopes but everyone was pleasantly surprised as people started pouring into the venue as soon as doors opened. It turned out to be one of the best shows of the tour so far all round. Marina and co joining us on stage again for “true romance” and the Sugarmill’s balcony made for perfect viewing of all the other bands.  Thanks to everyone in Stoke for making it a good one.After the show we had a slightly dilapidated wine and cheese party in the dressing room before heading off for Liverpool.
Bronzebox
Neil  Young     After the Goldrush
Arcade Fire    Funeral
The Beach Boys    Today!/summer days summer nights
Burial and Fourtet     The Moth

Liverpool

In the van on the way to Liverpool Ben got cosy with Mariah Carey  and we rehearsed some songs for our Oxjam show. We thought, as it was Liverpool we’d do a few Beatles numbers and ended up going for “That Boy” and “Nowhere man” followed by our own “Fade to Black” and  “Arrows of Eros.” After the show at Stanley Hall A bit of a lurgy seemed to be creeping up on everyone in the dressing room and it felt like a good time for the end of the first leg of the tour. Back to London for a day….

BronzeBox
Dizzee Rascal     Bad Behaviour
Fools Gold    Suprise Hotel  (micachu remix)
Grizzly Bear   Two Weeks
Dr Dre      The Chronic