Simon Little

Phew… We’re back home after the last epic leg of Maggie’s tour in Denmark and Germany. If I see another plate of cheese and speckled ham I’m gonna puke.
We started off with a one-off show on Easter Sunday near Gothenburg on the way into Denmark. We arrived in heavy snow (in fact it was snowing in London too… we all ended up dumping our cars in any old place at Stanstead, I could barely find the road let alone the spaces) and all we knew was that the gig was at a racecourse. ’How exciting!’ I thought, envisioning an enormous outdoor show with thousands of people all stood out in the snow whooping and screaming. Little did we know that they’d set up a stage at the bottom of the grandstand in the vip area. This not only meant that we did the whole show craning our necks to look up at the audience, but it also meant about six flights of stairs to load the gear in. We played for a small but enthusiastic audience and everyone had a great time. Then we had the pleasure of lugging the gear down all those stairs on the way out and loaded the van in a full-on blizzard. Definitely ranks high on the weird gigometer.
The Danish shows were fantastic. We played some great venues in Horsholm, Skive, St. Hedinge and finished up in Fredrikhavn.
On April 1st we went to Berlin to record a TV show called ’Hits Giganten’. No idea when that’s being aired I’m afraid; but if I find out, I’ll let you know. We were on with a bizarre mix of artists, all performing their ’Hot Hits’ in front of a studio audience. Obviously a number of these were leather trouser-clad moustachioed German artists I’d never heard of, but Sam Fox was there doing ’Touch Me’, the finale was George McCrae singing ’Rock Your Baby’ under a glitter-cannon and (my personal favourite) Baccara did ’Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’. Class. It was a long day with an unbelievable amount of hanging around, but we all had a laugh and it all looked good on camera. I still can’t stop singing ’Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’…. I don’t seem to have any control over when it’s gonna come out….
We then had five shows back to back in Germany, starting off at the Kammerspiele in Ansbach. A couple of the venues were so small it was untrue, but we all managed to squeeze on the tiny stages (Maggie was virtually in Steve’s kit on a couple of occasions, and he’s not the quietest of schlagzeugers). Chrys valiantly had to invent a PA from a seemingly non-sensical pile of leads and speaker cabinets at the venue in Bad Hersfeld (or bad hair day as we’ve taken to calling it). I really don’t think they were quite ready for a band like us to turn up with our van-load of gear, but nevertheless we managed to put on a great show under some extremely difficult circumstances.
On Friday we went back to Twist again (like we did last summer). After the show, Mark and Steve came up to the dressing room declaring ’Simon! There’s a couple of people that want to talk to you downstairs’. ’Finally!’ I thought, ’fans of my own!’ After roaring off a quick post-gig fag, I went out into the hall to be greeted by a tall bloke and his nervously giggling girlfriend. ’We loved the show’ he said. Good. ’And my girlfriend really likes your hat’. Right… ’And she was wondering if she could have it?’. What?! No she bloody can’t! I couldn’t believe it. Cheeky bastards. Needless to say I gave them my thanks and made a quick exit… I’ve still got my hat.
Last night we played Lubeck in some kind of arty-farty/veggy/hippy centre. After five shows in a row and seemingly endless drives, we were all shattered and Maggie had all but lost her voice by the end of the previous show. We had a very subdued soundcheck and the acoustic was horrendous. Miraculously, this turned out to be one of the best shows we’ve done thus far and a really good end to the tour.
We must have driven all the way around Germany about six times over the last month. We all agreed that we’ve seen enough conifers and wind-farms and eaten enough leiderdame and speckled ham to last us a lifetime. We’ve got a bit of a break now. There’s a couple of bits and bobs over the summer, but Maggie and Stuart are busy sorting out a big Autumn tour so watch this space for new dates.
Until then…

Yes Sir, I can Boogie…. Boogie-woogie all night looooong!
Aargh!!
I can’t help it now…

Hello folks.
Well here we are again. Just got back home for a bit before we dart off again towards Denmark (via Sweden). Another six shows down the line and everything’s coming together nicely, thanks for asking.
Tuesday’s show in Melle was in a tiny theatre. We had a late soundcheck because we had to wait for the afternoon’s puppet show to load out. Yep. I wish they had a sign with us on the same bill as a puppet show. Very Spinal Tap. The gig was great, even though Stuart had a total keyboard meltdown as his soundcard finally went up the spout. He managed to rescue for the second set after much switching on and off and rummaging around in the dark.
We then went to some kind of Goth Rock club in Krefeld, which was great. The Garden Hotel was our home for the evening. Situated on top of a block of flats by the main road, this place was bloody odd. The reception was on the 10th floor (the tiny lift only held three people at once- christ knows what you’d do if the place was on fire) but all the rooms were on the 9th. And the notice-board in the lift was held up by a mousetrap. I kid you not. Didn’t bode well, but in the end it was fine. The woman running the place through the night was really friendly and she kept the bar open for us after the show. You’d be surprised how many of these places don’t bother.
When we pulled up at another enormous church on Thursday after a 600km drive, I thought we were doomed. Don’t ask me where it was because I can’t remember. The band’s got considerably louder with the new tunes we’ve added to the set and those church gigs were a struggle last year when we were doing finger-in-one-ear music. By some miracle the sound was great when the audience came in, but I reckon you’ll still be able to hear the last cymbal crash of Moonlight Shadow reverberating round the pews if you go back there any time over the next couple of weeks…
On Friday we played what we’ve now come to lovingly refer to as the ’Dawn of The Dead Disco’. Coswig is a very small town near Dresden which seemingly has nothing in the way of cafes, bars or restaurants. Our traditional mid-afternoon coffee and cake expedition was looking pretty hopeless. Maggie was the star turn at Coswig’s 80’s Classic Rock night and I’ve never seen such an odd bunch of people all out in the same place at the same time. Imagine if there was a disco scene in Night of The Living Dead….
We managed to tear ourselves away from Coswig early the next morning to venture into Dresden for a wander. So good to actually go to somewhere I’d heard of. We went on to Pirna to play another rock club. Pirna is a proper town with some fantastic old buildings, great little cafes and proper shops you’d actually want to go in. Of course they were all shut because everything shuts on a Saturday afternoon in Germany. The venue, Kleinkunstbühne Q24 (try saying that with your mouth full), was quite similar to the one in Zwonitz (I’ve still got a massive bruise on the top of my head) and we had a great show.
Last night we were really in the middle of nowhere in deepest East Germany. I think we were somewhere near Botzen, but who knows. Somewhere near the Czech border. This time we were in a big hall for a sit-down theatre-style audience. We were sold out again (where all these people come from I cannot fathom… I didn’t see a single soul outside all day).
Well, I’m back home for a very short stint before we charge off for round three starting off in Gothenburg. Never been to Sweden. Looking forward to the Danish shows too. There’s even talk of rehearsing up a few new tunes on the road for your delight. Hopefully see you there…
Cheers
Simon x

Hello Folks,

I’m going forn the rather risky move of blogging whilst still actually on the road. Could be tricky and you’ll have to excuse any typos and spelling mistakes as I’m hacking away at a German keyboard and all the letters are in the wrong place… Thought it would be better to do this now before I forget all the place names and all the gigs merge into one big tour blob…

We Started out this leg on a very small stage at The Pumpwerk in Wilhelmshaven. Barely managing to all squeeze on at once, we still had a good show with a great audience.

On Friday we returned to the same venue in Zwonitz we played last year (and it turned out we were there exactly the same date last year- they had a poster from the last show up on the wall that we’d all signed). It’s a great venue, again with a very small stage. The stage also has a balcony towering over it on one side, the close proximity of which I found out the hard way whilst setting up the gear… I’ve still got a massive bruise right on the top of my freshly shaved head where I jumped off that side carrying a flightcase and all but knocked myself out. Wouldn’t be allowed in the UK… health and safety and all that… The dressiong room at that venue is virtually pitch black with almost no lighting to speak of; just as we’d remembered it from last time. It’s the sort of lighting that if you were to put something down, you’d be hard pushed to find again at the end of the night (something Mark discovered last year with one of his favourite shirts…. we were all more cautious this time). It was another good show with a really fun audience, and they’ve said they’d keep the 8th March free for us from now on (we all love those annual residencies!)

On Sunday we played my favourite venue so far. It’s called the Blues Garage and it’s just outside Hannover. As we drove into what can only be described as a larger, and possibly bleaker version of the Slough Trading Estate, I really didn’t have high hopes for the gig. We walked into one of the huge industrial hangers and inside they’d built the most amazing Mid-Western style Blues venue. The owner Henry had decked it out with vintage gas pumps, old guitars and radios, various other class items of Americana and some fantastic artwork. All that was missing was the sawdust on the floor… We had a big stage with an even bigger drum riser for Steve and the backline and the show was storming. I love those sorts of venues, Henry was great and has invited us back next year so that’ll be one to look forward to. You really felt as if you were in some really happening dusty Mid-Western blues joint…until you stepped outside onto the industrial estate.

There was a house photographer there too and he took some good shots of the band so hopefully I’ll be able to post some of them up here and on Maggie’s page. keep your eyes peeled…

We had a day off yesterday in Melle, but it pissed with rain all day. Typical.

We’re playing in Melle tonight, then we’re off to Krefeld (I’ve got no idea where that is either.. my German geography is non-existant). We’re going home next Monday after 6 more shows. If anyone’s in town on Tuesday I’ll be playing Lea’s ‘Wall To Wall’ show at the Pizza Express on Dean Street with special guest Mornington Lockett. Should be a good one folks…

Anyways… see you soon. Hope someone reads this or I’ve just wasted a good half hour on this bloody thing.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Simon x