Favours for Sailors recently embarked on something of a tour alongside Dananananaykroyd and Dutch Uncles, promoting their debut mini-album ‘Furious Sons (Tough Love Records – review HERE).
Jon (vocals, guitars), Alex (bass), Matt (guitars) and Dan (drums) kept notes on their Wetherspoon napkins while they should have been keeping an eye on how much equipment and clothing they were losing along the way.
Find a photo gallery of this tour HERE.
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30 March – Fleche d’Or, Paris
This is a warm-up date for the Dananan tour, and it’s also our first continental gig…
The Fleche d’Or is an old converted station overlooking the train tracks in the 20e arondissement. We’re staying nearby, and pop into rain-sodden Père Lachaise cemetery on our way to the venue. Chopin, Colette and doomed medieval lovers Heloise and Abelard are all buried here, as well as Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde.
We’re told off for arriving late at the venue and get interviewed by a French magazine who make us climb a diminutive tree for some dodgy photos. How would we describe the band in three words? ‘Je suis desolé’ seems the most apt answer.
We emerge onstage from behind a big red curtain and the show goes well, despite Jon and Dan cutting their fingers and spraying blood all over the house equipment.
We visit a flea market the next day at Porte de Cligancourt. GCSE French comes in useful when haggling with antiques dealers… Jon gets the item he wants but only after being told that this price is only going to be honoured if he is heterosexual! To recuperate, we go for a quick sandwich and coffee for four, which comes to €24, including tip. Matt and Dan put down €30, Alex tells the waitress to keep the change – ‘C’est bon’ apparently being the extent of his conversational French. Waitress gets €10/£10 tip for bringing four sandwiches, Alex spends the remaining time in Paris trying to tip ticket machines, ATMs and metro drivers.
Thursday 2 April – Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London
This is our first night with Dananananayroyd and we can’t wait. The Favours for Sailors practise studios are just around the corner, so this is our home gig on the tour.
It’s the day of the G20 summit, but world leaders and anti-capitalism protesters are mixing here like old buddies: we spot President Sarkozy doing whisky shots with a man in a mask at the back. The show is sold out and we’re delighted to see so many of our friends here. We also get our first autograph request.
Friday 3 April – Deaf Institute, Manchester
Driving out of London we cheekily pull out in front of a big silver van. “Looks like another band,” says Martin, our tour manager. It is in fact another band – we have just cut up Dananananaykroyd! Protracted A-road food fights ensue, until we pull away, confident of getting to Manchester first. Alas, two junctions of the M6 are shut, and we’re forced on a soul-sapping two-hour diversion.
The Deaf Institute is really cool – a former medical clinic for the deaf, now kitted out in bold-print wallpaper and the biggest discoball we’ve ever seen. Our performance is slightly wretched despite the beautiful venue and the fact that Alex’s family is in attendance. According to the sound guy, “The bass keeps frying”. We ask what the fuck that means and get no answer…
Troubles over, the day is overshadowed by a powerful sensation of loss. Martin realises he has left his entire bag of clothes in London, snappy dresser Alex realises on the way home that he’s left his tour bag at the venue… Have you ever seen a dandy torn from his travelling portmanteau? It’s a sad sight.
Saturday 4 April – Static Gallery, Liverpool
We wake up to espresso and free-jazz in Stoke, where we’re staying at Alex’s parents’ house. Alex juggles onions in his mum’s dressing gown, seeing as he has no clothes to wear. Jon dishes out vestments to those in need.
It’s Grand National day and Liverpool is full of very drunk people dressed up to the nines, which gives our arrival a certain surreal edge. Matt reveals an uncanny Scouse accent and proceeds to give us the Unofficial Beatles Tour. The venue is a bit like a garden centre – but the sound guy is great and obviously knows what he’s doing. Matt gives a rendition of the ‘Anfield Rap’ to a bemused Scouse audience.
Sunday 5 April – The End, Newcastle
Howay pet. Several member of Favours for Sailors claim to be related to, or at least know, people from this part of the north east, and we’re staying in that wonderful institution the Travelodge, so there’s a palpable sense of excitement as we pull into Newcastle. The End is small but ideally suited to the Dananan–FFS–Dutch Uncles travelling roadshow – the crowd literally flow onto the stage by the end of Dananan’s set, and Dutch Uncles are the best they’ve been on tour so far.
Monday 6 April – The Arches, Glasgow
Tonight is Dananan’s album launch night, and on their home turf too – no doubt the most important show they’ll have played so far, for themselves at least. But first we have to leave Newcastle, something we attempt to facilitate by splitting up as soon as we wake up. Alex smokes barefoot by the docks in true sailor fashion, Jon and Martin wander round the train station, and Dan conducts a one-man cultural odyssey of the city’s art galleries, historic sites and religious buildings, fielding phone calls from the top of the Garth Castle to corral the others into the centre. Eventually we gather the momentum to depart.
The venue in Glasgow is amazing, a subterranean network of arches underneath the city’s main railway station. Fuelled by our anger at Wetherspoon’s brutal cremation of Matt’s lamb-burger, the set goes well, and we throw ourselves with wild abandon into Dananan’s show, in which they play the whole of ‘Hey Everyone!’ from start to finish. It’s brilliant stuff, and Glasgow’s cognoscenti fully appreciate it. Buy their album! Then buy ours!
Tuesday 7 April – Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
We couldn’t leave Glasgow without sampling some of its culture – not deep-fried pizzas and chocolate bars, sadly, but the modern art gallery, cathedral and the awesome Necropolis. We want to be buried here. Getting to Edinburgh isn’t too much of a problem – wading through the tourists and bloody cashmere shops to find the venue is a bit harder. Cabaret Voltaire’s another inspired venue…
We play a short sweet set. Dananan instigate the WALL OF CUDDLES for probably the last time – they’ve been replacing this with a breakdancing breakdown for most of the tour. For the record: FFS will miss the wall of cuddles, a chance to get up close and sweaty with your fellow Dananananacolytes. We give the band their goodbye presents to congratulate them on their album launch – a Favours for Sailors T-shirt and embossed pair of ladies panties each and a copy of our album ‘Furious Sons’ for the drive home [SHAMLESS PLUG]. Then it’s goodbye drinks, emotional farewells, and a long, long drive back to London to look forward to the next day and forthcoming BBC recording sessions…
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Favours For Sailors’ ‘Furious Sons’ is out now, in case you couldn’t tell from the above. Find the band on MySpace HERE and see them live as follows…
May
1 London The Lexington
16 London Catch
Find a photo gallery of this tour HERE.
