24th October 2025
Loving the banter this week. You funny lot! Obviously not as funny as me, but a good effort anyway.
Before I get started, to cast any doubt, I did used to have long hair. When people say you should let your hair down, mine let me down. What shampoo do I use? Not Wash & Go, it’s Wash & Gone! I have heard them all. Would I have long hair now, yes, to be honest if I could grow it and not look like Princess Leia’s hair do in Star Wars then I would. It is a confidence knock to my already fragile ego but worse things are happening in the world and I am not sure anyone actually cares.
What a great eight shows we had in England and Scotland. The days have passed really quickly. Overall, looking back, the set is working well and now we are in a groove with timings, lighting and our sound. Gabe and Gaz are doing such a top job. Soundchecks are consistent and are now down to one song. A few tweaks and we are done. The band are very confident with this new set up. The other change on this tour is instead of just being me playing to click track, everyone is on in-ear monitors. This means I don’t have to count everyone in for each song or parts within a song. I feel this is such a positive, we sound cleaner and more powerful. I absolutely love it! The new drum kit is so consistent and . powerful every night. This gives us one less thing to worry about. Roni has been learning where our set needs light boosts and specific changes and this becomes consistent as the shows pass, where the available lighting is there to do it.
All the shows have been good. Each night has been either sold out or close to sold out and the reactions have been really great. There has been a real outpouring of warmth from our fans. We do feel it and this means a lot to us.
The UK has been a ‘foraging’ period for us. The set up is different to mainland Europe as we are left to fend for ourselves. We get a basic rider budget and a dinner buy out. This is normally £20. Some get Uber Eats or walk into town to grab something. I have been living off layered salads and sardines. I am trying to eat healthily and this works for me. Often there is after show food too. Maybe some pizza, or a wrap. Nothing to grumble about. No one goes hungry. Very little boozing too. One glass of wine if that. Vicky, our tour manager, requests one quality bottle of wine per night. Quality over quantity. As I am incredibly refined, this works.
After Manchester we headed to KK’s in Wolverhampton. We all love this venue. It is owned by Judas Priest’s former guitar player so the venue spec, load in, dressing rooms and crew are all top notch. The show was sold out. It was such a great night, although my guest, Simon Lucas, the excellent drummer of Winterfylleth, had his car broken into near the venue. He started getting notifications on his phone, four songs into our set, that his cards were being used. His back driver side window had been smashed and his bags taken. The security at KK’s helped him where they could but this happened off site so there was nothing they could really do.
Next was Newcastle where I got to meet up with Mark Deeks my old band mate from Ard and also my Northeast based fellow director from work Hance. Meet ups are always short but welcome. My focus is always on the show, and I have a routine now. Eat after soundcheck, get in my bunk to chill until 75 mins before show, then in to warm up, stretch, get changed.
Glasgow was great, as always, with a receptive audience. I do love visiting Glasgow. A great city with great people. Unfortunately, my very important tool and spares box got left behind which we didn’t realise until Nottingham, two days later. But don’t worry Team, with the help of the excellent staff at The Garage and DHL the box returned to me intact in London.
We had such a funny night off in Nottingham. Aaron, Nick, Steve, Will, Roni and I went to ‘Son Of Steak’ for dinner. I had fancied a beer before hand but everyone was hungry so we didn’t go. However, we decided to go for ‘one’ after dinner at the local Wetherspoons where it is very cheap to pass time. We laughed all night. I only had a couple of glasses of red but round after round came and went and the Guinness flowed. Steve won the competition. Ever heard of ‘Splitting The ‘G’? You get a pint of Guinness with the logo on the glass and you take some gulps with the rule being if the level of the beer is within the letter G on the glass you have successfully ‘split the G’. There were many attempts with Steve killing it and Will nonchalantly coming in second. Aaron and Nick failed time and time…and time again but it is the effort that counts and the taking part of course.
My family came to Nottingham to see the show. Steve, Helen, Alice and Daisy. I did get to see them after the show briefly. Helen likes her metal whereas Steve likes music like The Smiths, The Cure etc but he seemed to enjoy our offering. Helen told me next day that Alice may be converting to metal…another tick for the darkside! We were presented with a bottle of Moet after the gig for selling out the show. Ronnie opened the bottle and nearly killed us with the ricochet of the cork!
Bristol was great. A lovely venue with good crew and a busy show. This was Gabe and Gaz’s hometown so they got to see family which pleases me as it is very grounding when you are away from home for a long time.
Southampton was a packed show and a really good crowd and I felt like after a very nervous week I hit a groove with my monitors and my playing. It was the first night I felt truly confident on stage. Ronnie lit me up for the big drum fills at the start of Requiem making me feel like a King for a few moments and then we rolled in to Islington for a sold out London show. What a beautiful venue. I enjoyed walking around, grabbing a coffee and just having some time off the bus. Nice area Islington. Aaron got to go home as he doesn’t live too far away and my Alfie went off for a football tour in Netherlands which was really exciting for him. He said the buffet on the ferry was amazing and he didn’t sleep whatsoever. They had 3 games at Feyenoord winning two by five goals to nil and the last 7-1. Rach was at home with Jax with all the rest of the family spread across Europe.
London was perfect. Sold out, good performance and I felt like my playing was on-point. Requiem was lit up again and when I stood up at the end to punch the air in appreciation of the crowd Ronnie turned off the lights…so I stood up, fist in the air…in darkness…very Spinal Tap!
We had our agent Alan at the show and Lisa and Claire from our record label. It was great to see Jaime Gomez too. He is such a nice bloke, and it was good to see him. I have been going out front straight from after our show to see friends and I got to see my mate Matt in London so we could discuss our DW Pedals. When I go out front I always make time for pictures and autographs with fans, this is why we are here and I never forget it.
So, we said goodbye to our friends in High Parasite. Danny, our guitar tech, plays bass for HP so he has been doing double duty. He must have been knackered. High Parasite brought it every night. It was good to spend time with Aaron. I hadn’t really seen him since I left My Dying Bride so we had a bit of time to catch up and I wish him the best for the future. He should be respected for the time and input he has given to his projects…diplomacy intact…
We left London and headed to Europe over night from Calais to Dunkirk. A sleepless night, an exciting visit to the launderette and then dinner with Aaron for a long overdue catch up. I enjoyed being in Lille and as I write we are getting ready to headline Tyrant Fest this evening. Lovely catering, lovely venue and I just bumped into my 80s loving pal and toppest bloke Frederic Leclerq from Kreator who is at the festival with his other band Sinsaenum. Fred was such a great part of Will and my summer tour.
Hope you are enjoying my warblings, until next time.
Jeffo