Hi all,
We’re playing support to the excellent O’Death this Wednesday at Whelans, thanks to the lovely folks at Foggy Notions
Also, our friend Ian Lawton has added “The Lord’s Prayer” to the soundtrack to his new short move “Shut the Fuck Up”. Trailer below:
We have updated the gigs page with two shows coming up - an acoustic gig at the Hefty Horse night at Anseo in Dublin on June 28th followed by a support to O’Death at Whelan’s on July 22nd, thanks to Foggy Notions.
We will be playing support to Skeletons at Whelan’s in Dublin on March 12th.
Our band, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, is leaving for a five date Japanese tour. This has been arranged by Transduction Records and LITE manager/ Parabolica Records main man Kazuto. I run a music club called the Ballroom of Romance and a few years ago we were lucky enough to put on a show for LITE under request from Transduction, who had released their records in Europe. This was a revelation - LITE played an incendiary set of intricate post-rock and instantly won over Irish audiences. They’ve since come back for two more tours, building on this success. In Japan we will be touring with LITE and Parabolica’s latest signing Marvin’s Revolt from Denmark.
To set the scene, here is a clip of an interview I did with One More Tune talking about the Spook, my involvement in the Ballroom of Romance live music club and the background to this tour.
It’s a very cold morning as I drag myself out of bed at around 6 am. We’re due to fly out at 9.40am and there’s a very real risk of the airport shutting down due to the cold weather. LITE are arranging backline and guitars but as I’m left handed I’m bringing over my own guitar and banjo. I bundle everything into the car and drive over to Stoneybatter to pick up our Japanese friend Keita. Keita has offered to come to Japan with us to act as our tour manager. Next I drive over to Irishtown and pick up Enda, our bass player and Brian, our drummer. Brian has arrived back safely from his gig in Waterford last night despite a treacherous four hour drive along icey roads. He’s barely in the door and we’re off to the airport where we meet up with Donnchadh, our guitar player. We check in only to find there is a problem with Keita’s ticket. After a bit of a panic, Keita arranges to travel the following day. The four of us head on without Keita through to our gate. Keita is going to carry my guitar to even out the baggage load.
At the gate we see snow coming down thick and the progress of flights leaving the airport grinds down to a trickle. Thankfully we get on our way only one hour late after the plane is sprayed with de-icing fluid, still arriving in Schiphol with plenty of time to transfer to our onward flight. After a two hour stop over, we jump onto the flight to Narita Aiport near Tokyo. I have Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler book to read and my iPod to keep me going, and KLM long haul flights have a pretty decent entertainment system, so we have a range of films and TV shows to watch. We hunker down for an 11 hour flight. Brian has some herbal sleeping pills which seem to make us hyper rather than knocking us out. Donnchadh and Enda get a few hours sleep but myself and Brian barely close our eyes.
Finally we arrive in Narita. I have had all of ten minutes sleep despite taking those herbal sleeping pills and feel totally out of it. This will be a running theme for the duration of the tour.
After clearing customs we meet up with Shinya from Deep Sea Drive Machine, one of the Parabolica Records crew. We drop off our gear into a Toyota Hi-Ace that will be our home from home for the next five days. We head for the hotel near Chiba in Kashiwa city on the edge of Tokyo. Japan seems super modern and organised. Everywhere we spot the bright signs in Japanese kanji characters. We pass many people wearing face masks. Later we learn that this is often done in Japan for hygiene reasons, to avoid catching or spreading disease.
Parabolica have arranged a two-room apartment for us to stay in for the night. As we arrive we meet the lads from Marvin’s Revolt who are leaving the apartment to stay at Kazuto’s house. The lads (Klaus, Seron, Laurids and Martin) are similarly jet lagged but in good form. Jun, bass player from LITE is also there. Marvin’s Revolt are no strangers to Ireland, having played in Ireland plenty of times and had their records released in Ireland by the excellent Richter Collective, home to Adebisi Shank and BATS. Shinya and the lads head off in a second van.
We decide it’s best to crash out for a few hours and we arrange to meet Jun later to have a look round Kashiwa city. As per Japanese etiquette we take off our shoes at the door and leave them on the step into the room. Also there is a specific set of shoes to be worn inside the bathroom. These bits of Japanese hygiene etiquette seem strange at first but kind of make sense when you think about it.
After an attempt at sleep and a cramped shower in the tiny bathroom, I stumble onto my feet just before Jun arrives. Brian is too wrecked to get up so we leave him be. Jun shows us round some electronics shops so we can look at digital camcorders and then onto a beautiful Buddhist temple. After we eat some delicous Tonkatsu (pork in breadcrumbs, served with rice) in a cool local restaurant, we park up the van in a lot near the hotel and then hit a local bar for a few beers. Jun leaves us to hang out in the hotel that evening. Brian is now up and about, we buy in some food from the local 7/11 market where we get a selection of Japanese snack food including onigiri - delicious fish wrapped in rice and wrapped in seaweed. “Om, nom, nom”, says Brian. These snacks and some more beers knock us out and we finally crash out that night.
