Our tour ended a few days ago and I’m sure I speak for everyone in the band when I say that we had a great trip around the world. We saw so many places, met so many people and drank so many Guinness pints that it’s a bit of a blur looking back, but we all took loads of photos so there will be many chances for us to relive the memories. We finished up with a big show in Dublin and then stayed there for an extra day to chill out and enjoy our good fortune at the incredibly beautiful weather we found. We got together with good friends that last night and just enjoyed our last day on the road.

LA has had both warm and cool days since our return. Daphne and I caught colds on our last day in Dublin, and I think she’s been dealing with a more vicious strain than myself. So it’s nice to have a few days this week to relax and gear up for more recording with the band. We’ve got a bunch of new tunes that we’ve been performing live and we’re eager to get them recorded and released.

We’re also in the midst of planning a busy summer of gigs in LA and Southern California, so we’ll be laying low for the next two months, though we have some cool private gigs and sessions on the horizon.

Lots going on so it’s an exciting spring for us. See ya down the road!

Limerick, Ireland is an interesting place. We’ve been told it’s a tough town, but it seems very fashionable and hip. I’ve been eagerly anticipating tonight’s show and I’m sure we won’t be disappointed. Last night in Cork was a huge night. We played our longest set so far because we had a shouted request from the audience for our version of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”. As we left the stage I told the crowd that if they clapped for ten minutes we would come back and play The Trooper as an encore. Well, the clapping did continue but we didn’t make them keep it up for ten minutes before returning to the stage!

After the venue closed we stuck around with Paul, the owner, and his staff until the wee hours talking about everything from our favorite albums of all-time to Irish slang. It was a good night.

It’s hard to believe but we wrap up our tour tomorrow night in Dublin. After playing there last year we’re incredibly chuffed (that’s Irish slang for “excited”) to be going back to see the friends we made and hopefully make a bunch of new ones.

In the meantime, the light rain here in Limerick would be best to go away, but it’s not bad at all. I was expecting to not see the sun this entire tour, but the weather has been incredibly good for this time of year.

Cheers from Limerick!

We’ve arrived in Ireland and kicked off our tour with a bang in Galway with a blinding gig at the Roisin Dubh. Through jet-lag, exhaustion and a few pints of Guinness, we came together to have a lot of fun playing for a room full of unsuspecting new friends. I know that we had a great time and I think that many of the audience did too.

We arrived at Shannon Airport at 6am, collected our rental car and headed north down picturesque country roads, to the famous Cillfs of Moher, and on to Galway where we shared a few pints in a local pub before a well-deserved nap before soundcheck. It’s now almost 2am and I’m back at our lodgings looking out over Galway and watching a slight drizzle come down. We got lucky today by avoiding any rain (and even seeing the sun quite frequently) but we have a few long drives left and hope our lucky streak will continue.

Here’s a great band self-portrait at the Cliffs of Moher I took today.

From Ireland…..

New York, New York! We’ve kicked off our tour in grand style in the Big Apple. Last night we played two shows at the Mercury Lounge and had a great time meeting new and old fans, and seeing good friends as well. On Friday we played at WNYC public radio which seemed to garner us a whole new audience. We’re minutes away from leaving for the airport to go to Ireland and very excited about returning to the Emerald Isle. I know there’s a pint of Guinness with my name on it on the other side of the Atlantic Richard swears the Guinness doesn’t taste better in Ireland than America, but I think it’s better. So we’ve decided to have some critical taste tasting sessions on this trip. We’ll let you know the results. We took a photo with the host of the WNYC program we appeared on together with songwriter Robyn Hitchcock. We’ll see some of you in Ireland and for those who haven’t been over there before, it’s a trip well worth making. Signing off from New York!!