05/10/2026
Well then, ideally I would like to keep this brief as I am swimming in an ocean of admin but, as you probably know, brief isn't always my strong point. I am back from another weekend of gigging and it was a long one. 2 Shows with Skinny Lister, the first in York and last night's in Liverpool (at the Cavern Club of all places! That's a good ol' bucket list ticker) and in between that was Wroot Stock to a room of familiar faces. Each show was very different, in general playing as support vs playing as at a festival or your own show is always different anyway, at one you are often playing to a predominantly new audience in the hope that you can get them onside and revved up for the headliner and the other (in this case anyway) is more so to people who know what you do already and are there because they want to be (or for shelter sometimes 🤣 ) So gigs one and three (with Skinny) were more so songs that I play all the time, except for the new one that I tried out in York. Songs to introduce people to whatever the hell I am. It's the full energy, rowdy introduction to ukulele infused, speed riddled, hiphop and I love it as it's often the songs I'm most comfortable playing. The middle show was something entirely different, half of the songs were the ones you might expect to hear but the other half were songs I rarely play, especially within a festival set which is shorter than a headline show. Given my week of angry humans on the internet, it made me want to play songs related to that, and, given that I knew a lot of the audience at Wroot Stock were familiar with my standard festival esq set, it felt ok to play some less familiar material, it felt safe; based on the feedback I think it was well received, which is great, but then, instead of jumping back in my van and heading towards the following day's city, I decided the best thing for me would be to park up and stay for the rest of the event. To hang out with friends and real life, face to face humans. So much of this job is spent on the internet, like now, and reading comments and responding to messages is (mostly 😅 ) a pleasure, but there is always some element of disconnect because it's not in person, so to have the opportunity to be around lovely humans, have a drink (or actually, a few too many) and watch the bands with everyone else was perfect. Granted, the following day's journey to central Liverpool was slightly more emotionally challenging given my merry antics the night before, but once I'd found a way to load in a park up (with a lot of help) it was so worth it. There wasn't just a room of new people to try and win over in Liverpool, or York to be fair, there were actually quite a few people I knew who even sang along throughout which is always so good to see and helps me relax a little. Skinny lister called me up on stage for their last song last night which also felt really positive, I mean, I was awkward as f*** as I didn't know what to do with my arms, or the rest of my body to be fair, but I felt so welcomed to be invited up and that will stay with me. After that I had to get home (or as close to Devon as I could) rom Liverpool which was quite daunting but, with some classic teenage albums on blast, I somehow made it all the way and even managed to get to my appointment on time, although now I am starting to flag massively so it's time to wrap it up! Thank you, thank you and thank you, to everyone at every gig of the weekend. Each show was a pleasure to perform and it was so good to spend time with real life humans. There's now a little gap before the SL tour recommences but in between that I will actually be back in York in two weeks for One for The Road of which I believe there are a very small amount of magical tickles remaining. Apart from that I will be focusing on recording new songs, planning a tour and hanging out with my favourite people. Nice one, love to all x
