last week

It was France at a glance. In n' out, smash n' grab, wham bam thank madame. As we drove through northern Paris I kept an eye out for famous roads landmarks. We arrived at the Nouveau Casino in the early afternoon, loaded in and met up with the NME.

They had learned that the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise was nearby and so we all walked it from from the club to do some photos... in a cemetery. It was a fine introduction to Paris, well, the show playing sense that is. The crowd was cool and there were even some very sweet fans up in front snapping away with their digital cameras.

Prior to showtime we did a Web TV interview for Kombini? The show was called "Custom, On Stage With" and involved 2 gentlemen in all red with white helmets and lights & cameras mounted on them. Wow. Jojo, the interviewer even came up on stage for a mini lovers dance party.


Leaving France was an unbelievable task. Upon arriving at our ferry line we learned that Belgian fishermen were on strike and were blockading the waters. To which our Stef replied, "What? they're blocking the entire ocean!?!?" Enough of it at least. They do have those nets. The only alternative was to take the Eurotunnel.



Edward, Stef (friend & engineer) and Chops (along for the ride & drive) were the only ones who knew about the tunnel. The rest of us knew only that it was a tunnel beneath the channel connecting France and England. What we did not know was that it's a huge train that everybody drives their vehicle into and then you sit in your car while the train travels at over 100mph... which we later learned was incorrect in regard to speed. After further research the train does not jet through the subturanean tunnel like something out of THX 1138, but rather travels at a max speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).

In Southampton we met up with the Semifinalists, who were playing with us the next several days. A smoke-machine blasting, projection lighting, electronic/live guitar & keys duo from London. The Joiners was just as we remembered it. A mini dance party up front, delicious pasta provided by the club and one of the best sounding rooms in England. The last time we played London, Ed got a bottle thrown at his head. Easy to say, our own gig at Bush Hall was much more enjoyable. Like a ballroom and a touch of aristocracy. Elegant, ridiculously reverberant. Stef had his work cut out for him. We had a troublesome microphone, but the gig was fun nonetheless. And huge thanks to those who drove from far and away to see the gig.

The last time we played Manchester was at the Evening News. Always nice to come back down to reality and play something we're more accustomed to. The Roadhouse easily won the Best Crowd Award of the tour as well. And if my memory serves me correct, I think someone requested Cecilia?? Also, a truly great band called Bluebird Kid Clark opened the night. Good band, good melody, good harmonies. My, oh my, Manchester is always a fun and lively time.

Oh that reminds me, we saw Charlie and Kate from Lost at Heathrow when getting our baggage. We should of sung the You Are Everybody Driveshaft song when we saw him. Yeah, that wouldn't of been annoying or weird. Then again I once saw Jason Lee laugh his ass
off when someone started singing Fever Dog to him while exiting a Radiohead concert.

Now I'm wandering. Bits on Sasquatch later.

i.

watching idaho

Did I mention we celebrated Cinco de Mayo in Minneapolis? We managed to find some margaritas across from 1st ave (where both us and RRR were quite enamored with the legendary purple rain venue). This pic is actually not from cinco de mayo, but rather the next day in Omaha at the Slowdown.

We had a near tire blowout while en route to Denver. Some nice Coloradians noticed the tread coming off one of our trailer tires and were thoughtful enough to wave their hands frantically at me while passing by. I am a tad guilty of mentioning a couple weeks ago that we were due for a tire blowout. I mean, purely from a numbers perspective, the odds were not in our favor. David, was not happy with this statement at all, responding with a, "why would you say that?".

What you call jinx, I call foreshadow/number-crunching. Either way, crisis averted.

We made it to Denver unscathed and curious as to what the night would be like. The night, my golly, would end up being an unexpected treat. 2 prior times through and Monolith, we felt, had equated to something. What a great time and the food next door at the sister establishment was delicious. We didn't pull out Pot A Brewin however, as it was a late evening. We hadn't played that jam in quite some time. We started rehearsing it at soundcheck and if memory serves me correctly, played in Chicago and Minneapolis. Moving on...

SLC! Ah yes, we had our first song request and then went directly into it (song) scenario. Not as seamless as it sounds, but rather went something like...

Girl in crowd: High On a Hill!

Band: OK

David: click click click click

Lee: shaker shaka shaka

Edward: chuka chuka chucka

Band: song

That was a terrible text reenactment. To Seattle...

i.

blah blah blah

My, where have the weeks gone? This is terrible. I wrote some of this stuff days and days ago. All right, here's a sad attempt to recap some of stuff that's gone on in the past week.

Hoboken, NJ
Fun, warm, sold out, tasty food. Lee continues his ongoing quest for Margarita city sampling. Everybody orders a burrito that is more like a square the size of my head.

NYC
This gig was actually a one off and not part of the current tour we're on with RRR. Though some of the Ra Ra Riot dudes came out to support nonetheless. Truly a testament to their uberness. We were uncertain of what the ratio of Little Ones fans were gonna be given the unlikely pair up of ourselves and the headliner. Alas, it couldn't of been more comfy and cozy in there. Coincidently, the first stage we ever even played in NYC. Gi-hugic thanks to those who came out to support, those from Chicago, and those on holiday. You gave us comfort amongst the fray.

Boston
I don't think we've ever played anywhere else besides the Middle East in Boston. Always a treat. Good food, good people. While running out to the van I recognized this lady in gold pants and big glasses walking in. I knew I had seen this woman before. Earlier, Ed had pointed out that Hot Jams artist, Denny Blaze, was performing upstairs. With that in mind I had a hunch that there was something goin on, so I checked out the upstairs line up again. Bingo! Leslie and the Lys. It was like youtube puked reality all over the place. Quite surreal to say the least. A friend of a friend had a pretty great comment in stating that seeing these internet entities in person was like watching a unicorn walk by.

I truly don't know where this pic is from. But I'm mostly sure its from this tour.

New Beginnings...with food

Hello blog world, my name is Brian and I play bass and keyboards for the band. I tried posting my first entry about a month ago and somehow couldn't upload the pictures so I ended giving up. No one likes a quitter so I'm getting back on the horse and trying again. So here we go, my first blog entry...!

People who know me real well understand that I love food. It's not so much the actual food, but more the things that go around it. I don't have to say that food brings people together. To me, it's also the best way to acquainted with the many new places I've visit while touring. I figured that I might as well post up some of my experiences so you can get to know these places too. What better place to start than in our own home of L.A.

When the band has time off in Los Angeles, one of our favorite things to do (usually after practicing) is to get together at one of our houses and make dinner, have a few drinks, and basically hang out.

Here's some pics of a night we had right after the Kaiser Chiefs tour... I have to say, after being the UK, we've all developed a love of lamb, so naturally, it was our centerpiece.




Pair that up with some grilled asparagus, home-made hummus, whipped (not mashed) garlic potatoes, and of course, margaritas, and this is what you get!


A very full, content, and sleepy drummer.

Now that I've got the hang of this blog thing, I'll shortly post about our Porto Nuevo/San Diego vacation. It was the stuff of dreams I tell you! Until next time, via con dios!!!

farewell rehearsal space!

Despite the annoying little ball bead thingys that fell from a neighboring tree and would get stuck in the grooves of your shoes, and then dragged into the space, thus resulting in unkempt floors and not to mention chunky floor terrain. I digress. We all have our quirks and this was the Little Ones' rehearsal spaces'. Like all relationships, you inevitably find that comfort zone. With our roomies leaving we could of stayed and found another band roommate I suppose. But, it was just that time. We vacated the room over the weekend and are now off to greener and cheaper pastures.





Sing Song as well as a majority of our upcoming full-length was written there. There's a wealth of memories from that iddy biddy room.

So long, and thanks for all the fun!

postcard reviews - round 3

okay, these are a bit late and i apologize to the reviewers.  better late than never i suppose.  big ups and thnx to elle, goat boy, and tiger!

numbers, mondays, vdays

Wow. The past few days have been quite crazy. On Saturday we opened for the Magic Numbers here in London. They were all such nice people, not to mention absolutely great live. It was an honor to share the stage with them. We all jumped around watching from the balcony then later the side. The forum was gi-hugic! Easily the largest venue we've ever played thus far. Fun, scary, crazy. We were forewarned that the numbers' fans would be kind and attentive, which they totally were.



Monday marked the release of Sing Song, here in the UK, and with that an album launch party went down at The Social. We were reunited with Johnny, our previous tour mngr/sound engineer, who did sound for the night. It was a grand time on and off the stage.






Happy Valentines Day!

-lil'onez

"Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I'm already thinking of Wednesday... It is Monday right?"
Fred Ward, Tremors

fandango el ritmo

dictionary.com's word of the day is below. Try and use it in a sentence today.

idee fixe \ee-day-FEEKS\, noun:
An idea that dominates the mind; a fixed idea; an obsession.

A week in review...
We played a gig about a week ago at Club Fandango @ Dublin Castle in Camden. It was nice playing a smaller club. A tad more grit and a bit more intimate. Grintimate? Kinda akin to the Echo or Spaceland back home. Big thanks to Adie for letting us use the pix below.


photo by Adie

A couple days later Ed and myself did our first live radio interview. It was on Steve Lamacq's show on BBC 6 Music. It turned out he attended the show at Dublin Castle and had some great questions regarding rhythms and latin influences. It was an honor discussing music with him on and off the air. A memorable experience to say the least.




love&laughter,

ian/lil'onez

p.s. Prince's halftime performance has easily become an unwavering idee fixe amongst all the Little Ones band members.

Norwich

show 1 = done. Last night marked our first show of not only the Boy Least Likely To tour, but our first show in the UK. Releasing records, let alone playing in Europe used to feel like a distant idea. Later, a distant date and time. And then later later a reality. With each Little Ones tour, not that there has been many, someone ultimately asks "are you excited". The answer is always "yes", but followed with a "I just don't feel it till I'm on the road". In this case it was a bit different. I'd say 2 stages. 1) the initial excitement of being in a new place and 2) the mutual feeling amongst all of us at the start of our set. The pulse of the drums and bass, the moving of our feet, the feel of hitting your first note, and the presence of people listening & watching. Reality sets in and you can either have fun or...well, or nothing. To quote Brian, "what else are you supposed to do at a show?".

Blown fuses, funky converters and missing cords aside, to say we had a blast would be an understatement. The crowd was tremendous and we are thankful for the experience. Couldn't of asked for a better first show. Thanks to those who either listened, moved or clapped along.

Magic,

Ian/lil'onez




club exterior
club exterior. Bad pic I know, but apparently my flash is not strong enough to illuminate the side of 10th century church.

club interior