See you down the shops!

Download Rollin’ Over here – (http://bit.ly/I81luh)

+++ We’ve also made our very own printed fabric sleeves for just 300 limited edition 7″ vinyls for Record Store Day this Saturday 21st April http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/participating-stores.aspx / https://www.facebook.com/rsdayuk

Here’s to diddling and dancing with you all!

Cactus

They’re amazing! I could watch them all day…and I did as we drove through the Arizona desert into Nevada. The scenery then changes dramatically as we become surrounded by massive canyons…

Nevada country

…and a huge lake. Stunning.

Big lake

Eventually we arrive into Vegas. We pull up to our seedy looking hotel with old men and prostitutes going upstairs in the middle of the day….

Playing some kind of shove halfpenny type game in the hotel lobby

…We want to get the gig done by 11pm so that we can hit the strip. No such luck. We’re not on until around 12.30 by which point we’ve reached and breached the drinking performance quality barrier.

Checking out The Venetian

Max starts the set with wrong lyrics, I’m on my hands sand knees nibbling the boys knees and Mule is dancing around in the audience with his concertina. Funny funny gig.

Dan G and Max rummed up

Flagon goes down very well…

Dancing in Vegas

…and we pick up a crew to head into town…. From this point on, what happened in Vegas is staying there…

Flagoneering

We have to leave early for Salt Lake City. Larry (tour manager and new best mate) had already told me he’d not be happy if we were late (in the nicest possible way – ‘better not be fucking late Lorna or I’ll be pissed!’ Anyway, with Max and Mule in full coma for most of the journey we are not late.

Sold out!

During soundcheck, I ask Larry if he plays in a band…he proceeded to show me a video of his metal band where he sets himself on fire. I get excited and think that would be a great way to end £40 Wedding on our last gig and plead with him but he hasn’t got the gear – sadly. Maybe next time eh Larry?!

Skinny live in Salt Lake City

Anyway, the gig is great, the sound is good and everyone is dancing and having a good time. Fun.

Shut the fuck up Larry!

Oh and mileage now is: unknown as we have had a sign saying ‘oil replacement required’. There’s only 550 miles to go though for our last gig in Colorado.

Note

Amazing Tattoo'd man in Shadowy Hills RV park

On the road again Max and Dan in the cockpit decide not to fill up at the petrol station. Hmm…we’re driving into the Arizona desert on limited fuel and want to make a detour through Joshua Tree National Park… Not too clever. Regardless, we carry on deeper into the park in search of Joshua trees and further away from the petrol station.

Mule gets more than he bargained for as Dan inspects cacti

The point of no return comes and we carry on. We make it to the cactus garden where we all jump out for a quick look. Mule laughs and pretends to sit on one only to find he’s actually got a clump stuck to his bum when he stands up. Everyone laughs…Mule tries to pull it out but it proves harder than he thought. Dan Hep comes to his rescue though lifting his cherry Docs and giving it a swift kick. He promises he was trying to get it off but simply failed. Now Mule really has a cactus in his bum.

Incoming!

Everyone laughs harder…he eventually pulls out the spikes describing it as tough as superglue-like strong Velcro. We can’t stop laughing though. Mule feels like lamping Dan Hep but is probably stopped because of the spines stuck in his hand.

Extraction of needles = incredible pain...

We make it to a Joshua tree and the big rocks, then run back to the RV. We’ve now added an extra hour on to the journey which was already tight…we make it safely to the other side of the park, refuel, then drive past deserted shack after deserted shack till we get to the Bar/Grill for the evening gig.

A Joshua Tree

As usual we have fun. We drink and eat into our fee for that evening.

On stage in Phoenix

Las Vegas tomorrow…what on earth is that going to be like?

Fight!

Desert by moonlight

We pitch up camp in the middle of the desert. Warnings of the plague are everywhere –

Plague!

I didn’t even know that still existed. We shoot soldiers –

Targets

start another fire –

Hunter gatherers

and drink beer. A great day off before the craziness of LA.

Desert living

Over the hill and into town…palm trees and blue skies welcome us as we drive to the El Ray Theatre, which looks great. A nice deep dark red with a great stage for me to strut

On stage in LA

Before the gig we have an amazing interview with a guy called Jefferson

Best interviewer ever

…who made me feel like I was on a movie set. Thank you Jefferson. Hope you enjoyed the show, even though I managed to spill rum and then stomp on some electrics and cut the sound out! Sorry Mule. Anyway…the crowd seemed to love my threats of taking my clothes off which wasn’t far from the truth in our post gig antics. Good times.

Lorna gets amongst it

Next day was supposed to be a day off but us Skinnies aren’t good at that. John our dear friend we met in SXSW has organised 2 gigs for us that evening. We do pull into an RV park with a swimming pool and hot tub though so we can wash away our sins and hangovers. Very nice.

Finger Prints

The gigs are great. The first is in one of the coolest record stores I’ve ever been in called Finger Prints. They had The Foo Fighters play their last Record Store Day. They made us feel very special then we were off to Alex’s Bar – which has a much more punky vibe – not so busy as it’s Monday night but it’s a great place. People ply me with rum and beer and we have lots more fun. I want tattoos on my feet.

At Alex's Bar

Last day in LA we play for Warped Tour and Side One Dummy Records…

Playing in Side One Dummy Records car park

…they give us our first beers of the day, a box full of goodies and huge smiles. We sing and dance for them. Good times and great people! Then off to Fox TV for our debut interview and performance on US TV!!

Arriving at FOX TV Centre

So surreal. How do I explain it? GMTV with a sugar overdose…before we go on I’m in the ‘hair and make-up’ department watching the show on a telly. There’s an feature on the Titanic with a shit load of tweets and messages coming in saying stuff like “W-T-F? The Titanic was real?” and “Hell, I’m never going on a cruise again!!!” Wow… Then there’s a guy in the ‘waiting room’ in doctors’ scrubs ready to be interviewed about brain surgery before we get called on. It’s amazingly slick – I can’t tell what’s on screen or what’s being heard…

Chatting to the anchors

Geoff chats and laughs and then the floor manager starts calling numbers out – 15 seconds – Geoff is still laughing and joking – Dan Hep tells him to shush when there’s only 4 secs left and then wham – we’re in…

Live on FOX TV

Fun fun fun and very bizarre. Anyway – everyone seems to like it and we’re asked to hang around to play the show out. Lovely stuff. Once we’re all packed up and said our goodbye’s we’re on the road again. Next stop FOOOOOOOD then Phoenix via Joshua National Park for a spot of tourism. As we travel we laugh a lot to “True stories and bad ideas” from Joe Sib. We love you Joe!!

The new anchors of FOX 11 LA

On the road to Reno

We pull into Reno and walk around in a tired zombie like state looking at all the lights and people smoking tabs flittering their money away. This HAS to be the weirdest gig for Skinny Lister yet surely?! It’s hard to imagine how our English folk will go down on a cabaret stage Englebert Humperdink is due to play on in 3 weeks. Surreal. We wonder if we have hotel rooms and finally speak to the promoter Doug who gives us the best news. We do indeed have our own rooms. Another night in the RV could well have ended in suicide. Dan Gray loses $40 dollars in a matter of seconds but who cares…we have some money for steak and a comfortable night’s kip.

High roller

We met with Rusted Root and there seems to be no bad air about my previous antics on stage! Phew…in fact everyone is happy to see each other. I do tell them I’m going to be a good girl tonight though so that probably helped.

Sound check in Reno

The gig turned out to be fun. People were up from their booths for Trawler Man and remained there for the rest of the show. Not so weird after all. Gig over we hit the restaurant where we meet Sandy, our waitress for the evening. She’s worked at Nugget the casino for 37 years and still wears her ‘Employee of the month’ badge with pride (awarded in September 1994). Wow, this place is in a time warp. She’s great though and tells us of all the people she’s seen play on the very same stage as us, including Ginger Rogers.

Haul her in

Some guy buys us all a rum and that sets Dan Gray and Chris on a night out on the casino whilst I keep to my word and head to my bed. I want to go swimming in the morning.

Charge

Before the gig Mule, Dan Gray and Chris went out on a troll hunt, and had fun asking locals where the troll was located, the best answer they got was – ‘sure, the Troll’s up on ‘Troll Avenue’ 2 blocks over’. Funny stuff.

Troll Hunters

The Seattle gig was great. Dirk from Rusted Root joined us on the banjo for Forty Pound Wedding. The crowd seemed really up for it – and although the flagon was not allowed to be passed around I managed to decant contents and share it with the audience after the gig so everyone was VERY MERRY. Us Skinnies proceeded to have another party.

Dirk from Rusted Root on stage with Skinny Lister

I wake up fully clothed next morning. We appear to be on the move. I am informed that I’m banned from dancing on stage with Rusted Root. Whoops. Must be a good girl from now on! Think I disrupted their last song by kissing Preach Freedom (the drummer), Colter and Patrick. A little nervous to see them again but sure it’ll be ok…

Fun Times

So, then we’re on the move to Boise for our own independent gig. Branching away from Rusted Root we feel a little strange. We find ourselves at quite a cool bar – have a great sound check and then head off to eat. We’re so hungry and dazed we can’t make decisions. We find ourselves eating wraps in an English Pub hmmm. Back for the gig – we’re missing the crowd RR pull in but everyone there enjoys it and we manage to sell a few vests and CDs.

Mule blast

We get chatting with a few people, Max talks to someone on probation who’s brother is in jail, I talk to some guy who shows me a picture of himself with a massive dead elk he’s tagged. Dan Gray learns about a local game called ‘whistle pigs’ where you shoot a whistle pig, then because they’re cannibals they all start to come out and eat their dead kins. One guy said he managed to shoot 7 whistle pigs in this fashion. You then get a dollar for each tail you hand in because they’re considered rodents. We go to bed feeling enlightened in our Rusted Root T-shirts after one too many African Amber beers.

Lorna and a friend

Mileage – we’ve lost track of how many mikes we’ve been doing but its a lot and the metre now reads 26690