Goodbye England you've been good to us

Sadly, the end of the tour has arrived. At times it seemed like it would never end, in a good way, only to sneak up on us quite suddenly. To see and experience London and the UK in summer has been a treat in itself. The memories of hotel rooms, train journeys and venues will melt into a bit of a blur over time, but we hold on to the memories of great shows, the wonderful people we’ve met, and the amazing places that we’ve visited, however briefly. Our last show was really special, even with Nick breaking two strings mid-set, we managed to get by without resorting to bad new-funk jams, and finish the tour on a high. It's a shame that these things ever have to end, but we look forward to the rest of the year, with a single launch, supporting Powderfinger, and spending time writing for the next album. We can look forward to our next visit to the northern side of the equator, with the knowledge that it will be bigger and better than ever.

Nick Cheek

Watch our tour video here


A big shout out to all of you that made this tour possible and very memorable.
The familiar faces in the crowd that came to support us time and time again (you know who you are! the English, the Spanish, the Australian and the French!) Thank you!
Team Blackchords, Mark, Chrissie, Dust Devil & Sasufi!
Emms PR, Sue Buckler, Eileen, Gavin, Gaz, Jacqui & Harriet
Caroline, Mike, Rachel, Marky, Darren & Sarina (We would be cold & homeless without you!)
OZ Council, Sounds Australia, and Stage Mothers!
And everybody else that has been an integral part of making Blackchords

Much Love

Nick, Damian, Nick & Tristan (Blackchords)

As one adventure ends a new one begins

From a sunny London morning I voyage alone on the train.Away from the blue skies and the angular walls of central London, into countryside of rolling hills, stone mansions covered in chemically charged green climbing ivy and set against a depressingly dense grey sky.

A misty rain, that looks as though it set in forever ago, hangs between the carriage windows and the horizon slightly distorting the scenery and giving me the desire to rug up and to sit by a lit fire. Not today…

I’m on my way to Sheffield, a city I know virtually nothing about, where tonight we will be playing the Forum. I should be travelling alongside the band, but due to a mixture of losing time, road works and a delayed train I am here by myself. I made it to St Pancras Station this morning puffing and panting rudely and frantically pushing my way past people on the escalators, juggling my guitar and rucksack just in time to watch our train slowly pull away from the platform sans the singer…
It’s our last gig outside of London and the beginning of our last week of the U.K tour. It feels as if the end of the tour brings about the end of another chapter. The past 12months has seen us playing many gigs, being on the road and becoming a live band. It has brought us invaluable experience, incredible moments and of course the harsh blows that reality can often dish out. We’ve also been lucky enough to play alongside some great and inspiring musicians and groups including The Church, Tim Rogers, White Rabbits, Dappled Cities, The Wagons, and Jordie Lane.

The return home to Melbourne will be a time to bring out new dimensions. We will be promoting a track “As Night Falls” which was written for “Blame” an Australian feature film which premiers this July. Shortly after we will be taking some time away to begin work on new material for the second Blackchords album. And a very happily accepted invitation to Join Powderfinger and Jet in Powderfinger’s last ever Melbourne show at the end October at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. You can watch our announcement video here.

I know that we have a lot on our plate and a lot ahead of us. The good and the bad, it’s all part of it and I look forward to it.

X
N.M

Late for Rehearsal!

Travelling through the busy London streets in our Tour bus #63 which looks identical to the big red double decker buses they use for public transport!

Sitting upstairs clinging on for dear life at the front while the bus roars full steam ahead into a narrow funnel of traffic which (I am so sure) we wont fit through!

It reminds me that a week ago I saw the aftermath of terrible road accident where they had cut the roof off one of the cars…. Probably, because some bus driver drove at 50MPH into a gap in the traffic that he was never going to fit into!

I take a deep breath and try and focus on something else…. A beautiful field, with angels feeding me gooseberries…. (whatever the fuck they are?)

This wasn’t exactly how imagined this blog to turn out … But hey?

There has been soo much going on in this tour and in a way I haven’t had a chance to(or maybe its that I haven’t let myself) step out of it and think about everything that we are doing… Switching off for a while and bringing myself back into the present. It’ll come in time but not today.

We have spent quite a bit of time, travelling. Either crossing the country or just crossing the city. It’s a time I spend scribbling in my note book, thinking about the next thing to come or watching strange interactions (or lack of) between strangers on the street or in the underground..

Its also a time and space when I usually join the millions and plug myself into an mp3 player to get away.

This tour, as all good tours, has been accompanied by a soundtrack. A hand full of albums that I have been listening to on constant repeat. My new favourite right now would have to be Heligoland by Massive Attack. I was walking through the National Portrait gallery when I first put it on and it blew my mind, took me away and wrapped me in its incredible sound scape. I’ve also had revisit from my old hi school days with the best of blur…. I’d forgotten how much I dug them when I was a gangly teen!

Anyways I wanted to make a mix tape and share it with you all…. But I don’t have a tape recorder and nor do I know anyone who has one…. So as nostalgic as that may be physically make a mix tape…. I wont. Because that would be totally useless!

Instead here is picture of what it would look like

And here is the playlist!

Milly’s U.K Tour Mix Tape 2010

Side A

1 – Song 2 Blur

2 – Bixby Canyon Bridge Death Cab For Cutie

3 – Falling Down The Mountain INXS*

4 – Factory Band of Horses

5 – And The Boys Angus & Julia Stone

6 – Pray for Rain Massive Attack

Side B

7 – 1901 Phoenix

8 – Yeah Yeah Yeah Song The Flaming Lips

9 – Blue Blood Foals*

10 – Young Americans David Bowie

11 – Paradise Circus Massive Attack

12 – Tender Blur

Listen here: UKPlaylist2010

*Sadly not on Spotify!