Hello Everyone,
It’s been a while but I thought I would do a blog about everything that’s happened in the last mega busy month.
So to start we played Southsea Fest, it was awesome. Saw The Ruskins’ bandjack down Albert Road – definite highlight.
I met them as well and I am particularly fond of them so it was nice. Generally we just had an excellent day. Thanks for everyone who crammed in for my set, it was boiling hot but we LOVED it.
We played The Soundhouse in Leicester. Leicester appears to be a lovely place, due to some unfortunate Prof Green related incidents the gig wasn’t exactly heaving, but it was good fun.
We played Esquires in Bedford. I really enjoyed this gig. The support bands were the Jacobines (sounded a bit like The Blockheads, very good) and Amy and The Integrals. Both bands were excellent. I was really impressed by Amy Leeder. Beautifully crafted songs and she was lovely as well! We had an amazing night, despite being really full of curry. My favourite bit was when I went to the toilet and there was a girl on her mobile phone talking to her friend going “come to Esquires, there’s this girl playing called Leigh Stokes, apparently she’s alright”. Amazing. I was stood right next to her. And in the men’s urinals they had posters of my face with my mouth open just above them. Target practise on my face wasn’t EXACTLY what I had in mind, actually. All good fun.
We then played The Watershed in Wimbledon with the lovely Who is James Page, and The James Lewis Band. The boys decided to ditch me at the service station on the way there and it was raining so I ran after the van and got totally soaked. Cheers guys. I then grumped for a bit until someone bought me a Nando’s at which point I felt like I shouldn’t complain, really.
The London Imperial College Freshers Ball was AWESOME, it has to be said. It was us alongside Beatbullyz, Alex Gardner and Huw Stephens.
I love Huw Stephens, I met him and turned into a total fanboy but he seemed lovely and I hope it wasn’t the only chance I’ll ever have of meeting him, because I think I talked rubbish at him for about 15 minutes. Never mind.
Beatbullyz were awesome. Great set, great boys. Big love our end to Bozo, Disco, Bully, Philonious Funk and the Minotaur ;) At one point we were all stood in the alley between London Imperial College and Albert Hall and it just turned out to be an excellent evening. Who Is James Page even popped along with some friends for the night and some of our Portsmouth Crony’s came along for the ride. Really friendly evening.
Our set was good fun and we played “Perfect” for the first time in a while which was really enjoyable. PLUS lots of people bought me drinks, and our rider was awesome. Loved it, mostly.
Next up we played Brixton Hootenanny’s. Interesting fact about Hootenanny’s: it’s awesome. The venue itself is a marvel, it’s got a hostel above it and there’s room for bands to crash. The beer was cheap (and some of it free!) there was a Rastafarian called Cecil making Jerk Chicken and the punters were all up for a good time.
Just before we went onstage there seemed to be a few people there but by the time we finished it was packed. Really good fun. It was nice to have some time to chill out with the boys, as one of them is usually driving but as we stayed we had an excellent night. We met some CHARACTERS. It really was an excellent evening.
Our room was in the basement and there were bunk beds and loads of mattress’s and duvets. Kevvy went to bed early at about half 2. When we eventually stumbled to bed (yes i mean stumbled, I even ripped my leggings falling down some steps that I could have SWORN were not that far apart) we obviously threw a mattress on top of Kevvy. He didn’t really seem to notice.
Chris then put a mattress on top of James and jumped up and down on him resulting in snapped glasses. The next day we went to the opticians and got him some replacement ones but It was fairly amusing for a while.
I also saw a dog playing with a balloon. I know my manager will wish I didn’t write it but it was honestly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. So there.
Another update for anyone who read my last blog is that SOMEHOW i've realised that there is a newcomer to my marriage requests list that I really ought to have put in but didn't because i'm a fool.
Now, anyone who knows me from Adam knows that this should have been the love of my life:
So when I discovered what this beautiful man looked like I put him straight to number one. I love his voice, I love his music, I just didn't realise he's my future husband. Some have called him a Young Mick Jagger.
Dear Ed Macfarlane: Marry Me!
Cardiff 10 Feet Tall next and it was nice to see lots of faces I’ve not seen in a while. Most of my friends left for Cardiff Uni as did James’s so they all came along and supported. Big up to the Pompey Massive ;)
All we’ve got left to do now is Coventry – the Kasbah on November 12th then we’re done for the year!
Just a reminder to everyone that “Perfect” will be available to download as of November 15th and also you should all sign up to the newsletter and we’ll send you some free tracks. Win-Win.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect/dp/B0043RPZMO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1287493896&sr=8-3-catcorr < - - - pre-order here.
Yesterday (18th October) we also peaked at number 13 in the UK Overall MySpace Chart, 14 in the Overall MySpace Chart and 9 in the Indie chart, so thank you to everyone who’s coming on here and listening. I really do appreciate it, it’s nice to know people are listening.
Will do a blog closer to the release date for Perfect but I’ll have to shoot off now.
Take Care guys!
Leigh and the gang xxx
