Andy Knox
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Fri, 24 Oct 2008
Well, the tour came to an end on Thursday night (early hours of Friday morning) and it was a great finale to what has been an amazing tour and a great experience for me, let alone the exposure it has given me and the fans we have managed to pick up along the way.
The Metro Club didn't dissapoint. The venue was filling up by 8pm and Josh got probably his biggest crowd of the tour because of the early birds. My voice held out for one last show (Iv promised myself this will be the hardest tour my voice will ever have to face - I didn't give it much of a starting condition so its gone well). The last show made me realise how lucky I am to have such a good band behind/with me. Curly was solid on the drums, Frase, as ever, controlling the bass line and just looking as fucking cool as only he can (everyone comments on him everywhere we go) and Millsy put in a huge shift with his guitar and his backing vocals which I have come to rely on! It was sad waking up today (after 13 hours sleep) and not having the boys around, had a few txts, but its not the same. Im at my sisters in London, chilling before getting up the road to Newcastle tomorrow and back to Uni and real life I guess, really need to sort some stuff out.
Iv loved the tour and I cant wait to get back out on the road - with or without Jack Wills or anybody else's help for that matter. In saying that, I owe everyone at JW a huge thanks; Olly Finding, Freddie Wyatt and Rob (one of the owners) in particular for all the work they put in and just allowing Jay to present his case and back him with his idea. Its definately the way forward as we all discussed on Friday at the JW head office (everyone was hangin' to the balls may I add!), but I just wanted to re-iterate the point. Things were learnt on the tour that will hopefully be put to good use next time around. I just hope for Jack Will's sake that they get as good a group of bands/artists that we had this year. The Brent Flood from front to back are genuine, top lads - not a negative bone in their bodies (and with Howard Moon on drums, worth a fuckin giggle as well!) and as for Josh Bray, nothing can be said that hasnt been said already, top, top lad. Both acts are going to do well, I am sure of that - its more a case of when and I wish them all the luck in the world.
I better stop there before it gets emotional, jeez it was only a 3 week tour?!
Anyway, thanks to everyone who made it possible, everyone who came along - Il remember it for a long time.
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Also for anyone that saw me on my recent October Tour supporting The Brent Flood or for anyone that missed me and wishes they had got to a show...
...Andy just wants to know what bits you enjoyed, which cities you'd like him to go to next time etc...chat about at the Andy Knox Forum and meet other Andy Knox fans!
go to...
http://andyknoxofficial.forumotion.com/forum.htm
Lets get this forum buzzing and talking about Andy.
Watch this space.
Andy Knox MySpace.
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Little bit of PR there, talking in the 3rd person too, but oh well...
Hopefully see you all soon. Thats the end of the tour blogging I guess...
Andy x
London - The Metro Club & Thanks...
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Thu, 23 Oct 2008
Tour is over was a great show in the metro club last night in London town.
Just wanted to say a massive thanks to Jack Wills and everyone that made this tour possible, it's been a great time and an amazing opportunity to play to hundreds of people. So everyone at Jack Wills a massive thanks goes out from all of us, also a big thanks to Freddie to kept us in check and made sure we were actually on time and who was just also a great lad to have on the tour, and sam 'wise camgee' for all the filming.
Thanks been great laugh and we will be uploading our own video diary and footage soon.
So will keep you posted.
the rest of the boys will probs be on here soon also.
Laters
Frase x
end of tour..big thanks.
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Wed, 22 Oct 2008
Good to be back in Brighton to be honest, headed straight for the pier (lads on tour - clearly!) and frollocked around, doing things tourists do on the pier, standard. Oh and a seagull almost shat on us, shlad! The in store in Brighton started off as a quiet affair but by the time Josh and I had played, TBF had a decent enough turn out to entice down to the Hope Bar later that night!
And they did - The Hope was a good turn out although the local support act The Blue Print (although they were good) played for a lot longer than everyone expected and left us and TBF going on a bit later than planned, bit shit of them to be honest. Im not bitching, just telling it how I saw it. Enjoyed it though, was a good, tight set from us which is good - two good shows before the final London shin dig was just what we needed. All I need to do now is rest my voice...
Night out in Oceana (of all places - I was keen for Coalition) all the boys - minus Curly ;) were getting well rinsed. Millsy kissed a girl and he liked it I do believe...jeez this is horrific chat, apologies for just writing one of the worst blogs ever, potentially...Oh and I stole Andi Mills' bed, stitched up!
Anyways, was good to see Deano, A.Mills, Mallet, Davey Lampard and all the rest of the Brighton crowd - thanks to all of you for coming down!
Right, London - The Metro tonight, need to prepare - or at least just get there! Think im gonna go to the Jack Wills store via the plastic surgeon...mare...will give you the last blog of the tour tomorrow I guess - sad days!
Love Knoxy x
(J Mills, Mallet, A Mills , Frase & Curly all @ 'The FP'!)
Brighton - Boating with Motors?!
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Tue, 21 Oct 2008
A day and a gig that to be honest, I hadnt been looking forward to, turned into one of the best on tour. Let me tell you why...
Firstly, the in-store was another intimet affair, but to a responsive crowd keen on hearing myself, Bray and 'The Flood'. We also had a surprise visit from big Rob (top man at JWs) and Ollie (Head of Marketing - I do believe) which lifted morale. Our new presenter Josh also arrived, absolute lad, lovin' his work so the last few days could get very messy indeed nows hes around. Soundcheck at the Boileroom was superb, and by the end of the gig I could honestly tell the sound man, that was the best sound Id ever had, so that was good. Oh and some guys after the show came up and told me that we were the best unsigned act he had ever heard, which was awesome. Makes all the shit shows worth while, when even 2 genuine people, youve never met before, give you some praise! Dinner before the gig was massive as well (cheers Rob for picking up the tab) - noodles all round at Wagamama, lovely work...
The only negatives of the day were that my football accumulator failed to come in (it would have won me 7 grand!) and the realisation early yesterday morning, that in my previous blog ('Oxford - its a lot...') - I had failed to talk about Groovy, the best dog the lads and I have ever encountered. Hes a fat, pig like dog (and belongs to my uncle) with a lot of love and affection and Millsy was very fond indeed (and as I write this has just said "you better not be slating Groovy" - which ofcourse I am not, huge love all round!).
Off to Brighton now, looking forward to seeing some mates from Uni who I know are coming down (I was at BIMM in Brighton last year!) and Millsy's brother, my old flat mate! should be a huge night!
Will let you know what happens,
Andy x
Guildford - the anti mare...
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Mon, 20 Oct 2008
so last night was our first gig since Bristol and it was good to play again, full band and to an audience. I was a bit sceptical about the music scene in Oxford - Radiohead and Foals were the only notable bands we could think of from the place, until we were thrown a curve ball, way out of left field by some jack the lad in the audience...The Young Knives are from here too...how could I forget?! swine.
my voice is no way near back to full fitness and I doubt it will be for the remainder of the tour (here I go again, moan, moan, moan) but we are gonna mix things up and re-order the set tonight for the Guildford show, the first time we have done so on tour, and get ready to meet Natalies mates from the JW store who are apparently "up for it" - classy birds, according to Nat (the JW podcast presenter if you were un sure!).
No groupie action to report from last night - although I have a sneeky feeling when I see Mr Josh Bray today, he might inform me of his ball deep antics last night (that might be a tad premature, but Im hoping for the big mans sake!).
The Brent Flood were class last night, end of. Jay even climbed the bannister sang some lines and to everyones amazement did a triple somesault off the bannister and into the crowd. Kind of. Anyways, another day, another blog - gutted theres only 3 days left, feels like Iv been moaning for the past week so will enjoy what time is left.
Until next time, Im off for a shower...
Andy x
Oxford...its a lot!
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Sun, 19 Oct 2008
Having been given the day off in Exeter so I could rest my voice, we ended up in Kidderminster over the weekend, recovering and meeting Frases 'Brummy' mates! We missed out on a 'Gaz Burger' (a burger named after Frases mate, Gaz, surprisingly) and continued our pool tour series (Millsy and I vs Curly 'the cross hair' and Frase 'the fluffer'). Having entered the ring in Kiddy with a 2-1 lead, 'the cross hair' and 'the fluffer' now have a hefty 6-2 advantage, only needing one more game on tour to take the series quite comfortably! cripes!
Frase also took us to his local pub, the Tap House (were we are due to play soon!!) and got Millsy and Curly well oiled on local shots such as the 'Nazi Gringo' (tequila & jaegermeister - classy!) and 'Green Shits' (baileys & creme de menth - classier!). Topped off with a free bottle of tequilla - a present for Frase from his mates.
In between all this we had an acoustic gig on Saturday morning at the Jack Wills store in Cheltenham. As we had done in Bath, we played a full band acoustic show to quite a few people in the end, with The Brent Flood going down particularly well.
Now in Oxford at my uncles house, had a chilled acoustic set on my own in the JW store (got a cheeky parking ticket for our troubles...Jack Wills expenses anybody!?). Off to the KuKui club a long with our new tour member, Tyrone, the TomTom! Although a frequent traveller, with huge amounts of knowledge, he does tend to have the odd mare, lad! Shlad on tour! Does any of this even make sense to you? I hope so...mare.
Will let you know how it all goes - clubbin tonight ladies?
Peace,
Knoxy, Frase, Mills & Curly...x
Cheltenham / Weekend Off!
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Thu, 16 Oct 2008
Before this tour started, things hadn't been going totally right for me to be honest...my lap top decided just to pack in and start re-setting it self all the time, my bank card was swallowed for no reason, oh and then there was that incident in the club in Edinburgh with the guy and the glass and him throwing it in my face (he was subsequently arrested and charged yesterday!).
So things hadn't been going well before, but this tour had been what I was looking forward to and it had been going so well and all seemed to be good once again. Things outside my so called "tour bubble" had been put on the back burner...Yesterday though in Bristol my voice packed in and Iv had to take today off which means we are not playing at all in Exeter unfortunately. I have to apologise to everyone who I have let down and say that I feel lame but I need to let my voice recover and not sing on it when its trying to sort itself out. We are now chilling at Frases house in Kidderminster and already looking forward to playing again tomorrow in the Jack Wills store in Cheltenham.
We left Leeds in good spirits prepared for a long drive down to the south west. We were now equipped with a TomTom courtesy of Jonny P so we were alright finding our way for a change. We got to Bath and loaded everything in to the store. The in-store gig in Bath was my favourite so far cause we got to play as a full band acoustically to a semi busy store. Bath is a chilled out town (quite wealthy I do believe) as it took me and Millsy a good 30 mins to find a Greggs which ended up having no Tomato Soup, gutted...A short drive to Bristol and to Doogsys halls - great to see the big man - gave us a good feed and an early night, and a 3-1 win for England which the other 3 were happy about...The gigs the next day were arite, but my voice was starting to really struggle in the store and by the evening was fairly shite...Mr Wolffs is a crackin place, close to were Frases girlfriend used to live, its like a noodle bar/art gallery/venue in one, so I was so gutted I wasnt able to perform to anywhere near my standards. The lads were once again class, but that goes without saying. The venue was packed and most of the proceeds went to Charity which was a lovely touch. Frase, Curly and I then went back to beds and Millsy hit the tiles with his sister and her mates - lad.
Somerfield set us on our way (best shop ever!) and off we went to sunny Kidderminster!
See you in Cheltenham hopefully recovered and not sounding like such a bitch!
Andy x
(how good is the latest podcast from Nottingham by the way!?)
Bath, Bristol, Peaks & Troughs...
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Tue, 14 Oct 2008
hello hello, I'm sat in my good friend Doogsys room in his halls at Bristol Uni - its pissing it down and I want a shower, but I thought Id get the blog done first. I feel like I have loads to say because it has been a long few days and we have been doing a lot! We are all also very tired, BUT no one here is complaining! This is what its all about!!
Durham on Monday night was hectic to say the least - the boys rolled in from Newcastle and where fairly well oiled and in fine voice, "can you feel me?" - taps aff! We all headed out, massive night, jAEGER bombs were going down very often and I was actually covered head to toe in glow paint (as was every one there) and WKD Irn Bru! We ended up back at a mate from school, Olis flat to find not enough bed space - so Frase and J Mills kipped in the car. Some shlad, then proceeded to play every Kings of fucking Leon song under the sun several times over on his electric guitar, with the amp turned up louder than Millsys had been on stage that night, from half 4 in the morning to about 6! The loudest shit id ever heard, ever. Hendrix wasnt the only one making a racket, he had his sidekick bongo bill hammering away on some bongos too - absolutely livid! Anyways, it was there house and it was nice of them to let us stay. We left early the next day and got our creases in gear to get to the Harrogate in store gig....
Harrogate...having one. Enough said.
Leeds - GREAT night. Best night yet on tour in my opinion - Trash was an ace venue, we had a crackin crowd - Paterson did a great job with promotion getting the numbers in, true to his word. Was good to see some familiar faces too - want to see the podcast from Leeds, should be a cracker! Oh and don't try promote your band in the toilets in Trash in anyway what so ever, you will get rinced, and you'll be having one. 80p shots, £1.50 Carling, messy! May have somehow snuck off early with a cheeky broad...but enough about that, Im still hungover as I write this - having powered through the in store gig in Bath today which we did full band acoustic which was lovely, loved it!
You will be updated again in the next few days I am sure...I am shattered and need to go have a shower and get some dinner! Oh and album of the tour is Paramore - 'Riot'. Massive.
Andy x
Last thing - I'm considering changing the name of the song 'Okay to be Lost'. We have a shortlist of names already but aren't sure:
- 'The City Sleeps'
- 'City Sleeps'
- 'Another Dead Beat'
You may not have heard the song but we have been playing it on tour, let us know which you think is best and drop us a reply here or a message on myspace - www.myspace.com/andyknoxofficial
Durham & Leeds (The bare backing begins...)
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Sun, 12 Oct 2008
hello hello
currently sat in durham sorry we've been late we have had a mare..
anyway back to edinburgh..
we arrived at the penthouse flat I went of to jerk it for a good while. then we chilled and went for the all famous deep fried cheese burgers..grimey as fuck says the big j.w(m)ills..i pretty much died and was left on the sofa, we then crashed to the wonders of dr.dolittle 2.
any way friday came and friday went, but during the highs of friday we played some acoustic nonsense at Andrew's old school. And headed of to the big Banana row studios stopping of at the hottest X-factor talent in-town (bangra hip shaking hip hop) got told to fuck our selves and that was about it.
Saturday came and we went to the jack wills store, had a mooch and shotof to the venue. Had a great gig. Got binned and had some drunk times..gilmore great lad passes out when Andy finds him.
any ways i want a snout.
laters
Frase
x
and the big jack wills.
xx
Tour day 5
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Fri, 10 Oct 2008
Sorry this is a bit late, we've only just managed to get onto a computer and get all our blogging and dogging done!
Frase and I (Andy) are currently sitting in Edinburgh after a hectic night in Nottingham and a mission of a drive on our day off. Nottingham has set the standards for the tour, pizza boxes, cock blocking, a good audience ("YES MATE!"), Freddie Wyatt (lad on tour) and a house of lovely ladies to stay with. After playing the Orange Tree and doing some interviews, we headed out to the Bodega Social Club and it was pretty much downhill from there. Shots went down, drinks were spilled and mares were had. I ended up, passed out in the kitchen of the Jack Wills girls, covered in pizza boxes and stayed there for a good 3 hours whilst J Mills was jerkin it in a double bed all to himself, lad. (Mare of the day!)
Frase got the troops moving again after only 3/4 hours sleep and we shooted off to Edinburgh with a quick stop in Newcastle for lunch and to see the Merchi shlads...
Edinburgh shows today and tonight so we will keep you updated with them after theyve happened - keep looking on iTunes for the new podcasts, you can subscribe for free or you can watch at www.jwunsigned.com - until next time,
Andy & Frase xx
Tour blog no. 2 - Day 2 - NOTTINGHAM
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Fri, 10 Oct 2008
Greeting from The Orange Tree home of us for tonight only. So we've been on the road for one day and this is our second day so far and Knoxy is already talking about breast implants (for himself). Last night in Cambridge was eventful to say the least. Around Cambridge you need a bike. If you don't have one your pretty much better of dead. well.... We picthed up at the venue around 5.30 full on spirits, after having a mare getting around the big ol' Bridge. Unload and knoxy pulls of into the bookies as usual but is up £50. Then there was mental Mac who took so many pills he could snap his finger without feeling a thing (great laugh) bit mental, as he showed us home made tattoos and wacked his leg behind his head whilst having a love affair with arm wrestling. and i was rock and roll as ever reading my book in the venue. The ride home was a sleeping bag moment...one thing its not good for......pissing in it, we pulled up and it was freezing so knox went for a slash with his sleeping bag over his head and somehow pissed in it (at least he was warm), the big j.mills was in the back with knox of a crammed car with knox asleep mouth wide open looking beautiful as ever. pulled up at curly's rents around 2.30 in the morning and went to sleep. This morning we awoke to bacon cobs and a shit hot sunny day and headed of to nottingham. that's all for now, we're off to Edinburgh after the notts show. so will keep you posted. laters love frase and the big. mills also...the rich scribblers anyone? shout out to the jack wills crew in notts.
Tour blog no.1: Day Two, mare 95.
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Fri, 10 Oct 2008
It's Saturday.....
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Mon, 06 Oct 2008
today we go on tour :D
currently me and Andy are sitting in bed (not together) although we did used to live in Brighton. jokes. we are meeting Curly and Millsy in Cambridge and playing our first show tonight at Man on the Moon after Andy has played the Jack Wills in store on his own.
we have just put a new song up @ www.myspace.com/andyknoxofficial and on facebook, its called 'Zara' so please have a listen anywhere you can.
we better actually get moving and get on the road as we have a few hours to get to Cambridge and we're not convinced we know where we are going...Day one, mare one...
see you soon,
Andy & Frase.
Hello! TOUR!
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Mon, 29 Sep 2008
Welcome to the Andy Knox Blog!