message board

jefflewis · Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 1512

Hi all!
Yes, this touring seems to never end! I hadn't planned on doing so much, but I keep getting offers and I keep saying yes... which is just an old habit, considering it takes so much work to book a tour I always feel like it makes no sense to say no when a band offers us a tour without us having towork to book it... but maybe it is getting to a point where it is going to stop making sense for me to say yes to everything, because I've been on tour pretty much since the middle of February and there's no end in sight!!
Right now I'm in Missouri, on the first night of my solo acoustic tour opening for Rosebuds and British Sea Power, it's been a 14-hour drive to get here! I've never before done a whole tour for which I was driving alone by day and playing alone by night - this way at least I can sleep in the car and not have to worry about finding housing! And the rest of the band needs a break anyway!
When the British Sea Power shows come to an end on May 19, I'll reunite with Jack and Dave and Helen to begin more US dates, this time opening up for Los Campesinos for a couple of weeks... THEN I just received an offer to play in Europe opening for Steven Malkmus & the Jicks! It pays terribly, so I can only afford to do it as a duo band, just me and Jack, but it's still really exciting to go on tour with such indie-rock icons. Jack and I will have a number of empty days on that tour which I'm really hoping to fill with additional Europe dates, if anybody has any suggestions for shows we can do on the off days please let me know! It's pretty last-minute to be booking European clubs, barely more than a month away, but I'm trying my best. Here's what it looks like in June so far-
Mon 2 ITL Bologna (with SM and Jicks)
Tue 3 ITL Milan (with SM and Jicks)
Wed 4 FRA Paris (with SM and Jicks)
Thu 5 - Jeff & Jack trying to find a show...
Fri 6 - Jeff & Jack trying...
Sat 7 - Jeff & Jack trying...
Sun 8 - Jeff & Jack trying...
Mon 9 Dublin Tripod (with SM and Jicks)
Tues 10 - Jeff & Jack trying...
Wed 11 BEL Brussels AB BOX (with SM and Jicks)
Thu 12 GER Hamburg Knust(with SM and Jicks)

THEN I've got an offer for another full US tour in July opening for the Watson Twins (of Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins, maybe they think that if there's no Jenny Lewis on their tour they should at least get Jeffrey Lewis?), but I'm not sure yet what the details are... in any case, that would be in July, and starting August 2 we've got a number of UK festivals and some Ireland headlining shows, which wrap up on August 10. There's some more festival offers (including Reading and Leeds!) for the end of August but not sure yet what's happening with that... Of course I'm really hoping to somehow have some new recordings and new low-budget videos and a new issue of Fuff all finished by the end of the summer but I don't know how realistic that all is with all this other stuff happening! One way or another it's by far our busiest year ever, and all this recent "success" seems to mean more work, more expenses, and, so far, less money at the end of it all! I do believe that these are just the hardest parts at the moment, and I'm of course hoping that the final result will be that we'll eventually be building up to a point where enough new people in the US know about us so I can tour less and spend more time making new comic books and songs and albums etc. The support from all of you has been fantastic, and I hope we'll have some new stuff coming before too long to keep yr interest! There's a lot of unfinished artwork and recordings waiting back in New York for me to have some time to finish them... Maybe at the least I can manage to have a new single and new comic out before the fall. I did recently compile a CD called "City & Eastern Tapes" which is demo and live and other stripped-down versions of all the songs on "City & Eastern Songs", it's probably mostly stuff that a lot of you message board regulars have heard before, like simple radio acoustic performances of Moving and Singing Tree and Had It All, etc, plus the early raw home-made recordings of Something Good, Art Land, etc. It's what "City & Eastern Songs" would have been if we had released it in the same simple low-fi way we'd recorded the previous 2 albums instead of doing in it a studio, so it's like a "What If..?" album. Really I put this together just to have a cheap item on the merchandise table, now that "Tapes From the Crypt" is sold out.
I hope you're all doing great!
Catch you later!
Jeffrey

Dav · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 5:55 am Post subject:

Opening for The Jicks, my gosh!!!, Jack might be so happy! Ema and i missed the Paris gig, we'll try to come to that one....glad to hear about this low-fi recording/sessions lp too.
Good luck with your tour Jeffrey.
_________________
http://uberaffe.bandcamp.com

Will Oldham · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject:

Yeah I like the idea of the lo-fi version of city and eastern.. its like 2 halves of a before and after double album

as for the tour its starting to look like a world record for the longest tour with the most dates ever!
_________________

www.myspace.com/will_oldham_horror

hamlet · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 456

Jeffrey, you are a human art dynamo. Hope that someday you will have it your way, have enough money to live in New York City and draw comics to your heart's content. Thanks for singing to all of us.

fabalbert · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 435 Location: London

The amount of touring you do is insane. Insane in a good way I mean, but insane none the less.

Reading and Leeds! Wowzer! Nic will be happy. This is the first time in 5 years that I'm not going as I'll be in Prague around that time.
Best of luck for everything.
_________________
Life is too short to refrain from eating jam out of the jar

hamlet · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 456

The New York City show at the Bowery Ballroom is already sold out more than a week in advance., so I will not be able to go there and share pictures. It's nice to find somebody cool before this crunch starts happening, the price goes up, you have to stand farther and farther away, and it's a struggle to get to see him.

Will Oldham · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject:

just more people to barge out the way on route to my spot in front of the stage Wink

_________________

www.myspace.com/will_oldham_horror

robert · Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 20 Location: Durham, UK

Will the Watsons be getting Jeff into Jenny style short-shorts for the tour?

And I know it's not exactly a Bob Rock record in the first place but an even more stripped down live take Elseworlds City & Eastern Songs sounds like it should be interesting.

granfalloon · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 72 Location: Virginia

How does Jeff always manage to tour with my absolute favorite bands?

DrNick · Joined: 11 Jul 2006 Posts: 161 Location: Stockport, UK

I wonder if the festivals in August include the Green Man in Wales?
_________________
http://www.myspace.com/arhythmicnick

jack fe · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 865

Two of them are up on the myspace.
_________________
myspace.com/frozymusic

jefflewis · Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 1512

Hi all!
Let's see, some updates - the US tour with the Watson Twins is NOT happening (they must have realized their mistake that I'm not Jenny Lewis, the offer was probably based on a typo!) . That's a relief, so the never-ending tour has an end in sight! It'll mean I have late June and most of July without touring to do, other than 3 shows in the NY area in late June with David Herman Dune! I believe I'll be doing those 3 shows as a duo with Helen.
As far as UK festivals, I don't even remember all the names but there's something in Manchester on Aug 2, there's the ICA Big Chill fest somewhere in south England on Aug 3, then some regular headlining shows in Ireland Aug 4, 5, 6 and 7, then Tapestry Goes West festival in Wales on Aug 8. Aug 9 and 10 are fests in Leicester and London, I think the titles are Field Day and/or Summer Sundae? Then I think we;re back home to the US until Reading and Leeds in late August, and possibly a Brussels fest also in late August. There's End of the Road and Bestival fests in the UK in September and then finally one of our regular UK headlining tours being planned for September. I don't know yet if we'll also be trying to do a European headlining tour at that time. Also, Steve Ignorant of Crass has offered us a support slot in the UK for his November tour, but I've essentially had to turn it down just due to trying to not over fry ourselves and overstretch our audience... but it's still being talked about, one idea is that I'd maybe just do one weekend of shows with Steve Ignorant, in late November and do it as a "folk duo" with Helen, whereas the September headlining UK tour is theoretically going to be a return to the Jeff-Jack-Dave rock trio.
I gotta run, I'm due on stage to sound check at the moment here in Ashville, North Carolina! THANKS SO MUCH to all of you for all your kind words and thoughts! i don't know if these festivals have guest lists, but for everything else never hesitate to ask me if guest list spots are possible, I'm at weja5@yahoo.com (Thelma, let me know if you wanna come to any of the NYC stuff! There's multiple shows coming up, I can probably put you [and Tuli or your sister etc] on the list for whatever)
Later!
Jeff

Will Oldham · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:26 am Post subject:

Nic, just 18 1/2 weeks till end of the road!!!

Jeff, speaking of guest lists many thanks again for geting me and matt into the Belgium show we had a great night - funny to think how its still fresh in the memory for me yet i guess its another stage many shows ago already for you.

do they all kind of all blur together after such a long tour, different venues sometimes different countries every night?
_________________

www.myspace.com/will_oldham_horror

jefflewis · Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 1512

Hi all!
Let's see, some updates - the US tour with the Watson Twins is NOT happening (they must have realized their mistake that I'm not Jenny Lewis, the offer was probably based on a typo!) . That's a relief, so the never-ending tour has an end in sight! It'll mean I have late June and most of July without touring to do, other than 3 shows in the NY area in late June with David Herman Dune! I believe I'll be doing those 3 shows as a duo with Helen.
As far as UK festivals, I don't even remember all the names but there's something in Manchester on Aug 2, there's the ICA Big Chill fest somewhere in south England on Aug 3, then some regular headlining shows in Ireland Aug 4, 5, 6 and 7, then Tapestry Goes West festival in Wales on Aug 8. Aug 9 and 10 are fests in Leicester and London, I think the titles are Field Day and/or Summer Sundae? Then I think we;re back home to the US until Reading and Leeds in late August, and possibly a Brussels fest also in late August. There's End of the Road and Bestival fests in the UK in September and then finally one of our regular UK headlining tours being planned for September. I don't know yet if we'll also be trying to do a European headlining tour at that time. Also, Steve Ignorant of Crass has offered us a support slot in the UK for his November tour, but I've essentially had to turn it down just due to trying to not over fry ourselves and overstretch our audience... but it's still being talked about, one idea is that I'd maybe just do one weekend of shows with Steve Ignorant, in late November and do it as a "folk duo" with Helen, whereas the September headlining UK tour is theoretically going to be a return to the Jeff-Jack-Dave rock trio.
I gotta run, I'm due on stage to sound check at the moment here in Ashville, North Carolina! THANKS SO MUCH to all of you for all your kind words and thoughts! i don't know if these festivals have guest lists, but for everything else never hesitate to ask me if guest list spots are possible, I'm at weja5@yahoo.com (Thelma, let me know if you wanna come to any of the NYC stuff! There's multiple shows coming up, I can probably put you [and Tuli or your sister etc] on the list for whatever)
Later!
Jeff

Michael · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 133

The September headline tour dates were on Channel 4 Teletext this morning! He's playing the Brudenell in Leeds again - hurrah! Tickets £9.50 - let's hope that keeps some of the "neutrals" away...