Hayden’s Blog

Ich bin ein Berliner

March 3, 2008 – 3:22 pm
Thought I'd follow up that last post with another update from Berlin, since I'm on a bit of a roll. The show last night went really well. We played after a band called Diego who sounded so much like Interpol that I thought they were playing covers. The small room was really full and the crowd were nice and responsive, inviting us back up for a second encore. Afterwards the lead singer came up to me, Stephen and John and told us how much he enjoyed the show. He became really emotional and started saying some really intense stuff. It might have been that his english wasn't that great, so the words he was choosing might have been a bit stronger than he intended. He told us in a heavy german accent that "Ze crowd didn't know what zey ver listening to. I knew zo. It is all about reading ...

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

NY>London>Istanbul>Glasgow>Paris>Amsterdam>Berlin

November 19, 2007 – 7:57 am
It’s been so long since I’ve written that I feel an apology is needed. It’s been a combination of busyness and laziness I guess. Since my last post I’ve spent some more time in New York, and travelled to London, Istanbul in Turkey, Aberdeen and Glasgow in Scotland, Paris in France, and Utrecht and Amsterdam in The Netherlands. So, sorry! It feels really strange being on tour again now after spending so long in New York just seeing the sights. We stayed there for two weeks in total. Harlan (the guy I stayed with) and his girlfriend made me a cake for my 21st birthday. They’re some of the nicest people I’ve met on tour. My birthday itself was nice and quiet (at my request). We let a firework off from the top of his roof, which has a pretty amazing view of Manhattan, had a couple of drinks, and went ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

It’s up to you NY, NY.

October 20, 2007 – 9:31 am
Well hello again, At the request of Jr on my last post, I'm going to write at least twice while I'm in New York. And there will definitely be enough to write about! This city is absolutely amazing just to walk around and take in. I've been here before in high school, but that was on a conference thing, so I didn't really get to explore the city like I am now. We're staying with a great guy called Harlan who came and saw us in New Jersey and offered a place to stay. He lives in a flat above a 24 hr laundromat and a bagel shop (how much more NY can you get?) in Bedford Ave, Brooklyn. It's just one stop on the subway to get across (under) the east river to 1st Ave in Manhattan. I've invested in a US$24 week-long subway pass so I've got the freedom to do ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

The East Side

October 16, 2007 – 5:34 pm
Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve written that this is either going to be a massive post, or just severely summarised, or both. We’ve now finished our US tour proper and are heading back to New York to spend 2 weeks exploring, playing a few more shows in the CMJ music festival, and filming a music video (and having my 21st!). Then it’s off to Europe! Since last time, we’ve travelled right down the East coast to ‘The South’, which is one of my favourite parts of America. But I’ll get to that later. First let me take you through our journey down the coast. The Boston show was pretty good. We were playing upstairs from the Magnolia Electric Company but still managed to draw a decent sized crowd. The next day we finally made it to New York. It was such a relief finally getting there after being so bored driving ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

the lights all went out in Massachusetts

October 2, 2007 – 4:39 am
Hello again. Since last time, we've done a couple border crossings, and played 4 shows, so let me start from the beginning. The show at Schubas in Chicago went really well. There was a great crowd there of just under 200 people. We got asked on stage for an encore, which is always satisfying. A good portion of the show is on YouTube in a few different parts. There are also some photos and a quick review on Pitchfork. Along with our touring support, we were lucky enough to have the Lucksmiths, an Australian band we stayed with in Melbourne, play support. They just happened to be in Chicago the same day as us, so we asked them to be on the bill. The next day we drove to Detroit. I'd really just like to forget about this city. It was totally run down, cold, unfriendly and scary. We parked up at the ...

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Bet your bottom dollar that you’ll lose the blues in Chicago

September 27, 2007 – 1:31 pm
Well it’s been a week since my last post, but it feels like hardly anything has happened (which is why I haven’t felt compelled to write). We’re in the long-haul part of the tour now where we’re playing a show every night for about 2 weeks and driving 5 or so hours a day. It’s a really strange feeling not being able to remember where you’ve been or what you’ve done for the last week. I’m in a repetitive cycle of play a show, drink, go to sleep late, get woken early, drive for hours, eat, play show… The whole reason I’m keeping this blog is so I can keep track, but it seems that isn’t really working. Anyway, I’ll do my best to remember the highlights. We’ve covered 3000kms since my last post. Bringing you through all the places we’ve been in words would just get boring, so here’s a map… The ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Mexican Border, 5000kms on the clock

September 18, 2007 – 7:35 pm
Last time, Hayden was just about to play a show in Hollywood, LA. What will become of our touring hero? Read on to find out… Well the show in LA was nothing special. We were playing a venue called the Troubadour which was more of a rock venue than anything else (recent acts who’d played there included the Mars Volta). Had a decent sized crowd there. A really annoying venue sound guy. One of those people who’s the king of his own little world. The next day we hung around Hollywood for a bit, not really doing any of the touristy things (although I would have loved to). We drove to San Diego in the afternoon, which took ages because of LA’s terrible traffic. We were playing at a place called the Casbah – a small venue right next to the airport. We spent ages just standing outside watching the planes coming in ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

San Fransisco, no flowers.

September 14, 2007 – 2:37 pm
Right, well we've played a few shows since my last update, so let me fill you in chronologically... The Seattle show at the Crocodile Cafe went really well, although there was a slight lack of people for what was supposed to be our biggest city. Still, was a really great room to play in. If you read my last post you would have heard about how I wasn't allowed in the venue and had to be escorted in and out to play our set. Well, that's exactly how it was like. I even had to be escorted to the bathroom and had a guy WATCH ME PEE. I really don't know what they thought I was going to do... the novelty of alcohol wore off a fair few years ago now for me to be swigging some whiskey at the urinal. The next day we had a 5am start to drive to ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Temporary border crossing - 12 hrs in Canada

September 7, 2007 – 2:45 pm
So last night I got to experience Canada for the first time - all be it for 12 hours. We started the day with a trip to Sub Pop (our US label) HQ on 4th Ave in Seattle. Everyone was super friendly. It seems they're pretty used to hosting bands who pass through. And they've got some great bands on their label, so i guess hosting wouldn't be too much of a drag. We got brought into the stock room and got to raid their massive catalog of CDs and band shirts. Heaps of fun. Got myself a couple of Sub Pop shirts and a Fruit Bats one. They also had a photo booth which they encouraged us to use as much as we could. I'll try post some of the results if I find a scanner. After a couple hours we had to leave for our 2 and a half hour ...

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Seattle, WA

September 5, 2007 – 12:38 pm
We're in the USA! We've been here for almost 3 days and I think I'm starting to kick the jetlag. The flight was alright. Couldn't get to sleep. We arrived in LAX expecting the worst. We had 2 and a half hours to clear customs, re-check our bags, navigate our way through the airport, and board our flight to Seattle. I think the fact that we assumed the worst made it really surprising that we got through with plenty of time to spare. Seattle is alright. I guess you could kinda of describe it as a big version of Auckland, but I'm yet to be convinced. At this stage in the trip it's more the fact that we're in America that's interesting, rather than the differences of each city. I'm the only one in the band who hasn't yet got sick.  Hopefully everyone will be ok to play our first US show tomorrow night ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »