It’s very late but I thought I would write a few words to say what we’re up to at the moment.聽 It’s been a fair while since the last update and I think we did an Irish tour since and played our biggest headline to date in The Ambassador which went amazingly well – kind of another one of those moments like getting you first single and album in your hand when you feel like you’re actually in a real proper band as opposed to the more usual lifting of gear and playing out of the way ‘venues’ as we also like to do.聽 We also got to step out onto the stage of the Point Theatre for the first time when we played with Snow Patrol just before Christmas.聽 That was a really great gig – we had a children’s choir in the dressing room next to us (full on extravagence – not for us obviously) and also the thrill of loads of people singing along to the songs even though they didn’t even know we were playing when they bought their tickets.聽 It was a really nice way to end what’s been the best year for the band so far.聽 Speaking of which, people seem to be nominating us for lots of things lately which is very nice: we’re going to the Meteors in a week or two and then the Choice prize next month.聽 I’m sure lots of people think ‘oh yeah Director they have videos and tours and stuff like that; they must have loads of money…’.聽 I can positively assure you that is not the case so if any judge out there happens to be reading this – that prize would sure be nice.

And now to why I’m up at 3.42 writing my incoherant ramblings.聽 We’ve pretty much taken every day since we finished the last tour to work on new songs, something that we haven’t had the chance to do in such a long time.聽 It’s really been going great and we ran into the studio yesterday to do a one day聽session on one of the new songs.聽 Even though it’s just a demo its so hard to finish something like that in such a short space of time so we left this morning at half six after pretty much being thrown out onto the street before the next session arrived.聽 It turned out really well and makes us really look forward to getting back in and doing some proper recordings again.聽 So after returning home as a surprising number of people were going to work (Starbucks is open at six in the morning??) I’ve just slept all day and now can’t get to sleep.

I also wanted to write something to move that stupid Modest Mouse blog further down the list.

Good night.

Eoin

Oh where to begin?聽 Twas a gig long looked forward to by all at Director. Good News For People Who Love Bad News a favourite album for many.聽 The prospect of playing a gig with Johnny Marr an added bonus for Smiths fans Rowan and Shay.聽 How did it all go wrong?

Some blamed the Director curse – the reason we have broken down more times to remember and actually missed two UK gigs already in our career.聽 What Paul Noonan from Bell X1 referred to as a ‘dog ate my homework’ excuse when we turned up the day after missing our gig with them in Aberdeen.聽 Others in the touring party were convinced that fate was intervening, that we were never meant to reach London, let alone play with Modest Mouse.聽 Something lay ahead which would injure us or cause us serious harm if were to proceed.

Mostly this is bollocks.聽 Our missing of this one off prized show was down to a mixture of bad luck, poor time keeping and stupidity (on who’s part is hard to pin down).聽 Our first error came on Monday night as we arranged to meet in town near Dublin port at 8.15 for a ferry at 9.15.聽 We were then to sail to Hollyhead in Wales as we usually do, drive for a few hours when we arrived, stay about halfway between Hollyhead and London before continuing the journey to London on Tuesday and then doing the gig.聽 It was a mighty plan – no six hour drive through the night, get into London in time to have a wander around and meet some people from our label.聽 Some might say it was flawless.

No part of it ever really went according to plan.聽 To start we met at 8.30 instead of 8.15.聽 No major problem in itself, the port is just around the corner; everything should still have been ok.聽 Should have…the first problem arose when it transpired that the van was not full of diesel.聽 The tradition had been that you picked the van up with a full tank and dropped it back with a full tank but I think as time wore on it was occasioanally dropped back with less than a full tank leading to our empty dilemma.聽 This was the start of our problems – there is no petrol station in Hollyhead or on the motorway down to London that we would have reached with the amount we had.聽 Our only option was to fill it before we got on the boat.聽 This led to us driving down the Clontarf road searching for a petrol station thinking we still have time, we still have time.聽 It was around then that the realisation that despite us never having had a problem in the past with cutting a ferry fine we should probably have arranged to meet a lot earlier (actual mistake no.1).聽 We loaded up with some Diesel and high tailed it back towards the port and arrived around 9.00 or a bit before.聽 We’ve got on with five minutes to go in the past but tonight was to be different.聽 ‘Closed buddy’ was all we were greeted with at the terminal.聽 I could bore you with our protestations聽that the ramp was still down, we had loads of time etc. but he was relentless.聽 To add to our woes, two trucks who arrived after us as we were in the office looking at alternatives drove straight on.聽 People like him are absolute bastards.

We spent a futile forty minutes or so driving around the port checking with other providers.聽 P&O had a ferry going to Liverpool at 10.00 but it was full, the fast ferries weren’t sailing because of the bad weather.聽 We were left with the knowldege that it would be 8.30 in the morning for us and that we’d have a really close drive to make it to London before doors at seven.聽 Hollyhead to London is about five hours in the middle of the night (a journey we’ve done many times).聽 During the day it can literally be anything.

No problem with the morning ferry: lesson learned – meet early, very early; first on, first off.聽 It was going to be flat out, no stops once we rolled off but we thought we’d make it.聽 Everyone caught up on a little sleep on the way over.聽 The crossing is a little over three hours and we were going to come back on the 8.15 the following morning.聽 Woke up around 11.00, had some coffee and felt confident that today was going to be a good day.聽 We all had a chat about our schedules in the future; probably a good idea from now on to meet with more time for emergencies.聽 We’ve boarded more than a聽few planes after the final call but hasn’t everyone?

We got straight out, hit the road and put the foot down.聽 Actually not before being stopped by harbour police on the way out because our van had no front number plate since being fixed after our little cement mixer run in on the last tour.聽 We talked our way out – it was stolen last night don’t you know and promised to聽head to a nearby garage for a replacement – and got underway.聽 We were about fifteen minutes down the road – literally about eight miles from the port when someone drove by beeping at us and pointing frantically to the van.聽 We hadn’t noticed anything but pulled over to the side of the road just to check it out.聽 I was on the phone at the time so all I saw was Joey – who was driving – get out and just put his hands over his eyes and turn away.聽 Rowan who had his camera with him took a photo and showed it to me.聽聽 The rim of the tyre was touching the ground – it was completely flat.聽 I don’t know how we hadn’t noticed but a little panicked we opened up the back to have a look for the spare.聽 It was going to be tight to change it.

Guess what?聽 No spare.聽 We had a spare – once.聽 While cursing and shouting and crying we reasoned that we had left it in Belfast when we were doing the Snow Patrol gig in the Botanic Gardens.聽 It was just loose in the back and came out with gear or something and never went back in.聽 Apparently it was meant to be picked up from someone who had it at Electric Picnic or something stupid like that but never was.聽 We weren’t able to quite pin down who’s fault it was.聽 Did it really matter?聽 There was a spell for forty minutes or so where we rang the AA (again) and reasoned out how long it would take them to arrive and fix the tyre, not change it because we had no spare; whether it was worth getting a replacement van and from where.聽 In reality our fate was sealed as soon as it punctured.聽 Even if we had changed it there and then we would still probably have been late.聽 The mood in the van was not pleasant.聽 It was so frustrating to have something stupid like that stop us again.聽 We had to call our agent and get him to find another band.聽 He was completely cool about it – he’s seen a lot of tours – these things happen.聽 I don’t think we dissapointed too many people other than ourselves.聽 It was a one off gig that sold out weeks before we even got the gig.聽 People weren’t coming for us but it would have been cool to do.

After waiting for an hour or so a friendly truck driver with an air hose stopped and pumped us up.聽 We just about made it back to Hollyhead around three o clock with a flat again by the time we got there; drove on with it completely down and reversed off the other side after everyone else had come off.聽 There are fewer sorry sights than a band who have been up at five, been in Ireland, Wales and Ireland in the same day, are back ar seven o clock when doors are supposed to open and have absolutely nothing to show for it.聽 We had a gig to do in Maynooth the next day so we had to get back for that.聽 The whole thing was a measly experience and one down pretty much to us.聽 There was no hostage taking or high priced ransom demands.聽 I can say it wont happen again.聽 That does sound familiar somehow.

Well, we’ve played twenty four evening shows in the last month – by far the most that we’ve ever done聽in a row聽- and we’re still standing and ready for more so I guess our stamina is improving.聽 Along with these聽there’s been instores, radio, press, promo, photos (the three ps) and the like some of which have been really great fun to do.聽 It’s been four weeks of travelling around in a little grey van gradually filling with rubbish, empty bottles, rotting fruit, stolen pillows (yes holiday apartments in Bundoran it was us..ha ha ha ha!), sleeping bags, guitars, newpapers and any other devices to keep sane while doing the tour which required trips from Cork to Galway and then back to Cork again – why MCD why?聽 It’s all been amazing fun and the album is still in the top ten in Ireland after three weeks so I guess someone is buying it.

Actually, quite a lot of you are buying it – something we can’t thank you enough for.聽 Our hometown show was last Thrusday in Temple Bar Music Centre – a sell out and before the gig we got our first ever Gold records for sales in Ireland.聽 After just two weeks – it’s something that never even entered our minds.聽 Obviously Ireland is a small place – The Killers went Gold on their first week sales alone (but they did sell about 13,000 albums) – but to have a big tacky plaque just two weeks after you’ve released your first album is something hard to describe.聽 Speaking of which, the new NME Ireland were there at the gig and asked Michael what it was like to get a Gold record.聽 As I said, it’s hard to sum up apart from saying you’re delighted and when someone puts a tape recorder in front of you straight after it has happened, I think he was a bit lost for words.聽 The journalist left saying, ‘maybe I’ll call you during the week to have a bit more of a chat’ which I think meant I can’t print ‘speechless’.聽 Speaking of the NME we have a habbit of being caught just after something has happened when we’re a bit frazzled or stunned.聽 I read a review yesterday of one of our gigs in Galway where someone grabbed on to my leg during the gig and wouldn’t let go聽(my drainpipe trousers apparently – I didn’t belive I owned any but hey) and I was asked聽about it afterward by the magazine.聽 My reply as quoted was something along the lines of ‘Yeah…someone grabbed on to me….yeah..em….yeah’.聽 I don’t聽think it’s possible to sound any more boring but聽as far as I can remember I was asked in the little cold laneway outside the Roisin Dubh about two minutes after coming off stage, dripping wet and trying not to die in聽October in Ireland.聽 Next time I’ll say something like ‘Fuck man…it was amazing….yeah…a transcendental experience man’ or something to that effect.聽 It was actually聽one of the best gigs of the tour, just don’t ask me to sum it up聽straight after when I’d kill you for liquids.

Other highlights include – leaving Cork at two o clock after a gig in The Old Oak knowing that we had to be on Ray D’arcy the next morning to perform a Lilly Allen song which we hadn’t got around to learning yet.聽 I’m not sure what tole booth attendants think when a van passes through in the middle of the night with a band of unwashed idiots in the back belting out ‘sun is in the sky oh why oh why..’ on their way back to Dublin; doing an interview for Limerick 95fm where Mike the presenter jotted down everyones name so he’d remember but wrote down Ronan instead of Rowan.聽 When聽 he asked him a question Rowan corrected him and trying to fly past it Mike said Rowan, Ronan they’re all the same.聽 To which Rowan replied, Limerick 95, Beat FM, Today FM they’re all the same!聽 Nice.聽 An early morning Strawberry Alarm Clock appearance went a little awry when they played some sort of ‘Malahide’ song that they’d concocted from the Rawhide theme tune.聽 This was at the stage where myself and Michael had realised that on radio no one can see you and you can literally turn up in your pajamas and no one will know; so the two of聽 us sat groggily and dirtily accross from the chipper morning crew listening to this before Michael commented, ‘Yeah, I think that’s the worst song I’ve ever heard’.聽 It kind of got to the stage where we could see them thinking, ‘just play your song guys and get out’.

‘Some interest’ became a favourite phrase before gigs.聽 ‘Many presales for tonight’s gig?’聽 ‘Em…not too many but some interest around the town.’聽 ‘I see’ replied the band.聽 Thankfully it was actually only evered uttered by the promoter in Killarney but became a sort of running joke for some of the more remote instores at one o clock in the afternoon on a school day.

I’d forgotton聽 how long these things take to write.聽 Thankfully in retrospect our seven minute a capella van version of bohemian rhapsody (guitar solos and everything) never made it onto radio.聽 We were occasionally tempted when there were requests of one Director song, one cover.聽 Nobody got sick, nobody died, there were thankfully few accidents – we did crash into the back of some sort of cement truck, but it was a slow one, leaving a nice dent in the front of our van and his massive bull bar perfectly intact.聽 For the moment we’ve got a couple of weeks before we go back out in December.聽 Time to get some rehearsals in – something we haven’t done in months and maybe even work on some new songs.聽 We’ll be off to see Modest Mouse in November so will fill you in on that when it happens.聽 As of now, be good.

It’s been tough to add to this lately due to constant giging and complete lack of internet so lots and lots has happened and I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of it.

The biggest thing that we’ve noticed over the last week and a half or so is that the crowds at gigs have just stepped up to amazing levels since the album has come out.聽 From the start of the tour when we were in Killarney – a place we’d never played in before – and had an audience of about fifteen to sold out shows in Cork and Galway and a packed Limerick and Mullignar and Dundalk, it’s just been such an amazing turnaround.聽 We could tell the venue owner in Killarney was actually weighing up in his head the cost of the dinner he was feeding us against the amount of people it looked like were coming in.

We’ve had our first proper TV appearance with The Late Late.聽 I didn’t actually get to meet the big man but I think Rowan and Mike did.聽 Apparently he said hello.聽 We’d done an instore in Tower in the afternoon (for which they had to lock the doors to stop any more people from getting in which was unreal) and I had a really bad headache when we got to RTE.聽 I started to drink lots and lots of water thinking it might be down to a bit of dehydration and so ended up going to the toilet about eighteen times before we went on around quarter to ten.聽 I think this is why I didn’t actually get to meet Mr. Kenny.

I got a phone call last Monday morning to say that the album had gone in at no. 2 in the midweeks which just stunned everybody.聽 We really didn’t know what to expect but no.2 wasn’t really in anybody’s mind.聽 We got an update from then each day as to how far ahead we were from no.3 and despite one hairy day we managed to stay in the second spot all the way until Friday for the official chart.

Onward from there to more instores and gigs around the country.聽 We did one in a shopping centre in Drogheda that was some of the best fun that I’ve had in the last week or so.聽 It was Michael and myself propped up on stools outside the record shop with two guitars playing to the multitude of passing grannies, babies, bemused security men, shop assistants and a number of people who stayed to listen.聽 I hope it’s the only time that Director will have to directly compete with a Mr. Lucky arcade machine which was beeping away next to us.聽 Did I mention Spinal Tap before?聽 Most instores have been huge successes.聽 Occasionally we would turn up and a table would have been set up so that after the performance we could sign albums for anyone who wanted them.聽 I remeber the first day we were discussing what to do after the set if no one was there to get anything signed.聽 I think the conclusion was to pretend that the table was nothing to do with the band and was just a part of the shop set up before swiftly leaving.聽 To some surprise, however, and quite a lot of delight we haven’t had any such embarresments as there have always been amazing people who’ve left school at lunch time or skipped college or whatever to make it down in the afternoons and we would like to say thank you very much to everyone who has seen us over the last week or so.聽 You’ve made our first headline tour something we’ll never forget.