22.11.04
Band Aid
Hi
Everyone,
I
know it's been a while since my last newsletter but I'll
try making this a long one to make up for it. I've just
got back from Air Studios just having recording parts of
the chorus for the live aid single. I can't adequately describe
what an amazing feeling it was to be part of this, Bob Geldof
and Midge Ure are absolute legends and it was bizarre seeing
so many musicians of such varied styles in one room, recording
a single together.
Being
part of Band Aid I learned about how much trouble sub-Saharan
Africa is still in. The first band-aid made 144 million
pounds, but Africa has to pay at least that much every week
in dept that they own to rich countries, the IMF and the
World Bank. This Band Aid is about putting political pressure
on our government, as next year Britain is chairing both
the G8 richest nations and the EU and has the power to make
some serious changes in the policies regarding third world
countries.
There
is no better way to put the pressure on our government than
to show how much people are concerned about Africa and the
best way to do this is to buy the record, which only costs
£3.99. No-one can ignore a million selling single.
I know I'm sounding like another ranting musician with a
conscience but seriously guys it will make a difference
and every penny from the record is going to someone who
needs it, even as I'm sure you've heard, the tax.
Thanks
again for all your messages and the birthday greetings from
the forum, I really appreciate it. I do feel allgrown up
having turned 20, soon I'll be all responsible, with slippers
and a cuppa every night watching Emmerdale. Hold on, I already
do that! Apart from watching Emmerdale that is!
Being
on tour was great. There was a gig we did in Baden Baden
(Germany) in a car factory where they had robots making
parts for cars behind the stage, I don't know if you've
ever been to a car factory but it looked like a futuristic
sci-fi film set. I thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was going
to pop up somewhere.
We
had a bit of drama when our tour bus broke down somewhere
between Köln and Munich, it wasn't a pretty sight,
the poor bus driver went inside the engine, yes I did say
inside, the thing was huge, and he brought out this tiny
little square that was called a fuel filter, it kept getting
blocked apparently. So we spent a few hours in a service
garage, I played a few go carting computer games, then the
bus got fixed and we rode on.
For
those of you who came to the UK gigs, hope you enjoyed them.
I saw a few of you mention my fartingcomments at the Albert
hall, I know, I know, what can I say... being on tour can
play with you mind, where the mind doesn't have as much
control over the mouth as it once used to! Not to worry,
I'm getting that control back a little bit now that I'm
off the road.
Back
to more serious things, I was wondering if anyone has read
'A Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley, - it's a very interesting
read, one of those strange books that keeps you thinking
about it weeks after you've finished it, if anyone has any
views on it please post away.
Looking
back at my previous newsletter, I notice that it was written
just before I went on my summer holiday, since then I learned
that our trip to the States had been cancelled because of
pressure of other things, and yet there are many plans to
revisit the States soon (of which more later in this letter).
Other
interesting things which have happened since I last wrote
are that I was invited by ZDF television inGermany to perform
at the Olympic Games during their TV coverage of the games
from Athens. Sadly, we were only in Athens for two days,
so even though we were offered tickets to see pretty well
any game we wanted, we didn't have time!
Then
on the way back, there was that hugely exaggerated story
in The Sun, "Melua Flees Blazing Plane" which
happened in Athens airport, or should I say, didn't happen
in Athens airport! It was just that we were evacuated and
the plane was surrounded by fire engines, but I don't remember
seeing any flames!
After
that, we spent some time in England writing and doing a
bit of recording for the next album, and then all of a sudden,
Mike announced that we were going to make a quick dash to
Australia! So we got on a plane and were in Melbourne and
Sydney for a week, which was absolutely fantastic. The people
who run Dramatico in Australia are Sony and the people there
are really great. I got to appear on several TV shows there.
I met the legendary Bert ewton on his lunchtime TV show,
and appeared on a very cool TV show called Rove (hosted
by a very cool bloke called ..... Rove!). The thrill of
the week was "climbing" Sydney Harbour Bridge,
which is actually a tourist attraction but really brilliant
and gives you a fantastic view of one of the most exciting
cities in the world. Then all of a sudden we were back in
England. The flight takes a whole day, but it's not as bad
as people make out because all you do is sit down and relax
for a day in an armchair and read books until you get to
England. Not really much of a hardship!
It
was then that we did the German tour that I mentioned earlier,
and we also took in Scandinavia where we played Copenhagen,
Bergen (very rainy), Oslo and Stockholm. The trip from Bergen
to Oslo had to be by train because there was an airport
staff strike, but the 8 hour train journey was the most
spectacular event, travelling all the way through the mountains
from the North to the South of Norway, and each moment was
like travelling hrough a brilliant painting of the most
spectacular scenery, so thanks to the Oslo airport staff
for striking! We had fun in Holland, Paris and Zurich before
returning for our UK tour.
Lately,
we decided to base ourselves in the UK so as to rest up
a little, be available for European promo, and do some work
on the next album. We have recorded about 5 tracks for the
new album, but we don't know whether we will use them all.
I have written a couple of new songs and Mike has written
a couple as well. We are going to take our time. It only
matters that the record is good, not that it is ready soon.
We
have recently done Children In Need, which was great fun
to do. We did a nice intimate gig at the Café de
Paris, where once again, Jamie Cullum was on the same bill!
I
learned today that the record has been voted in the top
ten of the 30 nominations for the ITV "Record Of The
Year" show, so I am enormously flattered and rather
surprised, because I know that that show is really quite
apoppy show. I don't expect to win it, but it is rather
nice to be on the show, which you get to be on if you are
in the final 10, which obviously is the case. It goes out
live on December 4th, so vote for me if you like but don't
forget it can be expensive on that phone, so don't waste
your money!
We
are off to the States for a week in December, where I am
doing a small residency for three days at a club called
"The Living Room" (6th, 7th and 9th of December).
It is only 180 capacity so it should be nice and intimate
and atmospheric. There isn't even a charge to get in. I
think they just pass a hat around! Then we are revisiting
the States for a week in each month of Jan, Feb, March and
April. In March we are doing the South By South West festival
in Austin, Texas, followed by a trip down to Mexico and
South America, so that should be amazing.
I
won't go on about what we are going to do because you can
read about it in the event diary. I just wanted to give
you an idea of some of the things we are going to be up
to soon. I'd
better go now - got to get some sleep!
All
the best,
Love
Katie
x
x x
2.8.04
Sorry!
Sorry,
guys,
I
started but didn t finish my newsletter in America so here
I am starting it again back in England. I can now say that
the whole US tour went really well and we've just finished
a month based in England, doing festivals each weekend.
The flight back from America was a bit scary because there
was some serious turbulence going on, where you think,
God, I don't wanna go this way . But to be honest I was
being a wimp. Apparently the chances of dying on an airplane
are lower than winning the lottery! It was great seeing
the band again, - Henry Spinetti (drums) Lisa Featherston
(Bass), Jim Cregan (guitar), Dominic Glover (trumpet), Matt
Condon (keyboards) and Mike Batt (piano). It had been a
while since I d seen them because we d been doing mostly
promo since the UK tour, where only Mike and myself would
play, if ever we played, or maybe just me with a guitar.
Mike
and I went first to New York, where we played on Good
Morning America - (see Mike s own account of this in our
previous newsletter spot). Then we flew over to join the
rest of the band in San Francisco. The tour was great fun,
and by about the second or third gig we were really up to
speed. Each gig had its own memorable moments, - it was
great to meet other Georgians along the way, - particularly
in San Francisco where they turned out in force. LA was
great, at the Roxy, - a standing crowd who were very enthusiastic.
Then we went to Seattle, where the gig was in a cute little
ballroom, Chicago, where they mis-timed the opening and
there was no support act, so Mike went on and sang a few
songs at the piano! We had a great night in Toronto with
a terrific crowd in a very cool club.
The
most special and memorable gig for me in the USA was The
Birchmere in Washington, because that was the place where
Eva Cassidy had played when she was alive. I spoke to the
owner of the venue for a long time and asked him annoying
questions about her performances there. He was very pleasant
to me and when I got up on stage I felt quite emotional.
We had great crowds in Boston and Philadelphia, and then
played Symphony Space in New York before going down to Atlanta,
where we played the Cotton Club. At that gig we introduced
a new song that we just jammed together (with a little arranging
help from Jimmy and Mike) at the soundcheck. It was the
old Canned Heat song on The Road Again and it has
now become an essential part of the set.
While
we were in the in the States I watched the presidential
campaigns and was asking pretty well everyone I met, who
they were going to vote for. Fellow British and other earth
dwellers, there is still hope for us all! The feeling in
America among the general public about the war on Iraq is
the same as it is in England and Europe. You can guess what
that opinion is! So, rest your minds, the American public
are not stupid, they are, for the most part, really kind
and generous people. I think, come November they will choose
the right man. I know it is annoying when a musician starts
ranting about politics but I am merely an observer and a
human being who lives on this planet and is interested in
who is going to be the president of the most powerful country
in the world, because that man will have the power to do
pretty much anything he likes.
Before
America, I went to Moscow to perform at the Kremlin. I was
so flattered to be asked because I hadn t been back in
Moscow since I was three years old. Things have definitely
changed over there for the better, and it was very nostalgic
going back. I would love to go back there to do more gigs.
Back
in the UK, T in the Park (in Scotland, for those of you
who don t know it) was amazing, partly because the audience
where so awesome, - 10,000 of them, all going for it, singing
along with the songs and making lots of noise. It was a
bit of a miracle that our brilliant engineers managed to
get everything to work. We didn't get a sound-check, which
is the norm, I am told, when doing festivals, so I decided
to go backstage about 20 min before our set to see how the
guys were doing. There I was greeted with panic, - rushed
and sweaty men who normally are very cool and calm. I didn't
dare speak to anyone. But bless them they managed to get
it all to work, - and we had a great gig. We also had fun
at the Guilfest in Guildford, where the crowd were more
family based than the wild Scots of T in the Park! But
it was a great gig, sponsored by Radio Two. It was great
to see such a widely appealing lineup, from the wonderful
Rickie Lee Jones in the afternoon, to Ocean Colour Scene
in the evening, after we went on.
At
Kilkenny we had the great honour of supporting James Taylor,
a lovely guy and of course a musical legend. Our friend,
Bob Geldof was there too, performing well and always friendly
and encouraging backstage. We ran into Brian Ferry and his
band on the way out (they played on the same bill us with
James Taylor), - which meant we saw Chris Spedding, too.
Chris plays guitar with Brian, but of course he is also
on my album, and has known Mike for years, since they were
making Wombles records together. Chris also played on and
produced many of the Sex Pistols records. At Craithes Castle
near Aberdeen we played for about four thousand people sitting
on the lawn of the Castle, and lots of people got up and
danced.There
had been a story in the Sun newspaper that day, about somebody
finding my tour diary backstage at Guildford, and offering
it for sale on the web! I wasn t worried, but my management
got very agitated and were about to get the police involved
when we had a call from the Sun saying it had been offered
to them and they d bought it for a hundred pounds, to give
back to us!
So,
any of you who have kindly been worrying about me, as I
see on the forums, - please don t. I think it was all blown
out of proportion for the newspaper story, - which is part
of my life that I really would prefer didn t happen, but
sometimes there s nothing you can do about it.I'
m off on holiday with my family for two weeks today, then
back for a few days before heading to the States again.
I
know I do this in pretty much every newsletter but I'm gonna
do it again. I want to thank everyone who leavesmessages
on the guest book and the forums, especially the regular
ones like Steven from Belfast and Now That Would Be Telling:
I'm afraid to say I didn't see that teddy bear you said
you threw at the Belfast gig, sorry. Also Aaronwright, Samson,
Charles, MarquisDAF, Hank Scorpio and Egros.Well
I better head of to bed, and I'll try to keep the newsletters
more regular!
All
the best,
Katie
13.6.04
Diary note from US...
Mike
Batt; Diary note from US........Writing
this from sunny Seattle, where we arrived yesterday. Alaska
Airlines managed to destroy or seriously damage eight of
our bags and it took three hours to sort it out and then
get to the hotel! However we are all in good spirits and
went out for a crew and band dinner last night at Danny's
Broiler. The fourteen of us were chauffeured there by Elvis
Presley in a seven seater taxi van. Elvis is a wacky local
character who dresses in the full Elvis outfit, and of course
he made two trips to ferry us all to the place, with Heartbreak
Hotel' blazing from the radio.
We
have a gig tonight in Seattle and in the meantime today
I am having an electric piano delivered to the hotel so
that I can get on with some songwriting in any spare moments.
The
two gigs we have done so far(San Francisco and LA) both
went extremely well. The San Francisco gig was preceded
by a mad dash by me and Katie from New York where that morning
we had appeared in 'Good MorningAmerica' and then went straight
to the airport. The San Francisco gig was at The Filmore,
the legendary venue where literally everybody has played
over the years. Katie's dressing room had a poster advertising
the forthcoming appearance of Jimmy Hendrix, supported by
John Mayall, the great English bluesman who wrote 'Crawling
Up A Hill'- quite a coincidence. At the gig were a large
number of members from the Georgian community, who seemed
to be lovely people and their enthusiasm was felt throughout
the gig. Katie received four standing ovations from a very
noisy and excited crowd. She had included in the set a Georgian
folk song taught to her by her mother an hour before she
went on stage.
The
next day we flew to LA where we recorded an American chat
show called 'The Jimmy Kimmel Show'. It's a very cool show
that goes on late at night, and the folks there were very
responsive and welcoming. The next day we did a gig at The
Roxy. At sound check Katie recorded an interview for an
Australian television programme.The gig was good- most of
the audience were standing and that's always a good atmosphere.
We thought we played rather well!
So
that brings us more or less up to date because the next
day we flew to Seattle where I'm writing this on a very
pleasant Saturday morning.
I'm
going to ask Katie to try and spend some time writing her
own newsletter, but of course she is running about doing
interviews and appearances most of the time. Being on the
road isn't just about gigging; there is an awful lot of
other stuff one has to do. Anyway I know she is anxious
to write another message to you guys and I'm sure that there
will be one posted in the site soon. If you are coming to
any of the gigs we look forward to seeing you, and thanks
for your support, particularly for the album which seems
to have done well in its first week of release in the States!
All the best
Mike
5.3.04
Busy preparing for the tour
Hi
everyone,
I
know its been a while since my last newsletter but thanks
to those of you who replied about the Santa Claus issue.
I've been busy preparing for the tour and last week I bought
a video camera to film stuff. If any of it ends up being
suitable for viewing then I'll try to put some of it on
the website.
Thanks
to all of you who brought the album and made it go to number
one! It is a great feeling but it feels quite unreal to
be honest. The next single - "Call Off The Search"
- is coming out on March 15th with two brand new tracks.
One is a song of mine called "The Shirt Of A Ghost"
which I got the idea about while I was ironing! I've been
performing it on stage during the tour and it seems to go
down well.
The
other is a recording of an older song "Deep Purple"
which Mike and I recorded soon after we first started working
together. It is very simple with a guitar but it is a pretty
song. There is another format of the single with just two
tracks and the second track on that is a lovely song by
Justin Sandercoe my guitar teacher. It's called "Turn
To Tell". It's very poignant.
It's
been mad lately, doing Parkinson and the Brits. Both were
fun to do. I was shocked though to find out that doing the
red carpet walkie thingy at the Brits actually meant coming
out of Earl's Court (where the Brits was being held) and
where all the stars had been rehearsing the whole day, getting
into a car at the back of the building and being driven
to the front were the red carpet was! Jamie & I couldn't
believe it! I really enjoyed the performance though and
have to applaud the organisers of the show who worked really
really hard.
Thanks
again to people who have left questions on the website.
Malcolm
Fisher - you asked who was going to be in the band for the
tour, and I have left it so long to reply that you probably
already know. The line up is Jim Cregan (guitar), Henry
Spinetti (drums), Lisa Featherstone (bass), Matt Condon
(keyboards), Dominic Glover (trumpet) and Mike Batt (piano).
The tour is working out really well and the band sound stunning.
I am really enjoying it.
Dear
Moo Moo ( I wonder what your real name is?!) - I'm a huge
fan of Jeff Buckley and yes I've got his "Grace"
album. Have you got his "Live at Sin-e" album/dvd?
It has the most amazing live version of "Hallelujah",
- I think you'll like it.
To
Alex McCafrey - there isn't really a deep meaning behind
the album title. It was a song which Mike had written a
couple of years ago, which I particularly liked when he
played it to me. But it did represent to us the search being
called off if the search was for our musical direction.
Obviously, any artist can at any time choose to go in any
direction. We even recorded rock tracks, some of which were
my songs. We recorded uptempo soul style tracks and all
sorts of other experiments. We also had a lot of tracks
which were the ones which ended up on the album. Once we
had decided on this direction, we knew how to complete the
album in that style and so to an extent we were actually
calling of the search.
To
Debbie - my favourite ever song would have to be "Bohemian
Rhapsody" by Queen.
To
Harriet - there is a music book coming out with all the
notation of the songs from the album, its just being made
so it should be out soon.
To
Jack - it was about four years ago that I decided I wanted
to take up music as a profession. I started writing songs
and really getting into music. There's also more info about
how I started in the biography section on the website.
To
David and Sopha(in georgian) - ahal singlis("Call Off
The Search") b-sideze kartuli simgera ar ikneba mholod
shemdeg singlis b-sideze autsileblad chavtsert kartul simgeras.
Sakartveloshi amzaphuls vapireb tsasvlas, dzalian menatreba
ikauroba.
Ise
chami mtliani kartuli saheli aris ketevani.
To
David and Sopha (in English) - the next single ("Call
Off The Search") I'm afraid won't have a Georgian song
as a b-side as we've already recorded two songs for it.
But if we release a single after that then I'll try to record
a song in Georgian for the b-side.
My
full name in Georgian is Ketevan.
I
just wanted to say a word about Jack Johnson. He is from
America. I've mentioned him before and his album 'On And
On' is awesome, - you have to go and buy it.
And
now just for a couple more notes which I have added since
we began the tour. It is really great turning up at a different
venue every day, and there is a wonderful family feeling
to the band. Everyone is getting on extremely well. All
the audiences have been great. If you have already been
along to see us, then thanks so much for all your support
and for making me feel at home. If you are going to be in
the audience for any of the future gigs, then I look forward
to seeing you across a crowded room!
Love
Katie
x
x x
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