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 all grown 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 farting comments 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 in Germany 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 Newton 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 through 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 a poppy 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 leaves messages 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 Morning America' 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