16.10.05
Piece By Piece

Hi everyone,

I always seem to start my newsletters by apologizing for their lateness, this one does not appear to be an exception. Since I wrote the last newsletter I have been a nervous wreck in the run up to the release of "Piece By Piece". It's unimaginative to use the "songs are like children" analogy but I'm going to anyway and say how scary it is to release your baby into the big world. But seriously, I felt really happy with "Piece By Piece" when we finished making it, and really happy to see some great reactions as well as some bad ones and downright weird ones, namely about the science in nine Million bicycles.

There was an article by Simon Singh in the Guardian newspaper a few days ago which was very informative as well as amusing which criticized the song for its inaccuracies. I now know that we are indeed 13.7 billion light years away from (one edge of the) the observable universe (in one direction) instead of the 12 billion that is described as a "guess" in the song. Mike Batt actually wrote that song. I guess had he known this fact I'm sure he would have changed it or not even written it as I doubt "13.7 billion lights years from the edge" would have had the same ring to it. However if Mike had not written his "guess" about the size of the universe I don't know if I or anyone else who went to astronomy club at school (and yes I did!) would remember or know the real size of the universe, - because Simon Singh would not have written his article. If you want to find out more about the universe get Simon¹s book "Big Bang," - a history of cosmology.

Things have been very hectic as I've been going to Germany, Holland, Norway, France, Denmark and Sweden to promote the album. I don't normally have a rant or complain about my job because I know what fortunate position I am in. But I'm going to do a little bit of complaining now about interviews and have to refer back to a newsletter I wrote a while back about celebrities and why some would appear to turn into self-centered divas..etc.

I have a theory that suggest that for a person not to turn into one of the above is almost impossible. If you happen to come across a celebrity/artist/famous person who is really nice consider yourself witnessing a strange phenomenon.

Let me first say that in order to write this and draw from my own experience of the imaginary fame world I have to pretend I am not part of it and am an observer. I said above that I had been to the European countries to promote. Well, what does promotion entail? Let's take any city, - Tokyo, New York or Moscow. You arrive in there by plane and go straight to a posh hotel. In the morning you have 4 interviews. In the afternoon 6 interviews with various journalists and then a tv show in the evening, that is 11 interviews in a day. Most interviewers are very nice and often polite but the subject of each and every single interview is 'me' and 80% of the questions are identical. Now multiply this by say spending on average two days in one country then multiply that by all the countries you have been to and what do you get? A Zombie! Talking about yourself constantly to strangers and giving the more or less same answers makes you self centered and delusional!

There is also a strange imbalance going on when you meet a journalist, a human being just like yourself but they know quite a bit about what you do and you almost know nothing about them. This could explain why some famous people consider themselves more important than anyone else.

Of-course I am not excusing diva-ish behavior but am merely giving a reason and or a plausible explanation for why perfectly sane nice ordinary people turn into self-centered egotists after getting to the top. Have I succumbed to this disease? I hope not but of course how can I give an honest answer as I am the person I am talking about?! eh? this is starting to hurt my head.

Onto a more serious note, - Lisa Featherston, our on-the-road bass player was in quite a serious car crash about six weeks ago. We were all terribly worried about her, but she's now fine and seems to have got away with a few mild bruises ­ from a crash that could have easily killed her. So we're looking forward to having her back in the band (she actually did Top Of The Pops with us a couple of weeks ago) - although Tim Harris was great when we rang him last minute to ask if he'd be able to play with us for my 21st birthday 5 days before the date. He's the bass player on both albums and a hell of a musician and a lovely bloke. Mike and Dramatico put on a great party and I'd like to thank Mike and everyone at the office for organizing it, I was properly spoilt.

Again I'd like to thank all of you who have bought the new album and single and also those of you continue to leave lovely messages on the guest-book and forum. Whenever I have a crappy day I just have to read your nice and hilarious messages and it always cheers me up.

Until next time

Katie

x x x

2.5.05
I've been so busy

Hi everyone,

I am reaaaaaaaaaaaaally sorry for how late I've left this one, I can't believe the last one I wrote was all the way back in November, the time has really flown and I've been so busy, but I don't think you should be accepting any silly excuses from me, there is no real reason apart from downright laziness, so as punishment, to make up for it and to rest my own mind really I've been biting my nails extra hard, - trust me, it's not a pretty sight!

I'm finally at home having just got back from America. After a brief stop in New York for a concert at the Town Hall, which was fun, and thanks to all you guys who came, -- we played the Coachella festival - in Palm Springs. It was out in the desert so it was pretty hot, I managed to catch a bit of Snow Patrol and wanted to stay for the Stereophonics but my tour bus was leaving, with or without me. Being stranded in the desert wasn't really that appealing.

Before I went to America I had been to Sri Lanka with Save the children. Steve Croxford, my intrepid tour manager was the only one from our team who accompanied me to Sri Lanka. I'd never been there before and was amazed at what a beautiful country it was even though my trip was to focus on the hardships in Sri Lanka it was impossible to overlook its natural beauty and the warmth of the people there.

There has been armed conflict in Sri Lanka for almost 20 years between the government and a rebel group called the Tamil Tigers. Some of the biggest casualties are the children who are employed, recruited and sometimes abducted by the Tamil Tigers to be trained to fight and kill. In some of the areas that are controlled by the Tigers we found out that each family is pressured to give up one child to the Tigers, and those who don't comply usually risk having two children abducted by the rebel group.

We visited a girl of 16 who had been with the Tamils for the past 2 years and had missed out on her education during this period, but she had recently been released and was now back at school reunited with her family again. I was quite nervous before we got to her house, you don't really know what to say, and you can't pretend to know what its like because our lives are worlds away from each other.

She was really lovely, though, and looked really pretty in her school uniform, we sat outside her little house on sand mats and talked about her years in the army, how she'd been trained to use a gun to ambush and trained as bait and in the techniques of destruction.

What felt really ironic was the fact that Sri Lanka was one of the countries that had been hit by the tsunami in December, and one of the worst hit areas (the south east of Sri Lanka) is the same area where the conflict had been focused so not only do the people and children have to deal with this ongoing battle but also the tsunami which as you all know was a huge tragedy.

Despite the hardships and the truly horrific stories I heard in Sri Lanka, which I don't think I will ever forget, I came away from there uplifted in the sense that the work Save the Children does out there is amazing. They, as well as other charities built temporary shelters for people who had lost their homes, and also provided temporary schooling for kids whose schools had been washed away. Can you imagine having your home and school washed away?! I felt so privileged to know that when I got back to England my home would still be standing.

Also their program in reintegrating those children and girls who had been recruited by the Tamil Tigers back into their communities is great, as these children face a huge problem of being viewed as dangerous and violent and some have missed out on so much schooling that they never end up going back. So their work involves a lot of talking and educating the communities not to think of the children as hostile, and they have brilliant activity centres where ALL kinds from the community can go and learn, play sing and dance and gain a normality back into their lives in order to move on and grow up with dreams and hopes. Of course there is still a lot of work that needs to be done and I'm sure they'll continue all the amazing work they do out there. (READ MORE ABOUT IT ON THE "SAVE THE CHILDREN" HOMEPAGE )

Just before Sri Lanka I was in South Africa doing the Nelson Mandela concert. Performing with Queen was probably the greatest moment in my life. I cannot begin to describe how out of this world it was. When I was five I would play the air guitar to their music, and to be actually doing it was so surreal. I don't even know why they asked me cause they're such legends and have been the soundtrack to many people's lives.

We did a hectic week in Japan, full of promotion and meeting some great people. The album came out there and went to number five in the International Artists chart and number 13 in the all-artists (including Japanese artists) chart. A great start. We are with a small, independent company out there, called Platia, - rather like Dramatico, - because they have only a very few artists but work very hard.

China was also pretty cool, I went to see the Great Wall which is one of the most amazing man-made historic structures I've ever seen. It runs for thousands of miles across the mountain tops, and thousands of people died building it. We also went to the Forbiden City in Beijing, where the old emperors used to live. We went to a fantastic market where they sold everything from fruit to furniture, and I bought a chest of drawers for about thirty pounds, painted with animals in a Chinese style. It was an amazing place packed with locals on bicycles. We did a TV show there that goes out to 40 million people, and everyone looked after us very well.

The second album is coming on well. We had a really good few days recording with the band just before going to Japan. I can't wait to release it and I'm currently looking for the right video director for the first single. We're planning on releasing it in Late September or early October. Hope you all like it. The direction is similar to the last one but we think it takes a natural step forwards. Still some bluesy tracks, and some new ones from me and some from Mike.

I'd like to say huge thankyou to all of you who have left messages on the guest-book, they're really lovely and sometimes too kind, also to all the regulars in the forum, - you guys crack me up sometimes!

Take care and I promise I won't leave such a long gap for the next one.

loads of love, Katie

x x x

14.4.05
A Message From Mike

Hi Everyone,

Mike here standing in for Katie on by writing this interim newsletter. I thought it would be a good idea to include for you some words she wrote and sent me today in response to a couple of press questions about recent activities. She is currently writing her own updated newsletter, but it really has been an exhausting time and although she is a trooper, anyone would find it hard to perform the pleasant task of writing a newsletter after say a week in Japan and a jetlagged forthcoming week in China!

Since Christmas, we have been all over the world both gigging and doing promo. I am sure that Katie will give you the heads up on some of her personal feelings about these activities, but in the meantime let me tell you a few of the things that Katie has been involved with.

The first thing she did in the New Year was a concert on 4th January in Germany, which was a really quickly organised and highly effective concert to raise money for the devastating Tsunami which had happened only a few days earlier. All of us of course were deeply affected and shocked by the Tsunami, and Katie particularly so, because a visit to Sri Lanka was already planned, (although the visit was in order to help and observe the work of Save The Children in rehabilitating child soldiers from both sides of the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. The Tsunami put a whole new complexion on everything.

Arriving back from the Tsunami concert, Katie and I went straight into the studio where we recorded several new tracks for the next album and did some writing. She has been writing some really nice songs lately, one of which is called "Piece by Piece". We recorded that one in January. I myself also wrote a song for the album called "Blue Shoes" on which Katie has done a fantastic vocal which I am really looking forward to you guys hearing.

After that, we went off to America where we did a small gig in a place called Joe's Pub, where we have played before. It is only about a 200 seater, but a great atmosphere and very cool to play. There was a fantastic reaction to Katie's little tour in the States, which proceeded with a gig in Philadelphia, but we had to cancel a show in Annapolis because we were snowed in in the blizzard which hit New York. The snow was piled several feet high throughout the streets of downtown Manhattan and Katie and our bass player Lisa trudged off through it to watch a movie while the rest of us guys in the band hit the local Irish pub and had a few Guinesses. We had to wait in New York several days before flying to LA. In LA, we did a gig at the Roxy, which was packed and really enjoyable. While we were in LA, Katie went and recorded her contribution to the Tsunami record "Tears In Heaven", the beautiful Eric Clapton song, - organised by Sharon Osbourne. I believe this record is coming out in May probably in the States first.

On the recent visit to Sri Lanka, Katie took a couple of hours out from her more humanitarian schedule to be filmed for the "Tears In Heaven" video. Anyway, back to the America trip, - we played to a full house at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. This was a fantastic evening and as usual she played to a hugely enthusiastic crowd and got three standing ovations! After that, we went straight to Japan where we did a couple of showcases and some promo and met our new record company partners, Platia Entertainment. This was in February, and now as I write this a couple of months later, I can tell you that Katie is number 1in the radio play charts for international records, and number 3 in the radio charts overall (including Japanese records). She has entered the sales chart at number 14, so Platia are obviously doing something right!

In fact, she is in Japan as I write this, as I say before leaving for China next week. She seems to take it all in her stride, and although she is human and can get tired, she never complains and always seems to deliver the goods in terms of the quality of her performance. It's refreshing to have an artist who has been so successful who hasn't turned into a spoiled brat!

After the Japan trip, we did a couple of TV shows in Holland, and then returned to the States for another week where we played Boston, Washington DC and then two great gigs at another funky little club in New York called the Cutting Room, where the people were extremely nice and hospitable, and the audiences were fantastic. Returning from that trip, Katie went straight into rehearsal for her gig at Buckingham Palace, no less. This was a solo performance (although I accompanied her on piano for the second song) in the main ballroom of the Palace. She headlined a little concert in the morning which also featured students from many of the top music colleges and music schools in the country.

On this occasion, she met the Queen again, who was as complimentary as she had been when Katie first met her at the Royal Variety Show just over a year ago. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh seemed genuinely bemused and touched by the sight of Katie patiently signing about 200 autographs for all the students who were there at the reception after the concert. In the evening there was a reception for 500 people from all part of the record business, and Katie and I went along to that one as well. There, she met her hero Kate Bush and had a nice chat with her. Other people who were there who Katie bumped into were Brian May (who we already knew quite well), Sir George Martin and many others. I'll try to cut out some detail because this will take you a year to read otherwise.

Out next, and very exciting activity was the trip to South Africa where Katie and the band (including me for half the set on piano, and our new pianist Jim Watson for the other half of the set) played at Mr Mandela's concert for the 46664 charity. (see Katie quotes below). We began our trip with a visit to Soweto, the township near Johannesburg, where a lot of the political activity originated which led to the victory over the Apartheid system. This was very moving and it was really brought home to us how much of a struggle these guys had to put up to bring about the change which is now giving rise to a growing and thriving country which will be of benefit to all the people of the country, whatever their ethnicity.

About this visit, Katie comments then :

"It was amazing to meet Mr Mandela. He's probably one of the only inspirational political leaders who is still alive, so it was a huge honour to meet him. He was great when he watched the concert, in his opening line of his speech he said: "This is a great rock concert and you're probably wondering what an old age pensioner like me is doing here" so it was really nice to see he had a sense of humour and was very down to earth.

We were taking pictures and I was sitting next to him on a bench, he said to me "I hope your boyfriend won't be jealous because you're sitting next to me" I said "yeah he probably will be!"

In the concert, I sang "Too Much Love Will Kill You" with Queen, which was brilliant. I've been a fan of theirs since I was 6, so to sing with musicians that inspire you is out of this world, it felt very surreal and was over too quickly.

You can't visit the aids centres and not be moved, buts its not the sadness that moves you its the bravery and hope the kids and adults have despite the situation they are in. It was inspiring to meet one girl who probably no older than me who was HIV positive and she had three kids open of who was also positive, but she told us how she took her pills everyday and felt that the nurses and helpers at the aids centre had helped her to cope with everything she was going through.

It's amazing to think that doing something as little as performing at a gig, can actually help. Because performing is something I love to do anyway, it seems unbelievable that it can make a difference. The gig was to highlight the plight of women, the problems they face when they don't have an equal status with men and have virtually no say in practising safer sex. To suggest to a man to use a condom is like shaming his honour, and AIDs is still considered a taboo to talk about in a lot of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some parts of the world.

I hope the message got heard, obviously the people that need to hear it don't always have TVs or electricity but perhaps through word of mouth they did get the message."

So there you are, not exactly a newsletter from Katie, but at least a message containing her thoughts about probably the most important and certainly one of the most enjoyable adventures that she has had since she began her career. I stayed in the UK whilst she is in Japan but will be meeting her in Beijing next week, where we will take part in a TV show which apparently is watched by 40 million people!

One or two of you have left rather disappointed messages on the guestbook saying that you wish Katie could have found the time to have written. I hope you saw my reply asking you to forgive her for not having done so. She loves to keep in touch and reads the guestbook quite often, but sometimes when you are flying all over the place it is just so difficult to sit down and prioritise the newsletter when you are trying to react to requests from all sorts of charities, journalists, record company people etc. It is all good stuff, and none of us are complaining about it, but I hope you will be patient if sometimes there is a long gap between newsletters, because of all these distractions.

Finally, just to say we have been working on the new album the last couple of weeks and it is really sounding great. Looks like it will be out in the last week of September or the first week of October. In the meantime, a DVD is being prepared to be issued during the summer. It will contain some of the material which you may already have on the 'free' DVD that was issued with the special edition album, but many new tracks and bonus bits.

I expect you will be getting another newsletter from Katie sooner than you might expect! telling you about more important things like what books she is reading and what films she has been watching!

All the best,

Mike