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Checking
In From the UK
-- Posted by The_Duke on Monday, February 14 2005
I'm sitting
in an Internet cafe' in London and just wanted to drop
everyone a note to say hello.
We are all
having an amazing time. Last night was the last FOZZY
show and it was an amazing gig. I can't believe it —
four shows in three days and all four shows were sell-outs.
I was told that over a hundred people were turned away
at both Nottingham and the London gigs. To those of
you who didn't get in, we are coming back in late April
for a few more FOZZY gigs and two weeks with THE DUKE
band, so we'll make it up to you. I have to say that
I'm having the time of my life. Eating pub food, watching
'proper' football on the widescreen and playing metal
for some of the best music fans in the world.
Our tour
manager, 'Toad', hasn't slept in four days, so I gave
him a few hours of rest last night and took over driving
duties from Liverpool to London. Not only was it the
first time driving a tour bus, but I was on the wrong
side of the road and the wheel was on the wrong side
of the car. I have to say it is pretty bizarre driving
on the left side of the road, after spending my whole
life on the other side. The good news is that I only
almost killed us twice and that's when it started snowing
in addition to wind gusts at arounds 30mph. This morning
we picked Bonz [STUCK MOJO rapper] up at the airport
while dropping Chris [Jericho, FOZZY frontman] off to
head back to the States. It's cool to be back on tour
again with the band and based on pre-sell ticket sales,
this MOJO tour is going to be off the charts. The MOJO
fans will have to come ready to get busy if these shows
are to be as intense as the FOZZY shows. But with 10
years of MOJO tours under my belt, I know that MOJO
fans are predictably some of the craziest on the planet
so my expectations are high that these gigs will be
as good.
Before the
London show, I hooked up with Darren, my U.K. label
rep at Spitfire/Eagle records (my label for THE DUKE)
and gave him a copy of mixes from THE DUKE record. I
got a text message from him yesterday and it was cool
to hear how excited he is about the record. Maybe excited
is understating it. It's such a great feeling to work
so hard on a record and have the label 'get it' and
to share in my excitement. Thanks to all of you that
have been such a big part of the buzz on THE DUKE record.
I can't wait for you to hear it.
As some of
you have heard, I am getting married in May and all
of you would most certainly approve. She is as sweet
and fun to be around as they come and is the most drama-free
person I know. She's my best friend and when she's on
the board you should say hello.
Well, I'm
off for now. Going to have fun storming the castle for
the next two weeks and doing my best to put MOJO back
on the map. The MOJO tour ends in the U.K. and thanks
to a good pal of mine over here (thanks Simon), I'm
going to my first English football match ever. Going
to see Man United play at home and I feel like a kid
on the first day of school just thinking about the experience.
Thanks everyone
for being the biggest part of the success that I am
having right now. Life has never been better and I could't
have done it without you.
The Duke
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