Deadmau5 – Ghosts and Stuff

I found the tune!
didn’t think it was Deadmau5 himself but it is…Genius! like a gritty Justice

M83 Support Tour (San Francisco)

Arrived in San Francisco without too much trouble. found the hotel and pretty much passed out after eating a big KFC…(if anyone reads my twitter they’ll know it came with a ‘Biscuit’ i.e. a ‘Scone’. weird and random hey?!
anyhow. got up the next day and had two breakfasts in a place called Mel’s Drive In. Then waddled over to a Last.fm interview.
This was my last show with M83 and it was at The Mezzanine. A fantastic night was had by all I think. I certainly had a great time.
In fact the whole tour with M83 was awesome. firstly I got to see a band i genuinely love play six shows in a row. secondly i got to hang on their tour bus! (also first time on a tour bus)

I now have the last few American shows before me. The Troubadour in LA this evening…it’s on Santa Monica Boulevard. and i can’t say that street name without sounding like that Sheryl crow song!

Just been to Amoeba Music off Sunset Blvd and bought a huge stack of cds

Digitalism’s debut
Spank Rock – Yoyoyoyoyo
Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release
I Love Techno 2008 (mixed by Boys Noize)
Moderat new album
Simian Mobile Disco – Tits and Acid EP
Cassius – 99 (a classic)
Beast – (don’t really know why I bought this album…on first listen it doesn’t sound that good….the description was Electro + Hip Hop….tempting but unfulfilling)
and A-Trak’s Infinity + 1 Mix album (cos it features me on it!)

(to be continued)

M83 Support Tour (Portland to Seattle)

So after our pit stop in Redding we arrived in Portland, OR to play the Hawthorne Theatre.

The next day M83 were scheduled to play the world famous Sasquatch festival in the heart of Washington’s beautiful gorges. As this was effectively a day off for me and Paul we took in the sights and watched a few bands. Namely, The Walkman (who were amazing!), TV on the Radio (whose sound was less than amazing), obviously M83 (who in my unbiased opinion were on top form and gave a particularly special show. That’s when I took this first video.

Then it was the highlight of my day when I got the chance to see Deadmau5. Oh my lord was it brilliant. That’s where the second video comes in. I know the quality of these two videos is not great, but hopefully the mood of the what was going on translates. I haven’t felt this good at a dance gig than when I saw Justice at the mean-fiddler in London when they did their album launch party.

After the spectacle that is Deadmau5 it was time to get back on the bus for another night on the road. This time we awoke to find ourselves at the Canadian Border. An experience to say the least. for starters we arrived at the entry for cars instead of coaches. So we had to do a three point turn on the border, then head back into the land of the free for a few miles down the road where we would eventually join the (insanely) long queue to re-enter Canada. After three hours we got ushered on our way and into Vancouver. Now I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was surprised. It was so clean and spacious. I could understand why they have strict borders. I wouldn’t want to share Vancouver with just anyone.

The show was at Richards on Richards. The crowd were fantastic. It really felt like everyone was having a great time. there was even some impromptu dancing from Morgan on the stage speakers.

This was where (for a day or two) we would leave the company of M83 and the womb like sanctuary of their tour bus for a little road trip of our own.
I basically had a radio session with KEXP and an industry showcase for Play Network in Seattle the next day. The next morning we loaded up the hire car and with me behind the wheel having just inhaled my breakfast waffle we set off for the birthplace of Grunge.

I’d like to say the border crossing went smoothly but I’d be lying. we were pulled up for some random unexplained admin error and had to sort out some paper work in the border office. After telling us that it was because my visa wasn’t swiping. the guy manually entered it into the system, stamped our passports and then charged us some Yankee green for the pleasure!

We arrived at the Play Network showcase with minutes to spare and I got to work setting up. It was basically a show for the people that plug music to starbucks, gap and things like that. I did about four songs before heading off in the direction of KEXP.
It was a real pleasure to be asked to do a session for these guys as they’re rated very highly amongst true music fans.
The session was for the DJ Kevin Cole and it went without hitch…which was nice!
I quickly packed up after a ceremonial photograph and a free t-shirt (on behalf of the person sitting next to me on the plane I thank you).

So as I just mentioned I’m on a plane. San Francisco bound. where tomorrow I shall be rejoining my French compadres with our final show together at the mezzanine.

(to be continued)

M83 Support Tour (Solana Beach)

A few hours drive took us into Solana Beach. Lovely beach it is too. Not many convenience stores though…walked about half an hour looking for a shop to buy some shower gel from. in the end found a place but they only had a few bars of soap left. I know! I felt like i was in back to the future (the one where he actually goes back to the past).

(M83’s Soundman checking the system with Erland Oye)

So the gig was at a place called the Belly Up. I didn’t think my show was any good due to the fact that I’d developed a cold from the air conditioning on the tour bus. Spoke to some people at the end who seemed to enjoy it though!

We then had a big drive through the night to get to a place called Redding. We arrived at midday and oh my lord was it baking outside. I was already a little red from the ‘Shower Gel Trek’ so first thing I did was get some sun tan lotion. factor fifty…no messing about. As this was effectively a day off my soundman Paul and I decided to go watch a film. We settled on Star Trek which we thought was pretty good.

Next gig is the Hawthorne Theater in Portland, OR.

(to be continued)

DJ Set at Twisted Licks 10th June

Check this flyer out….my name should really not be that big…I’m not even playing…just djing! nd I can’t even beat match…but I’ll be playing some seriously hard things…building up to modeselektor, mr oizo, sebasitAn, Justice, Teenage Bad Girl, Sirusmo and maybe some Boys Noize if people haven’t left by then…
Rod Thomas is playing under his new guise “Bright Light Bright Light”

M83 Support Tour (Pomona via Bruges)

M83 soundchecking in Pomona, originally uploaded by jamesyuill.

So hello everyone. I’m on tour in the US with M83 at the moment. Risking my stomach contents by writing this whilst the tour bus is in motion.

It all started with a trip to Belgium. Actually this might work better in note form:

The date 18th May.
Rod Thomas and I left west London at 9am (driving)
Arrived at Bruges about 2pm
Played show
Left venue at 10.30pm
Arrived back in London 1am on the 19th
Rod drove me over to east London
I arrived at my girlfriends flat at 2.30am
Woke up 7.30am
9am put deposit down on trendy east London flat (more about that later)
Arrived back in west London 11am
Left for airport at 1.30pm
Flew to America at 4pm

We got to LA in the early evening of the 19th (i know…we gained 8hours…I felt like I’ve had three Tuesday the 19ths!). We had the night off before meeting up with M83 and their tour bus at 1pm the next day.
After driving for about an hour or so, we arrived at the venue for our first show. The Glasshouse in Pomona, CA.
I didn’t get time for a soundcheck as the were some technical difficulties with M83’s hardware. But thankfully all was sorted and they started letting people through the doors.
I went on stage a little after half eight and as I walked on I heard a few people mention my name to their friends (which was nice). I must say I wasn’t expecting many people to show up to my set, but was pleased to see almost 2/3s of the final crowd already in the house.
I think I could have played better, but I had some lovely comments from people after the show, so i guess it didn’t sound too bad!

More photos on my Flickr account…link should be on the right somewhere

(to be continued)

Patrick Wolf Remix

 

Patrick Wolf, originally uploaded by Dots, Lines, and Polygons.

Hello All

Here’s a link to my remix of Patrick Wolf’s new single Hard Times. I did it so long ago it’s going to be weird to hear it again…let’s listen shall we?

Patrick Wolf – Hard Times (James Yuill Remix)

it was posted on the Electroqueer blog:

Recommends #3: PLEASE DESCRIBE YOURSELF by DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOURSELF by DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. Genre: Indie Pop. Review: For people who like poppy choruses, XTC and Maximo Park

The Road

 

the road to zurich, originally uploaded by jamesyuill.

Hello friends,

I know I’ve been away for a while…and this blog is mostly about why. You see I’ve been travelling all over the place. Gigging. Not sure whether you could call it a world tour just yet, but it was pretty close.

So I’m now writing this blog on my first proper free day in what feels like ages. Yes. I have a cup of tea next to me, some rich tea biscuits to my right and Deadmau5 on the stereo. All the ingredients needed for an ‘admin’ day.

I would be doing music on a day like today but my mac book pro’s keyboard and trackpad have decided to pack up. In fact they stopped working in the sound-check for my Fabric show on the 1st May. Had to ad lib with an external usb mouse. Not a major disruption, but as i use all my usb ports for midi controllers it meant starting the set and then quickly swapping over the mouse for a controller…not ideal.

So here’s a list of all the places I’ve been. They’re not all the gigs I’ve done this year though. I’ve set this lot apart because they’re pretty much a straight run. A neat package if you will.

This is how my diary reads:

5th April – Fly to New York
6th April – Gig @ Mercury Lounge
7th April – Gig @ EMI Publishing’s Office (lunchtime)
Gig @ Coco 66, Brooklyn
8th April – Fly from New York to Los Angeles via San Francisco
9th April – Gig @ Nettwerk’s LA Office (6pm)
Gig @ Five Star Bar
10th April – Gig @ The Echo
11th April – Gig @ KCRW Radioactive @ Park Plaza Hotel
12th April – Fly back to London
13th April – Arrive back in London
14th April – DAY OFF
15th April – Fly to Paris
Gig @ Cafe De La Danse, Paris
16th April – Fly to Dusseldorf
Gig @ Gebaude 9, Cologne
17th April – Gig @ Glanz Und Gloria, Osnabruck
18th April – Gig @ The Tower, Bremen
19th April – Gig @ Prinzenbar, Hamburg
20th April – Gig @ Cafe Central, Weinheim
21st April – Acoustic Radio Session for Radio Eins
Acoustic Radio Session for Ego FM
PhotoShoot (can’t remember who for!)
Gig @ Atomic Cafe, Munich
22nd April – Acoustic Radio Session
Gig @ Live At Dot, Berlin
23rd April – Fly back to London.
Gig @ Hoxton Bar and Kitchen with Phoenix (they cancelled just before I sound-checked.)
24th April – Gig @ Camden Crawl @ Enterprise
25th April – Lauren Lavern Session for 6Music
Gig @ Camden Crawl @ The Electric Ballroom
26th April – Fly to Geneva, Switzerland
Gig @ Blue Lezard, Lausanne
27th April – Gig @ Abart, Zurich
28th April – Fly back to London
29th April – DAY OFF
30th April – Fly to Amsterdam, Holland
Gig @ Paradiso
1st May – Fly back to London
Gig @ Fabric
2nd May – Gig @ Live At Leeds

And that brings us up to date. I think the most amazing place I’ve been to recently has got to be Lausanne in Switzerland. It’s absolutely stunning. We drove from Geneva airport to venue and then the next day to Zurich and the scenery was so beautiful.

I must admit I was shattered last night, but that was mainly because I’d driven the round trip up to leeds and back…about 8 and a bit hours on the road.

Off to Sweden and Norway on the 6th. This is how the future runs:

6th May – Gig @ Babel, Malmo, Sweden
7th May – Gig @ Garage, Oslo, Norway
8th May – Gig @ Vasagatan 43, Gothenburg, Sweden
9th May – Gig @ Debaser Slussen, Stockholm, Sweden
14th May – Gig @ The Lexington (Special night with my friends)
15th May – Gig @ The Great Escape @ Audio, Brighton (lunchtime)
Gig @ The Great Escape @ Po Na Na, Brighton (evening)
18th May – Gig @ Cactus Club, Brugge, Belgium
20th May – Gig @ The Glass House, Pomona, CA (Supporting M83)
21st May – Gig @ Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA (Supporting M83)
23rd May – Gig @ Hawthorne Theatre, Portland, OR (Supporting M83)
25th May – Gig @ Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC (Supporting M83)
27th May – Gig @ Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA (Supporting M83)

Yeah…M83! I can’t wait. (if people don’t have their recent album Saturdays = Youth, you should go out and get it. It’s brilliant.)