Andy: White Light, family breakdown and air steward MAD Date added: 23.08.2010 We had 3 days to record White Light (the festival versions of Black Light songs), add a couple of new tunes into the live set, and transfer everything on to the gear that we'd take everywhere from Perth to Brixton in the remainder of the year. As always, it got done, but any sleeping was done with one eye on the computer screen. By Friday the sessions sounded brilliant, and the gear was heading to Ibiza for the live gig at Space on Sunday. But before taking on GA's second live Ibiza appearance, we had a DJ set to do at Ministry of Sound on the Saturday night. Due in to London from France at 10.30pm, I fixed up plans for a few beers between arrival and the DJ booth at 2.30am. I'd been looking forward to a couple of social hours all week. So when EasyJet finally admitted, at 10.30pm, the plane hadn't left London yet, it was a blow. We all hung around as the last flights left, the airport lights got turned off, and the cleaners came in. I was showing a few over-tired kids how to make a tune on my laptop. One of them stopped mid mix and asked me if I was "poor, rich or comfortable". Me and a two child family were the last to leave for the gate. The plane still hadn't even arrived, but the passport control man had gone. The barrier was closed. There was noone around. I sized things up, and reckoned that at a push I could climb it. Then the mum of the family started screaming. "Help us, somebody help us, for godsake help us". The husband was going for it under-his-breath. "For f**k's sake shut up woman, jesus shut up, christ woman..." At that point I spotted a disabled toilet, and having arrived on late planes and got changed into stage gear in plenty of them over the years, it occurred to me to go in there and pull the emergency chord. This got us a night watchman, and eventually a man with a key for the barriers. As we walked up to the gate, the husband pulled me to one side. "Jesus", he said, "welcome to my f**king life". Five minutes later, I found him sobbing in the toilets. Finally arrived at Gatwick at 1.40am. Set time was 2.30am. I told the cab driver I'd pay his speeding fines if he got me there in time. We arrived at 2.27am and it cost me a £60 penalty payment. The Ministry booth is maybe the best in the world. Lovebox Allstar Adrian made it better still by constructing a small bar in the corner and having a cold one ready and waiting. Got back to Tom's house around 6. Set the alarm for 9, and headed for Ibiza. We'd been working with Sam the Scientist Soundman, stage manager Tec, the Space guys and Ibiza legend Simeon "The Shop" Friend, to sort out the sound in the Discoteca for the last few weeks. It's a DJ setup in there and we had to bring in bits and pieces of drapes and panels from Barcelona to try and get the acoustics ready for a drum kit and band going at full tilt. The soundcheck proved that it had been a good move. Post soundcheck, a few hours were spent working with Tour Managers Jamie and Jo making sure that mates got  in, and in trying to find the bloke who'd double parked behind the band bus. Miami Dave, who knows a thing or two, predicted that 'half the island' was coming. There was only half an hour left for a few looseners at Nick and Bev's legendary Rock Bar. 2am arrived. The curtain went up. For only the second time GA was live in Ibiza. People were hanging off speakers, standing 2 deep on the bars, packed so close to the high stage that all they could see were shoes. The new tunes in the set were large. A girl at the front shouted "Groove Armada we f**king love you" between every song. Can't argue with that. Came offstage around 4am. We were leaving at 9am. Some people squeezed in a shower before departure, some didn't. Great bit of Spanish radio on the way to the airport. They played the Smiths, then Coldplay, The presenter said, "The Smiths and Panic and now playing, Cold Play with Don't Panic. It's competition time. Caller on line one. Hello?" "Hello?" "Let's play! What is today's link? Any ideas?" "The Smith's song was called Panic. The Coldplay song was called Don't Panic" (EXPLOSION) "Yeeeeeeees! Correct!! You Win Today's What Is The Link!!!" (APPLAUSE) Getting off the plane in the UK, MAD lined up with the air stewardesses, swaying gently in his shades as he said goodbye to the passengers. Andy Cato

Andy: South by Sudoeste, flamenco and onstage repairs Date added: 20.08.2010 When you get off the plane en route to Sudoeste festival, you're not even halfway there. From Lisbon airport, it's a 3 hours drive if you get your foot down.   Most of the trip is through beautiful countryside, though the driver told us it was the poorest area in Portugal. When the sky turns yellow, you're getting closer. There's an enormous power plant about 30 miles from the festival.   The driver was a local, and a surfer, so knew his beaches. We stopped off for a cold beer at a cliff top wooden shack, looking down on a man who was circling the beach on a sit-on cigarette butt picker. He had a long way to go.   The Flaming Lips were playing when we arrived. The singer would strum a couple of chords, stop, and say "I could be a.....bus",  then the drummer would make the sound of a bus. This went on for a long time and covered everything from wind to chainsaws. "Come on Portugal, you can do this", said the singer.   Everything on the Flaming Lips stage is orange, even the guitar cables. They also have a team of orange boys and orange girls on each side of the stage - audience volunteers who get given the costumes. A couple of the girls were having a sit down.   After the Lips it was MIA. The second half hour was anyway. The first half hour was her DJ and a lot of anticipation.   We had to wait until 2am before stage time. Fine when you're DJing, more tricky when it's a live thing and you have to keep yourself fully intact.   Slightly tired crowd after a 40 degree day, but a good gig. By the time we finished, there were the beginnings of daybreak.   Another 2 hours in the van to get back to Faro.  A brilliant Portugese radio station played top drawer late night house music.  I was in the back with MAD, who was MCing about carbon fibre hyphens, waxworks etc. He broke off mid flow when the car in front veered left, then flew off to the right, over the barrier and into the field. We called an ambulance.   3 hours at the hotel before leaving for the airport. It was one of those red-eyed morning check-in moments when families are coming downstairs while you're bringing in the last few drinks and remainder of the ice.   At the airport, the time came for me and tom to say goodbye to the band and catch a plane for a DJ gig with Carl Cox in Mallorca. On arrival we were taken to one of those fashionably clean and pristine hotels where everything is white, even the receptionist's nail varnish. We'd been invited to have some dinner there, but we legged it in favour of finding something less white and more local. This backfired a bit when a nice tapas and cold beer experience was hijacked by a flamenco guitar player who came out of nowhere and hemmed us in the corner.   Being used to Ibiza where everything is about 15 minutes away, it was a surprise to find that the gig was an hour's drive up the motorway. We checked some tunes on the way there, but someone had blown the van's bass bins so it was hard to make many decisions. As we approached, it seemed they'd decided to put the party in the most tightly residential spot in Mallorca.   In a maze of arrow suburban streets, cars were parked all over pavements, gardens, anywhere. Around each car were 4 or 5 ravers with the stereo on and a lot of drink disguised as fanta. In the middle of all this was the car park where they'd end up later.   How they got away with street parties and two massive PA systems became clear when the bloke onstage who was loving it was introduced to me as the mayor.   The first hour of our set involved keeping the music going whilst finding and rewiring all the problems in the DJ booth. Just about nothing was working, and a lot of shoulders were being shrugged. I had one hand on the tune, one hand round the back of the mixer, trying to look completely in control for the in-booth cameras beaming my face up onto the big screen whilst shouting instructions to the engineer who couldn't hear a word I was saying.   Once it was all repaired, the second hour was good.   Finished around 5, and called in on El Divino on the way back just to make sure it was rubbish and about to close, which it was.   Later that morning, a man in white came to my door and asked me very quietly to leave asap. New guests needed to get in etc.   We met up with Mark - the fella whose flat featured on the cover of the Vertigo album, who's now in Mallorca designing gardens using wheat and mirrors.   Headed up north through million pound expat houses in olive groves to a tiny restaurant hanging on the edge of a cliff and had some tasty food amongst lots of people who were 'in software', or otherwise rich enough to wear jumpers round their shoulders and pastel coloured trousers.   Short flight to Barcelona.   Setup at the hotel to download some new tunes, but the connection said it was going to take 3 1/2 days per track. A couple of friends in town gave me the key to their flat right in the middle of the gothic quarter. The flats there are small, hot, and generally a long way up with no lift. This was all of those, with a special trick to opening the door - a hard punch up and right from the doorbell. After a couple of sweaty hours in there getting the music together, I realised I'd forgotten to ask the trick for getting out. The door was unmoveable. I went for the brute force option, which meant that when it finally opened I flew backwards until my head hit the electricity meter.   Got some late night food with a family alongside whose young daughters were striking shampoo ad poses in front of the the restaurant's fan.   This event was meant to be a festival for 10,000 people. But two days beforehand, they council had taken the license away. So they did 9,000 refunds, and transferred the final 1,000 to one of the 5 or 6 horrible nightclubs near the beach in Barca that try and be like Ibiza.   We went on after Chucky, who we last saw throwing 20 dollar bills out of a DJ booth in Vegas shouting "pick em up bitches". This time he was shouting "Barcelona put your motherf***cking hands in the air" which, given the tune he was playing at the time, was asking a lot.   As soon as we went on it became clear that the 1000 people who'd refused the refund were Paul Van Dyk fans. We kept it as banging as the soundsystem would let us.   We headed up to Placa Real with a couple of local friends, to a great speak-easy bar. It's actually someone's flat, and how he it gets away with isn't clear. But it's been open for years, and apart from the fact you can't breathe and there's one loo between 300 people, it's a top spot.   By lunchtime I was back home in France. A couple of hours later, an enormous 50 ton Stage Truck, complete with rock n roll lightning flash down the side, was getting a few glances from the farmers as it drove across my lawn. It was time to load in for the White Light recording sessions.   Andy Cato

GA Blog 57: Tom - Four fests / the My Friend woman Date added: 19.08.2010 Hello Tom, how are you? Very well thank you. I’m at home, getting ready for our run of shows this weekend.   Four festival shows in four nights. Yeah. From a live band’s point of view, it’s always nice to get a bit of a run. Like we did Ibiza last weekend and then you sit around stewing for four days about how it could’ve been better. So it’s nice to get in there and do a few in a row.   Do you always come away from gigs thinking about what improvements you could’ve made? No, not always. But you tend to get in different phases with it. LIke Glastonbury was amazing, but actually it was pretty loose compared to where we are now. We went away last week and tweaked a few things, so I’m pretty sure that one of these four gigs is going to give me a complete sense of satisfaction.   And you’re no longer playing before Cheryl Cole at V Festival. That’s right. We’re headlining the JJB Arena now. So, when it all comes down to it, we’ve been the beneficiaries of her mosquito bite. Obviously I hope she gets better soon, but I’m very excited that we’re headlining.   You’re now up against Kings of Leon, David Guetta and The Charlatans. Well that’s all fine. Kings of Leon are different from us in quite a big way and although Guetta is in the same ballpark, it’s a big event and I’m sure there’ll be enough people to go round.   And you’re on after Chase and Status, so there’ll be a dancey crowd there. Yeah, and they’re great. They were fantastic at Lovebox and I look forward to seeing them again.   Were you pleased with how this year’s Lovebox festival went? Yeah, by all accounts it was amazing. Sunday in particular was incredible. The vision of our pink day was realised exactly how we wanted it.   How were ticket sales? Really good. That’s two years in a row in which we’ve made a very small profit, which is fantastic. The Friday is a work in progress, reaching out to a slightly younger crowd, but I think that’s something we’re going to stick to. We’re already thinking about 2011.   Our highlight was stumbling into a tent where a brass band were playing kids’ TV theme tunes. It properly went off. Great! I have no idea who does all those little tents, but they’re doing a really good job.   So, how was the live show in Ibiza last weekend? It was good. I think Ibiza is still educating itself in live bands, because people are still reared on beats there, but I really enjoyed the experience. And it went way better than I thought it would, considering you’re not playing to a gig-going crowd. I think it’s a good thing that more and more people are bringing live music onto the island.   And you spent last week recording White Light. We did. We’re not sure what the plan with it is, but we got it all down in Andy’s place last week, while drinking plenty of Armagnac. It was lots of fun and it sounds really good. We really want it to capture the spirit of the show, so hopefully we can get it mixed down pretty quickly and then get it out there. We don’t really know what the plan is, but I’d like to think that by the time we head to Australia for Parklife, it’ll be available in some shape or form.   Are you happy with it? Yeah, I think it’s gonna be cool. We didn’t do all the tracks from Black Light - because we don’t do them all live - so it might be a little short. But we can always bump it up with some children’s theme tunes on brass. I think we could nail that. In fact, maybe we should shelve the whole White Light project and do that instead.   You’ve just announced gigs in Russia and the Ukraine. That’s right. I’m not quite sure what the situation is with the toxic clouds in Moscow. But it should be fun.   On the ticket page for the Moscow show, they’ve embedded the My Friend video. Oh, have they?   They have indeed. Now, what do you think the heroine of that video is up to now? We know she got back to work from her holiday and didn’t like it. Then, at the end, we see her sitting on the bus sobbing. Well, I hope she’s happy. I don’t think she stayed in the job. I think she’s probably working as a yoga teacher now. She’s definitely got that side to her.   Absolutely. She was never happy in the 9 to 5. No, she wasn’t. I wonder if she still likes singing My Friend with her friends. Maybe not.   Do you like that video? Well, in a way it was a pretty awful video, but it’s by far the most-watched video of all ours. Probably because it’s got three attractive young women in it.   And it has quite a strong story line. I suppose so, yes. Looking back, it’s slightly cheesy, but there’s a nice sentiment attached to it. I think a lot of people can identify with that post-holiday feeling. I get it pretty much every Tuesday at the moment. But then I’ve always got another weekend to look forward to.   Plus, you don’t have photocopying duties. Exactly.   So, Cambridge United’s season has begun. Yeah, it’s been OK. We lost away at Wrexham on the first day - but they’re going to be up there - and then we drew with “big-spending” Crawley Town, which was a good result. I’m predicting we’ll finish in the play-offs this year. I’m actually going to take my little boy to his first Cambridge United game soon. Possibly with a blindfold in case it gets too bad.   How has Ibiza been this summer? It’s been good. I get the sense there’s a bit of renewal going on there. There’s a Thursday night at Space called Together which plays Friendly Fires, Chase and Status and that sort of thing. That’s going down really well. And then We Love that we’ve been doing on Sundays has been going great. And Luciano is doing really well at Pacha, which proves there’s an interest in the new wave of house jocks. There’s a lot of really interesting bars opening up too. I’ve had a really good vibe about it every time I’ve been out there this summer. There’s still a bit of magic about that place.   Finally, we asked Andy in the last blog chat for his Top 3 Ibiza tips for anyone who’s never been before. What are yours? OK, well, I think the place is absolutely preposterous, but you’ve got to go to the Blue Marlin, which is the real playground of the yacht-y people. It’s incredibly wrong, but almost so much so that it’s right. So Sunday there is pretty extraordinary. I also kind of love Es Torrent which is this amazing restaurant that Andy’s turned me onto. It’s a lovely place to go for a long afternoon meal. And I would say DC10 on a Monday is worth a go. In fact, if you’ve got the stamina, come and see us at We Love on a Sunday and then roll right into DC10 on a Monday. Make a proper weekend of it. Fun, if slightly exhausting.

Andy: White Light is in the can... Date added: 14.08.2010 Four 24 hour days in the studio later, and it's in the can. The full team were in to record the White Light session - the live and large versions of Black Light songs we've been playing at festivals this summer. Expect the mixed down White Light experience soon. Ideas were flowing. History, Go, Not Forgotten, Look Me In the Eye Sister, Superstylin got even larger. And there's a house classic take on My Friend which you'll hear first when we take to the stage in Space Ibiza this Sunday for a one off live gig on the white isle. Otherwise, see you at Puklepop, Lowlands or the 2 V's next week. It's sounding family sized. WHITE LIGHT Portugal Live last Thursday - straight to the airport to DJ with Carl Cox in Mallorca on Friday, then down to Barcelona for another DJ set on Saturday night. 5 minutes after I got home on Sunday, there was a truck crossing the lawn and it was time for the White Light 3 dayer... A bit of help during the final stages...... Full blog update of last weekend coming soon. Including MAD's Carbon Fiber Hyphens, car crashes and the mysteries of Paul Van Dyk.

GA Blog 56: Andy - Week off / Ibiza tips Date added: 05.08.2010 Hi Andy, how are you? Good, thanks. Just coming to the end of a week's holiday. What did you do with it? Not a lot really. We've been up in Norfolk. But I've got quite a tan. The weather's been good. Did you do anything music-related during your week off? No. I managed to ignore the computer all week, but I'm just looking now. Since I last looked 10 days ago, 634 promos have come in, digitally. So I've got a bit of listening to do before Ibiza this weekend. How conscientious are you at getting through it? Well, you've got to be really. You never know where the belters will be. Most of it is anonymous, so the only way to find out if it's good is to go through it. But the DJ sets are rocking at the moment, so it's all worth it. And you'd had a busy few weeks until your week off. We certainly had. I'm trying to remember what we did. Well, Lovebox happened, although you weren't actually there. Have you heard good reports? I've heard great reports, actually. The Saturday was a bit of a classic by all accounts. The vibe on site was apparently amazing. I've seen a lot of photographs. There just seems to be a level of enjoyment amongst everyone that I just don't see at other festivals. And I hear Sunday was a real triumph as well. We'll definitely look at doing something similar to that next year. Did it feel weird not being there? It felt very weird. Not least because it's always just a really good chance to see friends, given that we spend so much time all over the place. But I was up a Swiss mountain at the time. It's like organising a party and then not going to it. I know. It felt like not going to your 21st. But that was a good weekend for the band. We did the Melt festival in Germany, which has the most incredible site. They have five absolutely huge Mad Max-style super structure cranes from the 1930s or something, that surround the site. And they have bars on the top of them, where you're like 300 feet up, with lasers bouncing between them. It gives the site a totally unique and pretty mental feel. How was the show? Well, we've never had a record label in Germany, so I think this was only our second ever festival booking in Germany ever. The only other one was in our first year at Rock AM Ring. So, we were playing in this little tent to one side of the main stage, but it was an absolute triumph. The tent filled up and it was just great playing on that kind of small level cos the band is cooking at the minute. It absolutely went off, even though 90% of the people in there probably didn't know 90% of the tunes. It was a really great gig - which made the 18 hours arriving there from Hungary and the 18 hours travelling the next day feel almost worth it! And you're playing the new White Light show everywhere? That's right, yeah. As always, it's getting slightly better with every gig. But this is the show that we launched at Glastonbury. Are you still thinking of releasing White Light as an album? We are. We're going to Ibiza this weekend and then the Chateau Cato sessions recommence in the first week of August. That's where we're going to lay the recordings down and make a few more adjustments before the final run of gigs, which start with the live show at Space on August 15th. No rest for the GA massive! Weren't you in Ibiza last weekend too? Yeah, we did another Space Terrace session. It's just kicking actually. We've got everything right there. We've worked hard on the lighting and the vibe of the room, getting that exactly like we want it. And that's made a really big difference. A lot of people were saying after the last one that they've not seen it go off like that since the roof went back on the Terrace. So it was a big day for us. And now we're working hard on making sure the live gig there is as special as it can possibly be. When do you think this White Light release would be? I think pretty soon. The idea is to record it in that first week or two in August and then try to mix it down as quickly as possible. We don't want to get too precious about it. We just want to keep the vibe that's going on stage, because that's what we're excited about. Then we'll try and get it out - however it's gonna come out - in time for the Park Life festival in Australia and the UK tour. So within a few weeks, really. Could you just record it live? Well that's an option, but we can't do that at a festival, because you can't set up properly to do that. We are going to record gigs in the UK - particularly the two shows at Brixton - but that's too late for what we want to do with it. So, we are going to record it live, but in my studio. You've never released a live record, have you? No, we went to great lengths to record a show at Brixton years ago - which we should actually get out there, because it's the one where we had Richie Havens and he came back on to do Going Back To My Roots as an encore. But it was the same old major label stuff where it takes so long that by the time it's ready to go, it's not worth it. But you've still get the recordings? We have, yeah. But White Light is the priority for now. Meanwhile, History is the next single from Black Light. Yes, as much as anything is a single these days! I think the guys over in the States have done various remixes and we've got a great idea of how to work a new version of that into the live set. Are you making a video for it? There is going to be a video, in that way these days where incredibly talented people basically do really clever things for no money. In the hope that Kanye West picks them for his next video. Haha! I guess that's pretty much the only prize in the locker these days. It's funny to think that the first Groove Armada video budgets were the size that films get made for now! Those days are definitely long gone. But the videos they're making now for 50p are so much better than the ones that cost £500,000. Money doesn't buy you creativity, that's for sure. And I Won't Kneel is up for the Popjustice Music Prize. Oh is it? I didn't know that. It is indeed. So it's officially one of the 12 best pop singles of the year. So it should be. It's a cracking song. Do you think you can win? I don't know. It'd be nice to win a prize, but we've got some anthems on the go at the minute - Paper Romance is right up there with Superstylin now - and there's no prize quite like 20,000 people with their arms in the air. You can apply to be a judge for the Popjustice prize. Maybe you could email in. Haha! That would be the quickest way to sort it out. I would definitely be the tallest man on the panel, which must count for something. So, you've played some pretty obscure countries in the last couple of months. Do they seem to know the songs? Hungary was definitely an odd one, where we were on the same bill as Slipknot and Metallica tribute bands. It did feel a bit like an hour-long conversion course into dance music. But it was a conversion course that people were into, so that was fine. But Germany and Poland were brilliant. They've all been great, actually. From Glastonbury onwards, they've all been fab. In fact, Bulgaria - which was just before Glastonbury - was great too. This new set just works. And how is Ibiza looking this summer? It's busy. I think there's a lot more free stuff going on in small bars and clubs. It's like London really. And our experience of the big clubs so far is that it's going off. I'm looking forward to our first trip to Wonderland and seeing Pete. The atmosphere in there last year was electric. For anyone who hasn't been to Ibiza before, but is going this summer, tell us three things they should definitely do. OK, three things you should do would be: 1. Go and see my friend Nick at the Rock Bar, because you'll have a good time. 2. Go to Space on Sundays because it's definitely got its legendary status fully restored. 3. Go to Cocoon at Amnesia on a Monday. That's a brilliant party, with Sven Vath and his mates. 4. And even though this is a fourth tip, go and see the brothers and their dad Xavier at Mambo at Sunset, because they're just lovely people and they make a fine cocktail.

Andy: Giant Mosquitoes, Mad Max, Heidi and The Terrace Date added: 31.07.2010 Hungary got off to a bad start. I met up with the band in the bar at Budapest airport, and Tour Manager Jamie was looking pale. We had 4 hours until we were onstage, a 3 hour drive to get there, there was no sign of the bus and the driver's mobile was switched off. Nothing for most of us to do except have a few beers. Jamie meanwhile got his hands on a little car and sent off as many of the crew as would fit to get down there and begin setting up the gear 45 minutes later, the bus came out of the sunlight. The problem had been a broken fanbelt and a driver who'd forgotten to active his overseas roaming. Long drive, only broken by the kind of sausages you can only get away with selling when there's one motorway service station every 200 miles. Rolled into the festival site pretty tight for time. It looked lovely, right by the Danube in the middle of a forest. It wasn't until we got inside the shipping container/dressing room that we clocked the 50p size mosquitoes. Everywhere. Dinner was some chicken breasts with melted cheese on top that had been prepared a week or so beforehand. The lineup contained some of the finest names to feature on a festival bill. Slipchaos (Slipknot tribute), Alchoholika (Metalika) and ABCD (you can guess). Not a natural GA headline slot, but the new live show proved it can even bring a Slipchaos fan onboard. It was tough during the gig to watch your blood being sucked whilst being unable to stop and do anything about it. These mosquitos thought Jungle Fever smelt like perfume. Back on the bus for a 15 hour run down to Berlin. Fell asleep for a bit in a bunk which runs across the front window. The upside is extra legroom. Downside is ending up a couple of miles down the hard shoulder if anything goes wrong. Pulled back the curtain in the morning and it took me a while to work out where I was and what was happening. View from the front bunk friday morning. Spent the day on the bus. People came and went from the bunks. Food was scarce, especially for the vegetarians. Truckstop Hungary-Berlin Arrived at Melt festival in the blazing heat. Even tour manager Jamie got his top off. Mad Max type setting with huge cranes encircling the site. There's nothing like a shower that works when you've been on a bus for 18 hours. Did a couple of interviews in an unventilated press bunker where temperatures hit 49 degrees. Back to the shower. Site became amazing with darkness. It was access all areas on the cranes. Most had bars on the top. Saw the end of Delphic who were playing before us. They were all wearing stag-do T shirts with their initials on. Was it a dare? Nervous pre gig. We've never had a record label in Germany, so the first question was, would anybody come? But they did, all the way out of the back of the tent and up the grass banking behind. Great to play a small gig, with the band right in people's faces. Vibe on stage was electric. A lot of New Moves being thrown. In a rock n roll style....Melt Had a chat with Berlin locals Booka Shade who we remixed recently. Went up and down some cranes. A few waifs, strays and strangers ended up in the dressing room, mainly gathered around MAD who had switched into his late-night language that only certain people can understand. Back on the bus for another 10 hours to Zurich. Snaked up a mountain pass, through Heidi style homes and cows with bells on. At the top of it all was a massive natural amphitheatre surrounding the main stage. Our dressing room was right up in there in the Portakabins-With-The-Best-View chart. View from the Portakabin, Gurten Fest. In a tiny tent, a couple of local boys cooked up some great food. Only spoilt by a group of Spanish lads next door reenacting a table-football version of the world cup final. A couple of our team tried switching tables and ordering dinner again. It had been a few days since a decent meal. But the waitress clocked it and they were evicted. 30,000 people gathered on the hillside in front of the stage. The rain stopped. It kicked off. Post gig, I had an hour to approve tracks for TV broadcast, so sat down with a drink and watched the whole gig again. A car waited for the 'hour or so' trip to Zurich airport. 3 hours later, arrived at Zurich airport. Just enough time for a shower, before beginning the journey to Space, Ibiza. First stop Palma. The plane departed late as normal, then the bus drivers at the other end had to finish their tea break etc etc. Eventually got into Palma airport with 15 minutes to go before the connecting flight to Ibiza was leaving. There's nothing like those cross-terminal sprints after a few days of no sleep and a month's worth of gear in your bag. Made it to the gate. The flight was cancelled. Swore a bit, then went off to the other terminal and found another airline with a departure in an hour or so. It was one of those walk-across-the-tarmac boarding procedures. People settled in to their seats, the Ibizan cold lager was within reach, the stewardess got on the mic. "welcome aboard flight....blah..blah....to...Valencia". Uproar. At least half the plane thought they were heading to Ibiza, and made a run for the door. Back on the tarmac, it turned out that the Ibiza plane was parked round the back but noone had mentioned it or looked at anyone's boarding pass. Met up with friends at Es Torrent on the southern coast of Ibiza. Everything became worth it. It's one of the world's finest places. Another massive night at Space. It was said that it hasn't gone off like that since the roof went on the terrace. A big team of friends and family were out and about, so the night went on a bit. Old mate Simeon was left heading straight for work at 10am with a half finished White Russian. I had a day off, and after adjusting to the fact that I didn't have a boarding pass in my pocket, headed north with Jo (wife) into the Ibizan hills. Just heard that Manchester Academy has already sold out for the October tour. The new set in that venue; a Manchester crowd up for it enough to buy every ticket 3 months in advance - it's going to be a big one. Onwards and Upwards Andy

Andy: Rain, Grace Jones and meat vans Date added: 23.07.2010 Flight to Poland uneventful, which was an event in itself. Couple of hours late here and there, but nothing to report. Drove past Lech Walesa's boatyards. Other than that, it was one of those long silent journeys where short of drawing pictures and showing them to the driver, no conversation is possible. Last time we played this festival, rain was horizontal. It's a world war 2 airfield right on the Baltic, so aside from a couple of emergency bunkers there's no cover. An unexpected surprise to walk into the catering tent and find a genuine Japanese Sushi chef, candles burning and some nice bottles of wine on the table. Pearl Jam were on before us so went to have a listen. Half a tune later, it was off to see Yeasayer who have transformed their live set in the last 6 months and were brilliant. Interview question of the day went to the polish TV girl who asked me "what is your length?"   No rain for the gig this time and the crowd was massive - Glastonbury main stage massive. About 60,000 people went back into the darkness. The new live set didn't disappoint. Crowd surfers got dumped up front every few seconds. Hung around in a military bunker for a bit afterwards, where a couple of DJs were backed up by male and female Divas who told us to 'Reach Out' again and again. Back at the hotel, the bar was still open. I went to get one in for the road. A stylish woman in a flat cap said Hi and offered her hand. Having just been to the loo and washed mine, it was one of those tricky ones where you either start lengthy explanations or offer a wet handshake. I went for the damp option, and it was at that moment I realised it was Grace Jones. We moved on from there, but she was much keener on Tour Manageress Jo anyway. A few hours later I made my way back home via Munich, where I tried to find the driver who'd locked me in his bus a couple of weeks ago. I didn't, but I will. Home in the South West of France it was baking. In the garden I've got a bit of veg on the go. Around the veg I planted some wheat. Enough, in theory, to make a year's worth of bread. It had grown pretty well, and it had to be cut now - it was dry and rain was due before I'd be back from the next set of gigs. So I went to ask my neighbour if I could borrow his scythe. He found it, sharpened it, and told me that he last took it out of the cupboard in 1954. He showed me how to use it, and the old magic was still there. A couple of rows in, he handed it over and left me to it. By hand, with no machinery to dry it, you have to get the wheat in in full heat. 36 degrees in this case. Luckily, friends were staying, Bec and Rich, and Rich is no stranger to hard work. It was seven hours of labour, me cutting and Rich tying it into those bundles that you see stacked up in the fields in old pub photos. Friday Poland Saturday France Next morning I took the scythe back and made my way to Dublin for the Oxegen festival. Puncherstown Racecourse is the exact spot. The rain in Ireland was astonishing. A freezing cold monsoon. We went straight in to a lot of Radio interviews. Just running between their caravans made it look like you'd had a fully clothed relax in the bath. Normally we play in the Dance Tent, and it's always kicked off. This time, we were playing outside in the downpour, with Goldfrapp under cover and Jay Z on at the same time. But the Irish aren't afraid of a bit of rain, and sea of waterproofs gathered in front of the stage. Banner of the day was a mobile phone number and, underneath, "band members only". A couple of hours in an airport hotel later it was back to France. The band were heading for a day off in Scotland pre T in the Park. But there was an invite back home to the neighbours' wedding, an invite you can't turn down if you want to avoid being Les Anglais all alone up on the hill. I live a long way from anywhere. But the girl getting married was somehow best friends with the top male dancer from the Parisian Ballet. It was an odd scene after the wedding dinner, when a semi-circle of farmers gathered around a wafer thin dancer, trousers half way up his chest and half way down his shiny ankle boots, watching him work through a ten minute Ballet Flamenco. Local guests had agreed to help out by putting people up.The Dancer was with me. He didn't fancy the walk home in the dark so I borrowed my friends van who was doing the cooking. To pick up all the meat for the wedding, he'd done a last minute conversion to make the van refrigerated. Problem was that he hadn't had time to fit a partition between the back and the cabin, meaning that the windscreen was iced over. Less than 24 hours after Superstlylin finished in Dublin, I was driving home hanging out of the window of a meat van whilst the star of the parisian ballet rehearsed his Mikado. It was a tired trip to Edinburgh the next morning. I wasn't alone. I arrived at the GA portakabin to find the whole band asleep on towels. The night off in Edinburgh had obviously been busy. Our old mate Cyrus had been the host. He's not known for an early finish. Once again the weather wasn't ideal, with a howling wind blowing across the site. We were playing outside here as well, with a set time that coincided with the world cup final. But once again the crowd gathered in the wind and rain, and did us proud. A fair bit of beer came on stage, as is the way at T in the Park, but the left-right wind meant the front row got the worst of it.   It was an afterparty back in the portakabin until the tour buses were allowed to move offsite at 1.30am. The idea is to stop drunken campers getting run over by giving them time to get out first. MAD was in full flow until Tour Manageress Jo but some electric tape over his mouth. He took it off and carried on, but then realised it was for the best and put it back again. A couple of members of Madness jumped on the bus home and managed to keep talking for 9 hours. Currently en route to Hegyalja Fest in Hungary. Saint Saviour is practicing with her new onstage torch. We've been driving a while, and are going on directions provided by Motorhead's truck driver. MAD is back. He just woke up and came down talking about soundsytems in foreign tongues. Andy Cato

SaintSaviour: ‘A breath of fresh Eire – boom boom!’ Date added: 11.07.2010 Touch down in Dublin and are ushered into a black Range Rover (laser dude Ryan's fave car) which catapults us towards the Oxegen site at roughly the speed of sound. Not what you need if you have issues like, ooh, er, a sense of mortality....i.e. you’re not Keith Richards. After about 2 minutes of this, we began noting with much hilarity, how the trees along the way all seemed to be leaning over. Wonder why that is, we thought... Aaah, now we see, it's that driving, horizontal rain and gale force winds. Oh. Dear. I was just able to make out a crudely hand written sign taped to a roundabout barrier which said 'this way to Oxegen, don't forget your wellies - LOL!'. Here we go again, I thought, in my sleeveless top, looking at Tom in his Havanianas. Oh. Dear. The weather was downcast, the people backstage were downcast, even Jay Z with his mobile multimedia wall he installs in dressing rooms, complete with outrageous TV, games consoles and ice machine, was downcast. Some people have to make do with a cheap wheelie suitcase and a Tesco carrier bag mate. We arrived at the (waterlogged) stage to look out at a sea of exactly 75 people and turned to each other for support. Andy didn’t even feel like giving his trombone a warm-up toot. Tom just went very quiet. My rainbow costume made me look like Elton John on Ecstasy, trying to put a vibe out in Basingstoke town centre. “Don’t worry!” I said to the guys, “this could be AMAZING!” How they laughed. Anyhoo, what we were to learn a few minutes later, is that Dubliners don’t give two hoots about a bit of rain, they were just all in the bar, and as soon as ‘Song For Mutya’ kicked in, we had a massive crowd of terribly enthusiastic kids in pink raincoats singing that bloody awful whistling song along to every tune. Like all good women, I was RIGHT! It WAS amazing! I had the best fun ever, although I wasn’t getting wet, well apart from sweating quite a bit under my comedy costume, but YAY! Thanks Dublin xxx

SaintSaviour: Gdansk! G’boogie wonderlaa-and! Date added: 05.07.2010 Ok we’ve just been to Gdynia to play at the Open’er festival, and all anyone can do right now, to block out the pain and suffering of the day's delayed flights, bomb disposal explosions, security threats and peeing pants in public is to come up with any song with the word ‘dance’ and substitute it with ‘Gdansk’. My current favourite is ‘Private Gdansker’ but Martin really likes, ‘Let’s Gdansk, put on your red shoes and Gdansk the blues’, and Mike’s is ‘Everybody Gdansk now!’ Funny suggestions via Facebook please. We are finally on the connecting flight from Munich back to London but hours earlier today, found ourselves holed up in one corner of a departure lounge while two skinheaded security guards threatened to "punish" us whenever we edged towards the public toilet, a metre away.  12 hours to get from Poland to London – YAY. Apart from the current debacle, Open’er was actually fabulous. It was quite strange going on after Pearl Jam and we expected to receive a muted grunge-based reception at first, but as soon as our intro music began, I looked out to a sea of tens of thousands of hands in the air, clapping along. By the second tune, there was already a steady stream of people crowd surfing to the front and being pulled out, which carried on for the entire gig. It’s a beautiful thing to be in countries all over the world where audiences break the language barrier by singing along to the tunes, even new ones, particularly ‘Paper Romance’, and Poland didn’t disappoint, screaming along in unison. Also - I think I mentioned this when we were in Warsaw late last year, but Polish kids are waaaay cool. Style wise, we should look to them and see what they got. Walking around the site earlier to check out the Yeasayer set, surrounded by beautiful, thin, doe eyed kids in apocalyptic chic, black kohl and ironic undercuts, I felt like a complete tramp. A fashion Philistine, a Haute-Couture heathen, a LOSER. I had to scuttle backstage hiding my ten-quid-glasto-sunglasses horror and binge on the sushi rider (good name for a band). Ah well, I didn’t see anyone there with a black latex batsuit on, so there. Na Zdrowie!

Andy: The Glastonbury-LA-Vegas Weekender Date added: 30.06.2010 The Glastonbury-LA-Vegas Weekender Friday 8m Band bus leaves Hammersmith for Glastonbury 9am I leave for Toulouse airport. 12pm No sign of the plane. Then flight comes up as cancelled. Disaster. Start looking at any options that will get me to Glasto in time. Aren't many, maybe one at a push. Then it turns out that the flight isn't cancelled - someone has pushed the wrong button on the airport screens. It's going to be 2 hours late, but that's doable. 7pm Finally arrive in Glasto. Another 9 hour trip. Jumped the queue for a bowl of pasta and went into interviews. 9pm Hear a bit of Dizzee, and get a lucky break into Winnebago Land where it's festival heels, ice machines and wooden seated toilets. 10.30pm UK debut of the new rewritten live show. Previously at Glasto we've headlined the Other stage, played the Pyramid stage etc, but tonight it feels special to be back at the John Peel Tent - the home of new music, and tonight the  new Armada. Great crowd in the there. Roar goes up as the lights dim. Becky's new costume unfolds. She owns the stage. First tune kicks in. Sounds massive. MAD comes in on roof-lifting form. The Festival Flags are flying. We'll play it better. These versions are all new and need bedding in, but it's a key GA moment. Most twittered band at the festival afterwards. BBC turned down the competition and stuck with us for an hour. Friday Night Glastonbury... Messages came from all over the world and GA records climb the charts. Definitely going to release these new live versions as soon as we can get them down. (Saturday) 12.30am Began long walk across the Glasto site to the Downlow. Wanted to catch up with Horsemeat Disco and friends before we had to leave. Walked past a 7 floor tower block complete with curtains and satellite dishes - the most incredible festival structure I've ever seen. Took a while to buy the moustaches that you need to wear to get in to the NYC Downlow experience. Once in, worth it as always. If Mad Max ran nightclubs, this is how it would look. Amid the wigs and sparkles, a lot of people were being generous with their hip flasks. Good festival accessory. 3.30am Leave Glasto for Heathrow with a bus full of friends and a warm bottle of white wine. Big Tunes of the journey, Foreigner, "I want to know what love is" and "I've had the time of my life" by someone and Jennifer Warns. 7.30am Arrive terminal 5. Culture clash at reception as businessmen checked out and the Glasto bus checked in. 11am Leave for Los Angeles. Air steward says to Tom he's going to "give him a slap". Don't think that's in the air stewarding manual. 5.30pm (LA time) Arrive at the Standard Hotel in downtown LA. Lot of DJs kicking about in reception. A boy comes up and asks who we are. We tell him. His girlfriend produced the perfect gasp. If you ever want to make a sound effects record and need someone to do "sharp intake of breath", she's your girl.   7.30pm Last year there were 80,000 here at the Electric Daisy Carnival. This time it's 120,000. Flashing ears vendors will be able to live off this for the year. Some technical issues on stage. Whilst we get it sorted, a troupe of dwarves in tommy cooper hats pass by, followed by 20 or so gold suited zombies. We go in at the harder end of the GA sound and up from there. Big occasion. The fireworks man hits all the right spots. Saturday night LA... 10pm Hand over to Sasha and share some champagne from paper shot glasses that aren't water proof. Made for a quick drink. 12pm Back at the rooftop bar at the Standard. 6am Up to get a cab to a friend's house for the England game 7.40am Goal line outrage. 8.45am Despair. Headlines of the day - "Hunbelieveable" and "Mullered". 10am Off to LAX to catch a flight to Vegas. Post match depression adds to fatigue. 12pm Yet again, the plane is 2 hours late. Try to find another flight. No deal. We're heading for an afternoon party and we were meant to go straight on when we arrived. Call goes out to the promoter to rejig set times. 12-2pm Gather round the airport screen for Argentina v Mexico. 3.45pm Finally arrive in Vegas. It's 40 degrees, with a wind blowing like a hairdryer. The hotel is decorated with huge butterflies, flowers, plastic chandeliers and drapery, with colours and placements chosen so that nothing matches. The whole is then lit by bright white little spotlights in the roof. It's like being inside your nan's floral print wallpaper. It cost 2 billion dollars to build. 4pm Walk into the pool party where we're playing. Brutal heat, with sprinklers everywhere to take the edge off. A DJ is standing on the turntables, shouting "put your f***ing hands up" and throwing money out into a crowd of very big guys and ladies in small bikinis. They could probably do with the cash. Bottles of vodka are going for $500 and poolside balconies for $25,000. That's before you've paid for your gym membership and plastic surgery. An expensive sunday. 7pm We were meant to play 2-4pm - peak time for the afternoon session. But the late plane and lineup reshuffle meant we got the 7-8.30pm shift. It's a tricky one as the party essentially finished at 6. But we got together a die hard crowd around a core of house music loving brits and made it work. 9pm Dan (manager) makes a few quid on the blackjack table and buys us a cocktail or two. 12pm Plans to go to the hotel nightclub are put on hold. Exhaustion has kicked in. The Glasto, LA, Vegas weekender comes to an end. Sunday 7.45am Head off to the airport. 11.30am Arrive back in LA. We've got meetings with 3 key film teams before heading back to the UK. Not feeling as fresh as we'd like, but nothing new there. We meet the music people at Fox, Dreamworks and Universal. Lots of driving across the old studio lots where 19th century New York streets blend into the Scooby Van or Homer's house. Bump into a reality TV agent who says there may be an exciting opportunity on the new series of 'Automotive Rebuild'. Should just get back in time to leave for Poland. If you're up around the Baltic, we'll see you there on Thursday. Andy Cato