Wow! New York was fantastic!, The old Bowery Ballroom was jumping, and Tony Visconti came back after which was super-ace!
  Have a look at this though, the backdrop Imelda had ordered turned up today and she resembles the guy from the Goonies, anyhoo Imelda being Imelda she took it upon herself to fix the problem, needless to say its been sent back, you have to laugh Bahahaha!!!

Cool, played Canadas Hillside festival, which was great if not a little Hippy-ish then on to Toronto which was chockers and mental!
We are now in New York, had a lovely night out with Trev last night in East village eating 'Fighting Irish' Buffallo wings and drinking Toasted Beer, yumptious!
Tonight we play the famous Bowery Ballroom, I had a walk around the corner to visit the old site of CBGBs which was a little sad as its now an overpriced clothes shop - Poops.

A strange way to start a tour indeed....Imelda went out early to Canada for a few promo things and the lads went a couple of days later, Darrel and I are in Sweden playing a Katmen gig with Slim Jim, We go onstage in 12 hrs time and tomorrow we're onstage with Imelda in Canada to start the three and a half week tour of Canada & U.S!
  After a more than emotional goodbye to Saff and little one it feels like my limbs are strewn all over the place, I can't wait to settle in my bunk and get stuck in but I have to say I miss everyone already, My family and my road family.

Oooooh, look what flopped onto my mat today, The Imelda May 'TRIBAL' Canada & U.S tour 2014 Instruction and survival guide, inside this baby is a wealth of information for survival on the Imelda May tour Bus, such as tips on carving a bamboo breathing tube to cut through the forest of Humidifiers, only buy food that noone else likes and always pretend youre much more sober than you actually are, and of course the old wear three socks to bed rule.

Phwoarrr!!! What a beautiful picture, gorgeous! mouth-wateringly stunning, such beauty should be shared, be still my beating heart,.....and If you look closely...Imelda is sitting behind them.

Well well, great trip from the Pair'o'knees mountains to Barcelona and Cannes, lovely weather and great crowds although when we got to Galway I found that the Irish crowd really do cack on everyone from a great height when it comes to 'going for it', we also had a great Band supporting us called 'The Whereabouts', watch this space- they were great!
 It was great spending time with good people and even better getting off my two hour delayed plane home to Birmingham to find myself at Dr Sketchys Tiki afternoon, I know some great people!

....To cut a long story short we just had a lovely trip to Cannes where the weather was glorious and the company was even better!
  Great outdoor festival with Booker T and Joss Stone on the lineup, We went down a storm,and rightly so, Imelda and the boys are bostin!
 Off to Galway now, where the weather suits my clothes.

...It's been a while so lets give you a quick lowdown on where we're at at the mo....
   I ran Edinburgh Marathon, so get me, well done Al me old son, I've been gigging with The Katmen, My Darling Clementine and Pete Williams but now the lovely Imelda May is back, although she never really went away, we've just released 'Tribal' her new Album (although not released everywhere as yet) along with a bum full of videos which should be on youtube, go and have a look!
  We also have new management so new beginnings and all that, this year has seen Imelda at her most creative, writing and recording with a host of artistes but you don't need me to go into all that do you? no! because that would make this blog have a point to it, and we can't have that can we.
  So, here is a load of memories from the past couple of years that mean nothing to anyone but me.

Worth the wait.....

Hi People,
   Looks like it's a countdown to the beginning of this dusty beer stained blog again, straighten your tie and slick your hair back,
   In five people.
        Al x

Wow its been 5 months since last update, lotsa stuff happened and lotsa stuff happening, keep youre eyes peeled on here and i'll throw you a bone!

Well that was a fantastic if a little tiring weekend, followed by a fortnight of Gigs with no less than three Bands - oh what a Tart I am! Started with the Ultra successful Kat Men, peppered with a few Big Boy Bloater and the Limits and garnished with the Mental Hipbone Slim and the Knee tremblers, Twas a Joy, alas no pics from these gigs, my camera went up it, I've knackered so many cameras during this blog its unbelievable........I don't deserve nice things.

WAHEY!!!!!!

Wowzers!!!! I gotta say Loch Ness could be the most beautiful place I've ever seen, slogged it all the way there and pitched my tent, thats me there in the corner, maybe it wasnt the best plan to camp but I loved it, I've been waiting for this moment for over a year, for tomorrow I run the Loch Ness Marathon!!!!

Yep, time is upon us, Kat Men tour starts in a weeks time. Oct 4 - The Brook, Southampton. Oct 5 - Coalition, Brighton. Oct 6 - Thekla, Bristol. Oct 7 - Ruby Lounge, Manchester. Oct 8 - King Tuts, Glasgow. Oct 9 - The Cluny, Newcastle. Oct 12 -* Oct 13 -**. Oct 15 - Dingwalls, London. Them the dates, come along, here's a lovely pic of the Kat Men, its like one of those magic eye pictures, if you stare at Darrels expresso Bongo shirt for roughly 15 minutes and go slightly cross-eyed an image of me swimming with Dolphins should appear, very clever, keep trying as it can be quite difficult.

*/**sees me playing with Big Boy Bloater promoting his new Album * Blues in the Bay Festival, Falmouth ** Roadwater Hall, Somerset

Well, well, well, Just had a lovely week rehearsing for the Kat Men tour with Darrel & Slim Jim, sounding good and we're ready to get out there! It was also great to catch up with Imelda and little Violet too, lovely family. At the weekend I did an unusual Gig for London fashion week! I played Bass for Ben Gunne and his band of social misfits, they're great, drummer uses an upturned tea-chest as a bass drum and a snare Dustbin lid - yep, It does sound exactly how you'd imagine! Anyhoo a very posh doo it was and myself and the lads were provided with all the water we could drink.....anyway heres a picture of a pony.

Aaaaaaah the lovely, adorable wind machine that is Violet xxxx and just like her lovely Mum she's like a human but smaller x

Hello again, So this particular post is for anyone that may be interested in taking the time to do this running thing, I appreciate it may be boring for some so please if this is the case move on to the next entry. When I first started (a year ago), I thought this would be a doddle, my first run I couldnt even run to the end of my road (honest) so I briskly cacked my pants about the whole thing and joined a Gym straight away, I'm not a Gym person but found it helpful talking to people there that live this 'other' life, anyhoo at the crux of it- talk is just talk and my running on a treadmill was labourious and boring and just made me wonder why i wasn't doing something else more enjoyable, even though the treadmills had tv screens showing Jeremy Kyle ( is this supposed to enhance your running experience?). I tried everything from ipod playlists to spoken word books, I found the whole experience mind-numbing UNTIL a friend of mine advised me to get out in the fresh air, I had about 6months before my dreaded Marathon date and had nothing to lose, about a mile down the road there is Sutton Park, a beautiful park which boasts 7 pools, wild horses, woods, swans, ducks - you name it, very La-de-da and is roughly 15 mile around, I gave it a whirl, it was something I should have done long before, I loved it straight away, such a fantastic place to have practically on my doorstep, I'd look forward to going every morning and my distance and time changed drastically, before long I was running 10k every other day,I then moved out of the park having heard of the National Cycle paths and Greenways, these are a network of cycle paths and walkways that are all over the UK, look em up, you'll be suprised how many there are and how close they are to you, this along with the website walkjogrun where it shows you all possible routes from your postcode, it's never been easier! anyhoo I'm going to jump ahead now as I'm starting to bore myself, I'm now running 12 - 15 miles each run (one day on, one day off) and pretty much look forward to each one, The timing is no longer important to me, I have a few weeks to go before My Marathon now so I'm going to up the runs for the next 10 days, I'd ideally like to run 18/19 miles then wind it down before the big day. ok, thats enough of that for now, Beer swilling and Buffalo wings devouring will resume shortly but for now enjoy this pic of Sutton Park, how could you tire of seeing that each morning!

Sshhhhhhhh..........I think we're alone now,there doesn't seem to be anyone around. Ok, I'm back, most of you may know by now that Imelda and Darrel are the proud parents of a bouncing baby no-tail called Violet, Mother and child are healthy Just Father is suffering with wind. More on that when I can over the next couple of Instalements. Lots of Stuff happening since July, Re-release of the Pete Williams Album 'SEE' with a few particularly choice gigs, knockout Big Boy Bloater shows and just recorded an Album for The Kat Men which is Darrel Highams side project with Slim Jim Phantom on Drums, release date for the Album is early next year with an extensive tour but we have a few taster gigs coming up in the UK from Oct 4th, check the facebook page for details or I guess the dates will also go on Imeldas site too. This Blog however over the coming weeks will be lending itself to my Marathon training progress - yep thats right, Just over a year ago Imelda and I filmed the roadrunner video, I had already drunkenly signed up to the challenge of running a Marathon a few weeks before which is why I was chosen for the video, nobody believed I would go through with it. Anyhoo, its because of that very reason that I have embraced the challenge,believe me, I've doubted myself more than 217 times whether or not I can finish it, I really am the 'from couch to Marathon' guy! I drank like a pig and ate like a fish and was clearing almost 20 cigars daily, Eeeewwwwwwww! SO, my Marathon date is September 30th 2012 at the beautiful Loch Ness, I know, only 1 month to go! don't get me wrong, I have been training all year, I quit the smokes without a hitch and now wish I had done it long before, my eating is also healthier, however I still happily drink like a pig. I shall update a lot more frequently now, It may be higgledy-piggledy and may not be in the right order but isn't that part of the charm?

Ok ok ya big softies, Blog will restart in the next couple of days, I've been busy with Imelda and gang, Pete Williams,The Toy Hearts and of course my lovely family over the past few months, I have no excuse for not regularly updating, Its just something you are going to have to accept x