Having just returned to a rainswept, freezing London I should give everyone some insights into the Spring 2008 Japanese Tour. The idea for the tour was hatched when I was in Tokyo in November last year with our label, Egging Records, who thought it would be a good idea to keep the Japanese market fed with new songs by releasing a single. We readily agreed, particularly as it was a chance to get some recordings with Dana under our belt. Over the next few months, the dates took shape as the band spent time in the studio recording 3 tracks - "Can't Kick The Habit", "Get Your Kicks" and "Peter Waits". We delivered the tracks to the label who decided - as we thought too - that "Habit" was the most natural single. We thus cracked on with making a video for it in early March.

In the meantime, the rehearsals were booked, budgets sorted out, flights confirmed, rail passes organised, and hotels firmed up by the label. As usual, the plan was to travel around on the Shinkansen Bullet Trains carrying just guitars, a keyboard, a stage backdrop, and bags. The great thing about clubs in Japan is they will supply just about any type of amps and drum kits a band specify, plus great crew and excellent sound / lighting engineers ( many of whom are women, unlike in the UK ). We usually find that the engineer and lighting person has taken the trouble to find out all about the band, listened to all the songs already, and worked out what lighting would look good, with incredible attention to detail.

The week before the tour was taken up with final rehearsals and the usual last-minute curveball - this time the unfortunate cancellation of the Purple Turtle, thankfully replaced by Club Fandango on a pulled favour a few days later.

Doing a tour at club level, without bringing any crew from the UK, is no picnic on the budgetary front, and my first job is always to try to work out how to pay for it all. Don't get me wrong, I know that we have one of the best jobs in the world going to play in exotic locations, but readers should dismiss all thoughts of luxury tour buses - or indeed any tour buses - and other "on the road" stereotypes you may have seen on TV. Farrah do not have a record label paying for it all, and in that sense are truly more "independent" than nearly all the supposed "indie" bands out there. The reality is that every £50 here or there is important and there is a lot of juggling to make it all happen. If flight costs suddenly spiral, for example because we tour in a holiday season, it can throw the budget out by a massive percentage. I'm lucky to work with a band who are all level-headed, practical people who muck in and deal with any weirdness or near-disasters with good humour.

I arrived in Tokyo a few days ahead of the band, for a few meetings and to check everything was set up for the tour. Our label head, Nobu, was actually in London at the time but luckily he is assisted by the very organised Nori Sawayama in his office in Tokyo, who had made sure final prepartions and the itinerary were spot on. Tokyo was in the middle of a huge rainstorm when I arrived, which had succeeded in stripping the trees of all the sakura cherry blossom, to the disgruntlement of most Tokyoites. I had booked lunch in a 40th Floor restaurant in the hope of seeing Mt. Fuji. The weather meant that the 40th Floor was actually swathed in cloud but, in typical Japanese fashion, the restaurant kitchen arranged the sashimi in the shape of Fuji in an attempt to make up for the disappointment.

Jez has been working with Japanese star Kaela Kimura ( writing songs for her and producing some tracks on her last album ) and her latest album "+1" includes her cover version of Farrah's "No Reason Why". The album had charted at No. 3 when I arrived, so celebratory drinks with the band's amazing publisher, June Shinozaki of Sony Music, were on the agenda. As everything was in good shape for the tour, I took in the sights of Tokyo including the futuristic Manga-inspired riverboat "Himiko" ( see picture ) and generally ate, drank and smoked more Cohibas more than I should have, waiting for the band to arrive. On the Monday night I went to see James Blunt at the NHK Hall, who was great - much rockier than I had imagined, and who startled the crowd by leaping off stage and running round the hall to much hysteria - he has sold about 400,000 records in Japan and is a huge star there.

Tuesday 22nd dawned and I headed out to the airport on the bus to meet the band, help with the gear, and get the rail passes for the tour. Flights from the UK leave in the early afternoon and arrive about 9 the next morning - so if, like me, you can't sleep on planes it's an absolute killer. Luckily there is an Illy espresso bar just as you get out of the Arrivals Hall which is a blessing. Dana and Jez arrived first, closely followed by Andrew & Michelle who were on a different flight. We headed down to the airport station and got the rail passes stamped. These passes are vital to anyone touring around Japan on a budget - for £137 per person you get unlimited travel on the Shinkansen throughout Japan and various rail lines in Tokyo.

We headed into Tokyo on the airport express, and ended up at Shinjuku station a couple of hours too early to check in to the hotel. Shinjuku is the sleazy "Soho" of Tokyo with wall-to-wall neon, tiny drinking dens, club touts accosting you at every corner and a general sense of mayhem 24 hours a day. By this time the jetlag had kicked in and the next few hours were spent wandering around eating and drinking espresso in the Harajuku district ( famed for the "Harajuku Girls" to be seen in many Gwen Stefani videos ). Japanese hotels have very rigid check in times - and 4pm means 4pm, not 3.58. We usually stay at a chain called the Toyoko Inn, which are very modern, clean and basic hotels with free Internet, breakfast, a laundry ( vital to avoid carrying huge amounts of clothes around ) and so on. In a further blow to the myth that Japan is hugely expensive, the rooms are about £40 a night. By this point everyone was ready to crash out, although a few hardy souls emerged in the early evening for a couple of beers nearby. I opted for an early night, as the next day was the start of the tour proper with an "instore" ( an acoustic performance and signing session ) at HMV in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.

from the studio. READ...

More vlogging in the studio. READ...

Hello all, I thought i'd take a moment to plug our labelmates The Wellingtons. Their new album "Heading North For The Winter" was released last week in the UK. It's ace. If you like the punky-pop-rock side of Farrah then you're probably going to love their stuff too. I suggest you buy it i READ...

Signs I haven’t grown up. I will fashion my hair into a ‘Shampoo-Mohican’ when I wash it. I kick up leaves. I am tempted to shoplift. I will put an unattended tea cosy on my head I still don’t like going to school. I like to cycle non handed. On cold days when my breath free READ...

Now then everyone. I hope all is well. Recording is going great at Diversion Studios. Dana has been laying down some more monster grooves and Michelle has added some thundering bass. The songs we've recorded so far are an eclectic bunch - from skiffle to rock (and visiting New-Wave on the way). READ...

Hello all, i hope you enjoyed the last remnants of summer. I just thought i'd keep you posted about news on the new record. We've recorded 6 songs so far although i'm still re writing lyrics and tweaking things. The songs are turning out really well so far. We're ambitiously hoping to record about 2 READ...

Thanks so much for everyone for coming out last night to the show. I had a great time. We hadn't played a gig for a while and it was fun to try out a couple of new songs from the new record. It was a fantastic lineup of bands- The Wellingtons were brilliant, The Magic Bullet Band made me wish i live READ...

It's no wonder we take so long to make records. We're *very* picky about songs and none of us can agree on which ones to use. And we waste way too much time messing about with mobile phones... acx READ...

Hi all, greetings from the studio on a sultry Monday night. Michelle has come in to track some bass on the songs we did drums for. Unfortunately for me, Michelle is Australian and used to sweltering heat so has banned the use of the Aircon while she's laying down her parts. It's about a hundred degr READ...

Hello all of you out there. Here’s the latest news from the studio. Me and Andy have been here all day tracking guitars for the first songs from the new record. It’s funny to be recording our fourth album. I didn’t have any idea when we recorded the first one that we’d be lucky enough to carry on ma READ...

ooooh we've got all techy and decided to try our hand a "vlogging". more soon! x READ...

Hi all! I just thought I'd mention that Glastonbury was a blast this year. I haven't been for a few years (and avoided trenchfoot in the process)but the sun shone as did some of the bands. The highlight had to be Glenn Tilbrook (of Squeeze fame) And The Fluffers. with a back catalogue to make mos READ...

I've only just discovered Boston Legal. For those who haven't seen it, it's a US TV series about an 'unconventional' law firm, and it stars James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen, along with midgets, cross dressers and a lawyer with Aspergers. My mum says she doesn't like it because it's f READ...

We were sorry to leave Okayama and the guys from Comatose helped with getting our gear to the station. What a marvellous bunch they are. Little did we know we would be seeing them later... After a very short train ride to Shin-Kobe station we were met by the promoter and taken to his amazing club READ...

After piling on to the Shinkansen at Osaka we were at Okayama incredibly quickly - but by this time we had got the train exit strategy down pat. I am sure one of these days we will turn round and realise we have left some vital equipment on a bullet train that is heading out of the station but touch READ...

Friday April 25th signalled the start of our foray out of Tokyo. I for one was glad to leave the mayhem behind and, after schlepping across town via taxis and on a local train to the main Tokyo station, we settled down in the comfortable seats of the Shinkansen for the 3 hour trip to Osaka. I never READ...

Day one Tokyo Tokyo is one of the cities we know best in Japan as we often fly in to Narita and have days off here. Japan's capital is a technicolour assault on the senses- vendors with megaphones outside camera shops, the pungent smell of fried octopus balls, tranquil temples and tasty tempura, READ...

Wednesday 23rd dawned bright and sunny, and I headed off to meet two of the band's publishers who had come over from the UK, Andy Graham & Lisa Cullington. Meeting them in the confusing warrens of Tokyo Station took a flurry of phonecalls but eventually we hooked up and took the local Yamanote line READ...

hello everyone! I thought i would drop a brief line to tell you about our fantastic Farrah Japanese tour which ended in Kobe last night. It has been an amazing experience to play in Japan again. We were here to promote our new single Can..t Kick The Habit and the week long tour has been a whirwind o READ...

What do you get when you attach a posh lens to a cheap video camera, break into a deserted office building and add a killer tune? Farrah’s latest video of course. Shot over a couple of days in a top secret location and directed by the legendary Swiss auteur Anders Campbellson it’s a 3 minute READ...

Greetings everybody from the cigar smoke-wreathed offices of Farrah Management. I though I should write a little insight into where we are at and give a tantalising glimpse into plans for this year. At the moment the band are busy in the studio "laying down some tracks", as they used to say, for a f READ...

Hey everyone, how’s it going? I’m having a sober January. It’s something I do every year to give my liver a break. I’m not missing going t o the pub…honest. I’ve been too busy to be pining for Guinness as I’ve been working on ideas for the new Farrah record. I find a diet of Halloumi cheese and READ...

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas was a frenzy of rich food and exceptional hangovers. I always start off the New Year with good intentions and many resolutions which rarely last through January. Firstly, my Christmas present to my liver is to not drink for 30 days. I’ve done READ...