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 tire of going on the Shinkansen, once the mad scramble of getting all the gear and bags on board in about 2 minutes flat is over. There is loads of room, and trolleys coming by selling great food and drink. It's an obsession in Japan to try as many new things as possible - I have long since got over the amusement of drinks called "Pocari Sweat" and have graduated to more exotic ones, my current favourite beinga mixture of Yuzu berries and lemon.

Once at Osaka, we piled into one of the few minibus-taxis still operating ( most Japanese cabbies are very accommodating in dealing with a band and their gear by the way ) and legged it to the club - Sunsui, where we played on the 2007 "Cut Out & Keep" tour. I went on an espresso run for various people ( a vital part of the manager's day ) whilst the band set up, and the soundcheck was smoothness itself. Luckily the hotel was a few minutes walk up the street, and I noted they had something called the "Viking Breakfast" which I earmarked for investigation the following morning. A few hours kip was needed as the night before in Tokyo had been a 3 am job in the end, but I awoke refreshed and ready to walk down to the show with Jez. The club was already quite full and the support band 8 Otto - complete with singing drummer - were warming up the punters with some rock and roll which was clearly madness itself, involving a final jazz-rock jam with a lot of bellowing to finish the set.

I had a premonition that someone would break a string and faffed about a bit at the side of the stage working out what to do if one actually broke. Luckily the show passed off without incident and the crowd were great as usual - fantastic sound and lights once again. A couple of songs were dropped - the slower ones mainly - and we all felt the set was a lot tighter. Afterwards, the band hung out in the bar and once again met up with Michiko, and also our friend Yuka who is famed for having come to the very strange gig the band played at Stripes Bar in Brentford ( know as the "reality check gig" as it was the first one back from the first Japanese tour ) a few years ago. She now works at Tower Records in Osaka and as well as being very nice is also very useful. Michiko also gave me a present of some breath mints. I don't know what that means. We wandered the streets and found a great restaurant that served pots of stew and Udon noodles, and some very welcome lager. The great thing about restaurants like this is that it is all very casual. You tell them how much you want to spend and they tell you when to stop ordering!

The next morning I emerged from the hotel's breakfast room having had a cold boiled egg, some toast and margarine. In a classic "Japanese moment", I had failed to spot that the much-advertised "Viking Breakfast" was served on a completely different floor. Ho hum. Cabs arrived, and it was off to the station for the short trip to one of our favourite towns, Okayama. I spent most of the cab journey in one of my favourite pastimes, which is "goading the midget vegetarian bass player". How I enjoy a lively debate at the start of the day with someone unable to resist rising to the bait - and of course, any form of rising is to be encouraged in Michelle's case.

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...

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...

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 fe 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...