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, Zink, which was about a 30 minute van ride away. This place has to be seen to be believed - it's near the docks and is a converted warehouse with a skate ramp, basketball hoops, pool tables, and various nooks and crannies for the band and punters to relax in. It's certainly one of the most spectacular places we've ever played. This being Show 4 ( in a row ), everyone was feeling the strain ( hardly any bands do 4 shows in a row if it can be avoided ) but once again the soundcheck was seamless and helped by the usual highly efficient engineers.

We then piled back into the van along with the promoter's lovely assistant Totti ( so named because she wears a Totti football shirt when she plays ) who was there to help translate, and headed back into Kobe to HMV for the instore. This one was potentially a bit dodgy as the store's PA was somewhat basic - but like the 7th Cavalry a couple of the guys from Comatose turned up and generally mucked in and got the PA sorted out, and also brought a snare drum for Dana to play. An appreciative crowd turned up and sang along, followed by the usual signing session. People had brought some amazing ancient Farrah artefacts, which is quite common in Japan - for example, unopened copies of the vinyl of "Terry" - for the band to sign. We then met up with Nobu who was enjoying cruising round in the promoter's very cool van and got dropped at the hotel.

Kobe being the famed "Beef Capital Of The World", clearly my focus was on consuming as much cow-based food as possible, until I saw that a steak cost £60! I went for a £2.50 plateful of curry with Andrew instead ( Later that evening, for some reason, Nobu insisted on pointing out 4 or 5 excellent Kobe beef restaurants, all of which were shut ). We were back at Zink by 8-ish to see the end of the set by Riddim Saunter, who were very good, and then Farrah blitzed through another high-energy show assisted by 2 wonderful girls at the front who danced constantly to such an extent that Jez tried to get them up on stage for the encores. Shyness set in at that point, however, and the ladies declined. Considering that we have never played in Kobe before, we were pleased that people showed up, not least because the club is way out of town.

After the show, an impromptu table tennis competition was held, involving me getting rinsed by Dana, along with the bass player from Comatose, but then Michelle and Jez revealing themselves to be secret ping pong Illuminati. A long, long trudge through the streets of Kobe ( you never know how far the walk will be, Dana has sensibly taken to bailing out of it's more than 3 minutes from the hotel ) ended at another great restaurant where - as usual - all the bands celebrated the show together. After this, I gave up and cabbed it back to the hotel as tour fatigue had truly set in and I was hallucinating ( possibly about giant sizzling cows ).

The next morning we headed off - minus Jez, who was staying for a holiday for a week or so - back to Tokyo and, from the train, got a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji. It really is an awesome sight, especially when the snow-covered upper half is a fairly similar colour to a slightly overcast sky - at first you seem to be looking at a brown flat-topped mountain and then suddenly you see the snowy peak going far higher than you imagine it to be. You then think - "that's a volcano".

Dana and I headed off to the airport next morning laden down with luggage including the bass case, which I loathe and detest more than any inanimate object in the Universe, due mainly to its weight, general unwieldliness ( is that a word? ) and its ability to slide off any known luggage trolley, crashing to the ground with tremendous force and terrifying small Japanese children, and the fact that it does not belong to me but to certain other people who were blithely heading off on holiday to Australia without being encumbered by anything so pesky as their own instrument. I entrusted it to Virgin Atlantic, praying silently that they would lose it or at the very least set it on fire. I sat glumly on the plane after hearing that London was 8 degrees and rainy, and for the whole 11 hours had a "sniffing bloke" next to me. I should explain. Japanese people don't really blow their noses in public. Apparently it is less undignified to sniff every 23 seconds for 11 hours. Which is about 2000 sniffs. Not that I became obsessed with it or anything.

On returning to London, it was 8 degrees, rainy, my cab was an hour late, cost too much, and everyone I met was a complete and utter bastard. The End.

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...

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...

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...