Just spent an enjoyable couple of days messing around in the studio. Me and Andy are pitching stuff for various ads. Music's good fun especially when it's pissing it down. I'm also trying to find out how to order vegetarian food in Japanese! We're heading to Japan in February next Year. We can't wait!

Jez x

What a weekend! Hello everyone, I just thought I'd write a quick note about the festival we played in Gran Canaria at the weekend. We all had the BEST time thanks to the organisational skills and friendliness of Frank, Carlos and Juan. The festival was fantastic with about 4000 people getting drunk in the town square. Big stage, great lights, fantastic crowd and Santi Campos making sure we were all O.K.

We love rock and roll

Jez x

P.S I'm sure webmonkey will put up some photos

Hola, Bonjour... where am I? Back in London. It's colder here than when I left to play the first Montana show in Madrid at the beginning of the month, but knowing we're off to the Canary Islands at the end of the week takes the chill off the air.

Once again, touring around Spain was great. Santi Campos, the King of Spain (as coined by Paul Scott, and a chocolate maker who produces a coin with Santi's likeness on it...) made sure we had a great time. Going above and beyond the call of duty, Santi made sure we were always up on time, fed and caffeinated and in the tour van enroute to the next gig. He even tried his hardest to shield me from the smoked legs of ham that seemed to adorn every restaurant/tapas bar/hotel/museum in Spain (yes, that's right - there's a chain called 'Museum of Ham' that Paul called 'Piggy Auschwitz', a term insists he didn't plagiarise from Tim!). But aside from the food issues, Spain seems to be Farrah's 'spiritual' homeland and we loved playing there. Everyone made us feel so welcome.

We had a ball touring with the Montana boys - the Aussies, Paul, Tim and Patrick, kept the Brits amused with their witty banter and 'ixcellant' accents, and the Farrah boys kept the Montana lads in smirks with their bummer jokes and toilet humour. Oh how nothing changes. Farrah were so impressed with the stylish dress sense of the antipodeans that we all adopted matching shirts in an attempt to get a little Montana chic... sadly we all just looked like a bowling team, especially me in my too-short skirt and oversized t-shirt.

Oh, and let's not forget Dylan - the tour photographer. Haven't seen any shots yet but if his Santa sack full of rolls of film is anything to go by, I can't wait to see the tour in all its glory.

Anyway, I for one miss the Montana boys and am urging them to give up living in sunny Austopia and move to grim Britannia, but somehow I think they'll give it a miss. Paul, Tim and Pat - thanks for a great tour. Hope we can do it again soon.

Anyway, Paris as always, was Paris - cool, chic and very measured, but we rocked like banshees and had a good time. Home now and back to the grind. Oh, until the Canary Islands on Friday... It's a hard life.

See you at the next gig. Feel free to come rock out at Gran Canaria!

Mish xx

Hello all, well here we are again trapped in an overloaded van enroute to another venue. It’s a wonderfully warm day in Madrid and we’ve spent the morning spending.

We played the Moby Dick last night. This is probably the best sounding venue on the tour and it was rammed. We were supported by The Nominees who are a Spanish band on the same label as us. They were very good in a folky whimsical way. It was a shame I couldn’t understand the Spanish lyrics (although my Spanish is slowly improving beyond a basic understanding of beverages and swear words). We played for an hour and played most of ‘Me Too’ and ‘Moustache’. The audience were singing along with the songs and there were a few familiar faces from last time we played in Madrid. Our label seemed really pleased which pleased us.

We’re past the half way point of the tour now. It’s amazing how quickly it’s flown by. We still miss the Montana boys. It was a really good laugh playing with them. Tonight we’re supported by The Winnerys. They are a 4-piece band from Madrid who are heavily influenced by The Beatles. They sing in English and even have a Liverpudlian twang to their voices! Their album has just come out in Spain and is picking up some airplay and they’re really lovely people. There doesn’t seem to be as much inter-band rivalry in Spain as in the U.K which is as refreshing as it’s disconcerting. It’s probably because no band is as good as us…..

By the way, I must apologise for my food rant yesterday. We all had great vege food for lunch today. Let’s see how we fare tonight in Burgos.

Read a great Peter Kay joke today;

“I was doing some decorating so I got my step ladder out, I don’t get on very well with my real ladder.” Priceless.

Modern technology eh? I’m writing this from the front seat of a van hurtling through the Spanish countryside. Woke up in a strange hotel room with Santi Campos (our tour manager) and felt strangely devoid of hangover. I gradually realised I was on tour. This is how most days start. The shower in the bathroom looked tame but spurted water with unnatural and unexpected force. I ended up having to wrestle it as you would a snake. I managed to subdue it and flood the bathroom at the same time. I needed a café solo.

The night before we played in a hamlet called Liergardes that looked like a Mexican film set. We quickly gathered it was the kind of village where a crowd would gather to watch two pigs fighting. The place was about 300 miles and 200 years away from Madrid. The venue was remarkable for having the toilets behind the stage. It was quite amusing to have to choreograph your guitar solo so it didn’t hinder anyone on route for a shit. Luckily the bar sold Guinness and a small but enthusiastic crowd gathered to hear us play. We sold a shedload of albums and went down really well so all in all it was well worth the journey.

I wish we had more success on the vegetarian food front. Cantabria seems to be a region in mortal fear of vegetables. The only ones we spotted had been boiled to death. Vegans come here to die. Michelle is surviving on a diet of sidre (cider, yes I’m fluent in Spanish beverages) and vitamins. This is carne country. We stopped for lunch at a roadside caff today and I was assured that the soup was vegetable and had no meat or fish in it. When it arrived it had very small pieces of ham in it. Surely even a strict vegetarian couldn’t begrudge a wafer thin piece of ham? I looked jealously at Mike’s ‘lamb cooked in its own tears’

Vege Cuisine aside, Spain is such a varied and beautiful country it’s brilliant to have a chance to see so much of it. Madrid is really growing on me. This is my fourth time in the capital and I get to know the city a bit more each time. Obviously it helps that the weather’s great and we’re looked after so wonderful by our record label that is based here.

Tonight we’re playing the Moby Dick club in Madrid which we’ve got really high hopes for. The sound there is brilliant and it’s a stage we can throw some shapes on. The only downside is a culinary one (I’m sorry but being on tour means you end up obsessing about food). The only restaurant near the venue is an Italian called Pinocchio’s. A fitting name as they tell you the food is good and then it arrives.

Our current favourite van game is finding film titles that you can insert the names of breeds of dogs into. Andy came up with ‘The Man With The Golden Retriever’ which amused us all tremendously. We’re hardly Aerosmith I know.

Hello everybody! We´re in Madrid today and we´re having a day off. We played Castellon last night at an incredible club called the Ricoamor which is run by an impressively big haired guy called Alex. This was a real rock and roll club and Montana ROCKED! This was the last night of the tour for the Aussies and they finished on a high. We had a great gig too (fuelled by vodka) and we ended the night with Michelle fronting ´Fartana¨ a supergroup specialising in badly played Blondie covers. After that it´s a bit of a blur, Mexican food, Beer with Tequila in, Tequila Slammers and a ´National Anthem singing Competition´ which ended in a discordant draw. I have vague memories of everyone dancing in the Octopussy club resplendent in Our free Ricamor T shirts. A great time was had by all and there were a few tears today at Madrid Airport when the guys left. The van seems awfully big without them.

Tomorrow we head off again, where? only Santi Campos knows......

We´ll be posting some photos later

So here we are in Spain again. What a truely magnificent country this is. The Spaniards really know good music when they here it! Barcelona was merely a warm up for what was a triumphant return to Valencia lastnight. We played a comedy shambolic set to a full house crowd. A great time was had by all.

As always our TM ("tour manager") Santi "Kings Of Spain" Campos is taking paternal care of us like the spoilt kids we are. How this man manages to keep 8 tortured artistes in check, in the bus and on time with no sleep and still keep smiling we'll never know. I can see this tour is going to be a belter.

ac

Having your hair cut with a hangover is a strange experience, part of you just wants to say ‘do something mad with it’ while a small sober voice of reason tries to intervene. I didn’t go fro the Hoxton mullet in the end. Farrah all went to see Montana rock the Dublin Castle last night. It was odd to see Michelle from the other side of the stage and great to hear such brilliant songs (although the sound wasn’t vocal friendly). Should be a great tour...can’t wait

Hello from Jez, I presume all you good people who’ve been waiting for your exam results are now out celebrating or drowning your sorrows!

We’ve just got back from sunny Galicia. This has got to be the most beautiful part of Spain we’ve visited. We were playing the Felipop festival with a few of a label mates from Rock Indiana. The weekend was brilliant fun (only marred by the fact our stage time was 3am!) The Festival was brilliantly organised and the hotel was spitting distance from the beach. I’m sure if you ask nicely the Web monkey will put some photos on the site . Ah, the rock and Roll lifestyle.

Now we’re back home we’re organising a very special gig night at the Water Rats (near Kings Cross) for the middle of October. Bob Harris has been playing tracks from the new album on his Saturday evening show on Radio Two, thanks Bob. Got to go and top up my tan...

Hello and all that, sorry. I should be updating this diary more often. Unfortunately my life isn’t as exciting as Adrian Mole’s. Today I’m packing my rucksack for a weekend in t’ Yorkshire Dales. A holiday? Yes, even though my whole life is one long holiday of touring, drug taking and swarms of groupies I’ve decided to go and stay with my good friend (and ex Farrah bassist) Mike Walker. He hires a cottage in the heart of Yorkshire for a weekend every Year and we mostly play scrabble and go orienteering, yeah right!

It’s a strange feeling when you’ve finished your album. You go home, play it a few times and then.......wait.....We’re waiting to see who wants to put it out in the U.K. All we want is a Lear Jet with a crew of highly trained badgers in return.

I heartily recommend that you listen to Bob Harris’s show this Saturday night on Radio Two. Apparently he’s going to play some more tracks off the new album. Bob has supported the band since the very beginning and his show is the best thing on Radio.

I also recommend you go and buy ‘Welcome Interstate Managers’ the brilliant new album from Fountains Of Wayne. Any band with the lyric “I saw you talking to Christopher Walken, on my TV screen” deserves success.

Well, I’d better get back to my packing.....where’s that flask......

Hello everyone! Enjoying the sun are we? Well I’m back from Spain fully rested. I even managed to find tapas that didn’t contain fish or meat! It was Aubergine.... Oh well, the beer was cheap.

We’re in a state of high excitement here as we’re going to ‘master’ the album next week. We’re doing it at the Townhouse (very snazzy studio with big knobs). This is the exciting bit when a boffin in a white coat plays the tracks through speakers that cost more than a house and says things like; “ Well, its a bit sibilant and I think we should add some air and tighten up the bottom end” He then turns some big knobs and fiddles with machines with lots of flashing lights and hands us a bill for silly money. We’ve still got a couple of loose ends to tie up first and a couple of mixes to do.

I’ve recently discovered how often I say ‘Me Too’. It must be a good sign. It looks likely that we’ll release ‘Daytime TV’ as a first single and we’re even hoping to shoot a video for it. Watch this space!

See you later.

P.S. I bet you sometimes wonder why the rest of the band never adds to the diary.... ME TOO.

Hola! Greetings from sunny Almeria. It’s hot here, ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen’ hot. It’s a tough schedule of sunbathing, swimming, boozing and the eternal quest for vegetarian tapas. I’ve managed to avoid the ‘fried brains’ and ‘pigs tails’ but have mostly been eating olives. The guitar has been strummed but nothing written as yet. We’ve got a third album to deliver by 2006…

I’ve been visiting my beautiful niece Polly and family. She’s three months old and already cries when I play the guitar (weeping at its beauty I suspect). I’d better go, it’s time to head to the beach.

Bye for now

Jez

About bloody time too! Greetings from Andy’s palatial studio in the heart of London Town. Today we are mostly recording trombone… I kid you not. Posh Mike blew a 'mean horn' at public school and has been limbering up for his moment of glory. We’re working on a track called ‘Half as strong’ which shows the band’s mellower side. It’s a busy old week with the band. The gigs in France were a blast. We got a chance to showcase some new tunes as well as whizzing through the tracks on Moustache. Our label in France we’re fantastic and treated us really well. They also took us for some really fantastic scran (slang for food where we come from) and we even went up the Seine on a cruise. Tres Bien! We loved Paris and are looking forward to going back there. It was great to see Jen and Danni at the gigs too.

Hope all is well with all you out there

Lots of love

Jez x

Our last day in protools today mixing the final tracks for the album! It's incredible to think how long this has all taken......

Post soon. See yoou in France?

Jez xx

Sometimes being in a and and recording an album involves sitting in a darkened room, eating low quality fried food and putting tambourines in time! I looked at the calendar today and realised that the album is meant to be finished this week...oops. Well it's nearly finished...nearly. I've been moonlighting this week selling mercandise for the Cooper Temple Cause at the Astoria. It was a good laugh actually. My good friend Robbie is their production manager and asked if i'd do it at te last minute. Not bad to see a gig, get pissed and get paid for it. As for the profusion of interesting hairstyles at the aftershow....

Oh, Will Young (the singing chimp) was at our rehearsal room yesterday. By a accounts he's a realy nice guy, just don't invite him round for a tea party. I'm not jealous of his Million selling singles, flash Merc and gold plated tyre to swing on...honest!

Hi everybody. I’m reorganising my studio today. Beyond tedious although I’m still quite excited by the smell of my cordless drill..mmm. Today I’ve been listening to The Cars anthology. Godlike it is. Also on my stereo this week are Nada Surf, Phantom Planet and Pete Yorn. Tonight I’m going to the pub to see hilarious East End Frank Sinatra Impersonators. Priceless

Have a good weekend

Jez xx

Well, the sun is out so everyone in London has forgotten they’re meant to be miserable for a few days. As for Farrah, we have an amazing knack for booking studio time when the forecast is sun, sun and more sun. It’s hard being a whining singer with a chip on your shoulder in this heat. I’m sure it won’t last....rain rain..

We’ve been hard at work this week recording a song called ‘This Is My Life’ (not to be confused with the T.V programme ‘This is Your life’ which features Michael Aspel celebrating the lives of ‘celebrities’ i’ve never heard of).

We’re all really looking forward to playing the Barfly on Tuesday. We’re all really frustrated that we can’t do more shows around the U.K but we have to get this album finished. We will come up north, east and west in the summer.

We’re still thinking of album titles but the favourite seems to be ‘Love is a Radio’ at the moment. I assure you that it will be worth the wait. It’s bigger, faster, fatter and altogether a better album than Moustache...

I hope you’re all going to have a great Easter. I intend to spend my time in Local parks and Off licences. I hope the Easter bunny brings you many gifts

Hopefully see you at the gig

Jez xx

Good afternoon folks, I'd just like to ascertain which one of you has my hangover? I definitely ordered one. I mixed grape and grain, started drinking at lunchtime and carried on into the early hours (carefully making sure i didn't drink ANY water) but I seem to be unscathed. Is this a good sign or a bad sign. Oh God....perhaps i'm still drunk.

Hello folks! Sorry I haven't been exposing my innermost thoughts and pearls of wisdom for a while, I've been a busy bee. So...Well....I must have some big news like THE ALBUM'S FINISHED....well nearly. We're off into the studio over the next couple of weeks to finish off some stuff. I'm sitting at home, overlooking the tower blocks and trying to write some lyrics. The recipe for inspiration is all in evidence. Massive hangover (tick), Greasy spoon slowly digesting (tick) nothing much on telly (tick). By tonight i'm sure the lines will be chopped into shape...I mean lyrical lines obviously, not the Bolivian marching powder type of lines.

I'm trying to finish off a song about the guy at the insurance company who wouldn't give us our money when our gear got stolen (who will remain nameless). The song's called 'Nigel's got it coming'!

well I suppose i'd better sharpen the pencil of doom. Please post any lyrical ideas you have on the chat board. If they're good I'll plagiarise them and claim the glory....

Love

Jezx

So here I am, good morning everyone. I'm sitting in front of the computer munching on some almond thins and planning the day of farrah based activity. Meeting the photographer later who did a great job of hiding the bags under my eyes and then I'm sending some stuff to our french label for our imminent release. It seems like our fantastic time in Spain was a long time ago, and we're all feeling the pressure to deliver the album....

We go back in the studio on Monday to mix 'School Disco' and 'Hopelessly Devoted' which will be fun. I'm messing around with 'Wake Up' today as it sounds very 'Def Leppard' (a good thing?!)

Look out for some photos from Madrid on the site soon eh Web Monkey?

Keep on Rocking.

P.S the 'Nada Surf' album is very good...

Just wanted to tell you all that our Valentine's jaunt to Madrid was a great success. The gigs were great, the audience mad for it and we were looked after in fine style by Santi, Mayte and Pablo. The album has been selling really well and we're hoping to go back again in May. Since we got back we've been busy recording, mixing and watching 'Bargain Hunt'. We had some more band shots taken tonight which was fun, we'll post the results soon BEWARE.

I wake up to prove my theory that there is a connection between 'beer' and 'Hangover' The day is spent slouching around a sunny Madrid and having a fantastic lunch with Pablo (our wonderful label boss).

The gig is at the same venue tonight and we're generally more up for it. We go on at 11.30pm and finish our set sometime the next morning! The crowd are fantastic and keep demanding more encores and we sell a whole load of albums.

Tonight after the gig we're a bit more sensible and only get shit-faced 'til 3AM! We've had such a lovely time and have made some real friends in Madrid that we're very sorry to leave

Back to the cold reality of London tomorrow...BOOOOO WAHH

A very knackered Farrah arrive in Madrid in the morning after rehearsing the night before and now being awake for over 24 hours (sorry, no photos were taken) Spirits immediately soar at the sight of sunshine and Santi Campos who picks us up from the airport and takes us to the Hilton (ahem). After a small bottle of wine and a siesta we head down to the venue which we love. It's small, sweaty and very rockandroll (or is that Michelle?).

We are supported by The Winnerys who are a very technically proficient and Beatlesesque Madrid based band. It's soon time for us to down the Red Bull and Rock hard.

It's a knackering gig after a long day, but the crowd and the Caffiene keep us going. Totally exhausted, we retire to the 'Moloko' until 4am. This is a great bar with really cool music and a good vibe.

Good night

Just thought I'd say high from grey, rainy Yorkshire where I've escaped for the weekend. Hope you all have fun!

I can't believe I've been hard at work for an hour on the album. I'm spending the day replacing guitar parts on Daytime T.V as the parts i'd already recorded sounded...what's the technical word...SHIT. We're mixing tonight so I'd better get a move on. I hope you all had a great weekend.

It's hard work being a perfectionist when technically my hands don't want to play the right chords. We hope to have some new tracks for you to hear on the website soon. I'll have to bribe the webmonkey with some nuts.

Good morning everybody! I hope you're feeling more awake than me. The world is carpeted white. Even the tower blocks look bearable. My throat hurts this morning, as do my aching muscles. Really enjoyed the gig last night but didn't enjoy loading in a blizzard. I was to red-bulled up when I got in so watched the open University in the early hours and pondered the deep questions of the universe: why can't scientists dress well? Was it a scientist who invented the classic ' beard without moustache?'

Today I'm meeting up with the French label who are putting Moustache out in France. The label boss is a really cool guy. We'll be on the same label as the brilliant Cotton Mather in France which warms the cockles somewhat.

Hope you enjoy the snow. It always looks better to me through the windows of a pub....tonight perhaps...

Oh, By the way, our ex-drummer Tom has a single out this week on Fierce Panda. His band is called Repairman and the single is called Smiling White Noise. I love it and you will too if you like wierdy acoustic loopy Gomezesque hook filled flights of fancy.....

If we all bought it, it might get in the charts and he could afford to buy me that pint he owes me!

Sundays eh? Sandwiches, relatives, antiques roadshow, sprouts. I woke up this sunday without a hangover for the first time since 1989 (i started drinking very young) What a strange experience it was. Still as boring but without the headache. I've been listening to some new CD's (The Pernice Brothers and Nada Surf, since you ask)

My New Year's health kick was going well until Friday when a friends birthday turned into a Camden piss up. Was that me singing along to Bob Marley in the Oxford Arms at 1A.M? Yes, I'm afraid it was. Who was that falling off the seat in the Black cab. Yes, I'm afraid that was me too. Guilty as charged. Good fun though (what i can remember)

Last week I was trying to finish off some lyrics while reining in my childish desire to go sledging! The band will be getting together for some gigs at the end of the Month. We're also doing a couple of gigs in Madrid in February. Perhaps we'll even finish the album before Easter.

Got to go now and watch the darts final. Rock and roll. Oh Yes

Jez x

Hello everybody and best wishes for the Year ahead. My resolutions were to 1. Stop making resolutions i won't keep and 2. Update the diary more regularly as the rest of the band don't seem to have any lives worth boring you about.

My hangover from the New Year is receding like hair and I’m packing my bag for a trip to Spain to see my father who is a matador. Christmas was the usual round of family get togethers and excessive drinking. Most of it was spent in York where the beer flows like water. New Year was spent in the east end of London. I was dressed as Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins and I was only narrowly beaten in the Jellied eel wrestling by Henry Cooper. My drink of the night has to go to the Tequila and Champagne slammer, a drink so powerful that you can’t remember who you are moments after drinking it.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I want to hear the best New Year Resolutions on The Chat board

Best wishes

Jez x