Where did the year go? It feels like February was only yesterday. Hmmm... That sounds like a song title... Anyway, what a crazy year - so many highs and lows (hey, that is a song title) and lots fun. Thanks everyone for being part of it all. Hope 2006 is even better - bring on the new year!! Lots of love, Michelle xxx

Oh good lord my head hurts. I just wanted to drop a line to the diary page to say merry Christmas to all of you. Last night was a bit of an alcoholic frenzy and tonight I’m off to another party so I might need a blood transfusion for Christmas. I hope you all like the Christmas song we recorded. We had real fun doing it. I hope Santa brings you nice prezzies. Here are my favourite things of 2005.

Yokahama arena. Top gig.

Hanson tour. Really lovely band

Bhuddist retreat in Koya San. Very mellow

Shanghai. China was Maotastic

Guingamp That was like a scene from Delicatessen. Mental

My Pod XT guitar FX

John Prine gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Awesome

Young Heart Attack at 93 Feet East. Rockin

The curry I had on my Birthday. Yummy

The meal that Kuma and Uji Cooked for me. Amazing.

My Favourite records and bands I heard in 2005 (although probably not released in 2005) in no particular order

John Prine- Fair And Square

Tom Petty- Anthology

Bleu

The Semantics

Brendan Benson

Josh Rouse – Nashville

Randy Newman- Songbook

XTC- Skylarking

Police- Box Set

Simon And Garfunkel- Box Set

Hello everybody out there. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We’re all going into the studio tomorrow and Sunday to record a very special track which will only be available to download from the site. We’re hoping it will be finished by Monday. If we can, we’ll rig up a webcam over the weekend so you can see us in the process of recording it all.

Watch this space…

Lots of love

jezx

Jez x

Hello out there and Autumnal greetings to you all. I hope all of you are well. I wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to. Firstly, we’ve been organising the Studio we use for Farrah recordings with Jimmy K (who runs the studio and is an all round top bloke). Mike has got a new drum kit which cost an arm and a leg but looks very snazzy. Me and Andy are going into the studio tomorrow to start learning how Protools (a computer software recording package) works so we can record the next record.

I’ve been doing some co writing over the last few weeks with various people which has been good fun. I wrote a couple of pop songs with Duncan (who used to be in Blue!) and he was a really nice guy. I also produced a track for Michelle Mcmanus. They were filming a ‘you are what you eat’ Christmas special about her when we were in the studio. You might even see an interview with me on the telly. She was really down to earth and had a great voice. She’s lost 7 stone in a year. For all you diet fans out there, the secret is not drinking, not eating much and exercising a lot. Shame.

I went to see one of my favourite songwriters- John Prine- play at the Shepherds Bush Empire. I love his lyrics, he’s an old guy who sounds a bit like Dylan. This week I went to see Tracy Bonham play the Borderline. She’s an incredibly talented singer/songwriter/violinist/guitarist and keyboard player from Boston. I wrote a couple of bad songs with her once, which thankfully she didn’t play that night.

Farrah ideas are still germinating. I’m going up to my mums house for a week to work on the lyrics. I have a lot of stupid ideas about what the record should be called. These are the worst so far.

Flying Ant Day Hunter, Prey Lou Ferrigno Hair Dumb Dumb Ditties

Which of course translates to 'I'm knackered'. We got back this morning from a whistle stop weekend in Glorious France. 1st stop was a festival in Albi (about an hour from Toulouse for those geographically intrigued). It was the first time we'd played in that region and we were showed a fantastic time by David (who picked us up from the airport) to Benjy, who was the promoter of the show. After the gig we pleaded exhaustion but were persuaded to go for a 'small' drink. 2 hours later after drinking our own weight in beer, whisky and home made cocktails; we staggered out of Albi's premier night club suitably refreshed! Thanks Benjy and special thanks to the guy who stripped naked every time someone sang 'happy birthday'.

The next day was an early start to catch the plane to Paris. One of us was very hungover....Olivier, the boss of our French record company. He decorated the airport car park in Bon Scott fashion. He's more rock and roll than us!

The gig in Paris was on a boat. This is the second time we've played on a boat on the Seine. It's quite unusual turning up at sound-check and then waiting for the gig to arrive. It was fantastic to meet up with all our Farrah's angels friends who worked so hard to promote the gig. It is really worth checking out their fantastic French site (there is a link on the front page of the Farrah site). The cartoons of the band are far better looking than we are in real life.

We played our hearts out and although we had a few technical problems and a mild case of scurvy, we had a great time on stage. I think some of the audience now know the lyrics better than me. They certainly seemed amused by my tenuous grasp of French.

We're all hoping that Olivier is going top book us a gig on a submarine next - or even a motorbike!

I hope all of you are having a great weekend.

I must sleep now

A bientot

Hello everybody out there in farrah land. It's a grey day in London today. We've got an acoustic gig at the Ben Sherman store which should be surreal and amusing. We've never done a gig in front of mods trying on trousers before. We've rehearsed some new stuff and some old. I've been doing a bit of moonlighting playing guitar on the Duncan James album (him from Blue!). I met him and he was a nice bloke. Other than that I've been listening to my Farrah ideas on my Iriver and trying to think up lyrics. There's a great album by the Semantics i've been listening too. It's called Powerbill. I hope all is well with all of you.

Lots of love

jez

Just a quick entry to tell you about the Rockingham gig. Except for the 8AM strat on the Sunday morning, we had a great time. The promoter kindly gave us a private box to watch the stock car racing from. The stage was great. We played right at the end oof the day supporting Rooster. The crowd were really up for it, the sun came out. We rocked (for 15minutes, one of our shortest ever sets).

We're heading into the studio shortly to start on the new record (gulp) So instead of writing this I should be writing some lyrics....arse.

Lots of love

jez

Good morning folks or as they say in japan, “Ohio gozaimas!” I'm suffering slightly from Jet lag today and suffering the mental effects of watching Miss Congeniality 2 on the plane. I wanted to throw myself out of the window by the end.

We had an amazing time in Japan. It always takes a while to sink in when you get home how different Japan is from anywhere else we’ve been. We get really spoilt there by how gracious our hosts are. We found incredible vegetarian food, saw a Shinto religious festival in Hakata, Stayed with Monks in Koyasan and saw trainee Geishas (called Maikos) in Kyoto.

Now we’re back we have to get on with the next album. In fact, I’m working on a song now. I get a perverse pleasure in being in a dark studio on hot days.

I hope you are all well and no one was affected by the London Bombs

We’ll be putting some photos of our adventures on the site soon.

Lots of love

Jez

Hello everyone, i hope all is well with you all. We had an amazing weekend playing at Yokahama arena on saturday night, partying until late and then playing a sold out gig in Tokyo`s trendy Shinjuku area on Sunday.

Saturday was a blast, i have to admit that my heart was going like a jack hammer before we went on stage but once we were up there and saw 10000 people clapping along, it was an experience i won`t forget. The actual show was a bit of a blur. We went out the day before and bought extremely long guitar leads for Andy and michelle so they spent the whole set running around and throwing rock poses. We signed a lot of CDs and T shirts, watched an amazing set from asian kung Fu Generation and then went to a great aftershow party with all the other bands. Time Wheeler was a lovely (if a bit jetlagged) bloke. The rest of Ash liked a drink or two..... or seven

Now i`m exploring this amazing country for a few days. Kyoto today, Osaka tomorrow

lots of love

Jez

The show at Red Cloth was Amazing as well. So many familiar faces and some brand new fans. We let the audience choose the set by picking names out of a hat. It was a rip roaring success.

As always we were looked after magnificently by Nobu and his friends.

what a rush! just off stage, so more later....

I went to the Wireless Festival yesterday and had a marvellous time. Brendon Benson was a revelation, absolute rock rifferey with some great tunes. Most of the other bands fitted into one of the following categories though; 'We dress like World War Two Evacuees, wear our guitars quite high up, have angular hair, angular chords and sound like Franz Ferdinand' or 'We have big hair, MC5esque Clothing and play one chord at a gradually increasing volume a la Spiritualised'

Worthy exceptions to the rule were 'Echo And The Bunnymen' 'are we cool again? Liam stole my moves'

Rufus Wainright. Love his voice and his general campery

James Blunt ' During my set I will magically make every middle aged man with his top off clasp his wife/Girlfriend from behind and sway gently. ARRGGGGGHHH

Supergrass 'there's the hits, where's the cheque'. shame

Special vitriol has to be saved for Keane. First of all, they have all the basslines on tape. Get a bass player you tight wads. The Moon faced ruddy cheeked trainee farmer of a singer had all the Charisma of an Actuary. They obviously went down a storm (unfortunately none of them were struck by lightning). It sounds harsh I know. The guy has a brilliant voice but the songs were like a GM version of Travplay designed only to push the 'singalong' button in the crowd.

There was a great article in the Guardian last week about the death of lyrics. I think it's true that a lot of the anthemic bands that sell by Bucketloads (AthletePatrolplaykeanefeeder) don't really have much of anything to say.

I'm determined to write a song on the Next Farrah album which says nothing. All I know is that it has to be very slow (played on Piano but not a grand Piano, an upright Piano like we had at school) with a throbbing bassline, earnestly mention big things such as Clouds, sky, space, human race, day, night, light, fight and some words like exhale,shine, automatic, reveal and then have a falsetto chorus with big floaty chimy U2 like chords.......

Let's get to it, then get it in Asda....

Jez x

P.S If you disagree with my comments please get a lively debate on the board going!

Hello all, just got back off tour last night and am slowly recovering. Gigs were great and it was lovely to meet Farrah fans old and new. It was particularly good to go back to our home town of York and play. I don't think we've gigged there for 3 years. Big thanks must be said to everyone who helped out (Rachael, Mal) and especially to Jen who got the punters buying the record and signing up for the mailing list!

The only downside was our van breaking down at every opportunity, firstly on the A1 at 2 in the morning, then on the way back to London yesterday. We did most of this tour on a towbar. In fact we should have been sponsored by the A.A.

Next stop Japan.... Gulp!

Jez x

Hello everybody and i hope you're all having a great weekend. I've been suffering from a severe hangover today due to an ill advised combination of drinks last night.

It's been a really cool week though, Paris was brilliant and got to meet some of our French fans as well as catching up with a few who had seen us before. The gig seemed to be in a rough part of Paris that was full of alchoholics so I felt right at home. The only downside was getting up so early to get the Eurostar back to London.

We hit the U.K next week which should be fun. I'm looking forward to playing in my home town of York as I haven't played there in a couple of years or more.

more news as it happens

Jez x

It feels like this gig just snuck up on us! We're all really looking forward to playing tonight. Hope to see lots of you there! Right, time to dash off to soundcheck... Love Michelle xx

Good lord, is it really that long since the last Diary entry? Well hello everyone, hope you’re all well. It’s been a busy few weeks since the Hanson Tour. We’re really chuffed about getting the Phantom Planet dates, I really liked ‘The Guest’ when it came out a few years ago (in fact we used to listen to it a lot when we made Me Too). It will be good to get out and do a few shows on our own. We’re even playing in York where me and Andy are from. Good bitter….mmmmmmm.

I’ve been drinking a lot and coming up with ideas for Farrah’s new prog rock triple CD (only Joking, although tempting…) It’s a tough life. I really hope some of you come to the shows, otherwise it will be weeny ladgin (ladgin or Ladjing is a York slang word which means embarrassing, weeny means very). It’s one of Farrah’s favourite words as we’ve been embarrassed many times, mostly by our performances

I’m rambling now and that in itself is ladgin. I am a ladger.

Big kiss to you all

Jez x

P.S Oh. By the way I hope you like the single and all rush out and buy it. If it’s good enough for Blue Peter it’s gotta be a winner

was the name of an album I bought from Watford Gap service Station for £1.99 and featured tracks from Cat Stevens to Donovan. I felt their spirit flow through me as I sat on my stool on stage at the Barfly last night for a rare foray into an acoustic set. It was fun actually, and lovely to see some new and familiar faces there. The band who were on before us were good in a downbeat wrist slitting kind of way. It was strange to be in an intimate setting after our 'Rock Pantomime poses' on the Hanson tour!

Thanks to everyone who showed up, we'll be playing another London Show in June but with electric guitars.

Man of the match was Mike who really rocked out with his shaker.....

that the Hanson tour is over. We had the best time!! Those Hanson guys are just the nicest guys ever! Thanks to everyone who helped make this tour so fun, especially all the fans!

Last night was crazy - we went on a few minutes late because we were in Hanson's dressing room, and they were showing us some very cool footage for a cause they really believe in - indie music. They're really passionate about givng independent music a platform from which to be heard, and if anyone can help raise awareness, these guys can!

Right, back to reality! Thanks again for helping Farrah have a great time on the road with Hanson - you all rock. Keep up the chatting and all the posts and we hope to see you all at a Farrah gig soon!

Love Michelle xxx

Hey everyone,

Well, being Australian, I haven't really seen much of the UK, but I'm so glad I got to go to Birmingham - you live in a cool city! Jez and I had a great time doing a bit of shopping at the Bullring before the show and eating chips from the Ocean Fish Bar, but, of course, best of all was the Hanson show - you guys rocked! We had such a great time last night, and it was very cool that we got to meet so many of you after the show and sign stuff... like arms, skirts, shoes and wallets (Lee and Ed!) - you guys are crazy!!

Special mention goes to Amber, though, who had some very intersting pictures of Jez with her... :)

And to the Denmark girls from the Astoria show the other night - yes, we did see your T-shirts from the stage!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Mean Fiddler show in London on Thursday.

Love Michelle xxx

Hi everyone, I've just woken up (a sleep-in, bliss) and thought I'd say Happy Easter! Can't believe it's Monday already... Which means we're playing in Birmingham tonight with Hanson - yay!

We are having such a brilliant time on the Hanson tour, not only because the Hanson guys are very cool (and good looking!!) but also because their fans are great, too.

We had a really fun gig last night at the Astoria in London, and what helped make it such a laugh was that so many fans were singing along and clapping, and then, after the show, came up and chatted to us! You rock!

Hope to see lots of you London Hansonettes and Hansonites at The Mean Fiddler (next door to the Astoria!) on Thursday. Remember to come up and say hi!

Enjoy the rest of your Easter break, eat lots of chocolate eggs and hot cross buns and see you all soon.

Michelle xxx

PS - Have a look at the picture below - it's the one that Andy took last night of the crowd! You never know, you might even see yourself... x

well, what can i say? Hanson fans are as cool as those Hanson boys themselves! We've only played Glasgow and Manchester so far, but things have gone very well. We've met lots of really cool Hanson fans who have all been really kind to us. We couldn't have asked for a friendlier more receptive crowd.

And those Hanson boys are some real talent. Hanson put on a great live show. They are truely amazing musicians (stunning harmony vocals!) and such nice guys to boot. We're all really looking forward to the rest of the tour. Bring on the Astoria....

ac x

PS i think Zak is my favorite - brilliant drummer!

PPS big thanks to Jen & Dani who were probably the only people there who travelled many miles just to see us!

Bonjour, I hope all of you are well. I'm just posting to say that the French tour was fantastic. We saw parts of France we never knew existed, Mike ate parts of animals I couldn't recognise and we played everytype of venue from Crypts to instores. We'll have some photos on the site soon.

Hope to see you at the Hanson shows

jez

Wow, we're having what's known in the trade as a 'shiny' week this week. Not only are we having an amazing tour in France and we're I tunes single of the week but we've just found out that we're going on tour with Hanson next week. Big shows in the U.K. It's sunny here in Paris, we've been sitting on the grass eating boursin. off to Orleon today.

lots of love

a bientot

Hello all, I thought i'd let you know how the Fench tour was going. It's been brilliant fun so far. The audiences have been amazing and the places we've played have been nothing short of extraordinary. The first two gigs were in Brittany. The Breton people seem to like a drink (to put it mildly) and we sampled everything from Cidre to moonshine. The audiences seemed to enjoy my mangled attempts at French and we've enjoyed the local cuisine, especially the carnivores! We're going back for more shows next week in the South of France, Can't wait!

All the best

jez

Hello all. Just got back from seeing Green Day at brixton academy. It was a good fun show, now I've got to sort out my stuff for Paris tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a good 2005 so far!

Sweet dreams (are made of cheese)

Jez x