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Just a quickie to say that rehearsals are sounding fucking immense.

I honestly thought it would take us ages to get these new songs together, but within a couple of days we’ve nailed the bastards and are polishing their little extremities like well loved nubbins of the rock apocalypse, or would that be rockalypse? Actually no it wouldn’t, as it is crap.

Think we may well just go with your idea of playing the album in its entirety, then come back on and play a bunch of more well known songs as the encore.

It could be really weird to have everyone stand gawping at us, not dancing, not going nuts, but staring like an audition for some competition you already kinda won. Or maybe it won’t? Maybe it’ll be as sexy as a stripper dressed as a rabbit? Actually strippers don’t dress, or else they’d be called dressers. And then they’d have to rename the wooden things you put clothes in. Then the universe would start making odd new sounds as it spins on its plinth and we’d all be fucked.

I think you know what I’m saying, and I think you know what language I’m saying it in.

Yeah, that’s right. The language of severe volume.

Will write more when this fucking whistling in my head stops.

See you at the front.

Ouch!

Gx

Picked up by Billy and Jen this morning we met up with Chris and Donovan from Camp Freddy at Burbank airport before being hurriedly rushed into the plane (where we scan the terrifying spectacle of fires tearing across LA, amid billowing plumes of white and red smoke, as the plane flies almost above), business class, natch. Camp Freddy don’t do things small. This operation makes my biggest shows look like pub gigs, hell they make everyone’s shows look like pub gigs.

Straight into the rooms (VIP natch, this one I’m sitting in is fucking huge) and then down to soundcheck, in this cavernous, 4000 seater venue, where I find myself singing You Really Got Me with John 5 and Surrender with Corey Taylor and Mark McGrath singing backing harmonies, while Dave Navarro shows me their new arrangement of the track. Duff McKagan is here, as is Matt Sorum (watching them play It’s So Easy brings a shiver to the skin), and then Steve Stevens and Corey Taylor join the CF circus for an astounding rendition of Rebel Yell. Corey really has the best pipes in the business, no doubt about it.

Just ate the best catering I’ve ever eaten in the dressing room, and I’m now waiting for the meet and greet, where Ozzy and family will be present.

It’s a surreal day, and one that I thought I should share with you.

Vegas is a place that Camp Freddy were formed to play. Their ultra-pro, huge production sits at ease with the larger than life attitude that this place is famous for. No one acts like stars in this outfit, more like a mutual appreciation society that get to hang out and play their favourite songs with each other.

Tonight I will play Anarchy In The UK, with Steve Jones.

This could be the most wonderful live experience of my life.

I’ll let you know how it went.

Vegas, baby. First class. Life is sweet.

Gx

Jebus H Corblimey what just happened?

Only two weeks ago my family and I were sitting at Heathrow airport waiting for our flight to Sweden to meet and perform with Maria McKee, then to Finland to write with Michael Monroe.

Next I’m saying goodbye to my family at Heathrow where I’ll board a flight to LA. Luckily I can upgrade my seat to premium using my airmiles, so far so good.

After some spattered LA sleep peppered with jet lag we make our way to rehearsals where we write the first song for our new project, Mystery Number, which we will fine tune tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, however, things will begin to take on a momentum of their own based on the tangible life force of simple positive thinking. And nowhere is the power of positivity evident than within the characters of this band. Scott Lipps, the president of the biggest modelling agency in USA and one of the best loved guys in the business world, Billy Morrison, the heart and soul behind Camp Freddy, the biggest all start covers band in the world, and Michael Butler, a rock n roll historian, DJ, host and generally universally loved human being.

So the morning of the greatest day of the year begins with the mighty Mike Clink (Guns n Roses, UFO etc. etc.) coming to the studio to discuss the possibility of working with us. While were talking Michael Lee Smith, the magical voice behind Starz, turns up to rehearse. Suddenly I have to call Lemmy at home to ask if he’s coming to the show. Spinning in blissful confusion we make our way to the happiest place in LA, the home of our friend Mike, who furnished us with fine wine and conversation about the Secret , Dr Wayne Dyer and the power of positive thinking, my absolute favourite topics.

When I wake I have a funny feeling ‘the greatest day of the year’ is going to be beat. And sure enough at sound check on gig day Steve Stevens shows up to play Rebel Yell and shred his way through My baby Is A Headfuck. After a quick dinner with the Buckcherry guys, and successfully persuading Tre Cool to come to the show, we head back to the venue where I will be greeted by a flotilla of names and faces, Mickey P, Paul Cook, Casey Chaos, Duff McKagan, Donnie Vie, before climbing the stage at Viper Room to perform with a live stream, set up by the ubiquitous Billy Morrison and engineered by Beans and Butler, that will pipe the show out live to USA, UK, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Europe as well as to those gathered here in person to watch Michael Lee Smith sing Loveshit, Steve Stevens destroy Rebel Yell and own Headfuck, while we gallantly plough through an eclectic set. The greatest day of the year has officially been replaced.

In the morning I wake with the feeling that the greatest day (‘officially replaced’) may, somehow, be usurped by an outside horse named ‘the greatest day of the year, period’, only to be ushered into the truck of the lovely Chelsea Schwartz and taken to the Gibson offices where I’m face to face with Ace Frehley for a 30 minute interview. The greatest guitar player that ever lived is in great spirits and excellent humour as I ask him some very pressing questions about drugs, sexuality and his opinions on Ramones. The thrill that carries me from the interview takes me to the house of Matt Sorum, where we are recording our new song with Mike Clink (oh yes, it all went gloriously to plan), only to be told that Ace has mentioned me on twitter, saying I’m a nice guy.

This crazy trip has started with Maria McKee saying she likes my songs and bookended with Ace Frehley calling me a nice guy. Will someone wake me the fuck up?

Tomorrow I will head out to Vegas where I will perform with Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Navarro, John 5, Steve Jones and the entire Camp Freddy circus, in an attempt to override ‘the greatest day of the year, period’.

I think this is likely.

I’ll let you know how it went.

What’s that you say? I dropped a name or two?

You’re damned right I did!

Gx

Just touched down in LAX, and after a visit to the wonderful Chelsea at the Viper Room we head off to our digs where we are confronted by some awesome Toadies fans who saw my show with them a few weeks ago.

Strangers truly are friends you haven’t met yet, especially in Korea Town, CA.

The wonderful Guillian makes our arrival as sweet as that of a waiting mother with warm bread,  and the awesome Elizabeth provides us with bedding and the best hug in LA. Chugged down a drink or two with Scott Lipps at a place so posh that the seat even asked if I’m really sitting at the right place.

Rehearsing and writing today and tomorrow, then playing Viper Room on Wednesday, with a guest list that is starting to look like the Kerrang! awards roll call. Then me, Billy, Michael and Scott (my LA compatriots) go into a studio with Mike Clink (Guns ‘n Roses’ Appetite For Destruction) to record the fruits of our labour. Still don’t have a band name for the project yet, and my ideas for a moniker are just getting worse.

Once recording is done I interview Ace Frehley for Michael’s radio show (an event I’m relatively thrilled to be involved with, to say the very least) then we’re off to Vegas where I will perform with an all star cast at a Camp Freddy show. Then we have a day off in Vegas before leaving for the UK.

“A day off in Vegas” you say? “Is that wise” you ask? And with Guillian, Chelsea, our friend Mike (with the amazing wine collection) and the assorted crazies present you’d be wise in assuming that this will end up like The Hangover movie, complete with tigers and stray babies. I will report from the frontlines and let you know just how bizarre this all gets.

But suffice it to say this will be no ordinary week.

Gx

Please watch this.

I used to think that punk was a pretty radical movement. 

Tired of the jumpers and ten minute keyboard solos of bloated rock it set out to streamline everything into sexy, modern chunks for the digestion of a bright new world reacting to a stuffy old guard. Watching this makes me feel that punk needs to be brought up to date. The DIY spirit must reinvent itself to stay relevant. Punks are crusty old fogies with bad back patches and too many studs on their bike jackets.

Like Joe Strummer said “I’ve got my motorcycle jacket but I’m walking all the time” (This Is England)

Don’t be a dinosaur punk, be a radical.

Amen, brother.

Gx

Yeah, I’m tired. Breathtakingly tired.

Taylor doesn’t grasp the concept of touring just yet. Early mornings are his thing and sharing his exuberance is his way.

So after approximately 30 seconds of sleep I am awake and out the door to do a live radio show in Stockholm following the success of the acoustic show yesterday. They want a couple of songs played acoustic and an interview. On scanning the studio I see that I’m the least famous person to ever walk through these doors. There are signed photos and memorabilia by everyone from Angus, and Slash to Jimmy page and James Hetfield.

Er, hello, my name is Ginger I play in a band called…blah blah, “yeah, whatever, take a seat…”

Conny on the other hand is vastly more famous than I. He suggests I gain notoriety by playing Paramore acoustically (with its hook of “I’d like to fuck her too”). I instead opt for Inside out and This Is Only A Problem. It is then that I realise that neither SG5 or my solo albums have been released in Europe. I hope someone will rectify this situation at some point, and until then I will maintain my mainstream obscurity with diligence and aplomb, and, of course, fatigue.

Great evening in Stockholm last night although the crowd were substantially different than the Maria McKee crowd I played to only a few days ago. For a start, rock audiences don’t really grasp, fully, the concept of an acoustic show and use the reduction in volume to talk over the performance. Others, then, shout over the people simply talking over the performance until there are moments, often during the softer sections of the songs, where it feels like you’re whispering in the middle of Grand Central Station, Without the aid of the whispering wall  

Still, I like a challenge and find everything about this ridiculous business we call music funny.

So now I’m sitting in the hotel room at midday, alone, overtired and unable to sleep, waiting until 3:30pm where we will take a boat ride to Turku, Finland, that will sail overnight and arrive at our destination at 7am, where I will meet with Michael Monroe to begin writing for three days before hitting Helsinki for a full days press followed by a performance at our managements party, after which I will be bundled into a plane and taken to Heathrow where I will catch an adjoining flight to LA where I will rehearse, play, rehearse, write, record, play (again) and fly home to begin rehearsals for The Wildhearts tour of UK, Japan, S America and Scandinavia.

One day I will take some time off. This will probably be precluded by death.

Tired?

Gx

After finally reaching the hotel, complete with super stealth power shower, the battering removal of the grime of three days of farm life and trekking frees the mind to wander through a myriad of corridors, each storing memories, each promising a banquet of misplaced delights.

Singing Panic Beach around the campfire with Maria McKee, enjoying, for the first time ever, an acoustic show alone- sans accompaniment- to a hushed and reverent audience, eating delicious crawfish while wearing a paper hat and attempting to join in with Swedish drinking songs, enjoying a farewell lunch of home grown produce that makes the stuff they sell in supermarkets taste like McDonalds, Taylor riding a pony in the garden, a vegetarian restaurant that pick the stuff that morning and give you a plate of what they know you want to eat, our wonderful new friends, the awesome hostess that is Maria Anderberg, Taylor laughing at his first face to face with a cow, awesome schnapps and little woodland creatures falling asleep.

We left Mrs McKee with a birthday gift (that we miraculously found after 5 minutes of searching) and said goodbye last night. It’s also the last we’ll see of Maria A, Krystal and Esther for a while, all true treasures to a girl. Well miss you until next time.

The 6 hour train ride to Stockholm today to meet with Conny Bloom and discuss the set we will play on Monday will provide more invaluable memories. I hope Dregen will show up but we aren’t sure of he’ll be in town. Wonder what Stockholm is like in Summer? Hope we find a babysitter, and a laundrette.

Then we take an overnight boat trip to Finland, which I’m really looking forward to taking Taylor on, where I’ll be reunited with Michael Monroe to carve out some new tunes for a few days before embarking on a huge press day in Helsinki.

I’m busy and I’m clean, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

See you somewhere nice.

Gx

If anyone has a more sociable method of dining than the Swedish then they’re keeping it a secret.

The show (which was sublime, by the way) included my set, many more players following, then I guested with Esther Rose Parkes on Am I The Only One Who Ever Felt This Way and finally got up for the finale to growl through Rocking In The Free World with the entire bill performing. A truly brilliant moment. After being presented with a bottle of champagne each onstage (thanks Maria Anderberg) we retired to the country house where the wonderful Maria Blum and family cooked crawfish and drank schnapps (each drink precluded by a drunken Swedish song). I can’t remember ever eating anything better than crawfish. Delicious doesn’t even scratch the surface.

All in all as perfect a day as I’ve ever had.

And singing onstage only to look around and see Maria McKee smiling behind me, sharing the chorus, is a memory that is indelibly etched into my consciousness. 

Off to Malmo today for more fun ‘n games today. I absolutely LOVE Sweden.

Gx

So, after a very long day travelling we finally arrive at our destination, a dreamlike country retreat straight out of a Swedish kids book.

After feeding and bathing Taylor, and settling into our accommodation, I venture into a guest house with an array of seasoned musicians jamming extremely professional quality cover songs, where I’m lead to a microphone to sing Rocking In The Free World.

As I hit the chorus I look across the table to find that Maria McKee is filming me, and then she starts singing harmony with me. Maria McKee is singing harmony vocal to my lead vocal.

Bizarre event no.1.

No. 2 happens over a campfire after dark, where Maria compliments me on my songwriting following a slightly drunk version of Inside Out. I don’t think a compliment ever resonated so deeply before. Feeling freshly cocky I request Maria sing Panic Beach and I’ll strum along. She does. I do. It’s awesome.

After filling our bellies on amazing BBQ meats, and passing my acoustic guitar around the fire, Esther (a lovely English girl that Maria is grooming for success) and I go into an impromptu version of Am I The Only One Who Ever Felt This Way? that moves Maria into suggesting we sing the song this evening. After one more rendition (for Maria to record) we agree. And so came bizarre happening no.3.

After a hug I thank Ms. Mckee for the wonderful music and lifelong inspiration and we head off to our Country lodge in which I’ve just woken up and took Taylor out to meet his first cows.

Dreams are coming true as we speak.

I think God must have based heaven on Sweden.

Gx

“Dreams come true, say they do, say they do, say they do” Maria McKee

After a criminally insufficient amount of sleep (thanx Taylor, boy am I gonna keep YOU up when you get older) we are ready to leave for Sweden, where I will perform with the greatest living female vocalist and writer on Gods earth, Maria McKee. We will hang out, maybe even write a song or two together, but the point is I will get to thank her in person for the years of great music and inspiration she has given me. This whole thing came about because I was talking to a friend of our manager about Maria. This friend not only knows the great woman but invites her to stay at her little Countryside retreat in the heartlands of Sweden. It was mentioned that I should visit too, next time.

No more thought was given to this, slightly drunken conversation. And now, through honesty and positivity, I am about to get on a plane to this very retreat.To meet Maria McKee. Honesty and positivity, the energy of dreams. If you ain’t got both you ain’t got any dreams coming true, and you sure ain’t making any come true for anyone else.

Y’hear?

Then, after a brief acoustic show with my buddy Conny Bloom I’m off to Finland to write with Michael Monroe, one of Rock’n’Roll’s last true icons. He’s planning a new solo album and I’m helping write it with him. Who knows, I may even play in the band he’s going to put together for it? Stranger things have happened.

And usually to me!

Stay positive out there and remember to be honest. Not just for yourself but for everyone around you. It works, it really does.

Now, where did I put that passport?

Gx