Friday 22 June 2012

K&A with Lonely Tourist

I remember a while back, long before I started this whole blogging lark, standing in King Tuts watching Odeon Beatclub completely steal the show from headliners, and my then favourite band, The Cinematics.  Trust me, that was no mean feat!  Their debut, and ultimately, their only album was bought the next morning and lead singer Paul Tierney even included some promo singles in the package such was the gentleman he was.  And still is to be fair.  When Paul relocated to Bristol a few years ago, he left band life behind him and went solo under the somewhat-apt moniker Lonely Tourist

His debut album Sir, I Am A Good Man arrived in early 2011 on the back of some impressive early demos.  Not half as impressive as the album mind you as my review at the time attests to.  Now he's back with his brilliant follow-up I Live Where You Are, I thought we should let him tell us all about it, Lonely Tourist, and some very strange gigs he's done as of late.  Take it away Mr. Tierney...

Kowalskiy: Who is Lonely Tourist?
Paul: Lonely Tourist ...when I play live it's just me, a guitar and a stomp box trying to make a band-sized noise. When I was in the studio with Jim Lang (producer) it was much more collaborative. I wrote the songs but they were very basic without Jim's production. We went into the studio and threw everything at them, and then worked out what bits we thought worked. The live gigs are a different thing, support slots are great in that people usually listen....Pub gigs you have to fight to be heard and attempt to get peoples attention without resorting to firebreathing or juggling (unacceptable).

Kowalskiy:  Many will know you from Odeon Beatclub. What effect do you think moving from a band in one of the UK's thriving music scenes, to a solo act on the South coast has had on your music?
Paul:  Aye I miss Glasgow. It would have been great to do this (Lonely Tourist) back home but it wasn't possible. Bristol does have a good, varied, music scene though. If anything moving away made me work harder to get out and about and meet people. I play all the time which has meant I've had some really great (and terrible) gigs in unusual places. These include playing inside a sculpture in a park, at a terrible rebirthing hippy pish festival where they all ignored me while their long-haired Boden catalogue children ran around at the front....I've played a gig in a bedroom (twice now - I played there the other night and it was brilliant), on boats, in cafes and millions of different pubs and small festivals.

Kowalskiy: So what's the weirdest gig you've ever done then?
Paul:
  1. Inside an armadillo shaped sculpture covered in fairy lights on Bonfire night in a park (with the generator going on and off during my set). It was both good and bad.
  2. Outside in a monsoon playing to two dogs chasing a ball for 45 minutes (nobody else not even the sound man who'd gone to get some food).
  3. I did one with no PA in a massive conference room of 200 empty seats. I played to 4 people. Tannoy announcements went off now and again completely drowning me out.  Just before the end a bloke dressed as a pirate walked down the middle of the room followed by 20 kids and set up his act behind me (while I was still playing).
Kowalskiy:  Your new album I Live Where You Are came out on the 28th of May. How does it compare to last years' Sir, I Am A Good Man?
Paul:  Yes, the album was out on the 28th May. Compared to Sir I Am A Good Man its much more of a full band sound. We just tried loads of ideas ....wee noises, effects and the like. Ok, its not exactly the Magic Band but it is different from the first one. Hopefully a step up. I got to make a bit of noisy Mogwai type noise at the end too. We didny really do much of that in Odeon Beatclub.


Kowalskiy:  Are there plans afoot to tour the album in Scotland?
Paul:  I'm open to offers! I played 2 gigs in Scotland in February and I'd gladly do more.

Kowalskiy:  What would be your ideal gig?
Paul:  Fantasy best ever gig would be supporting The Fall. But in reality if that was ever to happen I'd probably be met with a deafening silence...if not open hostility. They'd hate me because I'm not The Fall, and because Fall fans are a fickle not easily pleased bunch (I know as I am one).
Again fantasy gigs....I'd have liked to support Franz Ferdinand at any point in time. Bloody great they are. 'Actual' best gigs to do are either decent supports (I've played with Pete Doherty, Malcolm Middleton and Admiral Fallow in the past and those gigs were magic)... or a gig on a Saturday night in a rowdy but decent pub (I played in Menai Bridge a couple of weeks back and it was excellent... best atmosphere I've felt at a gig in ages).

Kowalskiy:  What can we expect from Lonely Tourist in the future?
Paul:  I want to keep writing, recording stuff and gigging....and hopefully making stuff that is an improvement on the last albums.

Long may it continue!  I loved Paul's debut album but this is something else.  If the next one is an improvement on this, God only knows how great it'll be.  You can buy I Live Where You Are over here or by clicking the stream below.

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