Take a deep breath.
And carry on.

The Dance Parties tour (fueled by gin and hot sauce) was exhausting and spectacular in all the right ways. Thanks to you all for braving the confused spring time and stumbling show-wards. Thanks to Errors, Gay For Johnny Depp, Pilgrim Fathers & Dark Captain Light Captain for keeping us on our toes and finding adventures for us.

After the UK shows we did a quick-stop tour of the continent. In Paris we had to push our backline down a street that was too narrow to drive down and Holy Fuck opened for us, which makes little sense because they’re a lot more famous than us. And they were fucking great as well. Then there was Atlantis, Oceansize, Transit, Shutter providing the decibels… Our clumsy electronica made on broken computers held its own, our battered amps continued to make noise… We freaked out only once in Nottingham when everything stopped but made up for it by staying out late and drinking heavily…We danced to The Cure in a Leeds nightclub which breaks pretty much every rule in the 65 book…Done and done. We have a couple of festivals once we get home but the truth is summer dates are pretty thin on the ground. Nobody wants hard-to-catagorise-instrumental-almost-dance-music on their bills, it would seem.

Now we’re in America on our bus – home for the next seven weeks – which is nicer than any house we have ever lived in. There are mirrors on the roof and two televisions the size of the holes in the ozone layer we’re probably making every couple of minutes. What an extraordinary peril that paralyses our lifetimes, huh? Our driver is called Patrick and the stereo works and is playing American/New York-themed songs in honour of our arrival in the city that is too-cool-for-us. The 65daysofstatic Have Been Up For Hours & Need to Find Food & Alcohol Playlist is as follows:

1. Tom Petty – American Girl
2. LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum
3. RFTC – Born in ’69
4. Lou Reed – NYC Man
5. Interpol – NYC
6. Jimi Hendrix – Crosstown Traffic
7. Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
8. Johnny Cash – I Won’t Back Down
9. Billy Joel – New York State of Mind
10. Blood Brothers – USA Nails
11. Atombombpocketknife – America the Great
12. The Doors – Light My Fire
13. Elliot Smith – Sweet Adeline
14. Gay For Johnny Depp – Lights Out!
15. Leonard Cohen – Take This Waltz

Then we ran out of energy so now Patti Smith is playing.

This bus is supposed to have Wifi, because in this country you’re nobody if you can’t update your facebook status to ‘Is Spotting Sopranos Landmarks’ when you’re headed down the New Jersey Turnpike. Except right now it’s broken. So we’ll post this from the dressing room of the Patriot Center tomorrow, while we pick up our gear and see if it works and get freaked out about the size of the stages all over again.

Oh right – we’re in America because we are supporting The Cure on the American leg of their tour. The first show is tomorrow in Fairfax. We have also weaved our first ever headline tour into the fabric of this one on the days off (and sometimes the same day) which is equally exciting and should lead to all sorts of confusions. Below they are separated, for ease of understanding. If you colour (or color, seen as how we’re Americans now) the 65 headline shows in green and the Cure shows in red and then look at them through a pair of 3D glasses, then you will be disappointed when nothing cool happens.

See you on the road, Ameri-kids!
65.x

HEADLINE SHOWS:

May 2008
11th: Hoboken NJ, Maxwells
17th: Chicago IL, Subterranean
18th: St Louis MO, 2 Cents Plain
22nd: Englewood CO, The Falcon
23rd: E Center, Salt Lake City24th: Boise ID, The Venue

June 2008
2nd: Anaheim CA, Chain Reaction
4th: Phoenix AZ, Modified Arts
7th: San Antonio TX, Rock Bottom
8th: Austin TX, Emos
12th: Orlando FL, The Social
14th: Gainsville FL, The Atlantic
15th: Duluth GA, Gwinnett Civic & Cultural Center
19th: New York City NY, Mercury Lounge

CURE SUPPORT SHOWS:

May 2008
9th: Patriot Center, Washington DC
10th: Wachovia Spectrum, Philidelphia
12th: Agganis Arena, Boston
14th: Bell Centre, Montreal
15th: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
17th: Allstate Arena, Chicago
19th: Starlight Theatre, Kansas City
21st: Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver
25th: George WA, The Gorge Amphitheater (The Sasquatch Festival)
26th: General Motors Place, Vancouver
28th: San Jose CA, HP Pavillion
29th Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara
31st: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles

June 2008
1st: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
3rd: Cox Arena, San Diego
4th: Dodge Theatre, Phoenix
6th: American Airlines Center, Dallas
8th: Austin Music Hall, Austin
9th: Toyota Center, Houston
11th: St Pete Times Forum, Tampa
13th: Bank Atlantic Center, Fort Lauderdale
15th: Gwinnett Center, Atlanta
16th: Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Charlotte
18th: Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, Cleveland
20th: Madison Square Gardens, New York City
21st: Radio City Hall, New York City