Tour diary April 2004 Seasons greetings, Welcome to the latest instalment of our lives in condensed form. If you came to our gigs or bought our records thank-you very much. If not, why the hell not then?? Seriously though, we do appreciate all the emails, messages and kind words received. It boosts our egos and makes us feel wanted in this cruel world. Thank you. Thank you, also, to everyone who came to see us on our recent jaunt around the UK . It's much appreciated. It's been a mad month in a mad world and here are our flashpoints: OK so there is an undoubtable low point. Having read the NME on and off for the best part of ten years, when your debut record gets a 2/10 review it hurts. When you read it in a service station on a rainy morning near the Scottish border, it hurts even more.  Playing at the Matador showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas to 500-600 people was amazing. They listened, we rocked out. Great. And then we got to see three great bands straight after. And we got to meet Spiral Stairs/Scott Kannberg thus completing a Pavement brace (see below). David leaves a special present for George Bush in the toilet of the State Capitol Building in Texas. Hanging out backstage at the Joan Jett aftershow party. We love rock'n'roll oh yes. The door falling off the van in Nottingham after driving all the way back from Paris.  The Hull Adelphi - great venue. Big shout out to the promoter (and owner) Paul who looked after us all sweet like. Any place with original artworks from the great Bill Drummond hanging on the wall has got to be alright. Simon chats to Gimpo on the phone (he's in Germany) too. Good support band too - Silence In The Streets (a northern Mars Volta if you like). Probably our worst gig ever - Liverpool Academy. We'll take this as an opportunity to apologise to the audience. This gig came on the back of a pretty disillusioning trip to Glasgow and the NME escapade and I think it suffered as a result. We do have high standards but on this night it felt like they were transgressed. The only positive note is that Bill Drummond was possibly going to come and see us and then didn't. Steve Malkmus comes to our gig in NYC. Aaaaahhhh!! Several members of Seachange go weak at the knees. He says he enjoyed it. Did he?? Did he?? I hope so. We try to talk to him normally, some of us achieve this, some have problems. He looks yummy. Resist the temptation to ask for a photo. Manhattan taxi drivers and Texan burgers Karaoke in NYC with the Matador people. 'Highlights' include: Welcome to the Jungle - James Vyner / Wanted Dead Or Alive - Chris Lombardi / I Am The Walrus - David Gray / When Doves Cry - Simon Aldcroft. A special mention should also go to Simon for his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody after the karaoke machine had been switched off. Blame it on the Wild Turkey. Bristol Louisiana - lovely venue. We play with the Playwrights. Good people great band. Mark DJ'ing in the van on the way back from Paris. After 10 hours in a van you need your spirits lifting. Easy - just slap 'What Time Is Love' by the KLF on really really really loud and dig those synths. Yeah. Reading the US and European music press. Particular faves include; Les Inrockuptibles, Filter and Magnet. The Levis/Fader experience. We played at a partything in Austin for a magazine called Fader (Brits you don't know it its like Face though) and Levis. This meant we were kitted out head-t-toe in crisp new Levis and Converse. And got to keep them. And got Mark a new pair of strides into the bargain. On the downside we had to have our picture taken in wearing our new clothes and looking as unlike ourselves as were probably ever going to get, like we'd just stepped off the set of a Gap ad, but more pale and sweaty and ill-looking than that. Not that we're ungrateful or anything though. The view of the city of romance from Sacre Coeur The Spivey tour of Manhattan taking in 53 & 3rd, Lexington & 125, Murray Street and the Chelsea Hotel. Oh yes and the top of the Empire State Building which is apparently where all the NYC record company bigwigs get married. More van stress (why did no-one tell us there were two drive shafts???) Jo gets in to see Franz Ferdinand at SXSW and gets recognized in the queue!! Dave gets to hold a gun outside an Irish bar in Manhattan. Over dinner with Matador the next evening it transpires that this is quite an unusual event for a New Yorker let alone a Scouser. Finding a bar in New York where you can actually smoke a cigarette with your beer (this is either good or bad depending on the individual). Thanks Phil. This month's new hobbies are playing the [Jackie -- ed.] Sims House Party (a band away from home a lot combat their feelings of rootlessness by playing a computer game where you basically help your character to 'live' at home, feed it, make it decorate the house etc etc - and Dan had a baby in it, aww) and reading reviews of our album. This second hobby doesn't necessarily come highly recommended if you want to keep a balanced perspective on your life, but hey its our first record, we indulged our curiosity. Here are some bits that made us smile: "Seachange are attracting rabid hype for this promising, flawed debut" Uncut **** "Only a mother could love this" - NME (2/10) "Lay Of The Land will surely stand as one of the albums of the year" Logo (4.5/5) "The use of a violin adds to the folksy sound, and allowing it to open The Nightwatch with a two-minute introduction is a daring move - and given the stylistic lack of tuning one that could be described as either poignant or painful!" Music OMH "all I hear is music, stitched together with unfulfilled lust in postered bedrooms on sticky summer nights. Quite marvellous" - BBC Collective "you have to wonder whether a record full of obscure metaphors accompanied by a thunderstorm of instruments is what people want to hear" - Rock Review (6/10) "true British talent" - Time Out "this album is quite possibly a flawed masterpiece" - Neume (7/10) "What they have got going for them is an appealingly and enigmatic frontman in Dan Eastop, of course one man's enigmatic reflection on the world is another mans pseudo-intellectual drivel" - The Stereo Effect "containing echoes of the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, The Fall, Husker Du and other alt-rock greats without coming close to aping anyone" - KEXP-FM "Lay Of The Land is a fairytale. A beautiful tale of a lost essence revived. The light is dim, colours are autumn tones of gold and red and smell is of coal smoke tinged with old dried lavender" - Drowned In Sound