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After a productive demoing session in Liverpool (and an excellent museum trip!),we hit the long road to Newcastle with coffee and newspaper in tow. For Axis Of having no money is always a central feature and this becomes most apparent when on the road, but as Mears taught us its all about preparation - we ate our noodles in the van and checked out the support groups before hitting the stage at the Three Tuns in Gateshead. I was over the moon with this show, a generally interested crowd and a solid set. Our good friends Jake and Helen were putting us up in Newcastle, so we headed swiftly back for some late night potatoey snacks and all round good vibes.

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Tour manager Tom McGeehan had the van packed and tidied before I was out of my sleeping bag. We thanked our hosts and hit the road to Derby early on. The journey took a bleak turn as I watched the last episode of This is England 86 and the rain leaked onto my weary head.But on arrival everyone was back in good spirits because I beat my tetris score! In Derby our buddy Marty fed us some unreal veggie bangers and mash, in my eyes a contender for best meal of the tour. On arrival at the venue we found out we were playing on what amounted to a landing/corridor. But this show turned out great too. rocked and we had a few people at the front of the crowd singing along to - Stoked! Ethan and I curled up into the van as Derbys hen and stag crowds passed us by right into the early hours.

Having a free parking space in Derby gave us good reason to spend the day there. The lads got some well needed rest at promoter Marty's house while I had a look round Derby's municipal museum and Cathedral. My philosophy is if there's any free time on tour you should do your best to feed your brain, it

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makes up for all the ear battering every night! We made it to Nottingham in good time for a relaxed load in and a good sound check. We'd played the Chameleon before - its a great venue and right up our street. Nottingham city centre was filling to the brim with freshers on some huge pub crawl and the venue started to pack up nicely. It was really nice to play with Nottingham's Fresh Eyes for the Dead Guy again, this show proved to be one of the best gig so far. Our good mates Dara, Dean and James were looking after accommodation, so we packed up Scally boy (name of our van) and headed out of the city for some showers, rest and grub - Thanks guys

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London's traffic couldn't have been more painful. But we edged our way towards The Good Ship in Kilburn. Ethan and I started labeling our new order of tee-shirts over some epic Falaffels. The gig was well attended and a real cool venue. We had abit of trouble with our onstage sound, but these aren't usually problems I don't let get me down. The gig was sucess regardless. I got into bed in the van again, parked up in a quiet space in Chisslehurst, London was warmer than Edinburgh!

Ewen

Photos By: Tom McGeehan