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A return to these pages- we’re fully back from the UnPlaned mission now...
rearrived a month ago but my head’s only recently got with itself again.
For those that’ve only just linked in, UnPlaned was a loon of a mission, all the way to Cairo and back in the space of a month using only public transport, and on the way showing shows in Egypt, the West Bank, Kosovo and the Czech Republic. I was accompanied by Billy Macrae, a very gifted documentary photographer/film-maker, and together we documented everything that struck us, through film and snaps and music and words. Now we’re back, we’ve got 60 hours of film footage, a gazillion photos and as many thoughts. We’re going to condense the whole lot into a 1/2 hour documentary film, an epic photo essay and an album, all of which we want to give to the world for free when we’re done. We’ll have it all finished by the end of December, and I’ve been chatting to Beth at the Eden Project about the presenting it there, for the launch.
In the meantime, the summer’s looking big, large, massive. Dizraeli and the Small Gods will be playing a total of 11 festivals, all in. The most exciting gig of all these is the West Holts Stage (previously Jazz World, I prefer the old name really) at Glastonbury. It’s the biggest gig I ever will have done, on a stage the size of Scotland. If you’re at Glasto come cheer us on, however blear-eyed you are. We’re there at 11am on the Sunday.
In preparation, we’ve been hard at work writing brand new songs and creating a whole new energy. I originally got the band together to play material off the Engurland album, and for the first tour and the gigs after that, that’s what we did. It meant that people with an incredible creative talent were often saddled with reproducing guitar, keys, drum parts that I’d written myself. Now, though, the band members are coming with their very own ideas, their very own Yesness, and it’s blossoming into something musically beautiful.
We’ll be playing our first set in this incarnation at the Thekla, in Bristol on the 20th of May. Come down! Here’s the Facebook event page for it:
Dizraeli and the Small Gods at the Thekla
I hope to see all the West Country massive there, and also of course at the festivals beyond that.
Big up to all of you, in the early summer sun,
Peace
Dizraeli