Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to writing up blogs, just because so much happened in such a short space of time it takes a while to compute properly so i get some kind of perspective.
L.A. was a whirlwind of Jon Leon (White
Wizzard) High Speed G.T.O. (he actually picked us up from the airport in it!!)
To beaches, pools, valleys and the hot hot sun, not to mention the crazy antics of the band i went to visit - White
Wizzard, and the drinking in the Rainbow and breakfasts of more carbohydrate and sugar than a gingerbread house.
Anyway, its hard to do an 11hour flight and 8 hour time difference without getting jet lag - and the shame of the short trip to L.A. is that you try to experience everything you can but sometimes there's weights strapped to your head trying to make you horizontal as quickly as possible - that said - its still great fun to travel and always a thrill to meet bands that i work with for the first time. So i was pleased to have the chance to meet them and make the journey out there for this
Kerrang piece.
So first things first - we check in to the
Andaz (what was the Riot Hyatt) and then go to Rainbow bar and grill. I get very drunk on what i thought was only a couple of drinks, but combined with plane food and jet lag i was out of it.
I couldn't even contemplate a huge breakfast the next morning with Jon, Lucy and Nick. Looking at "The Stack" of "Yellow brick road" pancakes was difficult enough, let alone eating anything.
We hung out by the pool
It was on the roof top of the hotel with a fantastic panoramic view of L.A.
And i managed to get my game face back on by the time the whole band were together and ready to do the
Kerrang shoot
Here's a picture Neil Visel, the photographer took of us all together where the shoot took place - just off this windy hilly road in the hills 5 minutes from the beach.
Cars were driving by and tooting or "throwing the horns" the whole time. It was quite surreal. There we were parked in a lay by after a bend in the road, with a camera, lights, the GTO, 2 trucks and a load of metal dudes. And me and Lucy, bikinis still on (under our other clothes)chlorine in my hair, fussing about with leather and studs.
After the shoot we drove 5 mins to the beach
The beach was covered in these purple things that were not avocados (as Nick first thought) they moved and pulsated and had slimey protrusions and i tried to save some of them (they were washed up). Nick stepped on one and it bled purple.
Lucy and Jesse checked out the sand crabs
Riding in a High speed GTO on the freeway is pretty fucking windy.
There's no way you can have any kind of hair decorum left. Especially after pool and beach and shoot, i don't know how these movie stars do it. You do not look
glamorous in the back of a
convertible on the freeway.
We went to a German eatery to do the K! interview and get a beer. I was very awake in the back of the car with the wind blowing strong and Wyatt "screamin demon" (WW singer) and Chad (WW guitarist) on either side of me chatting shit down the freeway, but when we arrived in the warm i couldn't keep my eyes open!
I didn't eat this German sausage as i fell asleep on the seat. It makes a good face though.
Early night, early morning
Breakfast at Mel's diner on Sunset Blvd. I did eat these waffles!
Milkshakes for breakfast are an indulgence. But how can you not in a diner?
I thought it would be most rude if having travelled all the way to the other side of the planet i didn't make time to see my other L.A. band Bonded by blood, especially after having waited 3 hours for them at Heathrow and they'd never shown up (as they got lost / missed flights from Budapest at the end of their last tour) and i was so worried about them! So we arranged a WW BBB K! meet up that night at a Mexican restaurant of Jon Leon's choice.
Before meeting up with Bonded by blood we rifled through a second hand store by the
Mexican restaurant. Lucy got bored and had a tattoo, but i was thrilled with trying on old American second hand clothes.
Here's Me, Erik and Nick sporting some jaunty head gear.
And looking very
sun burnt to boot.
I think Lucy should have got this Cher tour bomber jacket. What a winning find.
Hahaha.
So our last night in L.A. we met up at a
Mexican restaurant, 2 bands together. Some lady in the loos wanted to know if there was anyone famous at our table. She told me she'd once slept with
Jimi Hendrix. She looked about 70. Maybe she had.
Again, i was feeling the jet lag and lovely Jon Leon dropped me off for a cat nap whilst the others went off to Chad's to drink.
1.30am they picked me up from the hotel and we went to Rainbow bar and grill again - as BBB are so young (some of them are only 19) we couldn't all get in and it shut at 2am anyway! So stupidity continued on the streets!
One of the best moments of the trip. I have no idea who defaced that poster. Ahem. But that band wear wigs to do pastiche metal to people who want to pigeon hole longhairs.
Nuff said.
The real metal bands - like White Wizzard are where it's at! Fuck off Steel Panther!
The next morning Lucy and I had breakfast with Eric off Hollywood Blvd and then got attacked by some Hollywood Blvd characters (i HATE horror movies hence my facial expression below!!)
Then the long flight back home to London.
Big thanks for White Wizzard for making us feel so welcome!
Here's the Kerrang article in print:
Bye bye 169!
Bye bye Dad's Dahlias and the acer tree and the fir trees and the willow tree that grew from a cutting of the tree near the Ickenham guide hut!
Bye bye conservatory that got lifted over the top of the house by a big crane that stopped traffic and caused a big hold up that i heard about on the radio on the way to school.
Bye bye kitchen that was once my playroom
Bye bye upstairs of the house and Mum on the landing of the upstairs of the house and the stairs that creaked and the wallpaper that was so flowery
