The last date of the tour is a benefit show organised by EES’s long time & somewhat awesome mechanic Autodan in his local pub The Royal Oak in Bordon which is is Sussex or Hampshire or somewhere like that.

Fortunately we can make a late start so we have a lie in before Kazuto goes out shopping for souvenirs...he’s learning!!

We go the long way round to pick up Jake & Aki from Bob’s to make up for them having to get the tube back to mine yesterday after my clamping faux pas.

The drive down through Clapham & SW London is always a bit of a pain but it’s not too bad today so we don’t arrive too late.

Often these sort of gigs in out of the way places can be great as they are not used to seeing ‘name’ bands but to be honest the atmosphere in the Oak tonight is a bit rubbish so it is a slightly disappointing end to the tour. (Oh dear, I’m gonna get told off for being negative again!)

Still it was nice to do something for ‘charidee’ & for Autodan who has done so much to keep Eel Shock on the road over the last 8 years. The van actually completed the tour in one piece this time!

We pack up quickly & are back in London shortly after 1. After a bit of accountancy during which James 2 & I get (generously) paid...(hurrah, that’s what we’re here for!)...we crash out.

Up Early the next morning & on the road for 9 to ensure Aki & Kazuto catch their flight back to Osaka. For a change I will be home before them but I expect they will still be asleep before me as I have an all night Dub Reggae night to work...The Horror!!! Last night I worked for Mt Desolation a band featuring 2 members of Keane!! I really liked them...don’t tell anyone will you.

It’s now Tuesday & I finally have a day off work for the first time this month...tho’ I have a lot of chores to do cleaning the flat (I thought Japanese were supposed to be tidy!!??) & setting up a new online shop for EES (to be fair Kazuto is doing the hard work on that one).

Anyway, it has been a great tour, certainly the most successful that I have been (professionally) involved with. There were a couple of iffy days but generally attendances were up on previous tours which is great as we were touring at a traditionally pretty bad time...end of summer, before students go back.

It was great to go back to er ‘intimate’ (read small!) venues & independent promoters who on the whole did a really good job for us. Well done to Bob Slayer for some excellent booking agentage methinks.

As I type EES are probably on stage at their first Japanese show. It’s gonna be a little while til we meet up again, we’re looking at late spring/ early summer 2011 for the next visit to Europe I think. In the meantime we’ll try to keep you posted on what’s happening in Japan...there is talk of writing the next album so keep checking back.

Thanks to Aki & Kazuto for letting me be involved again, it’s been a great experience & I can’t wait ‘til next time.

Also, hi to my Japanese readers Aki tells me that you comment about my blog on his blog! Feel free to comment in Japanese, it is always fun to read the translation software’s attempts to translate & then try to work out what you were saying.

‘Til next time...

Dan