'Curses' was played on FLEET FM in New Zealand yesterday... Cool.

A few more tunes should be played over the next few days, thanks Kirsten.

K, is my promoter in NZ (also in charge of the tour bus, accomodation, fee negotiations and anything Justin Thorne down under ;-) )

Palmers 2004, interesting.

Morrocan Roll were great, they had done loads to promote the show and looked after us well. We sound-checked for almost 2 and a half hours straight!!! But it was cool in the end.

A good turn out and the music went down well, except for a few bikers who kept sending the same woman to ask for rediculous requests, including an AC/DC song and F**k her gently by Tenacious D!!! Which is cool however, not really in keeping with the rest of the set.

Ali McGovern sang Volcano with us, which was one of the show's highlights for me, I can't wait to do that again.

We were asked back on the Saturday night and agreed, and played to a crowd of regulars who again, weren't really in the mood for Damien Rice and Justin Thorne.

However, one guy came to the stage after 'Cold Water' and thanked me as the song means a lot to him and he loved our version, which was cool and what it's all about. Also a group of girls were big Damien Rice fans and enjoyed Volcano so much they asked us to play it again. So I unleased the Blower's Daughter and Delicate too just for good measure. For me, if I can make a connection with a few people in the audience, it's worth while. It's also a good test to keep banging out songs to an audience who want Heavy Rock. We actually started playing at half speed just to annoy them ha ha ha, I've never played Jason Mraz so laid back!!!

Simon performed one of his own self-penned tunes, which went down really well too, which is great.

I am back at Bond's next Sunday and may pop down to the Pierson tonight for the acoustic music club.

Love playing with Phil, Simon and Alex, hope we can get some more paying gigs in Jersey and beyond soon.

Had a great gig at Bond's of Bond Street last night, the new pick-up and amp sounded beautiful. The number of people who turned up was small to start with but got pretty busy for the second set, which is cool. Alex and I strummed and bapped through plenty of Damien Rice, David Gray, Jason Mraz, original material and I even threw in some Goo Goo Dolls and Richard Ashcroft for good measure.

This week is busy with preparations for the album launch on Friday at Palmers. Simon and I are working on an acapella piece on Wednesday and we have a full dress rehearsal on Thursday. The article should appear in the JEP on Friday, I hope I don't come across as a nob!!! I was getting quite spiritual about music during the interview ha ha ha.

Getting closer to firming up dates for All Nations in New Zealand, as soon as it is signed I will start sending press releases and promo packs to radio stations and the press in Auckland.

Bond's want me every few weeks, which is cool and after the launch I will try and get some bigger venues booked up in the summer for the whole band. Get ready Blue Note, Tipsy Toad, Star, Chambers... Justin Thorne is coming. Having a full set at the Watersplash in the summer would be cool too, the open-mics are great but you feel like you are just getting warmed up when you get booted off!!!

New York is still on the radar and in the Autumn my sights are set on Dublin and London. I would LOVE to go back to Berlin and take my guitar... We shall see.

It would be great to get Simon, Alex and Phil onboard for an off-island gig... Watch this space.

The JEP (Jersey Evening Post) are interviewing me tomorrow or Monday for a Friday Extra feature.

Peter from All Nations Tavern, Auckland, New Zealand is looking at dates during my trip, that would be a great gig. All Nations used to be known as 'Java Jive' and was 'the' spot to play in Auckland. Hopefully we can sort something out.

Just bought a beautiful Marshall acoustic guitar amp, and a Shadow acoustic pick-up for my guitar. The Shadow has a flexible mic arm that can be adjusted to sit just under the guitar strings, the controls allow you to mix the sound from the mic and the guitar's original pick-up. The Shadow combined with the Marshall is just an outstandingly beautiful guitar sound and I can't wait to hear it through Palmer's PA system. I will also be using this gear at Bond's on Sunday. The Shadow also means that when I play at open-mics and have to jack straight into the PA system, I can still get a reasonable, organic acoustic tone... Which is awesome, as I hate the scratchy, treble-heavy sound I was getting.

I am starting to fire off emails to venues in New Zealand, and a couple of radio stations too, it'd be great to play a live acoustic set on-air.

My friend in NZ, Kirsten is a massive help and has been providing me with loads of useful links. She has even offered me a place to stay and is the official JT NZ 2004 TOUR BUS DRIVER LOL!!!

So far I am awaiting responses from:

George FM
The Valve
The Grand Hotel
MUSA
The King's Arms
The Devonport
Cask & Cleaver
Bar-Barella
All Nations

Fingers crossed.

I am also still waiting for a response from the C Note bar in New York, and waiting to discuss dates with Bar 55.

The set-list for the album launch if anyone is interested!!!

Palmers_Launch_Set.doc

JT goes Antipodean... Again!!!

That's right, breaking news is I am heading out to New Zealand in May.

All booked and paid for, NZ here I come.

I hope to play whilst I am there, and a mate travelling round is gonna start splashin' honey around trying to book me some slots.

I'll keep you all up-to-date.

Great fun at the Pierson Acoustic Music Club last night, jammed through a Jason Mraz, Damien Rice and original tune 'look out now' with Alex and Simon.

I really love Mondays at the Pierson, you get such a varied bunch of musicians and it is really fascinating to sit and watch some of these guys play, really inspiring. In any one night you may get blues, folk, flamenco, rock, ballads, alternative and of course Alex's repetoire of 'world music' rhythms is like a percussion atlas!!! I hope the new management opt to keep them going, last night was a bit of a beauty parade to try and win their support... Good luck to the club.

I had to shoot off, which is a shame as I missed Richard's version of 'Cannonball' and I like the chilled out vibe at the Pierson. Duty called, so I did my set, watched Tommy (used to front Alibi), who still has a brilliant voice then hi-assed out of there.

Other news... The BBC Website have put me on their homepage today http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/ so check it out...

Feedback from the entertainment producer who has been supporting me for a while now, is that he likes '...honey' and we are trying to arrange a live set in the radio studio, which will be great fun... I'd love to get Alex, Phil and Simon in there but not sure there is enough room... Nice to do acoustic versions now and again anyway though.

Surreal moment of the week: Walking into work and seeing posters for the album launch all over the place...

OK a pretty cool weekend. Friday I sat glued to the news on TV in case they showed our live session... And they did!!! They played 'Sold' from the second verse until the end... Sound was pretty average and I never realised I was so ugly... But at least my two year-old daughter liked it, she kept running up to kiss the TV screen.

Sunday was my first Watersplash open mic and it was great fun. With Alex on percussion and Phil on Bass we got off to a ropey start with 'Sold' but kicked it with some Jason Mraz, Damien Rice and David Gray. Ali McGovern came up to sing Lisa's parts on Volcano, which was wicked!!!

Tonight is the acoustic music club at the Pierson, so the whole crew will be there to have another go at 'Sold', 'Look out now' and one of the Jason Mraz tunes.

Things are hotting up for the launch, press releases have gone out and the crew and I are rehearsing and playing as often as possible at open mics.

I have a paid gig on Sunday at Bonds, and Alex and Phil are going to come along and jam through parts of the set that will be played at Palmers.

From about 7:30 last night I started getting strange text messages... Turns out it is because CTV played some of our session after the news!!! Doh, I completely missed it.

Apparantly we are on TV again tonight...

Should be cool.

For immediate release...

Local singer/songwriter launches debut album at Palmers on the 26th March 2004

Justin Thorne's debut album '...honey' is officially launched in collaboration with Moroccan Roll on Friday the 26th March 2004 at Palmers, the premier live music venue in the island.

Justin Thorne describes his music as "original, acoustic, alternative-folk," but If you like David Gray, Damien Rice or Turin Brakes then it is highly likely that you will enjoy '...honey' as the album contains a blend of both melancholy and triumphant tunes, with plenty of dynamics for fans of the genre.

Some of the songs from the album are already causing a stir in the States, and 'Sold' was track of the day at leading independent music Website, GarageBand.com in February. Justin has gigs lined up locally, in New York, Detroit and Canada.

Talking about the launch at Palmers, Justin Thorne said, "I love to play live and I have some great musicians playing with me on the 26th March. I also can't wait to get my hands on the venue's 20,000 watt P.A. system!" Justin Thorne will be performing live for just over an hour before the Moroccan Roll DJs take over for the rest of the night.

Moroccan Roll was created to fill the void that is the lack of an alternative to the vast disco/dance scene that exists in Jersey. The first instalment occurred in November 2002 and was deemed a success by all whom attended. Since then it has gone from strength to strength and the last 18 months have been extremely successful for organisers Kevin Kelly, Kate Tomkinson & Richard Fitzthomas.

Their move to new home, Palmers, allows Moroccan Roll to introduce more live music to the existing, popular format and Kevin Kelly said, "we are very excited about taking Moroccan Roll to the next level and coinciding our first night at Palmers with the launch of Justin Thorne's album is a great first step."

For more information on Justin Thorne and to listen to sample tracks from '...honey', visit www.justinthorne.com. The album is available from SeeDee John's in Bath Street or you can buy it online securely at www.justinthorne.com.

Contacts:

Justin Thorne
Tel: 07797 735860
www.justinthorne.com
email: justin@justinthorne.com

Moroccan Roll
Kevin Kelly
Tel: 07797 710657
www.moroccanroll.co.uk
email: gekko_events@yahoo.co.uk






End...

Dates confirmed at Palmers for the Morroccan Roll nights through to end of July 2004, check out the diary page for more info...

Sometimes I'll be playing on my own, sometimes with Phil on Bass and hopefully a few times complete with Alex, Simon & Phil (the launch on the 26th features the complete band).

Surreal moment of the month...

Eating my swiss cheese and ham Bagel in a place called Bond's for lunch, when '...honey' starts coming through the speakers!!!

I have to admit it was quite off-putting and my friend thought it was hilarious!!! Anyway, turns out the manager was having a listen to see if she should offer Justin Thorne a gig... I play on Sunday 21st March.

Rehearsing Saturday with Percussionista and Phil.

Okay, I have been rehearsing with some great musicians ready for the album launch on the 26th March.

Alex the Percussionista!!! and his array of bongos, drum box and jingly jangly magickery is adding an awesome layer to the songs and we are getting quite the groove going on with tunes like 'sold' and 'cold river'.

Simon is of course enhancing the tunes with piano sounds and great string pads.

Phil is grooving on bass and I have been rehearsing with Phil separately too to keep tight and add alternative dimensions to some of the covers I want to do.

I worked out another Jason Mraz tune 'If I could' that has a great funky groove much like 'The remedy' so I am adding that to the setlist.

So far the set for the launch looks as follows in no particular order or preference:

Sold
Cold river
Lonely Road
Like home
Look out now
Funny thing
Cooling down
The remedy (Jason Mraz)
If I could (Jason Mraz)
Cold water (Damien Rice)
The other side (David gray)
Sail away (David gray)
Volcano (Damien Rice)
When we fall

Simon or Phil is going to rig up the P.A. to a desk so we can have the launch recorded to a fairly decent standard, so live tracks will be available to download following the gig.

Channel TV Studios...

Well, that's that then... Quite surreal playing live in a TV studio. Not what I expected, they treated us very well, it's weird playing to cameras rather than an audience.

All very professional, camera men talking to invisible people in the sound room...

We played well I think, although it's hard to control your voice when you can't really hear what the sound room hear. I just sang into a mic and hoped for the best LOL.

The good news is, as well as giving us the takes on tape, they are also gonna provide us with Internet versions so you can watch the sessions from JustinThorne.com when I get them.

Rehearsals went well for our TV slot, Sean RAGES on 'Sold' so I can't wait to see if we pull it off tomorrow afternoon. I think we get two takes for each tune, it's my first time playing live in front of a camera so should be fun.

We are definitely doing David Gray's 'the other side' and then 'Sold'.

Popped in to 'Squires' open mic and did some David Gray, Jason Mraz and Damien Rice. Different crowd to the Pierson Acoustic Club but cool.

Alright, '...honey' is now available in SeeDee John's for people who live in Jersey (or you can of course buy it from me if you see me playing live)... Everyone else can order from JustinThorne.com, and soon you can get it from CDBABY.com, Garageband.com and Tower Records (they are better options if you live in the States or are closer to the USA than to me).

When I dropped the CDs in to SeeDee Johns, they told me people had already asked for the album, which is pretty cool.

I am rehearsing tonight with Sean for the TV session on Friday, then popping in to the open mic at Squires to play a few tunes.

Dunno what I'm gonna play on TV, probably one cover and one original but not sure what just yet, Sean and I are gonna play through a few tonight and decide.

Morroccan Roll are starting to promote the launch of '...honey' and have even updated their site http://www.moroccanroll.co.uk/

My mate Harry has printed some amazing posters for the album, hopefully SD John will put one up in the shop... The others will be plastered around town mwoah ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa.... I just need my postcards to turn up so I can bombard people.

Holy shit!!! '...honey' looks amazing!!!

I just took delivery and it looks great, I am stoked...

So get those orders in...

MUSIC RULES!!!!!!!!!!

Musicians *sigh* so fickle, miserable one day, DELIGHTED the next!!!

Had a great night last night at the acoustic music club, there were some amazing singers/guitarists and percussionistas (as Alex likes to be called). Some brilliant singer songwriter types, two flamenco/classical guitarists blew us all away, a couple of cool dudes playing a mix of original, funky, surfy tunes and Jack Johnson covers and an aussie singer accompanied by a guitar player singing Nora Jones, Sheryl Crow covers... Very cool. And I did some David Gray, Jason Mraz and my new original tune 'Look out now' accompanied by Simon on Keyboards, Alex on this amazing drum box thing (more on that later) and phil from the funky surfy lot playing his bass extremely well considering it was the first time he or anyone had heard the new tune.

Awesome night, it's great to chill out and listen to great music it really makes you want to get up there and do your thing. I met some cool people and have basically built the band for the '...honey' launch on the 26th March at Palmers.

There is this buzzing scene over here I never even knew about, after closing time at the Pierson (home of the acoustic music club) 11pm, a bunch of us headed to the 'Royal' where an incredible vocalist and guitar player called Billy the Fish accompanied by a talented acoustic bass player, played a passionate blend of modern singer/songwriter tunes and classic celtic folk tunes. Billy has a truly amazing voice and his performances are captivating to say the least... Billy invited me to get up and play a few tunes and always eager to play, I banged out 'Sail away' and Damien Rice's 'Cold water'. A wicked night of music in an island I thought was starved of a music scene. Phil and his mate invited me to another open mic event on Wednesday night at 'Squires' and Alex (PERCUSSIONISTA!!!) asked me to go along to open mic at 'Pesos' on Sunday, and there is even an open-mic session every second Sunday at the 'Watersplash'. I really believe that it's at sessions like this that you learn your craft... You're playing in intimate venues surrounded by talented musicians so you have to have your game on, and just watching these guys when it's their turn up there, teaches you so much and really inspires you.

So, on Wednesday after rehearsals for the TV gig on Friday, I'll be heading to 'Squires' with my acoustic guitar like a true troubadour!!!

And now onto the percussionista, Alex Glendining. A real character and an extremely passionate fan of just about everything that you can hit, beat, bang, thump and drum... This guy had all sorts of weird and wonderful percussion intruments, a giant wok thing, bongos, little symbols, shakers, eggs and best of all... This box thing, which looks like a speaker... It actually has guitar strings stretched tight over the back of the box and depending upon where Alex taps, raps and baps, he can re-create the sound of just about a complete drum kit!!! Amazing.

Anyway, a true fan of world music, but also appreciating singer/songwriter stuff, Alex has agreed to play with Simon and I at the '...honey' launch, which is great, he should add a whole other dimension to our sound and it makes it interesting for the audience too as he will have his collection of gadgets with him on-stage.

AND, the courier people just called, '...honey' is IN THE ISLAND and will be delivered this morning!!! Awesome.

Oh and the Discussion Forum seems to be back online again, just follow the links from the homepage...

Shit... Almost forgot my password to enable me to update this thing LOL... But stupid really as it's hardly a tough one to crack!!!

Anyway, I was in the studio yesterday and Simon and I recorded a rough version of a new tune called 'Look out', I'm not sure if I like it yet, my problem is that it has a kinda pop sound, almost Phil Collins/Supertramp... Which is fine, a few years ago... It's funny how production really transforms a song from its original vibe, I had a David Gray, bluesy kinda vision for it... Of course we can tweak and play and change the feel anyway, I'm on a bit of a downer re music at the moment :-( dunno why!?! Anyway, I'm playing 'Look out' at the acoustic music club tonight so we'll see how it goes down, will probably do a Jason Mraz tune and David Gray's 'the other side'...

Gah, I am so pissed off lately, frustrated mostly... You know when you feel like you are waiting for something to happen but don't even know what it is yet...

Saw 'Along Came Polly' last night, I really enjoyed it... I like Ben Stiller, he manages to play 'normal' guys spookily well, I have identiefied with nearly all of his characters in his movies!!! Even Zoolander LOL!!!

So, looking forward to the TV Studio sessions on Friday, I am actually going to rehearse for once, which is new... But I guess you gotta get TV/Radio sessions right otherwise they may come back to haunt you.

'...honey' should be here today or tomorrow, UPS allowing. I can't listen to it anymore, so many parts annoy me, I guess I gotta just get it out there and listen to the feedback, you know what, you just can't second-guess what people will like/dislike in this world, especially when it's something you produce yourself... Songs I thought people would like they aren't fussed about and songs I just recorded to fill time are favourites!!! Ah well, you gotta just keep 'em coming and hope some hit home.