Roddy's Diary Archive

[~D~]

Perhaps not the biggest 'archive' ever. But it’s a start.

http://diary.idlewilder.co.uk

If you have any past entries, or know of someone who does..
Please, let me know :)

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #40
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
27/02/01



FILM

I think the best way for film education is no prior knowledge, it certainly worked for me it's a strange thing to be educated by entertainment.

The reason I'm going on about films is because I'm just back from one of my very rare cinema trips. It was good, I prefer it when there's no one else there and as luck would have it, it was just me and a man who opened his bottle of cola every time things got a bit romantic on screen.

I never laugh out loud though, even if it's funny.



My 3 favourite films recently have been....

Rushmore

The Cider House Rules

Wonder Boys



That's the first time I've ever done a list in one of these diaries.



I'll definitely do more in future.





PS in music related story, how reassuring it was to see Evan dando again doing a solo acoustic show, one of the best things I've seen for months.




Idlewild are listening to...


The Lemonheads 'Car button cloth'

Cat Power 'What would the community think'

Sugarcubes 'Here today tomorrow next week'

Big Star 'Radio city'

Will Oldham 'Joya'

Belle and Sebastian '3,6,9 seconds of light Ep'

Bob Dylan 'Planet waves'

Bright Eyes 'Fevers and Mirrors'

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #42
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
02/04/01


I know I haven't made any computer contact but to be honest sometimes computers feel like bad restaurants.

Anyway in summary I'd like to present Idlewild on tour in America as a collection of descriptive lists.

I remember

- never wanting to ever visit Arkansas ever again after meeting some unfriendly locals in a restaurant called Bonanza (complete with obligatory firearm decoration).

- Lake quite, it's a good name for a town

- that I could never be a long distance driver, I couldn't stay awake and I hate nightime radio and find it hard to eat sandwiches from plastic packs.

31 hours drives seem old hat now.

- that despite the venue only being a third of the way to completion, Philadelphia's upstage is the most rocking practice room we've ever played in.

- that New York city is once again my favourite place in the world.

- that various members of Blondie keep turning up at our concerts

- watching Martin, our soundman reading a book called 'The closing of the american mind' as we speed though Texas.

- coffee was never as strong as it is in 2001

- where am I now

- even Bob was scared by Seattle's street singers

- us opening the set in Montreal with Rod Jones alone onstage playing his recently composed progressive Synth experiment 'Bone alone'

- between us we must have 150 new records, everyone's tried on cowboy boots
but
they never fit

- that if I had any abilitly on the Banjo, I'd get a slot at the Grind in Chicago, go if you can, it's a really nice place.

- that our rider requested that we receive no waxy apples. This is news to us, I've no wax preference

- seeing Ryan Adams doing his Brian Adams set in Austin, it was a bit disappointing because I love him. Mogwai and Stephen Malkmus made up for it though.

- even though we've been away for 4 weeks it feels like 4 days, culture shock is gone
and we want to stay.

- thinking most American radio needs help, who are these groups, Orgy? Slaves on dope?
The mind boggles. but enough whining.

- go get your hands on a Pancake Circus album, they're the best first on band I've ever seen. I want to look like the singer and sound like the drummer. They went out for a pork chop after their last song.

- getting a guided tour of Harvard university and wishing I had a good thick book under my arm. thank you Mitchell for the tour.

- not seeking out enough, but that's a general point.

-

I left the last one blank because there's still a lot to come.



Idlewild are listing to...

Whiskeytown 'Strangers almanac'

The Places 'Autopilot knows you best'

Bright eyes 'Collected songs 95-97'

Stephen Malkmus

Gorky's zygotic mynci 'Gorky 5'

Mark Kozeleck 'Whats next to the moon'

Kristen Hersch 'Sunny border blue'

Soft boys

Matmos

Thin lizzy

Manic street preachers 'Know your enemy'

Hot water music

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #48
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
15/06/01


Trust me to disconnect my speakers at the worst possible time. I'll be forced to listen to music on headphones for the seventh week straight. Headphones give me hot ears.

Anyway arrival back in Scotland has brought a few changes, our practice room is gone and Rod and I currently have no address.

One minute I was walking around the lower east side in a woollen bonnet, a day later I'm sitting lochside eating a salad roll wondering what happened.

It's certainly a strange way to live. My makeshift residence is the attic floor above a cafe beside a large forest. I realise you're probably not interested, so I'll stop talking accommodation.

It won't be long until i'm sleeping while moving again. I'll close my eyes, and it'll be 1978 and I'll be onstage in Salt lake city playing bass for Badfinger.

Actually I should watch what I write since a good percentage of interviews we've done recently seem to be drawn from the more surreal aspects of this diary. From now on it's going to be fact, after fact, after fact, after fact......



Idlewild are listening to...


John Fahey 'The transfiguration of blind joe death'

Nuggets box set

Moldy Peaches

Bardo Pond

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci 'Barafundle'

The for Carnation

Jawbox 'Novelty'

John Prine 'Prime prine'

The Byrds 'Younger than yesterday'

Patti Smith 'Gone again'

Jack Rabid's compilation tape

Cosmic rough riders

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #50
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
06/08/01

Memories of this computer is balancing on one knee.

We've used our time wisely and have decamped en masse to a friends cottage in Sutherland to finish writing all our songs.

It's pretty amazing and my favourite new pastime is finding wood for the fire then lighting it. I realise that it's not actually cold enough for a fire and everyone complains and has to sit around sweating, but it's the process I enjoy.

Other things to report on, there is a white horse outside the window.

Rod is much better and said thank you to everyone who wondered how he was.



I never realised how popular the Beta Band are with hill walkers.





Idlewild are listening to...

Badfinger

Pernice Brothers 'Overcome by happiness'

Echo and the Bunnymen 'Crystal days box set'

The Smiths

Gene Clarke 'No other'

Peeps into fairyland 'Happiness'

Waterboys 'This is the sea'

Cat Power 'Covers record'

Chavez

Karate

Giant sand

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #54
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
26/09/01

Hello

I know I haven't written for ages but I was in Wales and there was no internet thing.

Anyway, we've been in a studio doing more for this new music.

I lost a pair of shoes and read the Motley Crue autobiography in a day, now reading Jorie Graham poems, which are amazing but I can't understand them, then again maybe that's the point

At the moment, the words sound good in any order if you ask me.

How many times has and been used and it's still as great as the first.


I'm going on and on but this is why I'm not sure what to say.

Include me on the list of people who don't exactly understand the world at the moment.


What's in a suppose

Does anyone know where the green corrie loch is ?



Idlewild are listening to....

Bob Dylan 'Love and theft'

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci 'How I long to feel that summer....'

Ryan Adams 'Gold'

Reindeer section

Queens of the stone age 'Rated R'

Nancy Sinatra

The Cure 'Pornography'

At the drive in 'Vaya'

Mercury rev 'All is dream'

Slayer

Cat Power 'What would the community think'

Andrew WK

Neil Diamond 'Greatest hits'

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #63
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
04/02/02

Living somewhere with a cleaner is a strange thing.
I feel more uncomfortable watching something clean be cleaned again.
Also, afterwards I can never find anything.

But I'm not complaining. It's a nice clean place.

And it's finished and oh how happy Iam, so much so that we started working on the next one, well not quite, but it's certainly a big moment when a record sounds like a record.

As mentioned you will see some news today (Monday) and further information will appear over the next month or so, as soon as things are confirmed.



That was me moonlighting as very informative.

Wasn't that impressive...

just like a television switching itself on.



Idlewild are listening to...........

The Icarus Line 'Mono'

Ornette Coleman 'Free jazz'

Ryan Adams 'Gold'

Foxface EP

Ella Fitzgerald

Jim O'Rourke 'Insignificance'

Stevie Wonder 'Talking book'

New End Original

Minus 'Jesus Christ Bobby'

Bert Jansch 'It don't bother me'

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #70
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
04/06/02

Well then

I'm just back from my first visit to the Shetland Isles.
It's an amazing crazy place and I'd recommend a visit.

The two concerts we played couldn't have been more different.
In the afternoon we played to 200 people, mostly aged between 8 and 14. I was probably the most nervous I have ever been. I felt like a teacher with nothing to teach.
Then at night we played one of the most fun concerts of all time. It was like a giant party. Goodness knows what it sounded like on the radio, but in the North Star (a 1920s cinema turned into 1980s night-club sometime in the 1970s) it was about the noisiest, happiest places I've been to.
Had impromptu ceilidh afterwards followed by another impromptu party on the pier watching the sun rise (it only sets for two hours).

Anyone reading this who we met, hello and thank you.

It makes a difference playing concerts sometimes and when you have a moment of clarity amidst general constant confusion, it's something difficult to forget.

And I suppose that applies to everything




Idlewild are listening to...........


Best of Rhino Records

International noise conspiracy

Bob Dylan 'Blonde on blonde'

Seachange demos

Love peace and poetry 'American psychedelica' compilation

Jackson C Frank

Simon and Garfunkel

Converge

Jimmy eat world 'Bleed American'

Shetland Fiddle Orchestra

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #73
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
25/07/02



It balanced itself up nicely though,
entering the charts at number three and all the feelings that go with it,

then playing two of the worst concerts we've ever played,
and all the feelings that go with it.

To me that's very 'idlewild'.



Then I got flu and lay in my basement bedroom annoyed that I hadn't got thicker curtains, listening to music on headphones until my ears got too sweaty.



I guess I'm not very good at doing nothing. I end up watching 'Harold and Maude' over and over, or sitting in a collection of stuffy cafes not concentrating on books properly.

But we'll be on tour from September until the year's end so I'll be able to indulge in a bit of tourbus living and postcard buying which suits me fine.



What else have I done...

Rod and I DJ'd a few times which was surprisingly satisfying. apart from losing my scarf and getting spat at by some garage punker when we played 'Heaven is a place on Earth', the dance floor was never empty.

It was good to see Raging Speedhorn and Hundred Reasons play.
Iget to sleep at night much easier knowing two such fine rock bands exist in Britain.



I think now we'll write some more songs.

The Highlands beckon



Just to see how loud we can be

crofter-core


Idlewild are listening to...........


Bright Eyes 'Lifted or the story is in the soil keep your ear to the ground'

The Shins 'Oh inverted world'

US Maple 'Acre thrills'

Mum 'Finally we are no one'

Sonic Youth 'Murray Street'
(what a return to form)

Dusty Springfield

Guided by Voices 'Universal truths and cycles'

Jonnie Clarke 'At King Tubbys'

Will Haven 'Carpe diem'

Cat Stevens 'Teaser and the firecat'

[ScottishFiction]

And the diary entry that broke a thousand hearts...

Diary entry #78
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
22/11/02


Here's a diary................


Snow on my boots
there is nothing in snow that's missing.

Hello. I'm in Berlin, my favourite European city.
Full of good graffitti and unkept hair. I like it.
As our Coldplay support tour winds to its echoey close. It's been very pleasant indeed, but now I'm looking forward to seeing some dancing.

Maybe you've read it someplace else by now, but here's how it is from me.
Our good friend Gavin Fox is to replace Bob and become the new bass player in Idlewild, and Allan (Stewart) is going to be part of the band permanently.
Allan's been standing in the shadows riffing away for two years now, he played on the last record and helped write 'I never wanted', it feels right.
Gavin played bass in the band Turn, who played with us on tour in 2000.
He's from Dublin, and really he needs no further explanation apart from coming to see us play next year.
So as of 2003 there will be five of us. To me it's exciting. No one knew the way this year would turn out, but now it feels like we've become a different version of ourselves in a natural way.

Alex will play the remaining concerts this year. If there is one person who really saved Idlewild it was Alex.
Instead of cancelling concerts and sitting worrying, we carried on. He learnt the songs in one day and we've been playing some of our best shows ever since (apart from maybe the Glasgow SECC, but let's forget about that one). The December tour will be a testament to that I think.

So there you go. Initially I never would have thought about playing in a band with different people, but over the years, what with Jeremy, Allan, Alex and now Gavin I totally realise the possibilities when friends who you trust and admire are involved. Needless to say we're already getting the next record sorted out in our heads.

For now though, in windy Berlin new memories become familiar
and thank you for that large stein of fine german beer.

Idlewild are listening to...........


Hank Williams

ACDC 'Back in black'

Kate Rusby 'Little lights'

The Polyphonic Spree

My Morning Jacket 'At dawn'

Bright Eyes 'Fevers and mirrors'

Patti Smith 'Land'

Sigur Ros ( )

Foo fighters 'One by one'

Aerogramme New album

Cat Power 'Moon pix'

Bob Dylan 'Planet waves'

[ScottishFiction]

Diary entry #82
(Roddy Woomble -vocals)
27/01/03

Discovered a box of old letters in the attic of my friend's house.
Most of them dated in the 1950's, overcome by how nice people were when they wrote down what they were thinking. There was also a lot more to imagine. Emails should come with stamps in envelopes. And in fifty years time who wants an inbox full of your favourite messages.

Anyway, I arrived back from the East fine and thanks for asking.
Sat next to an engineering student for 12 hours, he was keen to talk, now I know a lot about machines. I'm going to put my knowledge to use on our next tour.
A lot happened to me in China, but a lot happens to anyone when you go somewhere you don't understand.
Needless to say I slept in the same bed as a dog one night, there was no choice, believe me I tried to find a way out.

Then we were back and it felt very good indeed to be playing again, I almost forgot what I did and why I did it, now I remember exactly.

Our new practice space is in an old lighthouse by the Forth, it's pretty amazing, old and wooden.
I sometimes climb up to the light (which doen't work) and listen to the rest play the songs. We're sounding fine.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Idlewild are listening to......

Jim O'Rourke 'Insignificance'

Azure Ray 'Burn and shiver'

The Carpenters Box Set

The Flaming Lips 'Yoshimi battles the pink robots'

Bruce Springsteen 'The rising'

Rilo Kiley 'The execution of all things'

The Replacements 'Let it be'

The Walkmen 'Everyone who pretended to like me is gone'

Desalvo New Single

Johnny Cash 'Love, God, murder'

My Morning Jacket 'At dawn'

[~D~]

Wow nice one mr ScottishFiction :D A good random selection there!
I'll add those to the site.

Thanks :)

[ScottishFiction]

They were the only ones on that web archive website ("Wayback" or something) - actually, there was another one that I couldn't get access to because my computer is a big pile of shite.

Glad someone's finally doing an archive, though :D

[~D~]

They were the only ones on that web archive website ("Wayback" or something) - actually, there was another one that I couldn't get access to because my computer is a big pile of shite.

Glad someone's finally doing an archive, though :D

Oh genius, I didn't think of checking that site!
I used the forum search to get all the ones I already had, (thanks to people quoting the entry on the forum).

[Rolos]

I'm suprised nobody thought of doing this sooner 8)

[Super Furry Animal]

:arrow:

[groovy]

OMGz ScottishFiction, you Roddy whore! :D