My Blog # 003

On the back of recent confusion I'd like to try and clear-up some things for fans of The Garibaldis. Although I do not wish to smear my work colleagues, due to ongoing lack of communication between us, I feel pressured into releasing a statement on behalf of those who continue to loyally support myself, Steve Wicked and Rob Heart.


At the beginning of 2013 I organised in its entirety, The Garibaldis' first UK tour since 2009. Consisting of 20 dates, we should have been on the road between February and April of this year. For numerous factors, the tour failed miserably. I take full responsibility for the following errors in planning, which on reflection, a road manager should have overseen:

• I attempted to arrange additional touring musicians which would have extended the band to eleven people (enabling us to perform full song arrangements from Hope And Monet)
• A film-crew was to document the entire tour for a feature length film (enabling additional future revenue to cover the costs)
• I had verbal agreements from a sound technician and small road crew, essential for the execution of a larger stage show
• Communication with venue bookings could have been clearer; we had many cancellations coming directly from venue managers who claimed not to have known we were booked in on respective dates
• There were admittedly costing issues I had not fully taken into account; especially when it became apparent a business loan would not be easy to attain at short notice

I know that my shortcomings in these areas specifically angered my band-mates however in my defence, they provided me no assistance whatsoever. Without wanting to make excuses, the planning of the tour came at a rather busy time for me personally: having co-produced several back-to-back releases I was organising a recording session in London, about to get into my first serious relationship and suffering severe weight fluctuation due to ongoing emotional problems. Somebody (I think it was Robert) told me that through promotion "a tour would organise itself" - a phrase I put into practise literally. So, in a way, it was Robert's fault that everything went wrong; had he not told me this I would not have rushed into publishing posters and investing time in online-promotion before all the organisation was set in stone. Steve was very keen to get back on the road but offered no help with anything, on reflection seeming more enthusiastic at the possibility of using the tour to promote his various talents. Despite coming out of rehab for christmas, he had relapsed by the end of January resulting in completely unreliability as far as practise went; we only ended up having two practise sessions before hitting the road late-February. On reflection, it's just as well the additional musicians, film and road crew all decided to snub me. 

As far as the problems that then went on to materialise, I do not take full responsibility. It was in the interests of both Steve and Rob to double-check the venues I'd booked had correctly advertised show times, enough plug extensions, sufficient space to setup our back-line... I explained to them due to personnel withdrawals I would compensate the roles of sound engineer, stage and instrument technician alongside covering roadie duties; with so much on my plate it was their job to oversee everything else. Alongside the previously mentioned issues, we went on to be blighted by poor audience turn-out (which I certainly can't be blamed for; it was me after all who did the promotion!); viciously violent and/or completely unresponsive crowds on varying dates (the former of which, on one occasion caused Steve to be hospitalised, on another brought a premature end to an already truncated set). No-one could have foreseen heavy snow interrupting a gig mid-March, the real tragedy of that particular date being the aftermath which resulted in me getting held in custody under mistaken identity for several nights. I don't want to do into that but needless to say, all previous hopes were shattered in the aftermath and the tour momentum crumbled with more cancellations. The grand finale went from two nights to one, then further debased when it turned out we'd been double-booked; we topped it off by forgetting to show up on the date in question. What a miserable anti-climax. It is specifically for this incident I'd like to apologise to the fans but they also deserve a whole-hearted apology from the entire band regarding the failure of many other dates.

I have harassed both Garibaldis to apologise unconditionally for the failure of the UK Tour but they have yet to do so. Despite this we had together agreed to re-organise a future tour so it came as a great shock when, on May 24th, Steve posted via facebook:

"Can't believe that neither Rob nor Rory turned up to ANY of our North American tour dates."

Understandably I feel dreadful for our North American fan-base for any false hopes that had been raised beforehand however, I must stress, this came as a complete and utter surprise to me! I now severely doubt whether there even was a tour organised but if so, I had no idea of its existence. As you probably won't be aware, communication has completely broken down between the band over the past few weeks, so I can't speak for Robert on this matter. I do not wish to stir premature speculation as to the future of The Garibaldis - contrary to Robert's tweeting, I am not auditioning replacements for Steve - but as the frontman's been in either the USA or Canada now for over a month, the band has no hope of continuing as things currently are. [Steve, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to be blunt, I wished to speak to you in person about these things but you have made no attempt to contact me and I need to get this off my chest]

Once again, in no way shape or form do I want to imply The Garibaldis' are splitting up. Bar several guest appearances, the three of us had completed the upcoming TIFG album at the start of May - several days incidentally before Steve left the UK. Without wanting to speculate on personal issues at length publicly, there is every chance his relocation is due to medical reasons and thus temporary; rehab or the like.

I hope I've managed to illuminate some burning issues, clear doubt and speak truths. It's fair to say you, loyal fan, can trust me to give an unbiased perspective on matters - after all, I'm as keen as you to see The Ill-Fitting Garibaldis' back together asap, planning for the future. You deserve to know what's going on with your favourite band and I'll persevere to row the boat of truth across a sea of false statements, growing rumour and emotional propaganda (courtesy of certain websites & twitter feeds).

I love you all,
R.

PS. Thanks to my therapist for giving me the patience and strength to finally speak my mind.