After great deliberation and in full recognition of the huge effort and work already put in by Bill, Ange, Tafiya, Mark and all of the venues and festivals who had welcomed us, I’m pulling the pin on the tour for this year.

Going on tour to the US is a big job for an independent band. As I write, we’re ready to go, itinerary sorted, CD's and promo stuff happening, accommodation booked, I've spent the last weeks solving problems, which is why the blog was quiet.

By Monday, I had sorted them all. Victory. Thunderbirds are go.

And we're not going.

One of the lads had a health scare on Monday, they've run tests and as of today he seems fine, but they want to run more tests and we want to let them.

To push it further is one step too far.

So we stop.

We've done so much work to get ready I could cry, but it took me less than a nanosecond to make this call.

My friends in the stormcellar have made a monumental effort and sacrifice over 5 years of effort to tour the US and make albums, refusing to let the other members down, even to the point of self sacrifice beyond anything that someone who loves them can ask.

So I stop, and I ask them to stop too.

I have never been more proud of anyone than I am of Rosie, Bill, Theo, Jo & Paul. They have represented their country and acquitted themselves masterfully.

Making the right call is hard, and I've only gotten there reluctantly, but in certainty.

We will be back, of that I am equally certain, but right now I choose the well being of the crew.

We will take this next month to regroup and recover, and there is no shortage of work in progress.

Thank you to everyone who worked on our 2017 Tour, in particular to Bill for his tireless efforts, to Mark, Johnny R and all those who have made it possible for us to do this.

We look forward to seeing you in 2018.

MJEB