Mics, camera, action...

Whaddaya think fellas?
A pretty good place to immerse oneself in one's jam tart...

That was the month that was April...

April is about to depart. Here's what I done did...

...I saw my bro get married...




...ate at a Michelin starred restaurant...




...sat in some interesting meetingszzzzzzzz...




...went out with drinking with Suneil (hair) and Snow Patrol (boot) in a pub where Jack the Ripper used to pick up his victims...




...had my first BBQ of the year...




...had my life saved by a mysterious stranger...thank you, whoever you are...




...climbed some trees...




...tinkered with £50,000 worth of vintage keyboards...




...had a manly bonfire...




...these were the good bits, as ever, tempered by some that were not-so-good. All said and done though, an interesting month. And I'll tell you one other thing...I really need a new phone. The camera on this one is shit!


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Lovely...

...especially when it's true.

Ooooofffffff...

Such is the sound I made this morning.

Yesterday saw us having the last of a series of meetings with our lawyers, which somehow turned into a bit of a celebration. Rather a lot of Japanese food was consumed, along with rather a lot of Japanese beer.

I've come to the conclusion that my beer drinking days are over. I just feel so dreadful the morning after, whereas if I drink wine, all is fine. Well, fine-ish.

Harry is now winging his way to Macedonia to begin the Faithless tour - he's singing with them throughout this summer. An undoubted highlight of the tour will be their performance at Glasto, where they play the main stage just before Stevie Wonder. I can feel the need for a backstage pass coming on.

Meanwhile, I'm finalising a plan for the recording of the album. Originally, we were going to do this in London. We're now thinking that we should decamp to the South of France for a couple of weeks and do it there.

It worked for these fellas.



Arguably their best album, Exile...was made at Keith Richard's villa. But joking aside, removing ourselves from London would ensure we'd be free from distractions and able to focus on making a really great record. Which is what it's all about.

And I suppose there's the added benefit that the weather, food and wine are infinitely more agreeable.

A bientôt...


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Folky...

I'm on a folk tip and I'm finding some very interesting music. Case in point - Sweet William's Ghost. It's an ancient song, impossible to say how old. There are many different versions of it and though the lyrics differ, the story is basically the same. It's a tale of great love. Margaret's feelings for her dead lover are so great the final line should really be "Stretched out her limbs and died". Most versions end this way, but in Kate Rusby's version, it's been adapted to "cried".

Very sad, but a beautiful song nonetheless.

Synthorama...

How cool is eBay? It's our generation's equivalent of a jumble sale. And now, as I drift back for a dreamy and nostalgic wallow in the past, it's probably best if you imagine the first sentence being spoken in a Northern accent. Why? I'm not sure. I grew up in Putney.

"When I were a lad t'jumble sale' were magic." We used to have them at my primary school once a year, but no more than that. As such, they were big events. HUGE!

Jumble sales were ace because it meant you got to roam your school as a wild, feral pack of children, the membership of which consisted predominately of those with a one-digit age. Left alone and unsupervised, we'd exorcise our demons, usually doing the things that most of the year teachers, dinner ladies and playground supervisors told us we weren't allowed to do. As an example, I definitely once climbed a drainpipe to access the school roof. Why? Again, I'm not too sure. Though I think it had something to do with The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, a book we had just read in class.

Jumble sales of the 1970s also seemed to attract a strange variety of ne'erdowells. Proper characters, definitely not just parents and relatives of kids at the school.

In the case of my school, it was gypsies. Time blurs the memory and rose tints events from the past, but I swear to you, this was true. And I mean gypsy in the kind sense of the word, i.e. used to describe wandering Romani people. Tinkers or travelers, if you will.

As well as them, the jumble sale would also attract a certain type of lady, the kind of which you no longer see. The sort that wore tabards and head scarfs, a bit like Olive from On The Buses. And it's these ladies (I shall call them the Olives) that I remember most clearly. They were the ones you had to watch.

Perhaps an hour before the school gate was opened, a large group of them would have assembled. Once the school gate was thrown open, the Olives would surge forwards, mercilessly beating a path through children and parents, intent on completing some seriously hard bargaining, sometimes to the point of theft. And all in order to snap up the general tat that was on sale. And more often than not, it really was tat.

The Olives, on discovering a group of squabbling children, would also resolve matters by knocking your heads together. We did our best to keep well clear of them.

Whilst all this went on, our parents were gassing away, usually all pissed up on booze. Which explains (a) how we were able to roam freely, and (b) how the Olives were able to haggle so effectively.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that thanks to the modern, electronic version of the jumble sale and my own skills at haggling, look what I've now got to play with...

Casio CZ3000 - I love this one a lot. Made 1983.




Roland Juno 60 - my dream keyboard as a child! Can't quite believe I now own one. Made 1982.




Korg MS20 - seriously desirable. And as such expensive. Made 1978.




Korg Microkorg - the world's best selling keyboard ever. And as such, cheap. Cheap as shit chips. Made now.




Roland RS-09 - on loan from a very dear friend. Joog! Made 1979.




Korg Triton LE - bog standard, but has sample playback option installed. Naughty. Made 2005, or something like that.




And finally, the best. Also a gift and the most special of them all. And that's saying something, coz the others are preeeeetty special. But I will make sure that this, above all of the keyboards, makes it onto this album! Conceived 1968, born 1969. The Rolf model debuted 1970. Hoo!



So, some electronic jumblesy sales, some giftys...all now mine to play with. Cwmon. I'll post a picture when everything's set up.


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Kerching...

For the last two years I've been playing in a band. We meet at least once a week, though usually more often. Sometimes to rehearse, sometimes to record. Sometimes to write music and, quite frankly, sometimes just to let off steam.

We also do gigs. Big, noisy splendid ones.

For a while now, a plan has been hatching. And last week we pulled it off - we've finally signed a record deal! And not just any old deal. A big, fat monster of a deal. And believe me when I tell you, this is also something groundbreaking. Something quite extraordinary, for want of a better word.

Putting all this aside, above everything, I'm just so chuffed that we're finally going to be able to make our album. The four of us have put in a lot of hard work over the past two years, and it's not always been easy. But we've stuck with it because we love it and we believe in it. And now to be given this opportunity, with those three other loveable scamps...well, it's just great.
In fact, it's fantastic!
Fantakka!
Fandabbydozy!

So things are going to start gathering momentum and first things first, I'm going shopping.

Gonna get me one of these...



It's such a beautiful instrument, made by Nord - they're Swedish don't you know. The pitch bend is made of wood, as are the end-cheeks. The mod wheel is made of polished granite. It's pure craftsmanship and as for the sound...I'm getting all hot and bothered thinking about it!

It also probably weighs a ton, but then that's where roadies come in rather handy.

And whilst I'm shopping, I'm also going to get me one of these...



...and most certainly one of these...



...and one of these for sure...



...and I could go on and on, but won't as it'd be self-indulgent. Besides, I've got things to do, places to go, people to see.

Happy Easter!


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HOT NEWS!

Coming your way. Imminently.
Just as soon as I've finished celebrating...

x x x

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