A small announcement (and some recent pictures)

So I have an tiny announcement.

Secretly — at least from you my blog followers – I have become part of a brand new band. And this is the first band I’ve joined since 2008 and against all my protestations that I have “retired from rock n roll”. We have had precisely 2.5 practices and now have 6 songs – perhaps as much as two sets by some standards. And even though in this process I’ve had to do a few of the things I kinda hated about rock n roll — like lugging gear and organising myself and trying my hardest to think up an appropriate band name — in fact I had a really good time.

And there’s only a few things I love about being in a band — but they are very cool things. Essentially it’s stuff like rocking out in that very random, fragile and bizarre narrative that is live rock n roll. “Live performance” is pretty surreal if you examine it. Sometimes it feels a bit not unlike those musicals where they just burst into song and choreography.

Then there’s that niggling idea an audience might actually see all this one day. And so one of the other things about rock I appreciate is this “getting away with it” vibe. Sometimes I put my songs down and half-expect people to start throwing stuff or being so appalled they race out into the street and overturn a car they’ve just set on fire. So it is entirely amazing when just one person comes up to you after the show and says they loved it. Even though that feels a bit awkward, I appreciate it.

Anyway — we are just three atm. Me on drums and contributing a few of my songs which I think are better handled by Liss — who is an awesome singer — and Michael who knows how shred, has incredible equipment, and crucially — has great hair too.

We are looking for a band name if anyone has any suggestions. Band names are notoriously difficult and I have this theory that 90% of bands secretly hate the moniker they eventually settle on. But then again — “The Beatles” is the shittest band name ever, so why bother worrying so much?

RECENT PICTURES

I got my friend Anna to make this brooch for Dee’s birthday — I like it.

Token picture of the cat

A chemical spill last Friday turned work into a no man’s land. That white stuff in the pic below is the culprit.

Last week we picked up Dee’s folks from the airport and this is them surprising Julian (Dee’s brother) because they had come home a few days early. He looks appalled but he was totally excited.