Wednesday, August 23, 2000

23rd August 2000

Had a day out yesterday when me and two foxy chicks drove over to Calais
on a booze run. Managed to contain myself to a dozen bottles of red wine,
three cases of Becks and a case of Budvar. I am sure to get at least one
hangover out of that little lot. I am off to Jersey tomorrow with the
family for a holiday so I will get back to you next week and fill you. If
any of you have been experiencing any problems with the site then rest
assured that things a re being ironed and normal serviced should be
resumed by the time you read this.

Monday, August 21, 2000

21st August 2000

After months of being sidelined it was an absolute joy to be back in the
studio with the chaps last week to record the backing tracks for the next
album. I would think that this is the sort of behind-the-scenes stuff that
you would all be interested in so I have broken down this entry into
studio days to give you the all the gory details of what went on.
Day 1: I thought I would ease everyone into the session with something
that everyone knew already so we started with "Top Of The Pops Again"
which many of you will have heard if you have visited my page at mp3.com.
This was bashed out rather quick and we moved on to a new song called
"Walking On Eggshells". This is quite mellow with a spooky chorus and
features a Fender Rhodes electric piano which makes everything sound like
Steely Dan which I am not sure is a good thing. The day ended in
spectacular fashion with a ride on the back of Wally's new motorbike. To
get to Wally's house from the studio we can go over a mountain that
overlook the valley where Ammanford is situated and when I visit Wales and
the night is clear Wally and I usually stop on the mountain on the way
home and check out the view. The night was clear with an almost full moon
and the journey home was a vibe although a little chilly. For those with a
eye for finer detail then Wally's bike is a Honda 750 custom thingy that
is apparently quite a rare bike......blah,blah.)
Day 2: Back to the studio on the bike and straight into a tune that I have
had kicking around for some time called "Doin' The Mania" which is a song
that slags off Paul McCartney for going on about The Beatles all the time.
It reaches the scary pace of 160 bpm which is unknown territory for me.
Next was a new tune called "The Honeymoon's Over" which is a song written
about President Clinton's inability to keep his pants on. The last song we
did that day was a brand new song called "In Bloom" which is double-slow
but very nice with an overdose of brushes and Fender Rhodes again. The day
ended with me and Wal going back over the mountain but this time armed
with a video camera but unfortunately when we got to the top we were in
some low lying cloud and couldn't see fuck all. I was intending to do a
little speech and film the valley below but as the visibility was zero I
decided to do a little dance for the camera instead. This may appear on
the new site in the not too distant future.
Day 3: Started the day recording another song which has been around for a
while called "TC". This is a song written about the Glasgow Two which you
may know about from my album sleeve but if you don't know then do some
research and support these two innocent men in their quest for justice.
The day ended with another new song called "Ansaphone" which I think is
probably the best song I have written. It is a ballad in the style of
Lennon as opposed to Manilow and I'm sure it will be a big favourite when
you eventually get to hear it. The night ended with me and Wal going home
on the bike in the pissing rain ( that's Wales for you!!). I had to wear
his wife's waterproofs which were about three sizes too small and I looked
like 10lb of sausage in a 5lb skin!!! the waterproofs had no crutch in
them because they were torn so when I arrived home I had soaking bollocks
and had to hang my only pair of pants in the airing cupboard.
Day 4: Retrieved pants from airing cupboard to find that they had dried
and left a large white water stain around my genitals which made it looked
like I had pissed myself. We arrived at the studio and recorded a song
called "Ruby Blue" with Wal playing his double bass. We packed up early
because it was Nigey Nige's birthday and we were due to meet him and all
the chaps at a curry house in Neath called Spicey Al's Cafe or something
like that. If you are ever in Neath and fancy a curry then be sure to try
this gaff as the curry was blinding. We left at midnight and Tony K and me
drove home.
As you can see a splendid time was had by all and I can't wait for you to
hear it when it's all polished up and shiny.

Tuesday, August 01, 2000

1st August 2000

This weekend I did my "urr" and hopped on a train with Dawson to travel
down to Newport in South Wales ( like I said, a foreign country ) and did
my best Cilla Black impersonation when I turned up a Nikk's house and gave
him a "Surprise Surprise" by doing a little acoustic set in his front room
for his 30th birthday present. If you read the guestbook then Nikk is the
chap who leaves messages about Liverpool Football Club and his friend Tall
Paul asked me if I could pop down to Wales for an overnight stay and bring
my guitar with me. A good time was had by all ( I think? ) and the only
drawback was having to share a double bed with Dawson who had us both
cracking up in the darkness like two boy scouts by doing his impressions
of Chewbacca. The summer holidays have arrived so I have been spending the
last couple of days with the kids doing "kids stuff" like swimming and
picnics. Yesterday I took my Mum and my kids to the Hindu temple in
Neasden which is in North London. This is a fantastic building and we were
made to feel very welcome and sat in on a short ceremony. The building is
made from over 26,000 pieces ( mostly marble ) and was shipped over from
India and assembled in Neasden. If you are ever in London then this place
is well worth a visit and the admission is free which is not bad either.
That's my bit for the London Tourist Board done. I will be spending this
evening mailing a few folk festivals around the country to see if I can
become a late addition to the bill so if I get any joy then I will put the
dates up on this page. I received a copy of the September issue of Spin
magazine which has an article about the Fakes and shows some interesting
pics of them playing live ( Leopard-skin spandex pants and black string
vests......nice combo! ). The article by David Prince, an avid FGTH fan,
will hopefully inform a lot of people about what these guys are up to and
stop people from attending their concerts. While I am on the subject of
"Rednex In Spandex" I received a letter from The House Of Blues legal
department telling me that they will not book these guys in future which
is good news although I would have loved to have seen the show that was
webcast to check out more items from their garish wardrobe. Quote of the
year from Holly J regarding these chaps " I'm very sorry that people are
getting duped, but God, what Frankie fan who knew anything about the group
could possibly believe in a million years that we would play steak houses
and country fairs? It's so small-fry and so unstylish". Nice one H.