Hello to all out there in smallgangland, and apologies again for being a wee bit lax on the old blogging front. Normal service is now resumed etc, so I’ll kick-start things off with what we’ve been up to together and separately.
As the ‘gang, we finished off 2011 in good fashion supporting one of the Kobayashi family’s favourite ever bands, Bitch Magnet, at the Lexington. It was a great night, and I even got to share the stage with the ‘Magnet, much to the surprise of guitarist Jon Fine (even get a shout-out!). After those shenanigans we drank the night away, and the night after, with the band and George and Janice Damnably. It took the rest of the week to recover…
Posing with Orestes of BM (in a familiar looking T-shirt...)
In the following week, I decided to remix the majority of the old home recordings we did pre-Trespasses and then had them mastered at One Cat Studios with the inimitable Jon Clayton. There were 20 songs in all, and although they’re fairly scrappy I might post a few on here for the world to hear. It always seems pretty hard to go back to old songs but one or two might be brushed down and recorded properly when we have the opportunity.
After those larks, we took the inevitable festive break and have reconvened back at our usual rehearsal room (Karma in Stoke Newington) to work on new stuff. We already have two tracks on the go, one called ‘Once More’ and a hitherto untitled one, and they should be ready for the Versus gig in March. It’s been quite a relief really as we’ve been trying to work out new stuff for most of the last year, and its been a bit of a struggle for various reasons. I think it’s probably down to working out where to go after Trespasses, and trying to refine everything as much as possible – you know, the usual stuff. I’ll collate the reviews for the album soon also, even the dodgy ones.
Separately, we’ve also been busy, with Matt and Ruth doing a few shows with Crumbling Ghost and celebrating the great reception their album has received (top 100 albums of the year in Sunday Times!!). Tosh has been busy rehearsing with Katie (also the new voice of CG) under their acoustic duo moniker of Passerines, while I’ve been working on finishing the Splintered Man album with Alex. Hopefully it will see the light of day this year, always the optimist…
Anyway, I need to go and find some gainful employment, so see you later.
Simon
