Even in the horizon-expanding world of music, few people can boast of having met someone who is actually called Tarzan.  But it was piloted by a surly German named Tarzan that Stereolab, unable to reach their storage facility to offload their gear, came to Press Play Studios to deposit their equipment one Sunday evening.  Unfortunately, due to physics, the tour bus couldn't squeeze down Record Street, so the 'Lab needed some assistance to move their stuff from around the corner.  Enter two-thirds of The Band of the Eye, C. Murray and K. Ross, who were conscribed to help out.  Several rounds of lugging were required, unaided by Tarzan, who elected to mope in the vicinity of the bus.  Tarzan, you see, was destined that evening for Glasgow and the Stereophonics' tour (quite why bands are touring in alphabetical order these days is beyond us).

Seriously.  Tarzan.

Stereolab!  You owe us one.

Since that time, the progress of the recording sessions can be charted by the comments of production sage Paul Tipler:

'I'm going to make you sound very talented.' (Issue could be taken with this statement, but never mind.)

'I'm going to hit him.'

'Let's make this song sound like a rant.'

'That take was pony.'

So far, the results sound good to us.

Reports of Chris's death are greatly exaggerated.  The electric shock he received in this month's Newport show made him question the suitability of the venue's electrical wiring, but was not enough to get Kev and Wil dressing up for a funeral and advertising for a new singer.

This leaves Team Eye in prime condition for recording its album.  Production wizard Tipler gave a lesson in thoroughness when he visited Bristol to hear the band's songs and plan the sessions. Tipler suggested sounds, overdubs, and such outlandish concepts were aired as fitting new strings and tuning instruments. The band shall wander towards London and the sunny shores of Press Play Studios late in November, and the recording sessions will last until Christmas.

Suggestions for album titles are welcome.  So far there are three in the running:

1. Death Magnetic

2. Chinese Democracy

3. Some conflation of the above that will not lead to the band being sued by Metallica or Axl.

We are not playing in Bristol tonight, Thursday, 9 October.  We don't know what has happened; we were booked over a month ago and never got a final line-up, or details of door charges. There are no listings for this show in local or national press.  We tried to contact another band that was due to play, but they haven't responded, nor has the promoter replied to our messages.  Even if this show went ahead we can't imagine who would attend if no-one knows it's on.  We don't see it as a disaster: the bands were local and we weren't aware of anyone travelling from out of town to see us.  We hope all is well with the promoter.

We shed no tears for the Bristol show.  Those watchful of The Band of the Eye's metaphorical foot will notice it easing off the accelerator that propels us around the live circuit.  We have agreed to record our first album at the end of the year: back to Press Play Studios in London for Tipler to curse at us and commit our sounds to disc.  You will hear the dark consequences in 2009.

RECORDING will be our focus over the coming months: constant practice to metronomes, planning guitar overdubs, consulting guest musicians, sitting around eating junk and listening to records, and having the nerve to call it pre-production.  It's a different kind of rehearsal.  If any uniquely worthy gigging opportunities arise we'll respond, but otherwise we won't be adding live shows until 'tis done.

And why – aside from our odious personalities – why not get involved?  Do you play an instrument aside from our core of guitar, bass and drums?  Do you take photographs or own video recording equipment?  Do you have an interest in studio production that might lead you to help out for a day or two, for the sake of seeing a top producer at work?  If you can answer 'please, Sir, me, Sir' to any of the above, or have other useful suggestions, please correspond via thebandoftheeye@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, have a hissing gander at the excellent new pictures on our profile taken by Debs of Wilkins Photography.  You'll notice that Kev has upped the stakes with his acquisition of a smoking jacket.  A consummate professional, Kev brings a change of clothes for gigging in, to get him in some kind of zone.  Understandably, Chris and Wil are sweating over how to keep up with these new, Higher Standards.  Wil is considering becoming one of those half-naked drummers we've been seeing around the place.  Chris is mulling over the rock traditions of face paint, skinny ties and leggings, possibly in combination.  Watch this space.

For C.M.R. Murray, once a schoolboy in the Dublin suburb of Blackrock to whom ownership of several nice guitars was but Fancy, September was the time for Returning to School.  The onset of autumn befitted the death of hope that was the new term, and demands for What I Did on My Holidays exercises came as thick and fast as merciless quotations from Keats's poem 'To Autumn'.

Now it is only the School of Rock – as allegory rather than a Richard Linklater film – that compels The Band of the Eye to tuck in its shirt and report for assemblies:

1).  The Melting Pot at The Jericho in Oxford:  Saturday, 6 September, doors 7.30.  Starts at 8PM.  Also playing are The Brent Flood, Censored and Slashed Seat Affair.  £5 entry, or £3 if you can produce a card that says "NUS".  This looks like a very good line-up.

2).  The Fleece in Bristol: Tuesday, 9 September, doors 8PM.  With Little Black Number and a new act named Hot Fiction.  Free entry and cheap drinks.

In football news, you may soon hear us over the PA at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC, thanks to Tom at Room 21 Management, who gives us all sorts of good leads and is organising a gig in aid of the Ray Kennedy Parkinsons Disease Appeal in the near future, which we hope to be involved in.

Kev will be extending the domain of his antics with a new wireless set that allows him to roam a distance from his amplifier – as far as some way down the road, we've discovered – without cables, sending out smooth bass-lines all the while.  Witness the havoc from Saturday.  Additionally, one of Wil's cymbals has cracked and teeters between this life and the next. 

Our show at The Hope & Anchor in London on 30 August should be mentioned.  Few people who have watched The Band of the Eye live have suffered so much as a consequence as the people who made the journey over from Ireland to see us and spent 11 hours trying to get home the next day.  Vowing never again to visit the UK, Dave tells us how his travel agent gave a master-class in how not to travel:

They told us bad weather was the problem. 2 hours waiting for the plane to arrive, 3 hours of sitting on the plane waiting for a take off slot.  There were lots of babies onboard and one of them really liked crying.  They couldn't sell any food because of duty free regulations or something like that, and anyway didn't have anything like enough to feed a whole plane's worth of passengers.  A woman sitting in front of us was getting pretty stressed. I was waiting to see if there'd be a bona fide air rage incident but it never materialised.

Due to the length of the delay, all the regular bus services had ceased. The queue for taxis was pretty sizable so Mike caught an Aircoach into town.  JJ and I had to wait for one that would go to Stillorgan.  After we managed to get on one, the driver drove it into a bus shelter and smashed two of the side windows.

I'm pretty sure we could have taken a train to Holyhead and caught the ferry in less time than we spent travelling home.

We were probably worth it, though.