We're out on display in London again on Friday night;

Doors: 8
GB on stage: some time after 9
Party: is ongoing throughout the night
Songs: new & old
Place: The Lexington, King's Cross
Come: and see us play

xx
Max

Friends;

It's twenty past 2; I've just got in from the Bush Hall show, after hours and hours of queuing on the M25. Would definitely have been quicker to go the 'wrong' way round; yeah, would have been home about an hour ago.

Tonight was great fun; tried out 'You Don't Know Me' for the first time on stage. It was our first gig of 2009 too; I've heard our tambourine every time my car's gone over a bump since the Notting Hill gig in December, but today I finally had to excavate, and locate it.

If you've not got tickets for the Barfly yet, they're going - about 70% gone on last count I believe - so get your ass over to www.ticketweb.co.uk, and we'll all get together and have a nice warm evening of new GB songs together on a dreary February evening.

And at some point over the next week we have to decide in which order the songs should go on the album.

Oh and there was a full-on fight, involving police-calling during Dan le Sac & Scroobius Pip's set. Waaaay better than TV.

Keep at it, we'll all catch up in warmer days

xx
Max

I write to you today from the control room of a lovely studio on the Holloway Road in London, where we have today completed all recording work on the new album.

It's called 'Cry of the Hunters', and should be with you in May or June. We love it, and hope you will.

There are eleven songs on it, we'll let you know what they are once we've decided what order to put them all in. These things are crucial to making a decent album.

We're currently working on a monitor mix of one called 'All This Time'. We've spent the day recording through the microphone used to record the vocals on Coldplay's Viva la Vida... so now I've used Radiohead's mic and Coldplay's mic. Doing well, doing well.

Now is the time to buy tickets for the show on the 27th of February at the Camden Barfly. We're very excited about it and will be playing a large chunk of the new record, including some songs for the very first time.

Thanks to everyone for waiting this long; it seems that once again we've taken over a year to make an album. We never thought we'd be that slow, but listening to the album I'm glad we are, and I promise it'll be worth the wait.

Over and out,

Max

The weather in the UK is usually nothing to write home about, drizzle, cold, drizzle, bit of sun, drizzle..but today was a pretty special..a day of Narnia-esque frost..mental.

Today however was spent in a 12ft by 7ft room (box) with Max, mixing our very own Chinese Democracy..(only ours isn't shit and will hopefully be worth the wait). The album is sounding majestic..for me it really has pushed the envelope as to what the 4 of us can do together, I think if Good Books circa 2006 had been told we'd make an album like this we would have told you to fuck off..in the nicest way possible. With a year behind us which has had as many ups and downs as you can probably fit into one year, it feels really good starting this year nearing the completion of the record.

On another note give our version of 'Yazoo's-Only You' a blast and let us know what you think..it's cropping up on a really great compilation called 'Buffet Libre Rewind Vol.2'-which features tons of covers of 70's/80's/90's tunes by some quality bands/producers/djs..check out the Sportsday version of 'Ever Fallen In Love' and the Sidechains mix of 'Ultra Nate-Free'..controversial.

 Another plug..check out Channel 4 tomorrow at 1.45pm to watch our friends Klaus Says Buy The Record compete to win Orange Unsigned Act..I think it's a public voting thing..so please vote for them if it is..unless Richard and Judy are behind it..(you say, you pay)

Also on these cold, crappy evenings head to the flicks and watch 'Waltz With Bashir' one of the most remarkable films I've seen for a while and particularly poignant at this troubled time.  

 Happy New Year and I promise our frequency of blogging will be less shit this year..! JP.x

Sitting in my room, with a glass of warm flat champagne, listening to the new Good Books album. It has been a silly year, I think. But nicely off-the-map; if you'd asked me on the 2nd of January 2008 what this year would have brought our way, I wouldn't have predicted much of what ended up happening. Good Books are scattered far and wide at the moment; Leo's in Germany, JP's in Scotland and I'm off to Sweden tomorrow for some snow and candle-light - I've spent every New Year in my life in Sweden except for two. Bit of GB trivia for you there!

The BBC website tells me that Harold Pinter died yesterday; I would have liked to have met him, but I suspect he'd have been unimpressed by me, so probably a desire best left unfulfilled. Me and JP did his 'The Hothouse' for GCSE Drama - more GB trivia for you!

The album sounds fantastic. I can't wait to get it out into the world. 2009 is looking fantastic too - there'll be many many shows, releases, parties, all the good things. The Bush Hall gig supporting Dan le Sac vs Scrubious Pip is very close to being sold out now, so once that's happened we'll be announcing a few other shows in February.

Did everyone get what they wanted for Christmas? I've got enough books to last me until October, including a Milan Kundera I've not read yet, so I'm pretty chuffed with that.

So, this is me, signing out from 2008. My 'Album 2' playlist is nearing its conclusion, and the smell of Turkey is growing stronger. I wish everyone the very best New Year they could ask for, and we'll see you the other side of it, with new songs and ting.

xx
Max

It's a bit like when you were little, and the guy in your year who was always a prick to you is being picked on by a guy two years above. You understand that it's not fair, that no-one should really be picked on, yet you feel kinda good about it because he's always being a prick to you. I'm grateful for the Data Protection Act, god knows we need it what with all this interweb facetube spamjunk 2.0 going on these days, but I couldn't help but let out a mini-snigger when Wikileaks published the BNP list this week. I assume this means that the bulk of people on The List won't be renewing their membership when the time comes, and so hopefully the BNP will be crippled and unable to function properly. Idiots will of course continue to exist, but at least they'll no longer be organised idiots. Good to see one living in my road too!



This made me chuckle a bit...

Other news:

The album's really getting there now - with you early 2009.

The Chap played the best gig I've ever seen on Thursday. If you haven't yet, have a look at myspace.com/thechap.

We might/are probably doing a show before Christmas. News soon.

Did I mention that the album's nearly finished?

xx
Max

It is a good day. We've got a plumber in at the moment, and radio 1 is drifting down the stairs. Frankmusik and Friendly Fires both getting daytime play in the same day is a victory for music. Long may it continue. I reckon Barack's behind it somewhere.

Last night JP, Chris, Chris's girlfriend Amy and I went to see Kanye West at the O2. OK, so he dropped the ball a few times, but overall an amazing show - Gold Digger and Heard 'Em Say were my personal high-points. 9-year-old kid in the row behind us kept farting throughout, which put a dampener on things a bit. And dickhead on JP's left had some of the worst moves I've seen in all my days. Now, I'm something of a disaster myself in the dancing department, but this was just off the map. Still, fun. And in the bits where he got it right, Kanye was amazing.

Album's going nicely - mixing some things at the moment. Lots of lovely new things in the studio, should sound lush.

Piece and luv

xx
Max

the christmas decorations are going up as i type here in sevenoaks. that's definitely not right. it's like if you swear casually all the time, it's less effective than if you swear occasionally but with vigour. surely 2 full months of christmas decorations is too much? that's getting on for 20% of the year with christmas lights…

and then it's bonfire night, where we can all burn effigies of russell brand and jonathan ross, for they are clearly the source of all the rot in our society, and should probably be blamed for the credit crunch and iraq too if we're being honest. ridiculous.

right, i'm going to the pub. londoners (and the guy who's coming down from preston) see you on sunday. new songs aplenty.

xx

max

How is everyone? Feeling in need of some Sunday afternoon Good Books love? We can sort that out for you – read on! Firstly, have a listen to our new song 'Manifesto' on our Myspace player. It was recorded live in Southampton earlier this month, and a CD of the whole gig will be available in limited supply at the show on Sunday... like I said, read on...

Before all that though, the time has come to share the news that we're no longer with Columbia Records – nothing bitter or ugly, just that their interests and ours are no longer mutual. It took many months for everyone to realise that it wasn't going to work out with them, and that's the main reason behind the delay in getting new music to you. The long and short of it is that we're now racing along with recording the new album, and can start being a band again – making music and playing gigs!

So, we're playing in London for our first headline gig in over a year this coming Sunday, 2nd of November, also my last day of being 22. The event's called Best Laid Plans, an all -dayer at Proud Galleries in Camden, also featuring Mike Oman, Polka Party, The Molotovs, Tapetheradio, Django Django and top drawer DJs and other arty types. We'll be playing our favourites off Control, as well some new songs that we've been recording for the new album, which should be with you around late Spring 2009.

Spring 2009? That's ages away! I want new songs now, I hear you cry.

Well, we are now the proud owners of some new wires, so we can record our gigs… And so there's a CD of GoodBooks Live in Southampton that will be on sale at the London gig, at a steal of £3. It includes three new songs – 'Save Me', 'Manifesto' and 'All This Time', and others from 'Control'. 'Manifesto' and 'Leni' are featured on our MySpace player at the moment.

Finally, if you're of a Southerly inclination, there's a tasty DJ set tonight, at Club X-Ray's Southampton night at the Whitehouse. Expect Janet Jackson, NWA and Ellen Allien to share a playlist for the first time in the history of DJ sets.

Summary Box:

October 29th
DJ SET – Club X-Ray @ The Whitehouse
194 Above Bar Street
Southampton SO14 7DW
£4/£3 NUS 10pm doors

November 2nd
LIVE SET – Best Laid Plans @ Proud
The Horse Hospital
Chalk Farm Road
Camden
London NW1 8AH
FREE ENTRY Not sure when it opens, come for the whole day!

All safely in your database? Splendid, we'll see you there!

xx
Max