I won't lie to you, but so far this year has been really shithouse. I won't go into details save for a quick analogy: Imagine someone offers you a Mars bar (other chocolate bars are available). You exercise caution, after all there's been a whole slew of stories going around about people being offered Mars bars and then being kicked in the nuts; and so you decline. There are protestations of innocence, cries of "Kick you in the nuts?! Of course not! I'm just offering you a Mars bar!"

This continues and eventually you warily accept, reaching for the Mars bar. As your fingers close around it, the Mars bar is snatched away and you are dealt a firm and crippling kick to the nuts.

Obviously, this hasn't literally happened. Yet. But on both a macro and a micro level, this seems to be a pretty accurate picture of my year so far: shithouse. Not to say that there hasn't been good times, the year started with a fantastic holiday in a country I'd not been to before, and having Sarah and Pete join the band has been amazing beyond words and I've been really excited by the music we all make together.

So the point of this? We're releasing a single and it's called Murder On The Mind. Now the rest of the band and I, not to mention a few people connected to the band, happen to think it's not too bad. It's certainly up there as one of the better songs I've written.

Again, without going into too many details, it was written during a bit of a 'kicked in the nuts' time and the performances and production illustrate that, I think (hope).

So I guess releasing this song, as with anything, is like opening yourself up for a good ol' nut kicking.

Now, those who know the extent of what's gone on in this past year will know that nothing can make up for some of things that have happened, and that's just how it is. But it really would to be nice to finish this year on a positive.

So how can you help? Well, Murder On The Mind is now up on Triple J Unearthed, if you could go there and have a listen and give us a rating, that would be ace. The whole business should take maybe four minutes (including listening to the song). Maybe five or six if you're not already a member. You'll be able to download the song for absolutely nothing and it just might mean that we'll get some national airplay. If your feeling a little bit more literary, give us a review, and if you're feeling really gung-ho about it, request us.

The other thing you could do - if you happen to be in Melbourne - is come and see us play on November 6th at The Empress. I guess you could call it a single launch, but we haven't. Really, we just wanted to play with our new full-band lineup.

Anyway, I'm not going to let 2008 get the better of us without a fight, but roll on 2009, I say.

Thanks in advance,

Mark
The Weekend People
www.weekendpeople.net
www.triplejunearthed.com/theweekendpeople