Yes - I am going to make a huge announcement in the New Year which I am sure will please a huge amount of you out there enormously. That is all I can say right now.  My new book is finally close to being finished and it will be on sale in time for our Scandinavian tour which commences on the 24th March 2010 now. Venue details will follow shortly. So far we can confirm Skutsgar, Stockholm, Visby, Uppsala and Malmo at this time. It was a bummer I had to move my album project into next year but the the way of the world at the moment. The Ducks are putting together an 'Odds & Sods' CD for the March tour that will include all our b-sides, re-mastered and released on CD for the first time, some rare live recordings from the BBC, a couple of live tracks from a recent London gig, a brand new studio track recorded on our last visit to Sweden and a couple of previously unreleased surprise tracks too. That's it for now, folks!

It's rare for me to get excited about any artist who has emerged on the scene since the late 70s.  Perhaps, Steve Forbert was the last. Ken Will Morton is a young man from Athens, Georgia and is a 'must listen to' for anyone who loves raw, 'brick factory' music without frills. Sure, there's a lot of guys who periodically appear with croaky voices and over-cranked Telecasters but none so masterful a lyricist as this man.  My great pal, Michel Agnes turned me on to him a couple of weeks ago and I've just got his latest CD, 'Devil In Me'.  I've played it to death and it's sent me off into a writing frenzy.  I don't want to get gushy about this but our Kenneth is undoubtedly the best new artist I've heard in three decades. I suggest y'all go check it out.

I finally got round to it and put a new site up at www.seantyla.com.  Hope you enjoy it.  We start rehearsing for our jaunt to Monte Carlo next week and hope many of our fans in the south of France can get there. A strange location, perhaps but you know our motto:  you book it - we'll rock it! Then I'm off to Sweden to cut a new Tyla CD with some crazy Swedes! It's straight back into a studio in London after that to lay down some fresh Ducks tracks ready for a March 2010 release. Non-stop, baby - non-stop.  That's the way I like it.  DD will be playing Scandinavia from March 3-14 2010 and the Tyla Gang will tour the same territory in September 2010.

'Where have you been?' a fan's email enquired last week  Well, busy.  Got to record a track on Martin Belmont's new CD which come out in August.  In fact, I'll be singing a couple of tracks at his launch party at Dingwalls in London on September 15th, 2009.  I am also off to Sweden in September to record a new studio album with a bunch of Swedish all stars including, Sven Zetterberg and Micke Finell. It will, I hope also feature the legendary Geraint Watkins and Billy Bremner. I've been getting material together for that and I'm looking forward to it immensely.  I wanted to write a bunch of stuff that was influenced by the music I grew up with and see what turned out!  I've also involved the legendary Swedish engineer and producer, Ken Skoglund as my co-producer and we'll be utilising his excellent Sound Control Studios facility for the project.  Also looking forward to the new Ducks Deluxe CD, [Box Of Shorts] launch party at the Half Moon in Putney, London on Sunday, 9th August, 2009 and our appearance on the Alternative Stage at the 2009 Rhythm Festival near Bedford at 5:15 in the afternoon of Saturday, 22nd August. The new CD will be on sale after the Half Moon gig and we'll be signing all copies personally.  The new line-up really gelled and rocked like hell on the Swedish Tour and I really hope you can all make one or both gigs.  You'll be missing a treat if you don't! Apart from that - you're dead meat! See you there.

Sweden was excellent fun. Extremely tiring - it's a very long and thin country - but, fans who have supported us for more than thirty-five years without ever seeing the band finally got their wish and that pleased us enormously. Apart from a couple of dates that appeared to be local, Easter drinking contests, there was a solid showing of DD fans at all gigs, specifically in Stockholm, where they were hanging off the ceiling and still queueing while the show was on, in the hope that people might leave. A fantastic atmosphere!

We want to thank all the fans for staying with us all these years and for the fabulous support on this tour. We should also like to thank promoter, Micke Finnell at Rock Around The Clock Productions AB for doing a highly professional job and our Tour Manager and Sound Engineer, Andreas for an absolutely superb job, executed above and beyond the call of duty.

I'm looking forward to playing at the TIvoli in Wimborne on Friday with the Tyla Gang. This will be the last gig before I come off the road for a month or so to get on with making a new Tyla Gang CD.

The TG gigs in France and Belgium have been postponed until July. Yet another venue balls up! One comes out and the rest fold like a pack of cards. That's the way it is with logistics.

We're filming and recording a gig at Mr Kyps in Poole tomorrow night. If it's good we'll put it up on You Tube.

Our Scando tour gets moved to Spring 2010 too. This is because we can find more places to play than we would in October. I'm off to Sweden in a fortnight, for a fortnight, with the Ducks.

TG play the Tivoli Theatre on my return on the 17th April 2009. If you live nearby, buy a ticket - we need you!

It's off to the studio in July/August when we get back from France/Belgium. We've been kicking around some of the new songs at rehearsal - they're great - the best stuff I've ever written. I'm very pleased. can't wait to get it out to you. Won't be this year though.

Had great fun cutting the final track on Martin Belmont's new solo CD. I was honoured to be asked to sing a song in such exalted company. Mart has a special guest on each track but I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag and tell you who they are. You'll know soon enough!

A word or two about the studio we worked in. Gold Top is a super-funky room with a fantastic sound, excellent for live recording, the best collection of antique mikes I've seen in a month of Sundays, some jaw-dropping house amps all into a Radar IZ rig, the best recording package on the planet. Get in there and get some. I'll say no more.

I have always wondered what particular chemical is produced in the brains of people who would rather see a live band playing other peoples music rather their own original material. I still can't figure out just what the attraction is? OK, I get the bit about the original artistes may be deceased, don't tour any more or the tickets prices are extortionate. We've been here before, I know but it's got a lot worse since I railed against it last.

After six months of frustrating work by me and my agent, Nigel, I, nor any of the bands I play in can get a gig anywhere in the UK - unless of course, we play for nothing! In that scenario, the promoter or club owner generally won't bother to promote the gig because [a], it's a low-risk venture and they stand to lose little or nothing and [b], they may have to get of their asses, do some work or spend a few quid on advertising. In addition, they generally expect 'original' bands to employ a PR company to promote the date at the artiste's cost, regardless of the fact that they aren't guaranteed a single cent for turning up and playing! That is so seriously fucked up. These cretins clearly need help!

Of course, promoters and venue owners will spend money on advertising Tribute or 'covers' bands because it's all a question of economics. They are feeding a demand. However, if they had to pay a premium to the original artist for simulating their personas or reproducing their music, then the whole genre would be a much more risky proposition and hopefully die a horrible and nasty death. Don't get me wrong, there are some good guys out there, who do work hard to make every gig they promote a success. But, they are in a minority. Mostly, they're part-time, quick buck merchants or landlords trying to keep the brewery at bay.

Thankfully, I have a lot of work booked in Europe and Scandinavia this year, where people clearly respect the talent and effort that is required to produce good, original music. The current situation in the UK says more about the appalling lack of taste of most media consumers than those who provide the low grade garbage they devour. I was so lucky to grow up listening to Janis, Jimi, Lennon, Keef, Bobby Dylan and Duane. I feel so sorry for the sad morons who flock to the outposts of Tributeland on a Friday night. They have no idea what they are missing. Worse still, they don't care.

I deeply regret that I could not appear at my dear friend, Marc Zermati's exposition launch in Paris yesterday. I know a lot of fans were making special journeys to see me and that Marc and his team had worked extremely hard to put the event on. I apologise from the bottom of my heart for having to let you all down. Enough said that I had some serious personal problems to take care off but all is well now. This is the very first gig I have canceled in nearly 40 years in the business. I am sure the Expo will be a huge success and I urge all those who can to get to see it to do so before it closes on Jan 4 2009.

OK - here we go. The Ducks will be back in the studio on Jan 10, 2009 for the first time since 1974. Yes! Our aim is to cut a new CD of mostly original songs. Basically, we've been offered some recording time by a yet-to-be-named major indie and we will see what comes out. I am positive it will exciting. Martin and I both felt that the new Duck line up with drummer, Jim Russell and bassist, Kevin Foster is as hot as a hoola and we should take the plunge and cut some new sides asap - rock on! If all goes well, the new CD will be released on the eve of the Duck's Swedish Tour in April 2009.

Also, the Tyla Gang will commence recording their first studio set since 1978's unreleased, [and now lost] 'Whaleback' in July 2009. The CD, codenamed: Silk & Iron will be released through Hawkhead in Autumn 2009 to coincide with an extensive Scandinavian and European tour that has been six months in the planning. As part of an innovative promotion campaign, advanced ticket holders can claim a free copy of the CD, plus a free tour t-shirt, poster and button pack at every gig on the tour. A special link code on the CD will enable listeners to download monthly podcasts and three bonus tracks too. Not bad, eh?