We haven't practiced in ages, but we've still been pretty busy.

The Hot Sex, digital download-only single is out on 14 February (Valentine's Day for all you misery guts out there!) Have a look at the artwork here (see the tiny url address at the bottom), in anticipation of our first release in, wow, 9 months or so:

http://www.smalltownamerica.co.uk/discog.php/STA042/Hot+Sex+EP

Pat's been booking cool bands left, right and centre for our monthly Club Playthings, which is happening every last Thursday of the month starting 21 February at the Port Mahon in Oxford. The wonderful, Fleetwood Mac-esque (in my opinion) Winners are joining us for our inaugural night.

We won a 'best Oxford demo' comp on BBC Oxford last Saturday. It's my fault they called it a demo, cuz I think I sent in a cdr, but either way, we're happy we got played. Nightshift, the written word arbiter of what's cool on the Oxford scene also gave us a nice review.

Huw Stephens bought me a beer at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen the other night. He said he'd check us out online, so keep your fingers crossed for us on that one. Incidentally, we were watching Lykke Li, this Swedish singer. I think she's huge in Sweden, which would be deserved cuz she's really, really good and really, really fit.

I've written some new songs and recorded rough versions of them on my 4 track. None of them, deliberately, sound like Weezer because Weezer have, like, one good record (Pinkerton). You can hear some of them at my Bateman myspace site if you're interested. They'll probably sound a lot different when they've been Playthinged:

www.myspace.com/batemantyp

We're going to Spain to play some shows in April. Hopefully we're going to Northern Ireland in July to play some more. I hate paella and I hate Guinness but I can't wait to go!

Bates