We have a new song up: High Summer. It's the first of the songs from our yet-to-be-named 'debut' album. It's by no means the best song on the album but it has the distinct advantage of being the first to be completed. Hence its appearance on here.
 It is the first song to feature young Coral on vocals. We asked her to come and record some stuff for us after she caught our eyes (or, rather, ears) in a church choir. She bravely obliged. She is a friendly so-and-so. She refers to this song as 'the one with the swearing.' 
 We're hoping to have the whole album finished by winter. I've been having ideas about illustrations and photographs for the lyric book (which we're thinking about making into a poster rather than a book), all we have to do now is put the finishing touches on some of the songs and put them in a running order. We may put one or two more up on here in the coming weeks, so watch this space.  
 I am still very keen on the following album names. Which do you prefer?

 Confessions to a Friend in Trouble
 We Have Seen Remarkable Things Today
 Bildungsroman 
 
 I'm still leaning towards Confessions. It suits the mood of the songs better. I'm not a big fan of albums that are named after songs. It always makes me think that the artist couldn't be bothered to come up with something else. And doing this also puts a heap of pressure on the title track. It's a pressure our poor little pack of tunes can do without.
 We really hope you like High Summer. If you do, be kind and spread the word. I think it's a grower.


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Rupert is going to Brighton this weekend. He's beginning a big long course which will enable him to become a certified drummer. Apparently the piece of ripped toilet paper I gave him which read 'You are a drummer' just wasn't good enough. Honestly, some people.
 I am really pleased that he is going away to study. I had been badgering him to do so for a while. He was tailor made to be a music student. He's a brilliant drummer and a brilliant drinker. The ideal cocktail. I always think that at the very least, even if you hate it, university is a three year holiday from Monday to Friday work-based drudgery. Plus, there are a whole new collection of girls to get unattractively needy and obsessive over. It's brilliant. 
 We will miss him while he's away. Although, I do intend to abuse his student digs on the south coast as a free holiday home. I'm going to Rock Brighton (eh? eh?). It may even get to the stage where I knock on his door and he has to hide behind the curtains to pretend he's not in. Especially if I keep doing the ol' Rock Brighton gag. 
 

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There has been a lot of talk in the British media of nuclear disarmament this week. The overwhelming feeling is that positive steps are being taken by the powers that be in this country to reduce our nuclear capabilities ('our' as in Great Britain's, not 'our' as in Characters From Books'. Let it be made clear that no members of the band possess nuclear making facilities. Gary has an absolutely brilliant plastic fly-swatter on the windowsil in his kitchen, but the killing ends there). On the face of it, it all seems like good news. 
 There was a government representative on Newsnight last night saying that Britain is going from four nuclear submarines down to three. Great. Then he said that this ground-breaking move towards world peace was because we were getting three new submarines which would do the work of the four old ones. It was a step in the right direction he said. Four down to three. Marvellous...
 Now, ladies and gentlemen, as you may have gathered from my previous blogs, I'm no Micheal Moore (although, granted, when telling people stories I do bend the truth to make myself seem more righteous) but I am left feeling a bit cold by the twisted logic of the Newsnight chap. If you're replacing four submarines with three submarines that will do the EXACT same job as four, is that really a step in the right direction? Or is it a sideways step? All that is actually being proposed is that we replace four old crap things with three flashy new things. It's like Aston Villa saying they're going to get rid of the four strikers they own in order to make it fair to every other team in their league - then replacing them with Rooney, Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. 
 What a palava.
 I can't believe I've just tried to tackle nuclear disarmament in a blog! I've let one lo-fi recording of an album track go to my head. All of a sudden I think I'm Sting.


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At a quiz the other night we had three questions in a row on African countries. We didn't know the answer to any of them. 
 I looked at Gary and said. 'Come on, we're having a nightmare here. Let's at least have a guess. What's the capital of Uganda? What cities can you think of?'
 'I don't know,' said Gary. 'I'm not very good with Africa.' 
 For some reason it really made me laugh.
 Auf wiedersehn, pets,




 Ryan