So here we go. American election time and it's looking like it's gonna be absolutely brilliant. (Though maybe not for Sarah Palin's poor poor daughter who's about to get her life taken to pieces one way or another for the sake of her mother, in front of 250-300 million americans and everyone else paying attention. For doing nothing wrong i might add.). The Republicans have announced their first ever female nominee for Vice President. Welcome to the stage 44 year old Sarah Palin. 2 year governor of Alaska. Until 2002 Mayor of a town with population 8,000. Mother of 5. Pro Life (meaning anti abortion) including rape victims, incest victims and even when the mothers life is in danger. Lifetime member of the NRA. Wife of an Evangelical Christian. Favourite hobbies are Hunting and Fishing. Anti Corruption Investigator and reformer. Which makes her an incredibly smart choice by the Republicans. John McCain is old and moderate and they know it. They're running against Barack Obama who looks to be a bright, charasmatic and strong leader with an experienced running mate (Joe Biden) to back him up. Oh and apparently he's black or something. They needed to rock the boat even further than it's already rocking, whilst retaining their Christian right base and that's what they've done. The female vote (traditionally the Democratic saviour) now goes up for grabs. And they've added some youth and the afore mentioned charisma to the ticket. To be fair i am jumping to conclusions on account of disagreeing with her on just about every front, and she may be one of the great reasonable leaders of our time, and i hope she is given Mccain's age, but those beliefs are a scary prospect. I have to confess to hypocrisy even as i'm assuming the worst of her inexperience and beliefs, but found myself tutting and damning the Democrats as patronising arses when they were questioning her ability to play on the big stage. She is an unknown entity (apparently even to John McCain and the FBI vetting process) but it has thrown the whole thing wide open. It's gonna be a very interesting, entertaining 3 months or so. Again except for the poor 17 year old girl, and anyone else drawn into the onslaught.
I love American politics. It's so much more of a circus than ours. Partly due to their sphere of influence around the world (here most of all) and partly due to the frankly ludicrous amounts of money they toss around. It's easy to define people as the black hats and the white hats, then cheer, boo and hiss like it's a pantomime, because at the end of the day it's over there. We have Civil Partnerships, total freedom of choice about abortion, no (well very few) guns (why bother when knives seem to work fine), total separation of church and state (as on the majority we're non-believing cynical sods), free healthcare and at least a semi decent education for all, and one of the least corrupt political systems in the world as there's not a lot of money in it (comparatively). And we don't execute children. Or anyone else for that matter. All things i am very very proud of and why i love this country. We're not perfect by a long shot. But we're alright as they go.

I guess the important thing in the long run is that whoever wins (i want Obama but predict Mccain for now) it's gonna be a first. Either the first non-white President or the first lady Vice President. Both of which are a big deal whether they should be or not. These are interesting times.

So, is everybody looking forward to the Tory government coming up? it'll be a nice change for the group of gross incompents at the top to be wearing blue instead of red. As anyone following any part of the news can see the country has very much turned on "New" (11 years old this year) Labour, with the London Mayor going to an ape (Londoners, funny bunch arent they), and the two labour stronghold by-elections going tory.
We've had enough. And frankly ,who can blame us. We're stuck in a war we never wanted, the cost of everything is going up, except for wages which aren't going anywhere (unless you're a disgraced board member or failing Director), the roads are heaving, the oil is running out, we're the most watched country in Europe and we're about to be made to carry ID cards to prove who we are, we can't afford to buy houses, those of us who own houses can't afford to pay mortgages, innercity gun and knife murders are rising, NHS lists aren't getting any shorter, Schools aren't getting any better and if you believe the right wing press (i dont by the way, plus everyone has the right to find a better life, let em come) those pesky immigrants are pouring in. It's all shit. And when the tory government arrives within the next year or so, Prime Minister Cameron is gonna change nothing. Except possibly making it worse.
Don't get me wrong I don't want Labour to win another term. I really don't want Cameron to win either, but i only get one vote no matter how many times i ask and as goes for every election ever there's no-one i want to win, just an order in which i want them to lose. So we have the Lib Dems as the great hope. They lost a lot of ground with Charles Kennedy and have been fairly invisible since, but that is where my hope lies. Help me Nick Clegg. You're my only hope. I'm now off to read something about him to complete my disappointment.

There's a story in the news today, fittingly about the Oil shortage and the rising prices and PM Brown talking to the fuel company's to discuss how the government can encourage further drilling and better infrastructure for refineries and distribution. Why is he not saying "look the oils running out, but here's where the tax is going to find alternative ways to power everything." if you're gonna be unpopular, why not try and do something with it

I realise this is slightly disorganised, but my brain is a bit scrambled at the moment.

Will add more soon

I'd just like to open with a disclaimer that i am fairly poorly educated in world events, and fairly often open my mouth without knowing what i'm talking about. Here goes

So the people of Burma are trying to stage a protest against the government. And the military government is currently killing/ imprisoning people indiscriminantly to deter them. Think about that for a minute. The Buddhist monks who seem to be the standard instigators of this kind of thing in the region(you dont see many C of E vicars speaking out about anything here, except for maybe the "deteriation of society") are leading hundreds of thousands of people through the capitol city, and the government are putting them down with guns and firehoses. They massacred 3000 people in 1988, when a similar protest was undertaken, so a similar response is presumably on the cards. In fact the only way to tell whats going on inside the country is from peoples phones and the internet, as foreign journalists are not allowed. The statement of that simple fact is an indicator that the government know they're doing wrong and are hiding it from the outsie world, as well as presumably their own people. And the international reaction is, as usual underwhelming. The UN have so far performed the international politics version of shaken their head and tutted. And there is no-one else to act. The west doesnt care as theres no oil there, China wont step in as it may well give their own people some ideas (not to mention the hypocrisy of China talking out against suppressing anyone elses people; enjoy the Olympics coming up, a hell of a lot of people were killed, injured or made homeless for "The Greatest Show On Earth", and then of course there's Tibet).  It all makes you realise how powerless and small we are. I wish i could help, but apart from pledging more cash, i'm suffering a certain amount of ineptitude what to do. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

It does make me appreciate where i am though. I'm fairly free (though not as free as i used to be) i can protest without getting shot (arrested maybe since the law changed, but i'll probably survive the ordeal) I can post blogs against my government and anyone else in the world i think deserves it and i can be a malcontent if i choose to. We have our problems in the UK, and sometimes they get brought to light (REAL problems, not food ingredients scares or "the immigrants") but sometimes you do have to take stock and realise that it's alright here. But still i want more. Gotta do some work. Adios.

 

Ps Dont but the new Foo Fighters Album. The first 3 songs are good. The rest is poop. Stinky poop. Dave Grohl lets me down again, and at a pound a song, that's another £7 he owes me!

So its been a long time since my last blog, and a lots happened. I've moved in with my girlfriend, i finally went out to my parents house in France, we've finally been playing some shows again after practically nothing for the first 6 months of the year, and after 6 years of trying to think of a better name we finally found one that we like a lot. We toured in July including trips to Scotland and Wales, and it must be said though not to many people, we were playing the best i think we ever have. The album pushes on slowly but surely with recording getting pushed back and back and now Mr Js getting married in December, it won't be until next year, but the plans for it are already being made and we seem to agree on what we're doing for the first time. Tracklist at this point runs The Set Back, Humbug, Idiot Machismo, The Greatest Day, Temper Temper (Save yourself), Flat Out, At My Signal, Hang In There Man, Disclaimer Attached, No Means No, Picking Sides. We even have a title we agree on, previous ideas included Life In The Minions, Home Work Ethic, Flat Out to Keep Up and Your Lack Of Destiny and How to Deal With It, but i'll probably save them for song titles instead. My demoes of all those songs have gone out and last night we played 5 of them live, so they're coming together. More songs may yet be written, as i finally managed to write something in the new house after 3 months of playing RX Bandits and Sonic Boom 6 songs instead. It all looks good . We're playing some local shows, and between the time we took off at the start of the year and playing around the country instead it feels like we've lost a lot of ground. That's cool though, new name, new songs, more gigs. Bring it on. Decided that it's time to get in shape and have started doing regular exercise. I forgot how much fun sport can be. Wish i had time for more.
I've seen some amazing bands in the past few months. Watching Arcade Fire in France was a quasi religious experience. The best band i've ever seen live. Passion, Conviction, Musically astounding, instrument swapping. Genius. Better than record if that's possible. especially little musical themes that you dont normally pick out were coming through and the crowd were singing them when the band finished and it was incredible and a little haunting as well. I now cant stop listening to their records. We went to see The Living End a couple of weeks ago and that was astounding, so tight and three astounding musicians, Chris Cheney has got to be a contender for best guitarist in the world seriously. And yesterday i watched a band i have seen about a hundred times called One Day Elliot, and i cannot praise them enough. We've played with them for years and know them well and they've always been one of our favourites on the local scene, but recently every time we see them they keep getting better and better. Yesterday they were phenomenal. For something so familiar to still leave you gobsmacked is incredible, but that's how good they were/are. It's scary 'cos we used to feel on a similar playing field, and it's impossible to judge your own band from the stage, but yesterday ODE became even more of an aspiration/ inspiration to us. Someones gotta pick them up soon.

More wordly blog to follow soon, This one is mainly word vomit, apologies for that. Been listening to Less Than Jake's back catologue today. i love that band.

The rules are: Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird random things, facts, or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose 10 people to be tagged, list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" on their profile and tell them to read your latest blog...

1. I love lists. Laura thinks that all blokes are slightly autistic and that is my manifestation of it. I dont know why, it's comforting.
2. I had a twin but he/she never made it to term. I'm not allowed to talk to about it.
3. I have irrational fear of immobile objects. Toys that move themselves and such. I cant control it, if it has eyes and looks like it could move, then part of me thinks it will move even though i know it wont. My dads fault for traumatising me with an action man with movable eyes when i was a kid.
4. .I was so accident prone as a child that it went beyond my parents getting accusing looks from the casualty staff, through to the point where the nurses new all my details from memory.
5. I nearly died of internal bleeding when i was 17. turned my dads hair grey in 20 minutes. Turns out i've got Crohns Disease like Anastacia and Daryl from Glassjaw/Head Automatica. It's all a bit gross.
6. Though i did get an epidural in hospital which is something they normally give women during birth, it's a pipe in your spine that numbs you from the waist down. Was good, i've still got the scar.

(Laura Takes Over)

7. You want to have a pet polar bear.
8. You constantly play the imaginary drums.
9. You're a cheese addict.
10. You have hobbit feet! 

So theres three big news stories for me this week. Obviously the tragic campus killer in Virginia, the politicians playing with the freedom of information act, and the first lady football commentator.

The thing in Virginia was tragic, obviously absolutely devestating for all and without question the sympathies and thoughts of all go out to them. In the coverage since two things have struck me. Firstly it's got to raise the issue of gun control surely, the press over here seem to be inferring that the issue hasnt really been raised in America and that strikes me as a bit odd. But i'm not gonna get into that, as the 60% of Americans who are anti gun will tell you. Rules written when the wild frontier is still open and you've just thrown off a foreign rule can not apply to a world of a thousand TV channels, the internet and one remaining superpower. Otherwise i'd be off to Chester to shoot welshmen found within the city wall after midnight, and anyone caught moving sheep across London Bridge would be in jail. The law changes with the society, it's imperative. The main thing that has really really irritated me about this is the fact that on the front page of two (allbeit right wing) papers, has been the image from the idiots (you do something that stupid you are an idiot) video next to an image from a film called Oldboy, with a tagline and story suggesting that the film with its graphic depictions of violence were an influence to him. Firstly - rubbish - anyone disturbed enough to do that doesnt need any outside influence for stylistc points. Secondly, and this is more about the papers than anything else, if you're gonna blame a film watch it first. Oldboy has little use of guns in it, in fact (and this is purely semantics) the most graphic scene in the film that i recall involves a hammer. No, the reason the picture was used and the film is being blamed (cause we have to blame someone, and it's definitely not the disturbed human or the guns) is that on the front of these right wing papers the picture of two asian faces holding guns in a similar pose, makes good copy to the fascist soup stirrers who run them. Makes me seeth.

 

A few years ago in Britain an act was introduced called the Feedom of Information act that guaranteed us access to any documents held about us (medical files, reports, criminal records, etc) that did not compromise national security. It also made all government agencies and their internal runnings open to the public so we can check where the taxes go etc. Today a piece of legislation is coming to the House of Commons that gives MPs exemption from that. MPs (the only people outside of the board room who can award themselves pay rises, and generally the most corruptable of the corruptable) are trying to give themselves the chance to hide expenses, dealings, voting records etc, despite everyone else having to comply. Not surprising but still unbelievable, write to your MP (if you know who yours is, they're very good at remaining faceless in between elections) and tell them No! then bang them on the nose with a newspaper. And then watch as they pass it anyway =(

 

Finally the BBC FINALLY has it's first lady football commentator. Hurray! Another bastion of mysoginistic narrow minded blathering comes tumbling. I was listening on the radio and they had two people one of whom was manager Dave Basset saying how the commentary box has always been a male dominated atmosphere and that's how it should be. I was telling my radio that Dave Basset was a relic with an obselete opinion and that he should sit down and be quiet. except i wasnt that polite. Talking with Tage about it and we reckon that as it's been so long as just blokes it will admittedly sound strange to start with but by the end of the first match you'll stop even noticing. Wait for the jokes in the paper tomorrow with the lady commentator talking about the blokes nice legs. Do me a lemon.

That is all for now i feel better. Bring on the weekend.

Oh one final thought.  The day after the horrific loss of 32 people and one idiot in america, over 160 people died in Iraq from bombs and sectarian violence and it continued again the next day and the next. Any photos of the bombers on your TV or newspapers? and What films do you suppose they've been watching?

Take care of yourselves and each other.

This is gonna take a while but i do have a point hang in there. My parents moved to another country a while ago, and possibly the largest effect it has had on my life was the alteration of the relationship with my dad. He was mostly the aloof, ascerbic witted, disapproving  presence during my formative years and even up to a couple of years ago. Now i actually look forward to talking to him, and, make an effort to when he rings (cant call them. too expensive). My older sisters have said the same, that he actually only regarded them as adults and engaged with them as equals when they were out from under his roof. It's a wierd thing. Not that we have much in common except looking exectly the same, but i really do like talking to him. So is there a lesson? don't take it for granted in case it's gone? No not really, i only talk to him every fortnight, and he has no idea what i do or think, but i guess i do miss him on some level. No, here's the real point. Now i see him fairly rarely, we hug when say hello, and we hug when we say goodbye. WE HUG. This is just craziness, but it's natural now, and i don't even think about it. But then i started to, and there are people you hug hello and people you don't and i was trying to think of the distinctions between. Obviously Ladies are excluded from this because frankly they hug anyone, but for blokes it's a weird thing, cos there's variations depending on who the hugee is. There's the back slapping manly hug, where you try and crush each other. Theres the old friend lazy hug, where you shake hands with the right whilst gently and quickly hugging with the right, and there's the proper affectionate hug, saved for the friend you love dearly and genuinely miss. Most blokes know this, we don't talk about it but we know. So this weekend i went for an old friend lazy hug on a friend of mine and he absolutely resisted and it just ended uncomfortably. So i'm now thinking was i wrong to go for it? Do i think better of him then he does of me? Is he just uncomfortable with it (fair enough)? and also what point do you have to be at before the discomfort fades? These things bother me.

Album is going well, we've jammed out a few and reclaimed a few from the brink and added new spangly bits. (Theres hand claps and everything) so here's how it looks so far (in my head)

Flat Out To Keep Up.

Idiot Machismo

Humbug

Temper Temper

No Means No

Reap My Rewenge

Hang In There Man

The Greatest Day

Nobody Likes A Happy Ending.

Tage has got a new toy 8 track so i'm hoping for even more input from him now. And Matts got a new amp that's so loud it hurts. I reckon 4 more tracks on top of the ones up there and we'll be cooking. Also got a very brief song to produce for another project, and an Antfest song to work on. busy Busy. I've noticed that a lot of the lyrics i'm producing a the moment are strongly feminist in tone, or are stories about girls? here's my second question, is it alright for me to write songs about girls that aren't love/lust/break up songs? does it come off as patronising? Does female empowerment sound too odd coming from a bloke? These things worry me.

A paraphrase of George Bush Jnrs opening line to the State Of the Union Address last night. You hope that in her mind Pelosi was up on her chair either mooning him, or pointing at him and his kith/kin dancing madly, screaming "in your face" and then giving them all the finger with her tongue out. In my head anyway. By all reports he seemed very humble during it. The analogy i heard was like a prize fighter going to the ring for the fight that everyone knows he's gonna lose. badly. hehe.

We had our first good snow for a couple of years last night. 2 inches and the country looks beautiful. It's amazing the ills it covers, even the view from the M25 (that i was stuck on for 3 and a half hours) was beautiful. More due tonight too. Think i have scandinavian blood in me somewhere, or am part Innuit. I love the snow and the cold. Don't like the sun, anything over 20C is hot. Remember riding my bike in the snow when i was a kid wearing a jumper and shorts. Was even fatter then though. So 2007's off to a good start. So much good music to come this year. Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, Capdown, One Toy soldier, Letters, Short Warning, Battleska Galactica, Fastlane and on and on. So many. tis very exciting. And us too. still writing. Got a new toy. a 12 track for my bedroom. So much fun. Re did the end to an old song with it. 7 tracks of vocals going against each other. Hours of fun. Should probably get out more.

In the news today the Christian Church is unifying in it's war against progress. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York sent a joint letter asking the Prime Minister for an exemption for the church run adoption agencies so they don't have to place kids with gay/lesbian couples. Cos god forbid kids who are unfortunate enough to end up on their own get put into stable households with parents who love them, and each other. No we must leave the kids in the orphanage and push the parents towards surrogate mothers and sperm donors. The Archbishop of Canterbury is really starting to grate with his homophobic stance. No gay priests/bishops, cos God made us all, he just got 'them' a bit wrong, right? You wanna take an annonomous show of hands as to how many current priests are in the closet? "We've only just let the women in, and that was a token gesture. Are you mad?" (said in a high pitched hoity toity voice). Remind me again why there's only about half a million (and falling) church going Christians in a country of 60 million (and growing) . If you believe in God then that's great, some of the nicest and most upstanding people i've met are Christians and it works for them and you have to respect it, but can you do something about your leaders please? I'd recommend a newspaper on the nose.. "No!.No!"

Just a quicky to say that this jamming lark is wicked. We've got loads of bits and pieces on the go now, it feels like juggling musical balls. Tonight we've been playing this big stomping rock effort with chanty chorus and noisy verse, and it's great. Plus Humbug has words and is solid as. Then there's this slow jam thing that sounds like a Pumpkins end of record chill out piece that makes all feel sleepy, then Matt brings out his Wah, Tage whips off the funk chords and we're playing 70's porn background music/disco. Probably won't be on the record, but good fun none the less. And it all sounds great. Plus thanks to Mr J's technical genius (minus a few technical difficulties) we're recording bits as we go. Tis fantastic.