The Moan Drone

I just watched the immensely disturbing yet uplifting movie that is Donnie Darko once again. Frank and the bunny mask, the time tripping and Grandma Death. That Tears for Fears cover is also quite brilliantly executed by Gary Jules and so much better than the real thing. There wasn’t much else I could do. I did have plans to spend the day recording and capitalising on some free time what with Chris being away in an Ashram getting silenced and subverted by wiry Krishna types in the middle of the Welsh nowhere zone. Instead I’ve endured a day of technical tragedy. The apparent disc drive destruction on the digital 8 track [it’s a Boss BR-8 if anyone has one I could borrow do get in touch] resulted in me spending the afternoon getting all kinds of advice in shops and online to try and sort the problem but it’s still knackered. On top of this my CUBASE keeps crashing so I can’t use that either. It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t about to redo vocals for tracks that I’d planned to dump onto my mates Mac next week in the endless pursuit of the beautiful b side. I’m starting to think there are forces at work affecting these things what with the recent studio disasters, don’t think I’ve ever had such technical troubles so bad. Sorry to whinge on so, lets move on. On Wednesday last I did the coffee bar acoustic gigs at Mangeto in the company of lunch-time legal eagles and press boffins. Decent ordinary people also turned up. The sound was strictly au natural which was great during the first set in a half empty bar but soon it was packed and all those bodies absorbed so much of the sound it was impossible to hear the quieter stuff so I ended up over playing to compensate. Still I hacked away and had a good time even though the journalists covering the Liverpool Festival of Food [my original reason for being there] were nowhere to be seen. Still I enjoyed it and I think it went down OK. Juliet the proprietor was most charming and considerate and I might just repeat the experience towards Christmas in some of the other branches. There is something quite challenging about playing in places not typically set up for the job. I was put in mind of some gigs I did a couple years ago in the Uglyman days for the Borders Bookshops chain which were some of the most easy-going and enjoyable gigs I’ve ever done. Good news is that we have a new keyboard player, his name is Ben Knott and he looks like Jesus on Drugs [only messing Ben!!] which is a good thing. Rehearsals are stepping up a gear, relevant inspiration factors boosted, the tour just around the corner, and while I think about it, The Magnetic Fields play Manchester tomorrow night; I just hope there are some tickets left, VPx