Lewes Road Inn Gig
Played the Lewes Road Inn last Saturday. Great gig. Really nice to play again after an eighteen month break. It was great to have Rod up on stage playing with us as our new bass guitarist. He says he hasn’t played live for years. It didn’t show, as he did a really good job. He’s had the hard part, which is learning a whole load of knew songs and fitting with an already established line up. I thought he smashed it. It was also lovely to playin front of a friendly home crowd and the Lewes Road Inn always puts on a good show. Jack and the rest of the team made it easy and welcoming. I enjoyed seeing a…
The New Album
I think we’ve finished it. Went back into the studio to tweak a few bits on the songs and we are all really pleased. We’re going to call the album Moves Like Lovers, which is also the name of one of the tracks on the album. Here is the track listing, and it will probably be in this order. 1 Georgie Best 2 Monday Morning 3 Running From My Hometown 4 Moves Like Lovers 5 You’ve Got Something 6 She Rocks Uh Huh 7 Falling 8 Lockdown 9 Taking The Knee 10 Tax Paying Blues 11 She’s a Riot Not quite ready to launch it yet, as I think we should launch a couple of singles first. We’ve also got to…
Goodbye Mikey, Hello Rod
It’s been a funny year for Brighton Strangler. Mikey died nearly a year and a half ago, which sort of knocked us all sideways a bit. We are always going to miss his enthusiasm, fun, and just a brilliant bloke to be around. He wasn’t just our bass player, but for all of us a good mate. Shame we didn’t manage to get the second album out while he was around, he would have loved it. Mikey put a lot of hard work into the album, and I’m pleased to say we have been in the studio, and I reckon it will be launched by about the end of the year. We’re doing it for him. It’s a big hello…
Nineteen The Covid Diaries – More of the Same
Every day, reading, writing, a walk, a meal, telly. That’s it, not being able to tell if it’s Sunday or Wednesday, taking things very slowly and looking forward to the small things. Meal times have become an occasion, the very focus of our lives. I have to remember to savour every mouthful, not for the flavour, but for the time taken to chew, to taste, to swallow. I think of prison inmates with little variation to pass the time, how they must recalibrate themselves to a whole new setting, that is governed by meal times, exercise, games room, reading, films and lights out. How to stretch each activity and shorten each minute. On our daily walk we have met a…
Nineteen The Covid Diaries – Street Etiquette
My daily exercise involves a walk with the family for about an hour, maybe 80 minutes. We trundle the streets, taking photographs of Joseph beside road signs. There aren’t that many people out and even less in the locations we end up. The people that we see are wary, a keep a safe distance type of wary. Each time that I pass someone, we both ensure that we hug the furthest edges of our space, without actually crossing the road, and also without seeming that we are doing so. This is because we both assume that the other person is infected, which they might be. However, the fact they they think that I am infected is quite frankly preposterous. I…
Covid Times
I’m doing what we’re all doing, sitting at home whiling away the time. I’ve been a bit creative, not as much as I should, but a bit nonetheless. Nick sent me some lyrics to do with his take on the epidemic. So I wrote a chorus, and chucked it all into a tune. It’s called The Spoils, it’s our first song written in these Covid times and it might be a runner. I’ve sent my ideas back to Nick to see what he thinks. Other than that, we had Let’s Party played on Radio Reverb, and a blogger called Barbara Fava fmx has put Nice Guys into a playlist. She’s got over 21,000 listeners on Instagram, so let’s hope some…
Nineteen The Covid Diaries – Joe Wick
Today I did the 30 minute Joe Wick workout. Yes I know, I succumbed. Well it was either that or running up and down the stairs, which is so uninspiring. Besides I’m starting to feel lardy, sort of inert, the living embodiment of a suet pudding. So I needed to do something and everyone else is doing Joe Wick. Now 30 minutes doesn’t sound too bad, especially as there’s a reasonable break between each routine. First came the warm up , stretching, bending, gently pushing your body to the edges of its flexibility. The problem with this is that firstly I realise just how decrepit and inflexible I’ve become and secondly after the warm up I was already breathing heavily.…
Nineteen The Covid Diaries – Get it Early and Get it Over
So Mr Johnson has Covid 19 as has Matt Hancock and goodness knows who else in parliament. One wonders if his boast of “I’m still shaking hands was a good idea?” It will not be for all those whose hands he shook, especially if they get very ill or die. His attitude seems to be one of get it early and get it over. Fine providing you don’t die, but for many this feels reckless, that inviting the virus is inviting more deaths, both in the short run and the long run. Certainly there will be an early spike, then the benefits of hoped for herd immunity. But testing, social distancing, isolation, these things work, China and South Korea show…
Nineteen the Covid Diaries – Ripples
They lap against the beach, gently whispering, caressing, at first just the one, a blackbird’s call in the mist a beautiful unexpected chorus from somewhere unseen. It was the first call of the day, a wake up siren, it was also the first call for Polly and Carmen, their shift to save as many as possible, from the unseen fingers that probed at the eyes and clawed the lungs of the vulnerable. The gentle lapping was a warm welcome, a sign that they were noticed, first they saw her standing alone at the edge of the road, hands clapping together, eyes bright, cheek muscles flexed, mouth corners raised. A gentle ripple, that welcomed ushered them onward ever so softly. Then…
Nineteen The Covid Diaries – Construction Workers
They seem to be out and about, apparently they are crowded onto tube trains in London, are they essential, shouldn’t they be at home like the rest of us? And if they are out maintain the recommended distance. My uncle says that we should compare the droplets in the air of Covid 19 as more like mist than smoke. Imagine the fine mist from a water sprayer and that it could carry on the breeze. This makes a lot more sense. I queued today at a supermarket and managed to get 9 loo rolls, pertinent because one of the souvenir shops on North Street was profiteering by selling a packs of 9 loo rolls for 7 pounds. Isn’t there something…