Today was a big day for the football fans because Newcastle were playing Liverpool, yikes, what a beginning and what an ending, but that’s all I’ll say because as I mentioned the other day, football for some is like talking to me about horse racing, so moving on. It seems I didn’t get out of the house again today, I didn’t even make that lovely trip to the recycling that is so close that I can see it from the front window. But somehow just getting there and back, feeling the concrete under my shoes, crossing the road, dodging the traffic, walking past the ladies of the day and of the night, saying hello to Joaquim and Luís from the café opposite – just makes me feel like a part of my soul has accomplished something, escaping the inside, being in the world, even though the world in here is far more interesting than that three minutes outside and back again.

Boba Fett returned after dinner and then I was in mix mode and listening to songs that need tweaks before discussing them with Andreas in Sweden. I have three projects in mix mode that need my attention and two projects in recording mode that need my attention, and I still haven’t got to Matt’s demo (getting there, Matt). I’m hoping that between seshes and the dentist next week I will get to all this whilst still trying to go out, even if it’s just to the recycling (haha). There are far too many screens in front of my eyes, instead of guitars and pens and paper.

We’re trying to find out about Ariel and how we can get the camshaft bought and installed, but it’s that long weekend in England, the August bank holiday when there are millions of cars sitting in queues trying to get to ‘escape locations’ where there are also millions of people – who are sitting in queues. It seems to me that staying home would mean that your town would be emptied and different from usual and therefore a nice place to be, rather than following a whole lot of people from your town to a place full of people. Those bank holiday beaches are scary, or it’s raining and you have to stay in at your ‘escape’ anyway. Obviously, it’s just about having a change of scenery, but queuing with the hordes, is it really worth it?

My weekend is over now and in the coming week, I will be head down into the projects. I have to try and figure out why my hard drives keep on disconnecting on their own, although that’s not a dealbreaker for what I’m working on, it’s just annoying. Distraction, that’s the main problem, there’s so much going on in the world, tragedy and euphoria and if you are working on the computer, the work and the events are all there in the same machine. Messages coming in, news, questions that can’t wait, bills, announcements, new album releases, TV series, and more renovations. The sessions are okay because they are live with people who are alive, but when the computer is just sound and images, it’s hard to concentrate on just one thing. Next week I have to try.

Music today had been more King Crimson because it’s hard to escape the allure of the seventies’ studio albums, so next is Islands (1971) and welcome Boz Burrell on bass and vocals, who sadly died suddenly of a heart attack in 2006 aged 60. It’s a warning. The album is wonderfully odd.

Music Of The Daze