November 2000

Stardate November 13th in the year of Our Lord 2000

We did what amounts to a secret gig the other night. It wasn't our fault – nobody confirmed it because there was a huge breakdown in communication (so I suppose it was our fault really but I'm not fucking admitting it). I found out about it on Saturday morning whilst casually leafing through the local what's on guide – Wreckless Eric's Southern Domestic @ the Lift, Queens Road, Brighton, Thursday Nov. 9th. But I didn't take it seriously because it was obviously a miss-print. Then a friend rang and said they were coming, then I read it in the Guardian Guide, then in the local paper, and then I panicked and called a rehearsal.

Trouble was Ina was in Germany at the Cologne Art Fair and I'd arranged a recording session with Andre Barreau and David Catlin Birch. That involved driving through a lot of rain on Sunday night. But it was worth it – David put a bass on a number I've had in storage for some time entitled "8 track mosque". He's made all the difference to it and all I've got to do now is mix it and put it out. I'll start tomorrow….

The gig at The Lift was awful. The lights had fused the night before so we looked really depressing under a couple of UV tubes. The sound just wouldn't come together and we couldn't seem to get into it. The fact that we haven't played together since the Elastica gig last July might have something to do with it. Sometimes I just haven't got the confidence. People told me afterwards that they liked it though so maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought.