Blog Two: Fairs and Fallibilities

Real shame we didn't get to play our Strawberry Fair slot for Rebel Arts (sorry Rebels). Sometimes life gets in the way, or in this case bereavement, which is very much the opposite of life, but probably the most inevitable part. Certainly all of us have had experience of it recently, and besides a love of David Bowie it's something that unites us as a band right now. There's a song there I'm sure. I think I can hear Rich sharpening his pencil from here, go Jonesy go!

But it's been great to be back in the studio with intent recently. Recent work has been on some great industrial sounds from Mark (see picture of Tree on our Facebook page), the promise of a song which might have something to do with Brexit from Tony, a song about racism and tribal alienation, and one about the Jet Packs we were promised when we were kids. We generally ping round ideas on Messenger, and something from any one of us will spark a bit of interest and get picked up. As we were working up material for the recent Stray album Rich sent out the lyrics to My Thing Your Thing and it grabbed me immediately, in a part of my anatomy I won't specify here. It was a Wednesday and I was just about to unload the washing machine. The lyrics spoke to me about that vulnerable part of our ego that tenses up and flips out when we are under threat, those parts of us formed way back when, parts we can hide from all but our loved ones, and which don't like to feel the light of day. So much so that we don't really have a word for them. Except aaaarrggghhhh! Which is in any case a really tough rhyme by the way. It took me about 15 minutes to come up with a first attempt, and I sent it to Rich straight away, a very rough recording on Audacity. You can hear the news in the background; I was so intent to get it down before anyone else had a chance that I didn't look for the remote to turn it off. Red Dress and Lost In Sound were combinations of some great sounds and patterns from Mark with Tony finding tunes to suit, words then following. Poor Man's Time was a tune from Mark composed for Dave Hammond's Smelly Flowerpot show on Cambridge 105 with a rant from me about crass consumerism after a trip to the US laid over the top. Recording it Rich came up with a much better tune for the chorus. Good to be working in this way again, bouncing stuff around. More news soon, including a date for the release of a new remix from our first album, entitled Don't Even Blink, with accompanying video. Should be 3rd week of July according to present estimates, so please do watch this space and our Facebook page for updates. Much love to all... Lizard David x