Today we recorded a new Transpangaean demo round Al's house - one track, our lastest one: The Armoured Whale. In the same way that this band only seems to rehearse if we have a gig, we were bottle-necked into recording by the upcoming demo submission deadline for Glastonbury. The process was intense, we were arranging as we recorded, possibly inspired by the way Down I Go wrote and recorded their first two albums, and the track is currently a piecemeal affair, waiting to be assembled like some kind of airfix assembly song, constituent sections all prefabricated, in need only of a little glue....

This is the first shot I've managed to get of all four of us, even though Al (Second left) joined the band in July - Lee's face is a little blurry, but I can fix that, although maybe I won't....

Animal-themed Indianesque latin-feel drum'n' bass stylee track in sevens - why I know just the boys...

Wed 23rd January 2008 

Finally, a good day's work - finally managed to get stuff done at the Footprint yard, I'm maybe starting to relocate my motivation to work after the seemingly endless winter adventures...

It's Tim's birthday today, and everyone is out to celebrate, but I, especially after yesterday's lack of dilligent practice, elected to spend tonight alone, in my kitchen, with my laptop and my bass, flitting between sporadic attempts to play like Jaco Pastorius, and tales of the world and the hearts and minds of my friends as brought to me by the world wide web....

Check these guys out - they refuse to just sit there and take it..... 

I know I know- it's very very complicated

No sooner do I expound about the three varying reasons for my sleepness nights than they all visit me one after the other - Saturday night was partying, Sunday night was Vesseling, and now last night was the insomnia, tenacious, dull and confusing, but thankfully, in last night's case - merciful.

Today was more talking to students through hazy eyes and later in the evening chilling with friends and watching films - I like to think of myself as a disciplined and studious musician - but with friends like mine it's hard sometimes to stay at home alone and study...

The highlight of today though was making this hummous with Anita - It seems my error all along was to not roast the garlic first... ever-onward along the learning curve.....

Hummous tips?
 

Today, on very little sleep (this time for reasons of Vesselage rather than partyage or insomniage) I went to Leeds Uni to interrogate students about democracy. Jimmy has thrown a few extra hours work my way in the form of wandering around Leeds University Student's Union finding out what students know about the forthcoming referendum and then fillig them in on whatever they don't. I talked to an awful lot of students today and found that for every one that wanted to see the Union selling cheaper books, improving disabled access, or stepping up attempts to diminish its ecological impact, there were four who wanted to see cheaper drinks available in the SU bars.....

Tonight, after a lovely early evening kip we went to look at a new yard, and fairly agreeable it was too. Of course it had its plus points and minus points, and some fairly substantial discussion no doubt lays ahead, but it was a treat looking round a potential new yard with Rachel and Tom because of the questions they asked that I would never have thought of - such as 'Can you get out onto the roof from here?' and 'Do you think that the landlady will let us demolish that shed? Whatever happens, we now have to be out of the Beamsley yard by July the 1st, so methinks we'll need to snag a new yard fairly soon.....

The picture is not quite the Beamsley yard, but it is a Beamsley yard and you can just about see our chimney on the left hand side if you squint.... 

Yard for hire? Why I happen to know a charming group who would be perfect....
 

 
Sun 20th January 2008

When I begin a blog with things like - 'Today, after only two hours sleep.....' it can be for any one of three reasons: a) the dreaded insomnia, which seems to strike at entirely random intervals and which has not yet plagued me since Christmas, b) because Vessels didn't get back from wherever till six in the morning the day before work, or c) because when we party it up round here it's always such an ace shindig that it's impossible to go to bed. Well this morning was very much due to the latter, and when we met to load the gear at the studio this morning I for one was feeling more than a little bleary eyed. Nonetheless we loaded up and missioned the four hours to Reading filled with good cheer.

The gig was ace, a top Vesselboon, the venue was awesome, the free roast dinner, ginger beer and coffees were awesome, the soundman was awesome, the promoter was awesome, the djs were awesome and the other acts were awesome. Awesome. I think that this was the first time that I've played all three of the different sets I do in twentyfour hours and it seems so unlikely that they would all go so well

Mike kindly took some pictures of us in action with my camera during the set, but I had to use this one, because it was the only shot I got all night that did any justice to the venue's charming neon sign, which for me alongside all of the other awesome points about tonight's gig, was a highlight....

Well its 5am, we've just loaded out in the rain and I have to be at work in five hours. ace 

Message me more time. I'll pay you back

 
Saturday 19th January 2008 

Another Saturday night... My solo set at the brudenell was lovely, although a little rusty and there was a lovely turn out to see Alfonse off on his way. I had to rush off to get to the Chemic, but not before I'd watched the Eureka machines acoustic set including a cover of the Wichita Lineman, which, in the words of Chris Catalyst, is 'the greatest song ever written'. He might be right, and either way, they did Glenn Campbell proud.

Then, onto the Chemic, for the Tash-Toby-Lynne-Issi combo birthday party, to play Transpangaean three piece stylee, as the Sween, bless his cotton socks, was in no fit state to gig - especially not in a pub so crowded that the combined body heat of the assembled throng nearly made me faint upon arrival. The gig was nice, but when we play as a trio there is a lot of pressure on Garside to solo convincingly for the entire set, which he did for nearly an hour, and when we were done they still wanted more. Lee and I did our best to ease the pressure with our respective solos, he with his Animal-esque drum breakdown, and me with my 'I'll just consult the crowd before I play this clearly cheesy slap bass solo' - like some kind of world music cross between 'Pugwall' and 'Bottom'. I managed to snap this cheeky pic during Lee's drum solo, I quite like its blurry charm...

The Party at Xana2 afterwards was ace as well, although possibly ill advised with the impending 10am start. 

  Message me, the beep of my inbox might keep me awake

It's Friday night, most of the people I know are out partying it up, and I've spent the entire night at home alone with just the beautiful girl in the picture for company. I used to teach bass, it paid well and I loved doing it, but somewhere along the line I started to feel like a fraud, because there are so many really cool/hard basslines that I think a good teacher should be able to play that I simply can't - I stopped teaching a few years back for this reason, made a list of about ten key songs and promised myself that I wouldn't teach again till I'd learnt them all - well tonight I sat at home for three hours whilst everyone else was out and nailed the first one - 'Come On Come Over' by Jaco Pastorius, the greatest electric bass player to have ever lived. He plays it at about 110 bpm, I've got it up to 92 so far, but after three hours my wrists have started to hurt again...... I've put the mp3 on the main page, it's an awesome tune, with Jaco on bass and Sam & Dave on vocals, check out the bassline in the chorus bit, that's the tricky part.....

Transpangaean were meant to rehearse today but the Sween has come down with some fairly grim illness, and I don't know whether he's going to be alright for tomorrow night's shindig at the Chemic, we'll just have to see, and the band has come on so much since he joined that I wouldn't like to play without him? Fingers crossed..... 

Send messages of love to the Sween, I'll forward them on and together we can will him better

For the first time in a long time I have had something more prominent than music at the forefront of my thoughts. For days I have been consumed by Giles, and in turn whales, and then in turn other animals, and then in turn the monkeys and the cavemen.  I 've had rehearsals with either Vessels or Transpangaean for the last three nights in a row, but I have pondered and written about distant events and recurring questions....  I can feel the balance returning however, as Giles and his friend have been freed, and the impending Transpanbooner and the music we've been working on  to prepare for it are enveloping my  attention.  Tonight we worked on a song  that we may title 'The Armoured Whale' - it was ridiculously good fun - We're gonna play it on Saturday night in the Chemic in Woodhouse,  come and bunce it up, we will be on sometime between 10 and 11 I suspect....

The picture is of Moglet, who as I didn't meet any other people, was the only apparent redeeming feature of the house that I helped Alice move out of today....... 

My name is Jonas....

Wed 16th January 2008 

I wonder what this squirrel was thinking about when I took this picture. I wonder what a lot of animals are thinking about: What does Sally the dog think about when I talk to her? What's the first thing a monkey thinks of when he wakes up in the morning? What does a cow think about the first time she is ever milked by a machine?

I wonder which is better, hunting and eating a being that is highly intelligent but has thus far lived a free and happy life, or killing and eating a seemingly less intelligent being that has known only captivity? Is the question to be answered using only a model of morality based upon intelligence, sentience, and suffering, or should other factors, such as the potential for the extinction of a particular species and the knock-on effects upon various interlinked ecosystems be considered as well? Perhaps the perceived beauty, both aesthetically and behaviourally, of an animal should be consulted? Is there even a right or wrong answer?  Does it even matter? Should your view of either scenario affect your consideration of the other?

I wonder a lot of things, but one thing I am certain of is that this cheese sandwich is very tasty...... 

As of midnight tonight our time Giles is still in captivity, and another thing I am certain of, is that whether his actions were legal or illegal, right or wrong, the people who presently hold him were again unable to kill any whales today, and now, due to the massive international attention drawn to the situation by his capture, may find it more and more difficult to do so in the future........ 

So many questions, fewer and fewer answers...

  Tues 15th January 2008 

Today will be remembered as the day that Giles and his friend Ben boarded a Japanese whaling ship and were subsequently captured, detained, and then talked about the world over. I've written about it in more detail on the front page but once it's done with I'll take it down again, leaving only this picture of a candle, with the light reflecting on a scale model of the Earth somewhere around the region where tonight, hopefully for one night only, Giles is bobbing along on the ocean on a Vessel full of strangers, held against his will.......

Save the whale savers.....