Why does everything go wrong at the same time!

I have been very remiss with my blog. But life has been a bit of a trial of late. Our studio computer finally bit the dust. But not without punishing us first with mind boggling, naughty goblin pranks. (Only computers really know how press the buttons that send you into a state of unflagging bafflement). Our keyboard and 2 headphones died and the back-up drive that contained the makings of our new album plus the last 3 years albums and work in progress, combusted irretrievably and .... guess what ... we never backed ANY of it up! (.... And it contained some of my best ever, to date, vocals :~(( Nick had just (2 days earlier) handed over about 30 musical scores for a National Geographic wild life film, that he was also keeping on said hard drive. He could have lost 6 weeks flat out work, with a crucial deadline, had it given up the ghost 3 days earlier! We have no hot water or heating because our boiler has packed up and our dishwasher has became defunct and the engine is falling out from under our car! La di dah! I still have 3 legs 4 noses ( 28 nose-hairs) and a ridiculously heavy period that no-one would want to know about ... but the word 'menorrhagia' ... is a word I am feeling compelled to type!! Just watched Ken Loach's latest film called Looking For Eric. It was really wonderful and starred the famous footballer Eric Cantona, who was an acting revelation, (none of your Vinnie Jones school of, one-expression fits all, acting). Plus he was utterly gorgeous and I was a bit smitten but don't tell Nick! The lead man was the bassist Steve Evets, from the punk band The Fall and he was just great too. Lovely film ... WATCH IT! Which reminds me ... another must watch film ... THE EDGE OF HEAVEN a German - Turkish film with beautiful sentiment ... just perfect in everyway! ~ OOh I do love a 'good sentiment' me. (For all non-Brits, that last bit was said with a Northern accent!

Late Developers

From our first band together .....

To our band today!

Isn't it funny how some things are just meant to happen later on in life. 20 years ago when Nick and I were young and beautiful we just didn't cut the mustard musically. Oh yeah, we were your typical, obsessive musicians, desperate for a record deal and thinking and talking about nothing else (well almost) But nowadays, with wrinkles and; in Nicks case, a greying thatch and my case, enough padding to keep the troops warm! We have finally reached that musical point whereby we know 'we have what it takes'!! We are finally there. And so we were both chuckling and horrified to see photographs of ourselves on stage a couple of weeks back. We were like ... "aarrggh ...who would want to look at that!!". Yet I feel more than ever that I am at peace with my singer self ... that I have come to roost at this place and the swan is ready to sing to the world. (Even if she does look like an ageing porker rather than a beautiful swan! :~)

In my experience it was never the audience that cared how old a band were, it was always those middle record company execs. Those with no musical sensibilities, who couldn't play a note but made all the so called 'artistic' decisions. Nowdays, all those comfy over paid jobs are being whipped out from beneath their (once) smug little faces. So it will be interesting to see whether the extreme prejudice to age remains so prevalent, as we move forward in the digital arena.

Nick said he read last night, that the middle men were akin to an inverse pyramid with the artist at the point, underneath the weight of all those bureaucratic fools feeding off her/his talent. When head of Pixar, John Lassieter took over Disney, he made redundant anyone who couldn't draw! We need more people of his calibre running creative businesses. Maybe the tide is finally turning with someone as brilliant as Obama having been elected. Here is a link to an animation you JUST HAVE TO watch if you are or have ever been an artist/musician/designer etc ..... Graphic Designer Vs Client

Ratcatcher ~ Film by Lynne Ramsay

I only ever mention films on here that I think are particularly worth watching.

Nick and I watched a film last night that I cannot believe I had never heard about previously.

I can only think that it must have been because it apparently went straight to video, which is baffling, as it is brilliant.

It was made in 1999 by a (then) 29 year old director, called Lynne Ramsay.

Set in the Gorbals (an area on the south bank of the River Clyde) in a 1970's Glasgow; it is about a family living in tenements at the time of the 9 week Dustmen strike. The attention to detail is gob-smacking, the scenes of kids playing in the street could have been real old footage, it is so convincingly realistic. And the use of unfamiliar actors gave added realism. Not that this is what the film is about, as it has beautiful, magical, almost dream-like moments. It is focused around one boy, James, who sees his 10 year old friend drown in the filthy rat infested river, after their playing on the banks of it, gets a wee bit unruly. There are some tenderly enchanting scenes of James's relationship with the local teenage girl of (extremely) easy virtue. I am crap at describing films. All I can say is is is an absolute gem of a film rooted in truth and integrity. It is as complete as Kes and Ladybird Ladybird, only you are left with a warm glow instead of total devastation! You tube little bit of the film.

ILYA USHERETTES

ILYA USHERETTES!

CHOCS ... could we start a religious cult?

Here is a fantastic review just published in a USA based internet magazine called Caught In The Carousel :~)

In ear monitors

This Sunday we have an Ilya gig and I haven't done an Ilya gig in a long while. We are playing in a space that has staircases and viewing balcony's on all sides above the stage area, running up to 4 floors high.

I thought perhaps it was time to dig out those old in-ear monitors from our Virgin days. I remember well the day I was taken by 'a car'; as they always called it ... ("I'll call you a car" ... "How dare you", I would reply) ... to a room where I was counselled on the intricacies of 'in ear monitor' surgery. My decision to go for them was because I had just had a singing lesson (for the first time in my life), with a fabulous woman called Stevie Lang. She was famous for her gutsy rough-huned rock voice that belted out "WHHOOOA BODY FORM", in the 80's advert for panty liners. An advert which my 6 year old friends son, saw only as a woman leaping out of a plane and inflating her parachute as Stevie's voice belted "WHHOOOA BODY FORM". Such a catchy tune and lyric that he (Fabricio), with his very own loud and gravelly voice would sing "WHHOOOA BODY FORM" all over the infants playground. (I am repeating this so that you who remember the ad, will drive yourselves insane by singing it for the next week :~).

(I suppose if one were to get the urge to leap from a plane, one may require more that a mere panty liner? If one know's what I mean?)

Stevie Lang, in her loud, rich, cockney-rock voice, had assured me under no uncertain terms, that In Ear Monitors were "THE DOG'S BOLLOCKS"! I winced .. (unaccustomed as I am to putting such things in my ears) and then asked "Exactly which dog would that be?"

Where was I? .. Ah yes, being counselled in the chic boutique of Ultimatears.

The 'in ear monitor' dentist filled my lug-holes with something hot, the substance swelled up and I was left sitting alone (I thought), in his surgery, as deaf as a post .. ( but I later discovered he had stripped naked behind me and pole danced to Beethoven's 5th). After several hours I felt the presence of my ear dentist behind me and he tugged the warm pink plugs from my ears. He then moved around to the front to show me the foetal shaped casts of my inner sanctums. But to my horror I noticed he hadn't yet put his clothes back on! I shrieked and he hastily attempted to cover his privates with my 2 pink foetuses. Amazingly enough they sufficed to cover the width and girth of his manhood and I left the premises feeling much fitter than I did on any other occasion that I had given birth or been with a naked man.

Tonight in the kitchen I flipped open my dusty black briefcase with the whole monitor set up inside. It all looked very hi-fi and important and I felt a tinge of Mission Impossible' and bent my knees so that I was low enough to feel a bit like Tom Cruise.

The gadgets were all there, they were all initialled JS and I picked them up and fingered them like an assassin that had forgotten how to kill. (At this point I contemplated shaving my head to feel a bit like Bruce Willis; then decided I would rather have the looks and body of Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight).

It should be as simple as a toddlers wooden jigsaw, but it took me several minutes to figure out how to fit these flesh coloured un-born babies, in my ears. When I did finally manage the correct 'twist and slot' action, they slipped in a treat. And I got quite excited with the fact that they were my perfect fit and nobody else could use them. Na na na na na! I will have to see what the sound is like on Sunday as to whether I give them another airing.

This is the kind of email from a fan that really warms up me cockles :~)

Dear Jo

Oh what a divine album.

I did think, ooh-er matron, on first listen to a couple of the tracks, but am now totally captivated. I have sparkly little glimpses of the songs echoing through my head at different times of day, it is exquisite and moving, thank you for the beauty and inspiration, and more thanks for just pushing those boundaries a little (yours and mine).

Oh just whizzed through you blog too. You are definintely mad, but it is entertaining and a joy to read - still laughing at "uninvited gusset".....

Oh and please, one last thing - are there lyrics available? I suspect there is free-form lyrical content in the songs, and am intrigued by which languages are used; there seems to be hints of Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese although I could be wrong. If there are no formal lyrics, then I shall just continue to enjoy with the vocals as pure, beautiful sound.

kinda regards

Nick Fuller