It was called the South Norwood Arts Festival. It was shortened to SNAF. It should then have been lengthened to SNAFU...! As you may have seen on the news page, one or two technical issues had to be overcome for the gig on Sunday, but I think we all really enjoyed it. The will-he-won't-he make it suspense of Chris Mayes' arrival, the why-won't-it terror of Bean's amp giving up the ghost, the what-on-earth when Mayes tapped on his RAT pedal to unleash a torrent of WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, the well-that's-typical of one of my sticks cleaving in twain during Lolita, the what-am-I-playing of James, unable to hear his bass...at all!

Well, whatever. None of it mattered really; people tapped and clapped along, we had a ball, and Bean got his photo with the local MP. Did he pull off the "shocker"? We'll post the photo when it's published... We also have some video footage, although quality control may be required - on first listen it sounded like everything was sung club-style and, in fact, we were unable to even identify the songs! If it's good we'll pop it on You Tube, if it's bad we won't, but if it's so bad that it's funny we might.

Thanks to everyone for coming and supporting a top local initiative, and well done to Jason and all at People for Portland Road for organising the whole shebang. Oh, and an extra special well done to the guys on sound. They managed to get a quart out of a pint pot.

Capt.

At the risk of dispelling a myth, I have a day job. In fact, we all do. Of course, in an ideal world we would all be able to devote all our time to the wonderful pursuit of writing, playing and recording music. However, because we all have selfish little habits like wanting to be able to buy food, that's not the reality.

When people, especially people I work with, find out that I'm in a band, almost without fail they ask "So are you trying to get signed then?" to which my response is always the same.

No.

Here's a fuller answer. There are a number of reasons for this. I have been in other bands before (although I don't like talking about it here; it's a bit like discussing your exes with your current partner) and, generally, if anyone in the band thinks it's going to be the Next Big Thing they tend to be rather disappointed when it doesn't happen. Then they start trying to figure out why (ignoring the obvious reason that the bands that do make it are pretty much a statistical anomaly). In the absence of any reasonable thought, they start to blame themselves or, more likely, their band-mates. Then the recriminations start, then the arguments, and a once brother-like group of people go their separate ways, rarely speaking again.

As such, when I was asked to move in to Ether City, I needed to be clear that we would be doing this for fun, and that nobody thought that the big-money record contract was just around the corner. Happily, that is the case and happily, that's one of the basic reasons that the band line-up has remained the same for so long. That and the fact that, at the risk of sounding twee, we all like each other.

In any case, the big-money record contract is never around the corner, for the same reason that the pot of gold is never at the rainbow's end. If bands that get signed are an anomaly, bands that aren't then ripped off by their record company are so freakishly rare as to almost be the stuff of myth.

Record companies exist to make money. They are businesses, they have shareholders, we live in a capitalist world. Like it or not, that's a fact. However, the music buying public are both fickle and predictable at the same time, God bless you. You know what you like and what you don't. You will buy what you like. You like Band A and buy their stuff. Say there's another band (Band B) that sounds just like Band A. In the ideal business model, the band would be signed up and make lots of money for the record company. However, half of Band A's fans might buy it, while the other half say "Band B are just imitation Band A, I'm not buying their stuff." Which is entirely reasonable. However, the record company require insurance against this in case nobody buys Band B's stuff. This is where advances and so on and so forth come in to play. The record company merely lends the band the money to make, market and sell the music. The record company then recoup the money from the sale of the records. They have clever accountants and lawyers, and so are able to recoup more than they spent before they even consider actually paying the band anything.

Even huge bands fall foul of this. When Mark Owen left Take That and released a solo album, he was delighted to hear that he had paid off the recording expenses. He was less so when told that he had only done so from his share of the money Take That made - and they were MASSIVE at the time. When someone who was probably in the top 5% of selling acts at the time can't make money, what hope is there for the small acts?

(I could go into the piracy arguments now - inasmuch as "are the artists really losing out when people download their material illegally, if they're not making any money anyway?" but that's a different matter.)

SO, the band are completely independent and happy to remain so. This means we have to bear the costs for everything to do with the band, but our music is ALWAYS free to those who want to download it. We do have a PayPal begging bowl if you want to pay any amount for the music, and this money goes in to a bank account from which we do not (cannot, in fact) draw a salary. It's purely to pay for the upkeep of the band, equipment, batteries, and whatnot.

All that said, if anyone from Calvin Klein wants to offer one of us a lucrative contract for modelling their pants, I can recommend Bean.

Much Love,

Captain

As you will have seen elsewhere, we have new songs out today. A nice mix, I hope you'll agree.

I had a dream that I bought a new drumkit last night. Don't know where I got the money from...!

Happy St David's Day to all of our Welsh fans!

I've just returned from Eurodisney. If you've never been, it's quite something. If you have been, it's still quite something, but you'd know that already. If you haven't been but somebody has already told you it's quite something...but you get the idea.

You get used to something, and then they go and change it!

Actually I really like the new look of the city. One day we should record how it grew from a tiny Hamlet, so that when it becomes a bustling Metropolis, we can have a museum of some kind.

Ireland beat France, we played a gig, we got drunk. Textbook.

As I think James has mentioned, we have a private gig over in Twickers on Saturday. Seems appropriate given the fact that the Six Nations will be kicking off just down the road! Rehearsed for it last night. Boy, we're getting tight. Really pleased with everyone's progress on, well, everything.

Ahoy all. Did some recording on Wednesday night, so hopefully you'll hear the fruits shortly. Decided to experiment with the way we recorded the drums to allow for more freedom when mixing. Usually the recording software receives one stereo track from my drum kit - the stereo mix and levels of the individual drums all having been set on the brain of the kit.

So I notice on the "Spy In The City" page that, once again, Bean and I have been snapped in the pub. Why always the pub? Why not at one of the many art galleries, ballets or morris dancing festivals we attend? The mind boggles...