It's been a while since I've posted owt, so I might as well do a little update on what I've been up to.

Firstly, after months of procrastination, I've had my main PC fixed (cheers Matty!) and am now currently setting up my new Linux system. As always with these things, there's a lot of tedious and time-consuming stuff to do in terms of installing VST plug-ins and whatnot, but it is underway.

Secondly, I've been to a few gigs recently. I went to see The Prodigy in Newcastle again - not sure if it's the fourth or fifth time I've seen them. They were cool as always, though I did notice that the songs seemed to be getting shorter and the gaps between them getting longer. Honestly, I think they're getting too old for it and should probably knock it on the head. Sad, as they're literally the band that made me want to write music in the first place, but I mean, Maxim has got to be pushing 60 now. I know UK Subs are still touring and Charlie Harper is now in his 80s, but they're not a rave act: punk singers can getting away with standing in one spot. I don't really want to see The Prodigy seizing up with old age like this. I'm hoping one more album (mainly to wash away the last one which sucked) and then retire. Anyway, I enjoyed them. Shame about the ticketing fiasco though: the AXS ticketing app is a fucking joke that works fine right up until the point you actually need it to display the tickets to get in the venue, and then the bastard just refuses to load. I've seen loads of people making the same complaint about it. I'll be avoiding them for tickets in future if possible.

The other gig I've been at recently was the two day Wearfest 26 - a mini DIY punk festival in Sunderland. Day 1 was 5 bands on at Diego's Joint: Sweeping Statement, a bunch of bairns from York with a drummer who plays like Animal from The Muppets - good fun; Barnsley's Toronto Blessings, who I've seen several times and always enjoy (remembered not to buy a CD this time cos I've drunkenly bought the same albums from them at least twice); the ever reliable Onlooker from Teesside, who were great as always; Ritual Error, from London, were another who were new to me: reminded me a little of Jimmy Floyd Hasselband though not as good in my opinion, and finally Incisions from Manchester, who had me bopping all ower the place again. Day 2 was 3 bands at Museum Vaults: opening with Ducter, a bunch of young lads from Stockton-on-Tees (from what I can gather there are at least two other bands with that name, so I expect them to change it at some point) who were new to me and who I enjoyed: they reminded me a little of Minutemen at times; they were followed by Millions Of Bees, another new band, this time from Bishop Auckland, playing what was apparently their 2nd ever gig: they are sounding promising and very loud (my right ear was ringing all the next day, despite wearing earplugs all thoughout the shows); the headliner were Sunderland's own House Proud, who took a few songs to really get going but where great when they got up to speed; the bassist somehow managed to snap his bottom E string and had to borrow a comically long bass from, I think, Millions Of Bees, and this meant the singer had to move his mic-stand almost behind one of the speakers to avoid getting accidentally twatted in the face with the headstock. All good if deafening fun.

Anyway, finally, I seem to have started yet another EP. For this one, my aim is to try and write actual pop music, as that's not something I've ever tried before. Obviously it's not going to work cos I'm a shite vocalist and vocals are kind of crucial in pop, but whatever. I've more or less finished one track so far - a kind of dance-pop house thing with me singing on it called "We Are One". I have another started and while I have a rough idea of what the lyrics will be about, I have still yet to write them. The instrumental is more chill hip-hop in style, but it's still just a short loop at the moment. I don't write a lot of lyrics so doing a vocal-led EP will be a bit of a challenge, and I have no idea how long it will take to complete. Maybe by late summer? We'll see.