Studio update first:
We are running ahead of ourselves on the drum tracks. This pretty much never happens to us, so it's uncharted territory from here on in. We only have four or five songs left to track on the drums (although with this extra time we may be going back over some parts) and we have a week left of what we put aside to do it.

Two songs have been taken off the list to be recorded as we're not entirely happy with them. We played one of them at a home-town show recently and that'll be the one-and-only time it ever gets played live like that...we are gonna rip it apart, take the bits we like and start again. It'll be better or we'll scrap it completely. If the three of us aren't happy with it then it doesn't happen.

To say that working with your own studio is cool is the biggest understatement. Example: Saturday afternoon of one of the hottest days of the year. We are in the middle of tracking drums but Kev has some stuff to do so he ducks out for a couple of hours. Me, Dan and Maunder (our friend and superstar recording engineer) head to the park and play frisbee(sp?), grab ice-cream and catch the shade (we couldn't be whiter if we tried.) Couple of hours later we decide we are ready to work again and it's back to tracking drums. Stress levels: low. Fuck yeah.

Completely unrelated update:
As a break from recording (aside from frisbee), went to check out Batman Begins at the cinema. It was soooo cool. I am a full-time geek and a part-time Batman fan but it blew me away from start to finish. Go check it out.

Also been getting hold of a lot of new music recently. Some of it I bought and some are copies of other people's CD's (yeah, stealing music is bad, but i'm addicted to new songs that i have to fall in love with.) The new Foo Fighters album rocks (ok, i'm a massive fan but it's good for everyone), new Starting Line is very cool, new Funeral is good (i think i need to listen to it a bit more to like it as much as the older stuff, new Kneehigh is a little slow for me but 'Alone' more than makes up for it.

Personal Update:
Big changes still on the way. Think I have a handle on it all though. I'm fine as long as I can see something coming. Planning is definitely a strongpoint of mine, it's when things come out of the blue that I get completely screwed over.

My new nick-name is Skillz. Say it out loud 10 times to help you remember.

Oh, and you know what, if you couldn't even look up and smile, then this is the end of it all.

Skillz xxx