END OF OCTOBER...

Still being dizzied by the whirlpool of stuff going on around the 'Plectronica' event coupled with Cherry Red's requirements for me to do a little something to help promote their re-release of 'Sunburst Finish.'

Spoke last night with my old pal, and one time co-producer, John Leckie who is planning to come up to York the day before the filming of the Cherry Red documentary interview about the making of 'Sunburst Finish'

John and I go back a very long way, right back to the 'Axe Victim' album which John did some engineering on for a couple of the tracks, (way before we teamed up as co-producers for the 'Sunburst Finish' album.')

John and I have one of those almost magical relationships that I treasure so much...No matter how long the gap between our various reconnections, it always feels as if we'd never missed a day's conversation. It's an easy, warm and encouraging vibe.

I've always felt comfortable around John and we're like brothers in arms in many ways. There are very few people in the music business that I feel so much at home with, (my good friend, recording engineer John Spence being another,) and I value their friendship tremendously. It's that mysterious thing of souls being connected by a similar wavelength. I think we're fellow travellers through time...

I've finally managed to make some inroads to the set list for 'Plectronica' though there's still a fair way to go with it...trying to balance the style of different tracks, moods and key signatures takes time. I think this will be a rather 'chilled out' set though, with very few up-tempo numbers. Mostly laid-back, ambient, moody, neo-jazz instrumentals. But hey, it's my birthday gig, possibly my last public performance, so I'm allowed to indulge myself to a certain degree I reckon...

Once the set list is settled, I have to take the various backing track tapes over to Fairview for John (Spence) to master and assemble onto CDs to use on the day.

Next task will be to decide on which guitars work best with each track. I like to take a nice selection of instruments to these concerts, varying them from time to time, but I always have new ones I'd like to feature, plus old favourites to dig out. The choosing of guitars is as important as the choice of tracks.

Because these events are one-offs, only one gig per year, there's a steep re-learning curve every time I decide to do one, a necessary re-acquainting with, not only the material, but with the technology, the various sounds and pedal effects switches and so on. I don't exactly have the simplest set up in the world and it's easy to forget the layout of it all due to working in an entirely different way in the studio all year. Bound to be mistakes and confusions on the day but, what the hell...

Well, I shouldn't be typing this...there are more important things to deal with, but, at this time of night, perhaps the most important thing is to get some rest...