G'day Good People,

So...a Mexicana, a Jamaican, an Englishwoman, an American, an Irishman and five Australian musicians walk into a bar... sounds like a joke but this is exactly what happened last week when we were 'busy' making our new record in Sydney. And after the splendid hospitality of our new best friends at The Rose in Chippendale, nobody walked out, we crawled. This is nothing to be proud of but definitely a night of note. The only recommendation I have is that if you make your way into the Rose, and George offers you one of his 'hot nuts', don't be tempted to taste them.

I am now on a plane high above the Central Coast, making my way home to sunny Queensland after we put the finishing touches on our new record at 301 in Sydney over the last few weeks. We spent much of the time cheering on Nick DiDia as he put together what I think are the best mixes that we have had so far in our career. We also spent a large amount of the time helping Cogs through his hallucinations that his 'ideas' were the ones that made it on to the record. It really is amazing what vodka, slipped into early morning herbal tea can do can do to facilitate the 'belief' process. If you see him, just smile and wave, so to speak.

To be honest, I am still sporting a hangover after a few of us headed out on Saturday night to celebrate my 40th birthday. That's right. It's hard to believe isn't it? That someone so chiselled, so vibrant, so well... handsome, could have aged so gracefully. I put it down to my Irish ancesters and the beauty secrets I picked up from Leo Sayer at the ACMF Ball in Sydney last week. As far as presents go, I was pretty impressed. Amongst other things... books, a balloon ride, both full sets of original Kiss cards from my oldest friend Foggers (he was living with me at the time when my girlfriend used part of my set to steady an uneven fridge!!!!!), some monkey cuff links and probably the most useful present of all from the Middleton family... a MIRROR. Darius has always been my favourite and will now remain so for a long, long time. As most of you know it will come in for some serious use. And thanks to you all for the wonderful messages of support, congratulation, applause and encouragement that you left on the forum. I feel so blessed to have such genuine, sincere, affectionate and unsarcastic goodwill directed my way.

So, it looks like our new album is pretty much ready to roll. There are a few final mix and mastering type things to take care of, but overall we know what is going to be on there, in what order and what it sounds like. To me, it feels like we have made the record we have been trying to for quite a while. It feels like our most fully realised album since ON5 and I don't remember as much satisfaction amongst the band at the conclusion of an album making process. So now starts the process of working out how to present these songs live. It should be fairly simple as most of them were recorded as live tracks anyway. But it might take us a while to find a Q Chord player who has not only the right chops, but also the right hair and dance moves. Auditions could last for weeks!!

Until then folks, hang in there...we'll see you soon.

Love
BF