S'nowt going on

Hey there compadres! Welcome to autumn with PigDaze and it's same dog less hair I guess. Everything feels like suspended animation with a distinct lack of progress on pretty much everything we want to be getting on with. Having a bit of extra time to plan and write is constantly flipped by the frustration of the inability to create something tangible. But ... is that a ray of light I spy? Yep, a gig, a real live Sunday afternoon, outdoors in a tent in a beer garden gig. Of course, we're at the mercy of the variables thrown at us by a combination of the plague and the questionable wisdom of the clowns pulling the strings so I'm not letting myself take it for granted but if we get lucky it'll be just brilliant to see a few of you at the Plume of Feathers at Castlemorton in a couple of weekends time. My crooked old digits are firmly crossed! At least it's given us a reason to get together in a room and freshen up the muscle memory - we were surprised how awful we weren't.

In the meantime I've been spending car journeys avoiding black dog-inducing news on the radio and listening to a bunch of interviews with songwriters. Loads of faves from Andy Partridge, Chris Difford and Billy Bragg to Jeff Lynn and Nile Rogers. At times it's mind-blowing hearing where these giants get their ideas from and how they work. It's tempting to think 'why the Hell do I bother', but it keeps coming back to the simple fact that most of the best songs ever are based on a simple chord progression and a catchy melody. If only I could do that we'd be laughing eh? Well bollocks to it - I like a challenge and who wants to sell millions of records anyway? There's inspiration to be had from knowing that great songs can come from an endless range of sources and if we're the only people that appreciate our efforts we can always say we tried!

I love our band.