I’m back in the studio tomorrow. Can’t wait to get in and start work on track 4 of my album. We’re three tracks down and the sound is already starting to come out. It’s obviously making it easier when we know what direction we’re going in. It’s different, I’ll let on that much.
The lads at Studio 5a have been great. Claydon worked with me on ‘It Gets Worse At Night’ so knows what I’m all about. And Guy has been awesome and brought forward some wicked ideas and a new approach.
There are some parts of this record that will remind you of early 90s grunge, parts that sound very poppy and other bits that resemble the XX. It’s definitely going to be different. I sincerely hope you’ll like it.
As soon as I’m done with the record, I’ll be straight back on the road across the UK and Europe. I’ll keep you up to date on all progress and hopefully get a few rough clips of the tunes on here as we go.
This weeks G and Tippers theme is ‘Practical jokes’. We’ve all done one and we’ve all been on the receiving end of them. What we want, is the best of the best.
I’m back in the studio again in the morning. I can’t wait to crack on with the recording of my second album. It feels like a billion years since ‘It Gets Worse At Night’ was recorded in London.
This new record is already one track down as me and the lads at Studio 5b laid Adrienne down a few weeks ago. That sounded rude.
I’ll get updates and song clips up as soon as I can.
I’m playing a FREE family festival this Saturday (20th) in Oxfordshire. When I say free family, I mean it’s free entry and child friendly. I don’t mean you can turn up and leave with a wife and two kids for free. That simply wouldn’t work.
The Festival is called Swan Fest and is at The Swan in Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, Oxon.
I’m on stage fro 2:15 until 3pm. Should be a craic with loads of good bands playing. And it’s all free. That helps.
If you’re about, come on down.
I’ll be playing loads of new material as I’m back in the studio on Tuesday. Exciting!
This Saturday I swam the Solent from mainland England to the Isle of Wight. I don’t normally blow my own trumpet, due to both my character and my ribs. But I am uber happy with myself for achieving this. I might go so far as to say that I’m even a little smug.
Swimming the Solent for Lewis Mighty
The point of the swim was to raise money for a special little boy called Lewis Mighty. Lewis needs treatment for a form of cancer called Neuroblastoma. It is a type of cancer that attacks under 5’s mainly. Hopefully the money raised from this swim will go some way to help Lewis get the treatment he so desperately needs.
I left Hurst Castle on the mainland at 9am and landed back on the Island an hour and twenty minutes later. The distance was meant to be a mile and a half, roughly 90 lengths of a regular twenty metre pool. Unfortunately a 4 knot tide had other ideas.
I ended up being dragged further and further from my landing destination and ended up swimming over 5000 metres in that time.
Swimming the Solent for Lewis Mighty
I was meant to be landing at Fort Albert, then that was impossible so Fort Victoria was the target. The tide once again had other ideas and I ended up being dragged way past Yarmouth and landed nearer to Shalfleet. 3 miles down the coast. It wasn’t ideal as people were waiting at Fort Victoria and I could have done with the support.
But to be honest, if I’d failed I would have to had walked down my main High Street butt naked that night. That was added incentive to get me across the line and on to Island soil.
Swimming the Solent for Lewis Mighty
I owe a massive debt of gratitude to Andy and Mandy Toms who supplied the support boat and made the whole thing possible. Also a big thanks to Tom Fastnedge for letting me use his wetsuit. Without it, I would have frozen to death.
Swimming the Solent for Lewis Mighty
But most of all, a massive thank you to all those that have donated and continue to donate. We’re looking on course to raise £2000 for Lewis which is a major achievement.
Have I just woken up and stepped out into a scene from Terminator II?
What the real meaning behind these riots is unknown. After all, the Police killing a man is hardly anything new. I don’t recall this kind of unrest after the MET brutally murdered an innocent man named Jean Charles de Menezes.
This goes a hell of a lot deeper than that and while I’m pretty sure there are underground cells at work orchestrating this, it’s still the general public that are carrying out the orders.
I really do understand the anger that is so deeply rooted in the more deprived areas of the Capital and Britain as a whole. Your Government sold you out and couldn’t give a flying fuck about any of you. I would be more shocked if you weren’t filled with rage.
But if the school bully steals your lunch, what do you do? Surely then stealing the kids next to you just makes you as bad as the bully doesn’t it? Well that’s exactly what you are doing by rioting and smashing up peoples lives on the streets of London.
You’re not angry with the guy that owns the local corner shop are you? So why the fuck are you burning it down?
After 9/11 and 7/7 the Government took away most of your basic freedoms. And we all know they want the rest as well. They want you like the farm yard cattle they see you as. Meat that is useless to them unless it’s obedient and pays it’s taxes on time.
Don’t you see that by rioting you are doing exactly what they want you to do? Now they have the excuse they want to get troops on the streets and take away what freedom you have (or think you have) left. In fact, even the general population are CALLING for troops to come in and stop the riots.
So when we should have been united against a common enemy, we’re instead, disjointed and opposed.
There is one simple way to fight the Government that has cast you overboard. And that is by NOT FIGHTING. A simple statement of non-compliance is what we, the people, need.
Simply say “NO” to your Government. Say “NO” to The Sun and other media outlets that feed us the bullshit we’re fed every day. And forget smashing the windows of Tescos. Simply stop shopping there and those windows will soon be boarded up. And who knows, it may even be replaced by a local green grocers in the end.
The time is almost here for me to swim the Solent. This Saturday at 10 am I will be setting off from Hurst Castle to take on 1.5 miles of 9 knot rip tides to make it back to my Island.
The reason I am doing this is for a very special chap named Lewis Mighty. He needs help to get treatment for a form of cancer called Neuroblastoma. This form of cancer mainly attacks under 5s such as Lewis. Please check outwww.lewismightyfund.org.uk for more information.
We’re trying our hardest to raise as much money as possible and any donation you can make will be greatly received. Simply click here to donate.
In light of this massive challenge, this Thursdays G and Tippers Show theme will be challenges & dreams. We want to hear about your biggest life challenges. Whether it be getting out of bed on a Sunday or climbing Ben Nevis. What do you find a challenge?
Also, we want to hear about your dreams. We want the weirdest, scariest and most sexually deviant thoughts that pass through your brain while you’re sleeping.
Tonight’s G and Tippers Show theme is ‘things that make you happy’. Whether it be a nice cold pint of beer, or a fat bloke falling over. Either way, we want your thoughts.
