Buildings have personalities, I’m sure of it.

I went for a walk this lunchtime and looked at the buildings. Some were old, some were new, some were ugly, some were pink.

I realised that a building and its surrounding roads, villages, towns, leave traces of people. Not something tangible but a kind of ghost memory of everything that has taken place there.

When I live somewhere, I put objects around. The best of these are objects that have been given to me by others. These objects (unlike the roads and buildings I walk past) have very potent ghost memories and because of this, because of the person they remind me of, become priceless artefacts. And when these objects are placed around the house I live in, that house suddenly becomes home.

I Want You Bad

Faith

Under Pressure

Industry. I’m just going to look that up:

technically productive enterprises in a particular field

Not very emotional, that definition. But I’m emotional right now. Because when you sit at a desk or a counter all day and tick like a clock or go ‘ooo ooo’ like a monkey, you hope that someone likes the monkey impression or nods their head to the ticking. You hope all that effort leads to something worthwhile. You hope your life isn’t meaningless. Someone does appreciate it, but industry just motors on impassively and says how grateful it is for what you’ve done and then kicks you as you walk out the door. Power-dressed-women and big-smoke-hardened men who honestly care about getting the company back on track (and get paid handsomely for the chance, I’m very sure) and then just shit on whoever they want to and give someone who’s given a decade or two to a company a sentence in an email to say how much they appreciate his service, backing it all up with ‘I’m tough, I make no apologies about that’. Sleep soundly, won’t you?

I was not in a good place tonight for playing at Camden as you can possibly imagine by that previous rant. As it turned out, it was a good night. Did Under Pressure for Tim and Charlotte, had a little chat with Lucy and Andy who were unbelievably sweet and self-titled themselves ‘Team Graeme’ – thanks guys. Swapped compliments with Zoe by hand signals!

And I realised how much I will miss it there if I don’t get to play for a while. When I go there on a Monday night, everyone working there, everyone joining in, everyone watching just shares something wonderful that resonates round the room. It’s so special. It’s everything that industry can’t be.

I have lots of change coming up. The website is changing (slowly).

The amount of time I can spend on music is changing (for the better).

The night is changing (into morning) and I have to go to bed.

I’ll keep you posted though.

Just Like Heaven

Here, There & Everywhere

One thing that we commented on several times during our recording stint the other week, was how the possibilities just go on and on. You add one note, one voice singing a word, one pluck of a string and you can then go a million ways with it. I felt those possibilities as we composed together and it was really exciting. But they also become fewer as you add more to the song. I Want You Bad is a good example. As I added instruments and riffs and voices, I realised it was shaping into something more intricate than this:

I Want You Bad

but each time I added something, I was having to get more specific with it in order to make it fit. And I love that! I love the honing of something you’ve created into something that ultimately will be more refined if you’ve done it right.

Cheers

x