Last night, after making an actually not too bad pasta sauce for one (certainly better than my previous attempt at a nice home-made tomato sauce, which ended up tasting of vomit .. it's hard being in a band with a former chef, he makes it all sound so easy.. . ) .. anyway, yes, after that I actually managed to sit down for at least an hour or so and listen to most of Radio 3's Late Junction. I really do love that programme.

It reminds me, funnily enough, of John Peel's Radio 1 show back in the day, which I adored. My old band, god - this was 10 years ago now - met Mr. Peel once, and he was incredibly supportive of us, as he was to hundreds, thousands of young people whose dream was getting played on that show. .. but I'm digressing ..  anyway, Late Junction's softly spoken "mellow" atmosphere might seem a world away from John Peel's white label ragga/drum'n'bass 45s playing at the wrong speed, but they both shared an approach of just airing music that you wouldn't really hear anywhere else on the radio. I suppose now the internet has muted the importance of radio programmes such as this, but that just seems to make a programme like the Junction, that's been going for what seems like ages now, seem even more relevant.

Anyway, everytime I do listen to it - and listening to it is much better done sat down on a sofa and not doing anything else, rather than on in the background while you wash up / email / whatever it might be - I always hear piece after piece of music that I'm intrigued by and think I ought to run off and buy.

Last night there was a beautiful piece by BJ Cole, the pedal steel guitarist, followed by a serene tune called "The Child Within" (okay - some of these things do have "typical" Late Junction titles, but being able to parody something is generally just a sign that it's good and it has it's own identity, right?) by the Tord Gustaven Ensemble .. . there was also a track by the Dirty Projectors, who I've heard of but never heard. . and didn't even know on one listen if I really liked or not, but it was certainly compelling - if I was a tagline-grabbing 90s NME journalist, I'd maybe say it sounded like "Frank Zappa producing Jeff Buckley in Senegal" or something like that.. .

Then later came a completely nuts tune by Lukas Ligeti, son of the composer Gyorgy Ligeti (whose music I need to listen to far far more of) . . but yes, this Lukas Ligeti piece was mental, but in a very good way. I want to make more music like that. . .I really, really, want to start making more instrumental music. This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently . .it's strange because I love singing songs, but I don't really think of myself a singer, it's just something I do  .. so I sort of come to stuff from the perspective of making music but then for most people, the thing they're bound to notice first is the voice, and probably the words. Which are the two things I feel least secure about. . anyway. . this is a topic for another day. . .but yes, Lukas Ligeti, and then a peaceful, hauntuing tune for what sounded like a celeste and voice by Nancy Elizabeth, and shortly afterwards, the Kronos Quartet, making noises I'd never heard a "classical" quartet make before, as they played what I think was some sort of Iranian Lullaby.

And this is just a few that I remember, but there was virtually nothing I disliked on the programme at all. I've just remembered another one, there was some sort of lamenting sea shanty that I really loved, but I can't figure out which one that was in the tracklisting. And Miles Davis playing The Concierto De Aranjuez from Sketches of Spain, which I've loved for years. Jesus I'm prattling on. But anyway, Late Junction is where it's at - and this is what I mean about it reminding me of John Peel - this is just one show and it provided me with so much music to feast on. . his show was exactly the same. Any night you tuned in you'd be guaranteed to hear at least one or two things that would knock you over.

So go listen, I recommend - link to last night's show is HERE but no doubt tonight's show and subsequent ones will be equally enriching on the ears.

Actually my ears have been causing me some concern this week.

THERE NOW FOLLOW TWO OF THE MOST BORING PARAGRAPHS YOU WILL EVER READ IN "BLOGLAND", BUT I HAVE VOWED TO SPEW OUT WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE SPEWING OUT ON THIS PAGES, SO THERE YOU GO. MAYBE JUST SKIP THIS BIT THOUGH .. UNLESS YOU PLAY MUSIC AND HAVE SIMILAR CONCERNS..

This always seems to happen, I'm getting really into something and then something else, some demented rabbit of a worry, jumps up from behind the garden fence to remind me that life's never simple. Doing what I do is obviously always going to be a bit taxing on the ears, and 2 or 3 years ago I really started noticing ringing in my ears after a stupidly loud fesitval in Spain. I have no idea if that festival caused it or I just became aware of it then, but since then I've noticed that I have mild tinnitus - but really mild, only audible when there's hardly any noise around at all .. I tried using in-ear monitors on stage after this, because they're supposed to be better for your ears then big monitors, but after 3 or 4 months I gave up on those, I was using them in Guillemots in the first half of 2008 and found it really hard to feel a connection to the audience in the same way.

And then we played Hop Farm with Neil Young and I just couldn't be arsed with fiddling around with them again so tried monitors again, and couldn't really hear any detail in anything, but had a great time. .and that was that.. . but anyway, in Guillemots, we've recently moved into a new rehearsal space, and it's really cool but it is very small and, there's no other way to put this, a triangular shaped room. And this weekend, after a week of rehearsals, I really noticed the ringing again. . now, it may be no worse than usual and actually I'm just re-noticing it again - tinnitus is entirely neurological you see - but of course now I'm worried about it which makes it even more noticeable. And yesterday I tried using my earplugs that I had made a couple of years ago but I just find it so hard to play music with things stuck into my ears. It's just not natural! So of course now I'm living in fretful land - I either try to get used to wearing plugs but struggle to enjoy playing music for potentially a good while, or tell myself I'm worrying about nothing and just carry on regardless, but then risk damaging my ears even more. A QUANDRY. Anyway, I'm sure this will resolve itself somehow, these things usually do. But my worried genes are certainly getting plenty of action at the moment...

Anyway, enough moaning.. . these are small small problems in the overall scheme of things..  if i have to start wearing earplugs, i have to start wearing earplugs. Deal with it. I do have this awful habit of not only spying a problem, but then going "hello problem, you big cuddly panther, come on in, let me cook you dinner!". It's not my best trait, i'm not going to lie.

But there's much to be positive about at the moment too.. .not least the music that we're working on in Guillemots. I won't try to describe it but we're all very excited and feel this record could be a chance to make a really defining record for us. It probably seems really odd to have had so much time out of the "spotlight". . especially as we haven't even started recording yet, but I think you need time to dream things up. With our last record we kind of rushed straight into it without having time to take stock, and this time round we've had the time to just become four friends playing music together again, which is so important. So all is good in this respect.

And there's also a lot of exciting stuff starting to happen with regards to my own solo record. We shot a video this week - I love the pair directing it, they're called KOJA and we have a mutual friend of a friend, David Robinson, who took the photos on this website, and a lot of the early (and to my mind, best) Guillemots shots too. I'm not quite sure how my performance in the video was, I always find it incredibly odd to be walking around singing along to myself with about 10 people following you with cameras on a trolley and stuff. I mean, again, it's not really very natural. .! But they seemed happy and i trust them.. it's really good to work with directors who seem genuinely excited and passionate about what they're doing, so that gives me a lot of hope that the video will look great. A wee bit psychedelic, I think..

And we're soon going to be announcing four gigs in January - am starting to have a think about what I'm going to do in these concerts. Well play songs from my record obviously - DUH - but I'm trying to think about things in a bit more detail than that.. instrumentation, etc..  Any ideas, put them in the comments below, anything you'd like to see in the shows, I'm very open to requests.. ! Or you can email me too, via

fyfe@guillemots.com

In fact yes, show suggestions, and also any music that I should be listening to. These are subjects I would welcome your thoughts on. ..

Well, I now must stop writing and get ready to leave the house for Guillemots rehearsal. The last two days I have been an hour late, although Tuesday was not my fault - it was the fault of the London Transport Police, who swooped on the 149 bus like puffed up Studio Ghibli demons and demanded to see everyone's tickets / oysters. Now I have no problem with the idea that people ought to be paying for their bus journeys, but these people are just INSANE. One guy tried to leg it off and the next thing, five of them were pinning him down on the pavement. I mean, this is over one pound. And I was whisked off because my oyster showed I hadn't paid - now I genuinely, on this occasion, had tried touching in twice but both times it had beeped back at me so I presumed I was out of money. They then checked my card and showed I did have money left, so I'm not sure why that happened. But that's just about fair enough.

But then, I didn't want to pay on the spot as I wanted to be able to contest the fine, so they needed my address, which I gave them, and they then said they couldn't find it on their records and that unless I paid on the spot, they'd have to drive me back to my flat so i could prove I lived there..

I then told them the names of the other people living in flats in this building, and got told that it could be where I'd lived before. So I then opened up my computer and showed them a folder on the desktop with my address on it, but the guy was still iike "yeah mate, but how do i know that's not some place you've lived before?" I mean, would I bother going through that much of an act? Anyway, eventually they agreed to let me go without bundilng me in a police van to prove where I live over one pound. You just sort of wonder, would these people not be put to better use somewhere else? Do we really need 20 people waiting by the side of the road to do this?

DO WE???!!!!!!!

DOO WEEEE????!!!!!!!

Social commentary is not my strong point as you can see. I have written far too much, anyway, and not said nearly enough. i've wanted for ages to write about how Leonard Cohen has been saving my life recently, but this will have to wait for another time.

Anyway, thanks as ever people..  more news and more "stuff" soon..

X Fyfe

Oh, one last thing - we've just got the go ahead (we had to check chart rules etc) to have our bonus disc (in the deluxe album edition) the full length we wanted. So this means there'll be another 10 tracks available if you pre-order this edition of the record, so - kind of  - a double record! Just don't call it a double record , this may induce breakdowns in a some of the hard-working people around me.. . .But yes, that's good news indeed. We're just trying to finalise the designs for this special edition at the moment, but again will have more news soon...

Right. . bye for now Xx