and I’m wide awake, but this morning isn’t like any other because for the first time in something like fourteen years Portishead are on Australian shores and I will be catching their performance tonight (I’ve had to veto talking to Sparki and Berney who saw them two nights ago). I’ve spent countless hours listening to this pivotal group from their two amazing albums in the nineties up to the more recent and equally if not more impressive Third…gee I’ve still got Dummy on cassette somewhere…but what I found interesting upon reading several interviews with Geoff Barrow were some of his thoughts on the eleven year gap between their last two records. Obviously there are many factors, but to touch on that he has recently fallen back in love with music again and there wasn’t a hell of a lot that was inspiring to listen to for quite a while there kinda got me thinking…

…as some mornings I question myself whether I dig most music as much as I used to, whether I even personally like what we’re doing as a band and if I’m as excited about it as I should be, is there other music that will satisfy me more, will I still enjoy this for years to come, do we need to be making this statement???? Then I get out my notepad, switch on the Marantz, fire up the demos and think what the fuck were you just talking about!! “The band has never dug this deep or come this far before and these are just the first generation demos!” Perhaps it’s natural to question the be all end all at this part of the process, but upon becoming lost in our new ideas again I’m reassured that this material has total feeling and it’s a body of work that we’re feeling so connected to….and this is still just the beginning. Slight panic attack over…back to ‘The Rip’.

A.W (Oliver Sacks)

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