I'm a little bit pushed for time today, not that I want to make you feel rushed in anyway, but I'll catch up on the latest podcasts and things next time-I'm sure you can wait until then!

The band did 2 gigs last week. Tuesday night we were up the Junction at Queensbury, no fog this time just a nice thick frost. The audience was sparse but as this was a chance to play the set as intended I fully enjoyed myself. We played a relaxed set, and I thought we delivered it very well. If there'd been more in it would have been a good night.

I'm happily scoring it a 6.

On Saturday night we ventured down through the ice and fog to The Peacock on Leeds Road, Huddersfield. This is a venue with character. By rights it ought to be one of those places you avoid on a dark night (and it was certainly a dark night), but in actual fact it has a respectable clientelle for bands and we always go down well. It wasn't as busy as previous visits but it certainly maintained it's status as one of my favourite venues. That's now 3 good ones in a row, surely some sort of record!!

The gig will largely be remembered for the fact that I played all the bass lines as we were down to a 3-piece on this occasion. I faced this with some trepidation but after a couple of practice sessions felt it was worth a go. Yes, things got so desperate I had to practice.

So we played the full set with a mixutre of 'split sounds' whereby I could play the bass with my left hand and some piano in the right. I also dusted down my legendary remote 'keytar' for a few of the guitar-driven songs: such as The Police numbers and the Cream ones. All in all, it was a great night and I'm very grateful to Dave and Norm for helping me hold it together. It was a very special night in that respect.

I'm tempted to give it an 8 or 7 and a half but I think we'll say 7 as there's no half-marks under this system!

I've managed to progress the Paradise Street album to the point where there's just 3 mixes to go now. The release will be January, so more details to follow, along with the rest of the stuff, next time.