Love Substitution

2006-12-11T13:20:00.000+01:00

An update, by the way, for those of you wondering if there might be any new music forthcoming as a result of my recent Berlin relocation. Well, I have been playing saxophone recently with a couple of noisy young men called Das Huhn (see link to My Space site opposite) as well as creating loopy industrial stuff with my industrial buddy Storfan Sender (will try to put something online as soon as possible) and have been playing tasteful folk music with my old friend Mark Mulholland (see link).

Also, an official Love Substitutes website will be arriving soon. Just as soon as I can get my finger out of my arse and buy some server space.

2006-12-11T12:57:00.000+01:00

It' time to start organising some new Love Substitutes activity. We're planning some shows in February, so if you'd like to book us, or have any suggestions, you know what to do. The Bookings link is now up to date. I realise I forgot to update it when I changed email address a few months ago. My apologies to anyone who's been trying to get in touch.

I also lost several contacts in a major computer malfunction, so if anyone could remind me of details of venues that were interested but where we have yet to play I'd be most grateful. There were venues in Lille and Tourcoing that I'd be particularly keen to resume contact with.

2006-10-15T14:41:00.000+02:00

Things rarely happen with The Love Substitutes since my Berlin move, but we did at least manage a few gigs the week before last. The Heaven Hotel Night at the Brakkegrond in Amsterdam was going along just swimmingly with fine sets by the Trouve Sextet (except there were only four of them), and Tip Toe Topic were joyous too. Unfortunately the Love Substitutes were as dismal as we've ever been (after a fine start), which is perhapsa to be expected after such a long lay off. Happily the shows in Brussels and Breda were considerably better and more like it and life-affirming or something.

There was some discussion of gigs in Belgium, Holland and (for a change)Germany for next spring, as well as a possible recording session in Berlin at the same time (April looks best). Will have more to report in a couple of weeks - returning to Belgium to produce the Pox record during the first two weeks of November and we'll doubtless knock Love Substitutes plans int at least slightly more concrete shape while we're at it.

2006-09-21T19:28:00.000+02:00

Don't forget, Love Substitutes gigs coming up:

Monday 2nd October (20.30) - Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakkegrond, Amsterdam: Heaven Hotel Night featuring The Love Substitutes, Tip Toe Topic and Rudy Trouvè solo.

Thursday 5th October (20.30/21.00?) - Kultuurkaffee, VUB, Brussels (free entry) (Please note: show is advertised in some places as starting at 10. We will actually be on stage at 9.30 sharp, so I assume doors will be 8.30 or 9)

Friday 6th October (21.00) - Mezz, Breda (with guests Sleeping Dog)

2006-08-10T23:46:00.000+02:00

Following the recent takeover of MySpace by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp,I have decided to cancel the MySpace accounts for The Love Substitutes, I Hate Camera and Pox, with immediate effect. This is an entirely personal and unilateral decision, which has not been discussed with any of the members of The Love Substitutes, I Hate Camera or Pox, and therefore does not necessarily reflect the opinions and principles of any or all of my esteemed colleagues. Although I should fucking hope it does.

2006-06-30T23:49:00.000+02:00

Oh, and another thing - to every reviewer who has found "More Songs..." too experimental. Stop being so lame-assed. It isn't anywhere near experimental enough. Pop music must be stopped.

2006-06-30T23:17:00.000+02:00

Lots of different sorts of gigs been going on lately - the Pox show at the Pekfabriek was underwhelming - not terrible or anything - just a difficult room, acoustically speaking, with a whopping delay coming back from the opposite wall, which made it difficult to play with any kind of rhythmic togetherness. Also, it was about as well attended as a Partick Thistle match.

What else? The Love Subs gig at Petrol was rubbish, frankly. More terrible acoustics, and some pretty shoddy playing too. Must shake off the rust. Actually, I think we did shake off the rust at the ensuing shows in Utrecht and Amsterdam, even if the turn-out for the latter was disappointing.

As is customary, the album release has been accompanied by the usual flurry of reviews and, as usual, the bad ones have offerred me the most pleasure. Having had the honour of being the first band ever to get a bad review in the RifRaf, we have gone one step further by becoming the first band actively hated by the RifRaf, in a kind of vendetta way. Fantastic. I consider this a real achievement. And for the record - that guitar riff in "You Seem..." is mine. Ephi did the little classical guitar licky overdubby thing. Not that I care to take credit or anything... Also, as well as reviews, I took the liberty of ending my no-interviews-policy, feeling that sufficient time had passed since my DEUs exit to avoid the curse of interviewers-who-only-want-to-talk-about-DeUs. For the most part this went well, but then came Gazet Van Antwerpen, which managed to take an article which was ostensibly about The Love Substitutes and turn it into an article about DEuS. Jesus wept. Is there nothing else to talk about in this silly little country? It makes me ill.

For the rest, the solo shows have gone surprisingly well, and are presenting opportunities to escape rock. I really thought nobody would care for thirty minute sets of uninterrupted bleeping and droning but have been life-affirmingly surprised by peoples' willingness to actually shut up and listen. Thank you. Said opportunities will be explored further over the next couple of years, and quite possibly beyond.

And thank you Chantal too, for inviting me to do these shows. Chantal has been a star.

Last Monday night in Den Bosch, Teuk Henri joined in too. Which was grand. He really is a lovely guitarist. We improvised together a little bit. And music happened. Which was also grand. And which made the show worthwhile - a show that we had been feeling seriously dubious about before it commenced (the audience just didn't seem like the bleeps and drones types - but then they never do).

And the Donkey Diva gig in the Kinky Star was probably our best yet. And a very warm and enthusiastic audience too.

Next up: Pox in Kapellen on Sunday afternoon (Vijver Podium, 15:40). See you there, perhaps.

2006-05-25T11:48:00.000+02:00

It has been a while, hasn't it. Not terribly much to report re The Love Substitutes, except of course that the album is out and that another show has been added at Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina in Amsterdam on Thurday 22nd June.

Pox live work has commenced - 2 shows down - the first at Zaal Belgie in Hasselt a tentative, forgettable affair, the second at Libertad in Leuven altogether better and more in the spirit (as is customary at Libertad). We also found the time to record a track with Peter Van de Veire at Yellow Tape in Ghent for the sampler album from Andrew Bennett's new label, Jezus Factory. We've also contributed an i-H8 Camera track to a sampler album related to the upcoming Burg Herzberg festival.

Recorded some guitar parts for the forthcoming Monokiri album, which was fun - also at Yellow Tape.

I've managed to get my hands on some more i-H8 Camera gig recordings and intend to change the songs available for download at MySpace every week or two. So check it out, gluttons for punishment.

Next up - Pox at the Pekfabriek on Saturday night (doors 21.00, us onstage 22.00). Also appearing - I Love Sarah and Inkata. As well as DJ sets from Dave Schroyen and Aldo Struyf.

2006-04-17T21:57:00.000+02:00

A week of frantic gig-going last week, some of which was great (Midaircondo) and some less so (The Reverend Horton Heat - What planet are these people on?). Our own (I Hate Camera) show at Den Drempel has to go down as the worst ever. Unbearable volume that made actually creating any music impossible. There's more to improvisation than making a racket you know. Not much more, just more.

Also, two afternoons last week were spent doing interviews, allegedly to "promote" our new album. Whatever that means. It's been a long time. And a surprisingly painless experience.

Feedback from the My Space sites has been encouraging. Should have done that ages ago. Oh, and another thing - Watch With Motherfucker have begun recording an album. Don't hold your breaths.

2006-04-02T02:33:00.000+02:00

So, another few gigs down. And all quite successful. The Donkey Diva show at the Plaza Real was posssibly the best yet. And the two latest i-H8 Camera shows were jolly fun too. The Molens in Leuven was about as well organised as you're ever likely to here us. And the Scheldapen show was not at all bad either. A good turn-out - which was surprising, as we had expected no-one, there being about 4 other interesting gigs in Antwerp on the same night. And I managed to survuive it despite being in the most excruciating pain. Thought I had broken a rib or something, but it's better now, so Christ knows what that was.

Oh, by the way, Teuk and Tip Toe Topic were great. Chantal was supposed to do a song with Teuk but got stuck in a train in Roosendaal and disappeared. Shame.

I'vce made pages at My Space for the Love Substitutes, Pox and i-H8 Camera. The latter two really exist so that I don't have to send out demos. The Love Substitutes one exists to let all you anal completist types hear some outtakes. The links are to the right, as usual.

And another thing - some people are reporting finding copies of "More Songs..." in Belgian record stores already. How very queer...

2006-03-06T21:57:00.000+01:00

By the way, the Donkey Diva gig at CC Luchtbal was OK. It went down well anyway - although I must say I still find playing in this little combo nightmarishly difficult and feel completely lost, rhythmically. Still, I'll learn something from all of this, I'm sure.

i-H8 Camera will be playing Molens van Orshoven in Leuven on Wednesday 29th March.

Sleeping Dog (Chantal Acda) plus me (solo) will be playing De Nor in Heeren (NL) on Friday 2nd June and the Kinky Star in Ghent on Tuesday 13th June.

Donkey Diva will also be playing the Kinky Star on Tuesday 27th June.

2006-03-06T21:51:00.000+01:00

Lowlands have set the release date for "More Songs About Hangovers And Sailors" for 8th May. This time we're going international, as it'll be distributed in the UK, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Canada. And they're working on the USA ansd Japan.

I will confirm some gigs very soon.

2006-02-24T11:15:00.000+01:00

A few gigs confirmed:

Donkey Diva will be playing CC Luchtbal on Friday 3rd March, at the opening of an exhibition by photographer Rob Walbers, and at the Plaza Real, Borgerhout on Sunday 12th March.

i-H8 Camera will be playing the Undercurrent night at Cafe Den Drempel in Antwerp on Friday 14th April with three other (as yet unconfirmed) bands.

2006-02-21T11:35:00.000+01:00

Kevin has kindly made available his recording of the i-H8 Camera gig in CC Andries. That was the one with the minimalist line up of:

Mark - voice
Elko - guitar
Me - guitar
Jeroen - drums

And, if my memory serves me right, that was also the one where I threw up on stage. Listening to this rather uncompromising performance, it's not surprising.

There's a link on the right.

2006-02-20T14:11:00.000+01:00

By the way, the new album will be called "More Songs About Hangovers and Sailors" (i.e. not "More Songs About Sailors and Hangovers", as you may have read elsewhere). It's just nicer that way, qua cadence.

It's 47 minutes long (i.e. quite short by modern standards and, irritatingly, just a little too long to fit on one side of a 90 minute tape). The track list is as follows:

1. Attus Citauqa Ortni
2. Dressed For The Sea
3. Sleep Is For Children
4. The Sad Mathrocker
5. Hate The Love Substitutes
6. Abstractions On Glass
7. Bangladesh Fashions
8. Another Bit
9. Novelty Size
10. The Tour Manager
11. Madonna Footage
12. You Seem To Have Forgotten Who I Am
13. Someone Like You
14. The Beaver Builds The Dam
15. Not Even Mutiny
16. A Modern Band Needs Its Sleep
17. November 1977
18. The Velvet Sailor (Slight Return)
19. Give The People What They Want
20. Attus Alagnam Aks

2006-02-20T13:49:00.000+01:00

'tis done, gentle readers, 'tis done. Since Friday afternoon already. It was supposed to happen Wednesday but Rudy's back went into a state of chronic spasmosis and the final mastering session was postponed a couple of days. Which seems fairly typical considering the history of this beast.

Anyway, Uwe did a terrific job, and the results are, surprisingly, way more accessible than either of our other two releases (to my ears, at least) . Pop stardom here we come.

I'm now looking to book gigs for Pox (Mark Meyer's band, now also featuring both Rudy and myself), as well as for myself (solo) and for Donkey Diva (previously known as Emerson, Lake and Gunter, previously previously known Ward/Nagels/Frateur). Please feel free to use the Book-The-Love-Substitutes link for either of these two new, related purposes. Please do not feel free to use it for any other purpose.

On the subject of which - one slightly disappointing result of making one of one's email addresses public is the amount of mail I receive from people who think I'm some kind of one-man, free-of-charge advice shop/A&R consultancy/booking agent. For every genuine offer of a gig I get maybe five emails from strangers wanting something from me. As of now, I reserve the right to ignore/delete any such emails. Moan over.

2006-02-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

We are nearly there. Rudy and I spent 12 hours with Uwe in Wemmel yesterday (Sunday 12th) mastering the CD and, true to the nature of this particular beast, failed to get it finished and will return to Wemmel Wednesday morning to do so. Rudy has also failed to get the artwork finished despite heroic efforts and intends to do so Wednesday night.

Anyway, we have a provisional master, which is in the computer as I write, and it's sounding pretty good to me. A few final tweaks on Wednesday and that'll be everything. The mid-March release still looks feasible.

No new live dates to confirm yet, but there should be fairly soon (i.e. within the next couple of weeks). I'll keep you posted.

2006-02-07T21:22:00.000+01:00

Finally, after spending the last two afternoons at Bert's place, all tracks are finished and mixed and ready to go. And this despite my coming down with some Satanic bug or food poisoning or whatnot. The last 24 hours has been a shivery cold sweat of pukey piss-arsed misery.

Anyway, Rudy's going to finsh the artwork tomorrow, we'll finalise the track order Friday night and master Sunday.

You thought it would never happen, didn't you?

2006-02-03T16:24:00.000+01:00

A very short yet productive rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon saw Death Folk Sailor come out of retirement and back into the live set. And it worked a treat at the AB on Wednesday night. Possibly the most professional Love Subs gig ever - not a lot of improvisation, just the songs, powerfully delivered (I think). It was interesting to see how reactions change within a year. The last time we played the AB club it felt like the audience were scratching their heads, thinking "What the fuck is this nonsense?". This time it felt like they were on our side and even knew (some of) the songs. Pretty much a full house too. And there was I, in a free jazz mood...

Perhaps we're becoming "popular" or "succesful" or something. "Quick, someone play something angular and atonal now! They think it's pop music...."

Nozzle Slag were excellent and reminded me sometimes of Soft Machine. Which was nice.

2006-01-26T23:26:00.000+01:00

And so the Love Substitutes' first and probably last incident-that-might-vaguely-be-described-as-resembling-a-tour came and went in a flurry of nervous-flyer's-liquid-sedative-of-choice and mucho sitting in a car.

Some observations:

1.Touring is exhausting, whether it be for two months or two days.
2.Onstage communication between band members disintegrates the moment a performance becomes part of a tour.
3.I miss Glasgow.
4.I don't miss London.
5.London's cultural and spiritual life would be instantly and greatly enhanced if the tube trains continued to operate through the night.
6.There are not many (or possibly any) constructive ways to deal with lack of sleep.
7.There are many destructive ways to deal with lack of sleep.
8.Trees in Northern England look like German tourists that have been hexed by a witch.

I'm sure it's useful to take the occasional tiny glimpse into life as it used to be (and how it still could have been) for just a couple of days, if only to remind oneself why one now avoids such stuff. So much distressing faffing about just to deliver two hours of music. Three days of distressing faffing, to be precise. Which is enough. It just doesn't balance out.
Proper touring won't get a look in again. Although teensy micro-tours like this one just might, if the price is right. I think we'll come back to Glasgow again later in the year. (Maybe I should discuss this with the others).

I also think I prefer it our usual way - play somewhere in Belgium or Holland and then drive home to bed. You know it makes sense. And if we stick to the Low Countries I won't piss my dad off by not inviting him to the gig (I'm sorry, I just can't play with my Dad in the room).

Anyhow - London was OK, the songs weren't great but the improvs were interesting in a disjointed, non-communicative way. 50% of the punters left half way through so they could get the last tube home (see observation 5, above). This was, initially, slightly alarming. But we understood later.

Glasgow was a hoot. Stereo's a very cosy venue and the audience were warm and supportive. (And seeing as most of them were my friends it would have been pretty bogus if they hadn't been. Warm and supportive, that is.) Elko did an heroic job with the sound too.

More observations:

It's funny how influences creep into one's music without one being aware of it. Two after-show comments from friends in Glasgow:
1.That our music is reminiscent of Brian Eno's Another Green World and
2.that our music is reminiscent of Can

I wouldn't have thought either of those things, but Another Green World and Can's Tago Mago are the two records I was listening obsessively to round about the time we started The Love Substitutes.

What goes around comes around, I suppose.

OK, news:
1. Tom at Lowlands has asked, nay ordered us to have the new album mastered by mid-February so he can release it mid-March. Both of these things will certainly happen.
2. I met Christian Pierre at a little reception at EMI this evening and he informs me the Deus tour schedule is more or less completely in place until the end of May. He'll furnish me with full details tomorrow. This is good news for us because I'll know precisely when Mauro is available for the next four months and can therefore get on with the business of booking shows. If you want us, you know what to do.

2006-01-10T15:51:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 4th January we finally mixed a Mauro-sung acoustic song called Novelty Size that's been in progress for longer than anyone thought possible. We also made a few cunning edits and manipulations and this beast is almost complete.

Saturday Rudy and I threw a couple of vocal ideas at one last remaining acoustic piece, but I'm not convinced and reckon that'll require another afternoon. Afterwards we headed to the new Wonderbar for a short but very well recieved set at Alison and Martin's Wedding Party. And a top wheeze was had by all. Favourite moment - their entry. They hadn't even noticed we were in the room when we started up Summer of Mars - their faces were priceless.

Congratulations...

2005-12-28T11:18:00.000+01:00

Another gig confirmed:

Wednesday 1st February - AB Club, Brussels (double bill with Nozzle Slag)

2005-12-16T01:46:00.000+01:00

A few copies of the new vinyl arrived at the weekend - I haven't had the chance to listen to it yet because my record player is currently without functioning stylus and this hasn't been a good week for shopping. Cover's nice and shiny though.

Next week will be the first period of Love Substitutes activity for a while. Everyone's free, for once. So, we'll finish the recording and mixing of two leftover acoustic songs, decide on a track order for the new CD, with a view to mastering ASAP, and start work on a couple of freely downloadable collages of odds 'n' sods - a live one and a studio one.

I don't know if the Velvet Sailor is in the shops yet (if it's not it surely will be very soon) but Heyme certainly has a few copies for sale.

2005-11-29T17:03:00.000+01:00

Another show confirmed:

Friday 20th January - Stereo, Glasgow

2005-11-28T15:59:00.000+01:00

Aldwin from Serpentine Records has made a recording of the i-H8 Camera show at CC Luchtbal available for download (see links). You'll have to register first with the website to access it, but it is free at least.

2005-11-28T15:51:00.000+01:00

On Friday 18th November, the vinyl was mastered by Paul at Foon in Lier, where, progtastically, Yes's Going For The One and various Rick Wakeman albums were mastered. The EP is due for release mid-December. A frighteningly noisy and amusical i-H8 Camera gig managed to take place in the Wonder Bar on Friday the 25th, despite freakish blizzard conditions outside. Many thanks to all those brave/insane enough to venture out.

i-H8 Camera was, on this occasion:
Rudy - vocal
Mark - vocal
Jeroen - drums
Me - Farfisa organ and guitar synthesizer
Teuk Henri - guitar
Elko - guitar
Pascal - toys and keyboards

2005-11-14T11:29:00.000+01:00

Rudy and I will be mastering the vinyl EP on Friday the 18th. Things should only take a couple more weeks after that. Currently busy trying to arrange gigs in January - one confirmed so far: the Watershed, London on Thursday 19th January.

2005-11-01T14:11:00.000+01:00

By the way, Kevin has kindly posted some downloadables of the Emerson, Lake and Gunter gig at Glamour Is Undead. There's a link on the right. The less said about the Witzli Poetzli gig the better.

2005-11-01T13:37:00.000+01:00

A couple of things to report re: The Love Substitutes. We've decided on a track order for a vinyl EP (about 23 minutes of music) which we'll get mastered and manufactured and all that just as quick as we can. It'll hopefully be available within the next 4 weeks or so.

Track order:

Side 1:
1. The Velvet Sailor

Side 2:
1. Golden Boy Meets Himself
2. Pop Trivia
3. Sincere

A full length album wil be realesed in January, round about which time, we'll hopefully be doing a small UK tour. I'm working on it. Watch this space.

There's been no little I Hate/i-H8 Camera activity lately - last Friday (28th October) we opened for Italian jazzcore trio Zu at CC Luchtbal, in Anwerp. As is unfortunately customary in Luchtbal, nobody attended, apart from the few Usual Suspects/insane people we've come to know and cherish. The line up for Friday's show was:

Rudy Trouve - guitar and voice
Elko Blijweert - small guitar
Pascal Deweze - Toys, synthesizers and voice
Jeroen Stevens - drums
Simon Lenski - cello
Craig Ward - guitar and voice

The following evening (Saturday 29th October) I Love Sarah were supposed to be playing the Anti-Fascist Festival at CC Andries in Antwerp, but for some lame reason best known to himself, Rutger cancelled, and a spontaneous i-H8C (of sorts, why not) was assembled as a last minute replacement, and a grand old free-punk time was had by all (during which I fulfilled a lifelong rock ambition by vomiting on stage). This incarnation was:

Mark Meyers - voice
Elko - guitar
Craig - guitar
Jeroen - drums

For the rest, Watch With Motherfucker (or WWMF as we'll undoubtedly become known) have commenced rehearsing. WWMF was born on Friday 21st October, 2005 - 6 days overdue - and is Elko, Jeroen, Bert and myself. Watch this space.

2005-09-19T16:54:00.000+02:00

This'll be the last post for a while, as the Love Substitutes enter a period of sustained grazing while Mauro tackles the nightmare that is touring with Deus. Good Luck, buddy.

The penultimate show at the Wonderfestival was a bit of a stinker - my pedals breaking down immediately before the show - couldn't locate the source of the problem and played the gig pedalless - which for me is like playing with a hand tied behind my back. Spent most of the show standing behind my amp so as not to be associated with the rubbish sounds I was making.

I soon resolved never to play at (or be involved in any way with) a festival again. They are categorically the wrong environment in which to nurture worthwhile music. This I have known for a long time.

The gig at Merleyn in Nijmegen a week or so later was considerably better - the evening closing with probably the best Shanty ever, while rained mashed down torrentially outside. Very appropriate.

Been listening to Todd Rundgren lately (Something/Anything?, A Wizard A True Star and Todd) in a strangely obsessive way (by which I mean I haven't listened to anything else for about three weeks). I haven't listened to music in that way since I was a teenager. What can this mean, gentle readers?

In the absence of anything Love Substitutesish to do in the foreseeable future, and in order to facilitate the coming-to-be of a certain music that's been flying around somewhere behind my bonce lately, I've invited Jeroen Stevens and Elko Blijweert to form a new band, to begin rehearsing early October. Happily they're up for it. We don't have a bass player yet and are thinking of auditioning. We need someone with great technique and an anarchic attitude - no fusiony noodlers please. Availability is important too - must be available to rehearse at least once a week, and gig once a week too. If you'd like to give it a crack, or think you know someone who might be appropriate, please send me an email (using the above Book The Love Subs link).

2005-08-24T09:17:00.000+02:00

A couple of days after the the last post, Mauro was instructed/requested to come up with a vocal part for the remaining acoustic song - he deposited a hard drive at Bert's, so Bert could transfer all the necessaries for Mauro to be able to work at home, only for Bert to find the hard drive was full. So much fannying about ensued. Still awaiting results. The three completed tracks were mixed a week or so later - two of which ("November 1977", an Eno-esque instrumental, and "You Seem To Have Forgotten Who I Am", a miserable, sarcastic affair) were painless affairs, the other ("Dressed For The Sea") considerably more difficult, requiring several hours and a total rethink halfway. Friday 29th july we played the Wonder Bar, to an audience comprised entirely of musicians (or so it seemed). Not bad at all, considering we hadn't rehearsed for about six months.

Since then Love Subs activity has been quiet - a couple of gig opportunities we had to pass up because Bert wasn't available, although the rest of us took the opportunity to resurrect I Hate Camera (or should it be i-H8 Camera?) for some improvisational indulgence/research in his absence. The first of these was in support of the Sweet Hips at JH Jokot in Niel on Saturday 13th August, and was a blast (so were the Sweet Hips, although I was responsible for doing their FOH sound, at which I failed miserably, having just deafened myself with a ludicrously loud i-H8 C set - they had also made some new friends at the Wonder Bar the previous evening). The second was at Jackyland in Schoten and was less memorable (mysteriously my amp died no uncertain death mid-set, only to spring back to life a couple of days later). Thanks to Mark, Elko, Jeroen and Pascal.

Yesterday attempted to salvage a couple of dubious mixes at Rudy's gaff. Bert managed to engender some small miracles.

2005-07-25T16:55:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Bert and I finished off one more of the acoustic songs. That's three down, one (or two, maybe) to go. Rudy's been busying himself trying out home manipulations on some of the more dubious tracks, and we'll all be convening at Bert's tomorrow with a view to finally laying this beast to rest. Attempts to book gigs have been less than successful, which is a pain. Much personal time and effort over the last couple of months has resulted in a pathetic three (as in 3, count them) gigs currently booked:

Wonder Bar, Antwerp - Friday 29th July
Wonderfestival, Antwerp - Friday 2nd September
Merleyn, Nijmegen - Saturday 10th September

NB. The first of those three is THIS FRIDAY. Free entry.

2005-07-11T14:21:00.000+02:00

Many congratulations to Rudy and Sigrid. Romy Isobel Manou Trouve came into the world on the 6th July. Welcome aboard.

2005-06-28T05:06:00.000+02:00

Only 2 Love Subs gigs booked at this moment:

Wonderfestival, Antwerp - Friday September 2nd.
Merleyn, Nijmegen - Saturday September 10th.

Hopefully there'll be more to report soon.

2005-06-28T04:47:00.000+02:00

We could have been called "Farmers with Televisions".

2005-06-28T04:36:00.000+02:00

A perfectly good gig last Friday (24th June) in support of, first, Vandal X then Girls Against Boys. Very hot. And not for the first time the band took the stage and began playing while I was otherwise distracted (upstairs in the dressing room exchanging my summer scandals for a pair of more effect-pedals-friendly sneakers). Batteries in my digital delay ran out in the middle of the second last song, which made for some interesting interestingnesses.

GVSB still know how to do it, although I suspect Scott has taken to dying his hair.

One of these days the acoustic songs will be basking in their completeness.

2005-05-27T23:21:00.000+02:00

An uncharacteristic week of spectacular underachievement! We had intended to finish off the acoustic pieces this week - Bert having a week with nothing-else-to-do for the first time in living memory. And what did we achieve - absolutely nothing. What with a combination of fine weather, Rudy being completely knackered and Mauro finding himself catching up with the rest of his life during his first Deus-activity-free week in ages (I refuse to further acknowledge typeface conceits), every day just kind of got abandoned. We did, however, manage a pathetic one-hour rehearsal last night (Thursday) with a view to airing a few of the new songs for the first time today, at the Wonderfestival press conference - which we did. Yes, you missed it - 4 or 5 new songs - performed at noon, on the hottest day of the year. And a bit shambolic it was too - but not too bad, considering how dismal last night's rehearsal had been.

After our little lunchtime turn, we had a look at our collective summer agenda, with a view towards booking gigs. Slightly depressingly, there's very little free space in which we'll be able to play - the last week in July, the last week in August and the first two weeks in September - that's about it really. We'll just have to fill those weeks up, I suppose.

Now, something I've been meaning to do since I started keeping this blog. Last year, from, I think, March until December or thereabouts, I actually kept a daily journal, for the first time in my life. Daily turned out to be a bit more than my slacker heart could be bothered with, which is why it got sidetracked to make way for this. This way I don't have to rework and detail every aspect of my personal life (imagine doing that for the benefit of one's cult band's followers) - I merely make an entry if the Love Substitutes have been doing anything.

One additional thing that did occur to me, though, was, thanks to the journal I kept last year, I would be able to see exactly what we had done as a band, up untill the point when this blog began. So here goes:

A brief pre-history of the Love Substitutes based on my journal:

Sunday 28th March – Diary entry: "Two Possible Band Names: Farmers with Televisions, The Love Substitutes."
Monday 17th May - Rehearsal (Mortsel)
Monday 24th May - Rehearsal (Mortsel, without Bert)
Monday 28th June - Rehearsal (Berchem, I suggest the name "The Love Substitutes", which goes down well)
Monday 5th July - Rehearsal (Berchem, “We’re really starting to play a bit now”)
Saturday 17th July- Rehearsal (Don't know where)
Monday 19th July- Rehearsal (Ditto)
Wednesday 21st July- Rehearsal (Ditto)
Thursday 22nd July - Recording session for "Meet The Love Substitutes..." (Day 1), Studio 195
Friday 23rd July - Recording session for "Meet The Love Substitutes..." (Day 2), Studio 195
Saturday 24th July - Overdub and mixing session for "Meet The Love Substitutes..." (Day 3), Studio 195
Wednesday 28th July (evening) - Mixing session for "Meet The Love Substitutes..." (Day 4), Studio 195
Thursday 29th July (evening) - Mixing session for "Meet The Love Substitutes..." (Day 5), Studio 195

And that's it. Not terribly much. Not terribly interesting either, to be honest. But maybe your an obsessive/compulsive anal completist, in which case stuff like this interests you. That's OK. I would detail when Rudy cereated the artwork and did the mastering, but I have no idea when he did that stuff because I was back in Scotland at the time, nursing a sweaty head. I can however tell you that I did speak to him on my mobile phone once while cycling back from Slammannan (A God forsaken Catholic-hating, Orange Lodge shithole in Scotland's grim M8 Corridor - I didn't know, honest. I was just testing my new bike [the cost of which my Dad halved with me, bless his hardened arteries]), with regard to such matters. That was on Wednesday 15th September, two days after my 35th birthday.

So now you know.

2005-05-22T16:48:00.000+02:00

My apologies, I've been a bit too distracted and busy with various other things lately to make a post here. So, to catch up - The Cafe Libertad gig in Leuven was great fun - very silly, very messy, great hospitality, warm public and excellent dinner (an enormous melt-in-the-mouth pork shank with mash and gravy) and (delicious) wine beforehand. Unfortunately Mauro and I spent about eight years driving around first the Brussels ring and then the centre of Leuven trying to unravel the central mystery of knowing-where-the-hell-one-is-in-Belgium. Always central to our work, the great mystery. (Fortunately we had a CD of live King Crimson improvs ('73-'74) to keep us entertained for the duration of that potentially traumatic experience - a fittingly deranged soundtrack). Rudy's sister was present, and an Italian chap who had, apparently, travelled all the way from Italy just for that one show.

Such dedication.

Thereafter we spent a couple of afternoons in Bert's attic, working further on the five acoustic pieces. Mauro came round and put snare and floor tom on a couple of them, and we managed a couple of vocals and some midi manipulation despite Trouve's having a post-Libertad hangover of biblical proportions. We should be able to get them finished off this coming week.

Thereafter thereafter we spent a further three days with Patrick in Studio 195 finishing off the last of the overdubs and mixing everything. The creation of this album's been much more difficult and intense than the first. The last couple of days were grumpy, miserable affairs - don't really know why - maybe because we've found ourselves making a studio album without the luxury of actually having lots of studio time - enforced on-the-spot inventiveness can be pretty draining. But I reckon we're all pretty confident it's a good album. And it's always fun afterwards to hear something that was made quickly - something that none of us really had any idea would sound like when we started. Whatever, another day's remixing the few inevitable not-very-good mixes (last Tuesday 17th) and that was that - album number 2 in the can (more or less - acoustic pieces coming soon).

A happy footnote: During the initial recording sessions for this album we felt the improvisations we had done were basically bogus - but thanks to the miracle technology that is overdubbing we've managed to turn a couple of them into proper the-lunatics-have-taken-over-the-asylum style stonkers. And there was I worrying that that side of the band might go unrepresented on this one. Nothing to fear.

We've decided that from now on I'll be taking primary responsibility for booking Love Substitutes gigs so, if you'd like us to come and play at your birthday party, barbecue, gran's funeral etc., drop me a line (see links, above right).

2005-05-04T16:50:00.000+02:00

On Monday we returned to Studio 195 with Patrick to work some more on the songs we recorded a few weeks ago. Happily it was a most productive day, in which various things about which we'd been very unsure became real songs. An alchemical day, you might say. We mixed one song, with some difficulty, little success, and much learning, in the evening. Friday through Monday we'll be back there mixing. I'm looking forward to it.

Tonight Cafe Libertad in Leuven - the first and last Subs gig for some time. We're considerably underbooked for live shows during the approaching summer. If anyone has any marvellous ideas for places we should be playing, please contact Heaven Hotel.

2005-04-17T10:23:00.000+02:00

The end of an intense week of activity for the Subs. Spent Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday back in Studio 195 with Patrick Delabie, recording the latest bunch of ideas, before playing the AB Club with Millionaire on Wednesday evening. A very, very tiring studio session - it felt more like two weeks of studio-time, afterwards, rather than two-and-a-half days. Very different from the "Meet The Love Substitutes" sessions. Whereas those first sessions consisted of recording half-an-albumsworth of songs and, for the rest, a lot of improvisations, this session consisted of trying to turn as many of a shitload of sketchy ideas into real songs as we possibly could within the time constraints. Difficult for everyone, but especially so for Bert, who's been unable to attend rehearsals recently, because he's been so busy with other stuff. But the rest of us figured he's just such a good musician that he'd be able to come up with parts quickly (more so than anyone else in the band). I think we asked a hell of a lot from him. But he managed.

The new recordings are noticeably more rhythmically happening than the first album - almost funky. Almost. There's a whole load of No Wave and Art Punk in there too - This Heat, XTC, Talking Heads, Branca etc. It'll be a while before we can continue working. We'll need at least another day recording before we can move on to the mix stage, and Patrick's fully booked for the next few weeks. At least that'll give me some time to write some lyrics.

The AB gig was OK, nothing spectacular - plagued with technical problems - Rudy kept losing power and Bert's amp came over all farty. Luckily for me, all my gremlins occured during soundcheck (Wherein I spent the entire hour just trying to locate the source of one problem (everytime Mauro hit his bass drum my amp kind of sneezed)) - the gig passed by without any further nonsense (from my gear, at least). Excellent Disconnected - a new approach - dive off into improvisation and then return to the riff later. False metal died, I think, at the moment of return. Mauro's new song - Someone Like You - was also a success, Rudy generating some particularly disgusting noise, even by his standards.

Business as usual then, chez Love Substitutes.

2005-04-07T17:42:00.001+02:00

Another Bertless rehearsal, and the last before hitting the studio on Monday. Lots of excellent last minute bits and pieces, maybe too many to be useful at this late stage. Still, it'll be interesting to see what the addition of the bass boy does to these ideas.

I'm looking forward to it.

2005-04-06T18:58:00.001+02:00

Found myself strangely unsatisfied by the Hof Ter Lo gig last night. Which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact the other guys started without me (I was actually down in the backstage making phone calls, trying to find Mauro, when he was upstairs, onstage, playing). I say strangely because I thought it was just a straightforward bad gig - although I found out afterwards that I was pretty much the only one who felt that way - the other three and the friends-in-the-audience were all pretty positive. I just couldn't get in the zone, I suppose. Music refused to take me into its confidence, as Robert Fripp would say. It felt like a dEUS gig - I may have been there physically, but my heart was in a pub watching Liverpool vs Juventus. Oh, and the presence of my recent ex did bring me down somewhat too. Didn't stay to watch the Wedding Present - felt much more like a change of scene. But it was cute to see Rudy being a fan.

2005-04-04T21:23:00.000+02:00

Rehearsed without Bert this afternoon - Found two or three groovy new things (I think we may have found the riff we've been missing). Mauro introduced a new Jesus-and-Mary-Chain-esque song, featuring yours truly on inadequate drumming.

Came home to find my downstairs neighbour getting his knickers in a twist over the volume with which I close my door (I swear I close it in a perfectly normal manner - no slamming). The silly old codger bangs his door closed several times in reponse to my perceived noise pollution. So now I have to either creep around like a mouse or have a minor run-in with him in the hallway every time I come or go.
Strange he's never complained about my listening to atonal music first thing in the morning. And he never seems to make a peep - one of these strange characters who never listens to CDs or the radio and never watches TV (OK, I never watch TV or listen to the radio either, but I can't imagine an entirely audio-stimulation-free lifestyle).

Tomorrow we're due to kick off at 8 pm in the Hof Ter Lo, for a forty minute set, but the doors open at seven so maybe we can start earlier and play a little longer. I'm curious to hear this new Wedding Present - I haven't heard the album yet but am reliably informed it's rather good.

Oh yes, the WEM has been back in action since the VPRO show. What a difference it makes - although I have been instructed by the Bertish one that it'll make an even bigger difference if I put some new valves in it. Maybe next month.

2005-04-02T14:34:00.001+02:00

Succesful radio show on Wednesday night - 3voor12 on VPRO. A shortish set, broadcast live, we played an improvisation, Open, a short Disconnected, Summer of Mars, Deuxieme Tableau and The Medicine Palace (which wasn't broadcast). The complete set (ie. including the Medicine Palace) is available in streaming audio on the VPRO website (see link above right).
Failed to get to the Pox gig at the Wonderbar on time last night, only catching the last song. The Meyers has requested I not discuss his personal life on this weblog anymore. So I won't. And it wasn't his girlfriend, for the record.
Listening to Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony - quite mad.

2005-03-29T14:58:00.000+02:00

Had a reasonably useful rehearsal last night, without Bert. Or at least I think it was useful - without bass new ideas always sound kind of pathetic even if they're interesting ones. Rudy's been listening to the acoustic sessions and likes them. Mauro finally brought the collage-of-live-improvs CD (which will be released as part of a shared CD with someone or other - watch this space, or indeed the Heaven Hotel space). I like it - listened a couple of times already.

Should be much more downloadable stuff coming soon. And I finally remebered to ask Heyme to put a link to this site on the HH one. My memory's not what it used to be. It has been months I've been meaning to do that.

Lowlands have manufactured another 500 CDs. This is the big time, apparently. Huzzah!

2005-03-28T10:24:00.000+02:00

(Slightly) disappointingly small audience turn-out at De Kreun in Bissegem, last Friday night - but an OK gig, I think, with an unusually high number of quiet moments, and lots of loopy bits. We tried a new song in the set, which had emerged, Mauroless, during the soundcheck (with Bert on drums), throwing Mauro into playing bass on it without ever having heard it - quite succesfully too, I may add. Good version of the new rhythm thing too. Meyers showed up, but sat in the bar with his new girlfriend for almost the entire set. Well worth the drive to the west, I'm sure. I thought I had lost my glasses, but they turned up the following morning, buried in the lining of a suit jacket, much to my relief. Rather drunk. Slept all the way back home to Antwerp in the Trouvematic and failed to rendezvous with Meyers in the Paters Vaetje.

By the way, Mauro didn't bring the CDs, but Bert brought some CDs of the acoustic sessions, and they sound pretty good - Rudy was quite impressed.

2005-03-24T16:00:00.000+01:00

Tonight going down to Leuven to watch and hear Rudy and Elco perform Iron Maiden covers for the Vadermoord (Patricide) series of concerts. Should be fun. It has just occured to me how very, very close the next recording sessions are now - 12th and 13th April. Better get working. Procured for myself Danny's old banjo yesterday and today saw a very interesting old mini for sale, which I must enquire about.

At De Kreun tomorrow, hopefully, Bert and Mauro will both have CDS of recent recordings to distribute,(which should make the fothcoming recording sessions a little easier), then the VPRO session in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

2005-03-23T11:42:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 15th March recorded five (as yet solo) acoustic pieces at Bert's, onto Pro Tools. I think Bert was pretty impressed. They're all short - 1 to 2 1/2 minutes long, and all sound like they were played by a real guitarist. It's about time, some might say. Friday we have De Kreun in Bissegem to look forward to. Good.

2005-03-13T12:57:00.000+01:00

A worthwhile rehearsal on Monday 7th, with a number of new songs starting to take shape, followed by an OK gig in the old swimming pool in Leuven on Thursday 10th. Some reasonably good improvisations and an excellent development on the New Rhythm Thing during soundcheck, which continued during the first live airing. Mauro lent me the King Crimson DVD at last - such ludicrously profound levels of musicianship - such bad eighties suits. I find myself marvelling at the ease with which Adrian Belew sends his sonic palette just completely over the edge.
We've booked a couple of days mid-April in Patrick's studio again, towards album number two, hopefully. We also have a booking agent working for us in Holland now, so some new dates should be forthcoming. Watch this space.

I've started reading Ulysses again. It was about time.

Now working on a few acoustic pieces to be recorded at Bert's on Tuesday. Much archiving and de-mangling of obscure tunings - but quite rewarding work. Also, the dates for the Trix seminars have been set - mid-April 'til late May. Will post them in full later.

2005-02-06T13:56:00.000+01:00

So that's the last Love Substitutes live action for a while. De Bosch in Arnhem, Friday, will go down as the drunkest Love Substitutes show yet - but there was a dry, clipped "fuck-you" aggressiveness about it that I liked. Last night in the Recyclart in Brussels was a definite success - full house (about 400 people), wildly enthusiastic - lots of early eighties style pogoing and moshing and depressive yodelling between songs.

Nice one.

2005-02-02T14:07:00.000+01:00

De Nachten turned out to be something of a success - a surprisingly warm crowd and a short, powerful set. Unfortunately I was in the process of coming down with a heavy cold, which did spoil my enjoyment somewhat. Mauro and I both crashed out in the backstage after the show. FOH Sound Limburger became Dirty Mike and managed to get lost between de Singel and de Uitbreidingstraat, which is quite an achievement, as anyone who knows the geography of Antwerp will tell you. Happily, Bert recorded the show on Pro Tools, so watch this space (or, more likely, Heaven Hotel) for some download action.
Bert kindly took all my knackered amps (and my knackered Octave Multiplexer) up to his pal in Vlissingen for diagnosis and (hopefully) repair. Domino/AB have offered up the 13th of April with Millionaire. Think that's a goer. Can't confirm just yet though.

2005-01-27T21:17:00.000+01:00

Another two gigs in the bag, then. Niel was excellent, possibly the best yet. Lovely warm audience replete with the Chapmans and Meyers. Charlatan a little bit like an exam - full house and no applause. We're clearly too big already. We didn't manage a full rehearsal before these shows - Bert fell asleep on the couch and missed our only attempt at one, but have somehow managed to get a new song together (a one-chord Velvets-type affair) which we aired in Ghent, with some success. The other successses of the night were Disconnected (best yet), Flatzone (best yet by a mile) and Medicine Palace (also by a mile). Show started terribly slowly. We were slow to warm up and so were the audience. Rudy came over all ill towards the end and we had to cut the set short. My friend Jeroen thought we were the bravest band he's ever seen. Thanks, Jeroen. Arnt thinks I should sing more. I think I should sing less.

Oh yes, the Q-Tron is finally back in action. And what a welcome return - gives me a massive extra dynamic dimension. You have been much missed, my friend. The Octave Multiplexer, on the other hand, has joined the waiting-to-be-repaired heap, with all my amps.

2005-01-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

Ah yes, we'll also be recording a session for VPRO sometime mid-February. Watch this space.

2005-01-16T13:12:00.000+01:00

Been a while. Another two gigs completed and a few more bookings confirmed. Been finding it impossible to make the time to rehearse though. That much was evident at the not-terribly-good Hasselt show (Zaal België) on Saturday 8th. Last night's (JH Jokot in Niel) was much better, and very busy. All 3 of my amplifiers are now toast (Rudy dropped the WEM after the Studio Brussel session recordings - nice one). Happily Bert knows a good repair man in Vlissingen. Mauro's taken to recording the shows on mini-disc, in the name of research and development.

Confirmed -

March 10 - Radio Scorpio Festival, Leuven
March 25th - De Kreun, Bissegem
April 5th - Hof Ter Lo, Antwerp (as guests of The Wedding Present)

We'll also certainly be playing the Domino Festival at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels early April, although the precise date remains to be confirmed.

2004-12-18T21:28:00.000+01:00

I feel I should clarify something before litigation and confusion ensues. It relates to the song Summer of Mars, Deuxieme Tableau by us, The Love Substitutes.
The Summer of Mars is a band from Scotland who used to be known as Vera Cruise. Between being known as Vera Cruise and being known as The Summer of Mars they were briefly known as Grizzly Bear.
I produced an album for them about 15 months ago, which still hasn't been released (for the same reasons as the various name changes - I won't go into details). I understand it will be released soon. The album will be called The Summer of Mars. It contains a song entitled The Summer of Mars.
Now, the reason we called our song Summer of Mars, Deuxieme Tableau, is that it is based on a riff which is extremely similar to one in The Summer of Mars/Vera Cruise song of the same name. I felt at liberty to reconfigure said riff because it was written by me. The difference between the two riffs is
- The Vera Cruise one is in 4/4 time and goes danananananana(rest), danananananana(rest) on one note (B)
- while ours is in 3/4 time and goes danananana(rest), danananana(rest) on the same (B) note.
The "Deuxieme tableau" part of the title is a reference to the band Faust, of whom the members of The Love Substitutes are all fans (well, at least Mauro and I). They had a song on their second album, So Far, called Picnic On A Frozen River, which they revisited on their 4th album, Faust IV, wherein it was titled Picnic on a Frozen River, Deuxieme Tableau.
So now, when the Summer of Mars' eponymously titled debut album is (finally) released, and you all rush out and buy it, you have no excuse to go thinking they ripped us off (or vice versa). They got there first and we borrowed it, with permission.

I'll sleep better now.

2004-12-15T21:12:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, Tuesday 14th, the Love Subs recorded a radio session for Studio Brussel, to be broadcast Thursday evening. We did versions of Summer of Mars, Lester Bangs, Hey Did You See Me Coming and Death Folk Sailor. We asked for the latter not to be broadcast because the singing was well ropey. Mauro and I both had heavy colds. He was fried on some surrogate prescription medicine. We were fairly crammed into a tiny little studio, which I recall recording a session for another band in (to my dismay, 10 years ago).

Rudy shared a few upcoming dates with me:

January 8th: Zaal België, Hasselt
January 15th: Jeugdhuis Jokot, Niel
January 20th: Charlatan, Ghent
January 29th: De Nachten, Antwerp
February 4th: Cafe Den Bosch, Arnhem
February 5th: Recyclart, Brussels

Some keywords circulating in the rumour mill at the moment:

The Wedding Present, Damo Suzuki, Domino, London, Prague.

We're out of action for the next while - Mauro's really busy until early January, and I'm still trying to find a job. It'll be soon, I'm sure.

2004-12-13T21:01:00.000+01:00

Spent the entire day looking for jobs. Most productive. Found an excellent website. Knackered now though. Undertook a small Dutch language evaluation at an Interim this morning and, apparently, I'm at higher intermediate level, which sounds OK to me.

I must call Mauro about getting to Brussels tomorrow for this radio session malarkey.

2004-12-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

First two gigs down then. The first, Wonder Bar, Antwerp, on Friday night wasn't so clever. Terrible sound. And it's hard to improvise when you can't hear each other. Never did like playing in Antwerp, for some reason.

The second, at De Molens in Leuven, was much more like it. Broke a couple of strings like in the olden days. People seemed to really dig it. Excellent, charming little venue. We even sold a few CDs.

Both nights we've randomly got a drummer up from out of the audience to play on Meet The Love Substitutes. Worked well both times. Think it might become a regular feature. Tried the quiet delay-loop version of More Than The Sun in Leuven for the first time. Very well received.

Farcical postscript: Martine and I had driven almost all the way back to Antwerp when Rudy called to ask if I had his keys. He couldn't get in his car. Why the hell would I have your keys? thought I. But, of course, I did. I had borrowed them to get a couple of extra pedals from the Trouvématic before the gig, then promptly forgot they were in my pocket. I scanned my brain for some simple solution, but none was forthcoming, so we turned around and drove all the way back to Leuven, in order to drive all the way back to Antwerp. So much for an early night.

Next activity - a radio session for Radio Een or Studio Brussel or something, Tuesday evening.

2004-12-10T17:48:00.000+01:00

Final preparations for gig number 1. Still learning how to sing Open and play it at the same time. Still working out the best pedal configuration. Q-Tron still missing, (though Big Muff mercifully returned, by the grace of Jackson Solanaz). Solanaz couldn't find it at CJ's. I think Barry might have it. One day when we're talking again I'll get it back. Will borrow Mauro's purple beast of not-quite-as-good-as-Q-Tron-ness. And his tuner. Wish us luck.

2004-12-09T21:33:00.000+01:00

Found my guitar.

Spent the first part of the day in search of missing pedals and missing Mauro. Then moved on to buying cheap necessities of the electrical kind. Low-tech self sufficient live performance, welcome back. You have been sadly missed. Strange request from Rudy in the evening re Aarich and synching of a film soundtrack. Will know more tomorrow. Starting to get the feeling that tomorrow's show will be busy as bejaysus, which kind of isn't what we had in mind, but what the feck. Maybe we can talk them into paying us.

Still haven't figured out how to play Open and sing it at the same time.

2004-12-08T20:02:00.000+01:00

So, the Subs are about ready to spring into action as a functioning live-performance band, having lain dormant since work on "Meet The Love Substitutes While The House Is On Fire" was completed. True to form and tradition two rehearsals sufficed as preparation for the first two shows - being Antwerp on Friday and Leuven on Saturday. I don't want to tempt fate so I won't. Death Folk Sailor is the problem child, but love shall break down the barriers of internicine disharmony as ever, have no doubt.

I must find my guitar.