I'm so busy that I think the only way I could possibly get everything done is by cloning myself only I haven't got time. But I have managed to put another radio show up - here's a link: http://bit.ly/wrecklessradio
I've also built our touring keyboard, a delapidated Roland JX8P that Amy plays, into a smart new casing - not, you must understand, to make it look smart, merely to stop it dropping to pieces.
And in between that and convalescing after the Yo La Tengo tour we've been desperately learning twenty or so Kevin Coyne songs for the tribute shows which start in Brussels this Friday. We're setting off for a secret location in Gent where we're going to rehearse with Jon Langford, Robert Coyne, Brendan Croker and the drummer from Kevin's last band. Amy's playing keyboards and and guitar, I'm playing bass.
I'm going to use my Framus Star bass which should cause a stir because it only just resembles a musical instrument of any description. It dates from a time before the role of the bass guitar was clearly defined - no one was quite sure what it was supposed to do, and that's what the Framus Star bass looks like. It has a very long, thin neck, massive tuning pegs and a damper contraption that flips up under the strings pushing a wad of industrial rubber against them so that when plucked they give out a short sound that might most accurately be explained as bluck. The neck is so long that to tune the top string I literally have to walk from one end of the neck to the other. My back is killing me thanks to practicing for a week on this beast of an instrument but I'm hoping to cut quite a dash with it strung around my neck under the stage lights this weekend.
