Dreams

 
Flashback: I'm 8 years old and I'm lying in bed trying to sleep but really not having much success with that. I think about the recurring dream that I used to have when I was maybe 5 or 6 that had something to do with moving shapes or blocks moving in time but I have difficulty visualising them clearly. I'd never have been able to guess that almost 20 years later, whilst under the influence of nitrous oxide, I'd not just be able to see the dream as vivid as daylight, but also see how connected the repeating pattern and loops of these shapes forged major decisions I took and the path my life has taken.

However, I'm told that I just rolled over and was moo-ing like a cow.

The Subsource journey brings me to meet many interesting people (perhaps an open-mind help towards finding people more interesting than they otherwise would be). A middle-aged lady I encountered the other day was taking photos with a swanky digital camera at a time and place that was certainly non-worthy of capturing anything of particular note. Out of sheer curiosity I was compelled to ask her what she was taking pictures of. Her reply was that having been diagnosed with chronic leukemia the previous month, she wanted an accurate portrayal of her life and her surroundings to be kept for her baby daughter. I have no idea of what a slightly rusted drainpipe, a small patch of lawn and myself as a random stranger is supposed to be an accurate portrayal of, and hope my expression in the snapshot doesn't confuse the daughter too much. 

Borgspotting @ Glade Festival 2006

  

Borgspotting @ Glade Festival 2006

  

Borgspotting @ Glade Festival 2006

  

Borgspotting @ Glade Festival 2006

  

Borgspotting @ Glade Festival 2006

  

Glade Festival 2006

 

Many many thanks to those who recognised me at Glade fest and came to have a chat.. very humbling, and yes it is unfortunate we're not playing. Next year.. fingers crossed.. if you happen to be an active Glade forum user, dropping a few suggestions on the board would help us out loads.

Anyway, I said I'd post your photos on our blog, so here you all are. Hope your fest was as awesome as mine! 

Writing

My current belief is - that in order to be a creative, you need to find a state of unhappiness or discontentedness that you're willing to remain in for the duration.

Gig Review: 1st July at Beatherder Festival

Keen to get moving and get there nice and early, our plans were stopped pretty abruptly on realising we'd just filled up our diesel van with unleaded petrol.. so after a little bit of siphoning, we were well on our way.. and we pitched up just as news was breaking that England had just been knocked out of the World Cup. (Admittedly, at the Subsource camp, attitudes about football vary from mild interest to hostile intolerance so this had absolutely no psychological effect on us)

Los Guys who were on before us were making some cool noises and we had plenty of time to set-up and prepare considering it was a festival, although this didn't manage to stop Neil from being organised enough to get his laptop in a good enough position to prevent it from falling to the floor and taking out the sequencer track with it halfway through our first tune. Soooo embarrassing.. we kinda tried to ride out on a single bassline for about two minutes with 'For The People' dying out in a breathless whimper. About 4 people in the audience clapped with some degree of empathy and a high degree of uncertainty.

Still, the highlight for me was to have a couple of the Dreadzone guys grooving along.. and they were very complimentary afterwards - nice down to earth guys, especially considering their status and the length of time (12 years)they've been on the circuit.

Nelly's birthday celebrations ensued straight after.. and what a perfect place to celebrate - the guys at Beatherder have done an excellent job for their first year as a (legal) festival and hopefully it'll grow even more and establish itself further over the next few years.