It is intriguing to note that his tax-avoiding wide is getting £10m from a company that benefitted (allegedly) from Government schemes. I bet she's looking at buying the ground floor for the new Government Fend Off The Sick Agency. Perhaps he will put Liz Truss at the head of the new Agency.

----------------------------

Later on in the day, my writing partner Chris and I did an excellent Zoom interview with a subject for a forthcoming book. More info on that when the book comes out.

----------------------------

23rd April: I met Mike at lunch, did soem shopping and collected prescriptions and later on went to Wigan Infirmary for a 20 minute MRI scan, as I have been having some persistent headaches. The MRI was actually rather more exhausting than I had been expecting. I had a couple of migraines during the day - one first thing, possibly brought on by coffee, and one after my late evening meal, which was possibly caused by the cheese in an omelette. A venue booked us for another 4 gigs this year, which was nice of them.

----------------------------

24th April: Up at about 10.30am. After the two migraines yesterday, I was avoiding anything that would set me off with another mingraine. I kept computer work down to a minimum and might do so for another couple of days.

I re-recorded some lead vocals on the song Cold Cold Heart and did a remix with a fade at the end.

----------------------------

25th April:

Further remixes of Cold Cold Heart and a demo track for a song called We Are United..

-------------------

26th April: I went for my covid jab with Lynda in the morning and then an eye pressure test and paid for some specs in the afternoon. I met Mike and a couple of workmates afterwards. My right arm is really sore after the jab.

-------------------

27th April: Awake very early this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep because of the pain in my arm. The dogs got walked. I took Vincent back to the vet to check his mouth. They want to see him again on Tuesday. I felt pretty rough all day and ended up going back to bed for a few hours late morning.

The evening's gig was in Macclesfield. It went really well. It's always good to play a new venue, where they don't know your usual set list. We left with two return gigs in the diary for later in the year. We've got a lot on, later in the year and I do worry that we will burn out.

-------------------

28th April: I got a message that Lynda's May cardiology appointment has been put back to October. A few minutes later she had an episode. There's little I can do when she has one of those but be there for her. Her heart function is at 27%. 20% is game over. I'm really worried about this.

I do give 'good book cover'.

The jam night was the usual... I wish to God they woulod learn some new songs. It's been 7 years of the same old same old and they're beginning to forget them.

-------------------

29th April: Up very early for a road trip to Borehamwood, helping my mate with his son's house move. We saw three quite serious car crashes on the A1. It was scary. Back at about 8.30pm.

-------------------

30th April: Well, that's another month gone. Vincent got the all-clear from the vet regarding his gums, after a second check. I recorded a second demo version of a new song that I've written with Graham. It's not turned out too bad. I think our guitarist will make a good job of it, if it gets recorded properly in the studio. That remains to be seen, however.

4th May: First thing in the morning was spent remixing another new demo for the band's album, which may or may not happen. It's a very slow process getting this album done. I've released 45's and CD's and download tracks before and can get them out within a couple of weeks of mastering. If this pace continues, I will just polish up the demos and put them out as an album myself.

Our gig in the evening was at The New Inn in Walkden. We played well, but Graham had to interrupt the gig to sort out someone who was bullying a guy for dancing to us, then after the gig, some other twonk decided to spout a load of claptrap about how his motorbike is A BASTARD and that Hitler and Enoch Powell were right and how he would beat up any muslims in the pub. Horrific. I wouldn't like to live in his head. I nearly threw up on him.

-------------------

5th May: Up late after last night's gig. Extremely tired, as I was woken up by cats before 7am and didn't get back to sleep for AGES. No jam night tonight, as the Tyldesley music festival is taking place. We've done it for the last two years, but this time the organisers have handed over band bookings to the venues themselves and I didn't feel like going round them, begging for a gig. My intention was to go out for a curry with friends instead, but Lynda isn't well enough for that these days.

-------------------

7th May: That said though, Lynda did manage to go to see Julian Clary with my daughter at the Opera House in Manchester. She was rather jittery about going, but tickets had been bought and I said I would get her to the door and pick them up afterwards. While they had a good evening, I wandered around Manchester, and went in my favourite pub.

  

Somehow, along the way, over the last week, because I haven't been blogging (or doing anything) with much enthusiasm, I have forgotten to mention that we have a new single out through Amazon and Spotify.

Click the pic to buy the track for 99p on Amazon. It's great. Treat yourselves.

   

-------------------

9th May: I bought a day ticket for the bus (£5) and went into Bolton to collect my new specs from Specsavers and then met Mike in Bolton and we went over to Bury on the bus, where we met our friend Steve Gibson and went to a couple of pubs to chat and drink. I was home not long before 6pm. A nice warm day.

-------------------

10th May: I took Tom for a walk to collect my prescription for pain killers. I asked and they said that Lynda's absolutely essential prescription will be ready on Monday. She only has two tablets left, which is why I asked. After I got home, a text arrived saying that Lynda's tablets were ready. Duh. Another nice enough day today. A chap has messaged about an acoustic bass case that I am selling. He wanted to come round to get it tomorrow, but later on, he messaged again saying he couldn't make it and would re-arrange..

The evening's gig was near Rochdale. For most of the gig we had a very muted response from the pub crowd. They just didn't seem to know how to acknowledge that there was a band playing in the same room. It's sometimes hard not to get a bit snotty when this happens. I just pick up the cash in this situation.

-------------------

11th May: Scorchio. Lynda thinks my shorts are amusing. I organised my collection of all of the demos for our album into some sort of pecking order.

Our gig this evening was at the Swan Hotel in Whalley. It was a slightly odd gig. We finished at 11pm and the crowd got all enthusiastic for the last couple of songs. They'd been a pub crawl crowd pretty much up until then. No sign of The Northern Lights, which everyone else was raving about.

-------------------

12th May: This is my diary entry for the Mass Observation, which took place today.
livefromworktown.org.uk

"Diary entry . . .

Awake early - 8am - and I had a read of the book that I am in the middle of: ‘The Paul McCartney legacy’ which is a study of his life and career at the end of and just after The Beatles split up. Up early (before 9am – quite a feat seeing as my band were playing in Whalley, near Blackburn, last night), and after a coffee and a listen to some music – the last Sparks album, which I am still trying to love - I set off, at about 10am with the intention of I taking our dog Tom for a reasonable length walk. This all went very well, until I figured out that it was going to be too hot for him. We had walked for a good 20 minutes to a nice leafy part of Farnworth and then we turned back and I got Tom home and into some shade and he drank a lot of water.

Our other dog, Oscar is a little bit rotund and shows no signs of liking heat or longer walks. He got a quick trot round the park opposite my house at about 11.15am and then we whisked him back indoors before he got too hot.

Around noon, after a quick detour to a corner shop to buy some bread, I went upstairs into my office and had a good look at the update work I have been doing on my website, which is finally just about complete. I reformatted a few more pages into the new design (my author page and a page about one of my guitars that is fairly rare) and finally the whole of www.ianedmundson.co.uk is now looking more uniform. I’ve done some work today on www.the3.co.uk and that is proving to be a lot easier.

At 12.30, I was brought a cheese toastie by my very patient wife, who is sat outside now with hers and two dogs who feel like they should know more about her toastie.

I sent a very brief email with a couple of supplementary questions to the actor Tom Conti, who I have done a Zoom interview with the other week for a book I am writing for the 50th anniversary of the Slade film, ‘Flame’. He’s been very generous with his time and he comes across as being a lovely chap.

I ordered a couple of proof prints of the book from Amazon’s print publishing site, so we can check the look and feel of the book as we go along. Some people have asked for it to be made available in hardback. We shall have to see about that, as they cost a lot more to print.

Around 1pm, I am getting really tired again. The last couple of days with band work has been very tiring and I feel like going for an hour or two’s sleep, but a part of me wants to fight that off and steamroller through it and stay awake. We are hosting our weekly jam night in Tyldesley this evening and it’s an hour to set up, three and a half hours of work and then a quicker breakdown of the gear. I usually end up spending most of the evening on stage and it’s hard work. I’ve struggled for a while with this work, as I have had prostate cancer that keeps coming back and it has stuffed my immune system and has weakened me. Apart from the money side of things, I worry that if I stop I will lose something that keeps me going.

I spend an hour poring over some lyrics I have been given to work on for a new band recording. I can’t quite get my head around them and think it may be best if our guitarist has a go at them. I also catch up with some emails.

I settle down on the sofa for another hour or so to relax and watch some things on Youtube. It doesn’t really matter if I fall asleep, but I am covered in cats and they keep me awake.

I have an early evening meal on Sundays, as I have to be in Tyldesley for 6pm to set up for a 7pm start. The car gets packed just in time for me to set off. I arrive just before 6pm and the venue open the front door and I load in. I have to lay on 3 sets of mains power cables to the stage, set up a PA system and mixer and monitor and my bass rig and then get everything balanced. It’s a stressful rush job every week to get it done in time and I don’t get much help.

The jam night was short of a couple of regulars, who are away on holiday, so we played a longer opening set to run through some songs that we need to make sure we get right. We played very well and really enjoyed our opening slot. We managed to get a good number of people up. We’ve been doing this for about 8 years now and have running a jam night down to a fine art.

One young band, all kids, turn up and the bassist has an instrument with a flat battery. I check his battery output – it’s well and truly dead. He doesn’t know what to do and just stands there looking stricken. An adult would probably just think ‘I need to get a new battery’. It has happened to me and when it did I zoomed off to the petrol station to get one.  But he’s young and inexperienced and the wires don’t quite connect yet. His mum comes over to ask what’s wrong. When I show her the dead battery, she goes to the shop down the road for him. Then they carry on. I tell the lad my story about when I played a big dinner dance at the Preston Guild Hall when Preston became a city. I had a wireless transmitter between my bass and my amp and the battery died. No spare. I had to get a cable in within a few seconds while the rest of the band glared at me. He’s learned a lesson: Carry batteries. I also told him it doesn’t matter at a jam night. It happens. I must buy a couple of batteries as I have used my spares.

A chap turns up to play a few songs on ukulele with us backing him. He calls himself Shambolic Steve and he gives a 100 year old German ukulele in mint condition a first outing. He’s really thrilled to have got the instrument.

We finish after 10.30 and I play a few songs over our PA system and get on with breaking the gear down. It would be good if all three of the band got on with this at the same time.

I discuss the slow progress on the album that the band are making with our drummer. It's dragging and we have taken months to get some sojmgs together. I decide I am going to have to get down to recording some brand new tracks suitable for release, as the band are simply not fast enough at getting the new songs learned and recorded. My demo's are of release standard quality, so I will just tidy them up and re-record them where necessary and we can release these recordings as masters rather than lashing out a lot of money and wasting time in the studio.

I am away at 11.18 and home not long after, then I pack away my gear, which pretty much fills my Vauxhall Zafira – not a small car. I’m looking to change cars for something smaller in the new year. I crack open a beer and write all of this down.

Tom Conti replied to my latest email, which is nice of him
And along comes midnight.

-------------------

13th and 14th May: A productive Monday morning - I re-recorded one of my demo songs - four vocals, bass and two guitars - (using Graham's lyric) with a view to doing it with sufficient sound quality ro release on the group album. It turned out quite well and it just needs Graham to add drums to it. Here's a snippet of the recording session. What I particularly like about this song is that I just play a regular repeated A bass note all the way through it. It's merely a pulse and it works perfectly. I have wanted to write something so effortlessly and perfectly dumb for years.

Very late on, on Tuesday evening, I re-recorded a version of the other recent new track to a click track and despite re-recording the guitar and bass parts a number of times, it doesn't hang together properly like on the demo, so that's going to have to be messed with - probably using the demo as the basis for the album track. I got rather fed up and scrapped the new work I had done during this session, as it just wasn't hanging together at all, which is just plain annoying.

-------------------

15th May: As a result of late night's very late night / early hours recording attempt, I kept snoozing my alarm for a while. Then my dentist rang to rearrange my appointment this afternoon. I spent some time clearing downloaded files from my computer. I have lots of pdf magazines on an external drive and also mp4 movie files on another external drive. Freeing up my C drive is useful. I also make decisions on what to get rid of.

After giving the dogs a quick walk, I hot-footed it to the dentists and one repaired filling later, I have a left side on my mouth that isn't going to work properly for the next couple of hours..

I spoke to my GP surgery  to try to find out why I have had no follow-up call from an MRI scan on April 23rd (and why I appear not to have been referred to ENT re the hearing loss problems I have had. That led me to have to ring Leigh Infirmary. I will try them again tomorrow as the Neurology secretaries appeared to have finished for the day.

-------------------

16th May: My alarm had gone off at 10am and then my phone went. It was Graham asking if he could have a backing track (without vocals) of the demo recording of one of our songs for when our guitarist landed at his house to work on their two songs for the album. I just got up and did a nicely balanced no-vocal mix for him and emailed it to him within half an hour. I found out later that our guitarist didn't even show up, and didn't even say he wasn't going to turn up. It's reaching a point where to get this album done, it needs to be taken over. We are going to get some outside help in to do it.

Our friend Ken rang up as he was out and about and called in to see us. I've been trying to get Lynda to arrange us getting together to go for a curry. Saturday night is earmarked for us going out - if Lynda feels fit enough on the day.

-------------------

17th May: It's gone 2am and I have been repairing a band demo recording the group made a while ago, by adding a guitar part to replace one that is rather out of time. Only Graham could hear the actual click track on the day and we guitarists therefore strayed a bit out of time. Our guitarist let us down yesterday by failing to turn up to work on the two songs he has written with Graham. Graham was furious. The saga of these two songs has been going on since last year. We can't rely on him helping us to finish the album, because he doesn't seem at all interested in doing it, or to care about the band, except as a way to earn money. I put mixes of both backing tracks in our Facebook chat group, in the hope that we can try them live on Sunday.

I got on with a couple of jobs - ringing Leigh Infirmary re my MRI (there's a 6 week wait for the MRI result to come back) and also our vets re a prescription for some flea treatment for our cat Vincent. GP will phone me back re a referral to ENT.

I walked the dogs and had a rest in the afternoon and got a couple of hours sleep.

JOBS FOR NEXT WEEK:

Sort out 6 years of deficient National Insurance Contributions due thanks to my employer deciding to contract me out of the scheme for a period. This is going to cost me almost £5k to put right. I am less than impressed, but stuck with doing it, as I will lose £40 per week from October if I don't. It will pay for itself within a few years.

-------------------

18th May: Another phone call from Graham. We are going to enlist some guitar and vocal help with the album. We talked about what to do about the band. I think we have enough gigs in the diary for this year. I've closed the diary. I want to slow things down a little next year. Usually, if things are going wrong like this, I get a nervous stomach and start feeling ill, but this time, I'm getting a bit past caring.

A farly relaxed afternoon with a couple of dog walks. Out in the evening with Lynda and Ken and Maureen. We went to the Achari in Bolton for a curry.  The first time since Christmas. An enjoyable evening and I sent Ken some dates for him to choose when we go next. I did intend to got to catch some songs by local band Revolver afterwards, but Lynda had an AF attack as we left the restaurant, so I stayed home with her. Another time.

-------------------

19th May: I woke early (around 7) and was wide awake until 9am. My mind was turning over  with the new songs. My alarm woke me again at 10.15, but I fell back asleep and was woken up a bit after 11.00 by Graham ringing me, asking for a copy of a demo with vocals for one of the songs. It looks like another nice warm day.

I have been a bit worried about the jam night later today, as things are going to have to be said. Graham and I are intending to do a couple of the new songs that have been recorded for the album with just me on guitar and his drums. We will see.

I forgot to take the lyrics for the new songs with me, so carting the guitar amp in and setting it up was a waste of time. Also: Things were said - we discussed it first and decided that they had to be said - and it didn't go down well. I will find out by next weekend if we still have a band. We all need to be committed to do it and have no-one letting us down. It's not exactly hard for us all to just get on with it.

-------------------

20th May: Awake before 10am when my alarm went off. I walked Tom over to the other side of Farnworth to drop a prescription off. Two venues creating issues, as if we don't have enough at present.... . One double booked us for the 31st, but gave us a date in June that we could actually do...... Another has told us that we needed to be offstage at 11pm for a boxing match on the day we play there, expecting us to reduce our fee for finishing early. I said it would be the same fee, as we will start at 9pm and finish just before 11pm. Fortunately she agreed, or we would not have done the gig. They do try it on.

-------------------

21st May: Dog walks and lots and lots of book work, slightly hampered by Edward lying on my notes and my computer keyboard. I was talking to my co-author Chris about how to find some information out for the book and he said he had seen it in a document he had from the release of the album and film. That document was a total surprise to me and it's now in the book, which has topped 300 pages. People are going to be astonished.

-------------------

22nd May: Our online shopping from Tesco arrives, followed by a rare Slade-related 45 I got at a pleasingly low price.

23rd May: I no sooner arranged for Rachel to come round with April tomorrow morning, than my GP arranges a hospital appointment for the morning for issues to do with my hearing. I managed to get it put back to the afternoon. After which I have to nip round and help my friend John get some photo ID sorted so he can vote in the election. I went to the dentists to be brutalised by the lovely hygienist.

-------------------

24th May: #What.A.Bloody.Day. Up before 9 to got to Tesco to get some fruit for our lovely visitors this morning. Then off to the hospital to park up half a mile away and then walk in for a 1pm ENT appointment. I saw some junior doctors, but not the senior doctor, as he was detained in the operating theatre - which can't be helped. I told them I was feeling unwell and they will call me in for a clinic. Despite feeling rubbish, I still went to John's to do his Voting ID application online. Neither of our phones would connect to his laptop. He doesn't have a mouse, so I struggled to get a photo on his laptop. His inbox has 200 unread emails in it, so it is full and he didn't get the link I emailed to him for the application. People called round while I was trying to do this for him and I just wanted to get home and have a sleep. When I finally got home, I did Lynda's renewal blue badge application. It wants all of the doctor and meds and effects of illness information from last time again. Nothing has changed.

Too late to get the car insurance updated or pay the missing NI contributions today. That is now a job for Tuesday, as we apparently have a bank holiday on Monday.

I found out, just as I was about to change my shirt and set off for our evening gig, that it had been cancelled. A good job that I checked my messages. The venue had a burst pipe so was unable to open. That led to an evening on the sofa with a couple of beers and an early night as I was tired out.

A couple of photos for the website.

   

-------------------

25th May: Up fairly early at 9.30am, a good night's sleep, seeing as I was actualy in bed last night well before 11pm. A reasonably nice day, spent walking dogs, watching TV, reading the new Stephen King book and in the evening I set off to go to our gig in Chorley. I arrived at about 7.50, to ensure that we were onstage for 9pm. We had to be off for 11pm as a local lad was in a big boxing match on TV. Some friends of the band came along to watch us, which was good, but we were suddenly hoiked offstage at 10.35, much before we expected, as the two boxers appeared  in the ring well before the fight started. This was the only pub in Chorley which showed the two guys trying to beat each other senseless and it was hard work getting our gear out, as the place was rammed, but we managed. I called in at McDonalds in Chorley (no milk shakes????) and I was still home at around 11.30pm. And we got paid.

-------------------

29th May: A couple of days of web and book work. I put a couple of new NOIZE book adverts on the net, involving video and music editing.

Met Mike yesterday and took a band gig in Burnley for July.
Lynda's been struggling slightly with her AF. She insists on doing too much.
I put this video together today - it took ages.

-------------------

30th May: Graham came round to my house late on this morning and we got drum tracks down for two tracks on the album. A very productive day. After he went, I recorded some parts on one of the songs to tighten them up a bit and get them properly in the groove with the drums.

31st May: I got up at about 10.30am and made an early start on finishing the two tracks off and getting master mixes of them. Graham wants the album out for September. I will try to get some more song lyrics set to music shortly.

-------------------

1st June: I got up early and listened to the two songs again. One of the mixes was weirdly horrible. I think my ears got tired out on the day and it was just a rather flat mix with the guitar far too low. I did another mix and listened to it and it's fine now.

Graham had given me another set of lyrics a short while ago and I had really struggled to make up anything to go with them   I put a drum loop to play on the computer and played along with it and et voila! - along came a brand new track. I spent most of the day labouring over it - recording and then re-recording parts - and ended up with a slowish song, lasting over 8 minutes. I made a rough mix of it and saved a copy. It's nice to be a bit more productive. I don't record enough these days.

The evening's gig went well, but there is quite a bit of background tension going on at the moment. Graham and I agreed that the new song probably needs speeding up a bit and to lose a couple of verses. I emailed him a copy of it when I got home. It's not the most comfortable performance, so a re-recording is the way forward.

-------------------

2nd June: I got up early and re-recorded the newest song 20 bpm faster (at 100 bpm) and it works a whole lot better. The words need sorting out a bit, as a few words need taking out here and there. The song lost a couple of verses to make it a lot more concise and it now comes in at just under 5 mins, with three choruses and two guitar solos in there. I worked very hard on the guitar solos for the new recording and used the guitar synth for a brass section under the chourus and final solo. Graham really likes the newest song. It's a result.

The jam night was awkward and uncomfortable. I got off stage as much as I could, as I am getting totally fed up with people who play badly and play the same stuff every week year in-year out and it was good to let Andy from Medusa take some of the strain. I've been doing jams since August 2013. When I got home I messaged to our group chat room about us finally going into the studio and recording the two songs that we have been trying to do since last year. They ARE going to be recorded soon, whether all of us play on them or not. Graham wants the album to be out by September.

-------------------

3rd June: Awake early, but up at 10am. Lynda was struggling today. She's depressed about the ongoing upset with her daughter and her heart problems are getting on top of her. She hardly ate anything today and she went to bed at about 8.30pm. I'd spent an amount of the day doing some book work on the Slade In Flame At 50 book. We have ordered a second set of proofs now that the book is up to 317 pages.

-------------------

6th June: The proof copies of Slade In Flame At 50 came and some further amendments have been made - and writing continues. Approaches are being made for a couple of interviews. We will see what happens. Yesterday I paid nearly £5000 worth of National Insurance Contributions to bump up my State Pension, which is due in October.

-------------------

10th June: This year is flying by. The weekend's band activity was good fun. We played a local venue on Friday and some friends came along and we had a blast.

The Saturday evening gig was a good one, too. I managed to stay off the stage a lot at the jam night this week, which is unusual. Am I getting too old to keep doing this - probably...... I took Tom for a good walk and dropped off Lynda's prescription. I took her off the car insurance this afternoon, as she isn't fit to drive.

In the early afternoon, I caught up a couple of hours sleep after a quite tiring weekend. I woke up to an urgent message from my book writing partner Chris asking me how to urgently get the new track from Jim Lea up on Facebook. A wav copy of the new track ('Like A Million Years') was attached. We were the first two to hear it. I conjured up an image for the video file and uploaded it as a movie to YouTube on our Slade Interviews channel. Then I went downstairs and had my tea.

July 25th:

Up late. Walked the dogs. Had a relax and some computer web work. My GP surgery sent me a text about my renewal prescription for painkillers. They asked how many I take a day. Two. Then why have I put my prescription in for more, if I should have some left? Fair question. I mentioned the griping pains after radiotherapy and they couldn't get off the phone quick enough. OK, they said.

July 26th: I woke up at 7am and stayed awake until 8am. I managed to get back to sleep. With no alarm set to disturb me, it was nearly noon when I woke up again.

I went for a pint in the Bridgewater (the one that insists on no phones, etc, but where they serve Sam Smiths beer) and took the Chris Charlesworth book with me to read. I went in a little side room for some peace and quiet as there were some guys sat in the main room next to the bar. I found that I wasn't alone in there either, as there was a little bloke in his 80's with a walking frame who tried to engage me in some sort of conversation. I pointedly stuck my face in my book and gave him one word answers. I felt a bit rude doing it, but the rules in there are no technology and it's a place for peace and quiet. Then someone took a phone call by the bar. I was there for about 20 minutes and my peace and quiet and my reading was occasionally punctuated by hearing occasional burps and farts coming from the little old chap a few feet away. I said nothing.

I mainly went out to collect Lynda's prescription. We took the dogs round the park when I got back. Early on in the evening I got a migraine and had to go to bed for a while. No gigs tonight or Saturday, so it was obvious my evening off was going to get ruined.

__________

August 12th:
Some book work. A nice hot day. Got some things done. Lynda and I watched the Dark Knight film in the evening. Bed very late as I stayed up afterwards watching this all the way through. What an exemplary show. I love the drummer.

__________

August 15th:
Up at about 10am. Lynda's not having a great morning. Dealt with the unreasonable demands of our menagerie. My pocket diary for 2025 came yesterday and I have been thinking hard about what to do regarding the band for next year. I think we are all going to have to have a talk and if it goes well, we could do another year, albeit at a sightly slower and less punishing pace. That's how I feel about it at the moment. It could change. Graham is meant to be coming recording at mine tomorrow - we can talk about it then.

__________

August 18th:
On Friday, Graham came round and we finished recording the drums for two album tracks. I will mix them over the weekend. Rachel popped round with April, but I only saw her a little as the final recording was still happening. We were out later that evening in Adlington. A decent enough gig. We played well. The landlady is really lovely and it wasn't far to travel.

Saturday was a bit awkward, as I had to attend a follow-up clinic at Urology. They are now catching up with some of the things that should have been done a while ago. I'm going to have to work harder to catch up with some things. Rachel, April and Ste came round and we went out for lunch. Lynda wasn't feeling up to it. A lovely visit. The evening gig was at The Swan in Whalley and was again a decent one. A bit of a transient crowd, but there you go... That happens. An 11pm finish, so  I was back home at a sensible time. Dropped a card in at a nearby music venue, while i was up there..

Sunday: Up a bit late (around 11am). I mixed the two songs for the album and we now have decent enough master WAV files to do the CD's from. It looks like two maxi-EP's, rather than an album. There are two songs outstanding at present. It depends on which songs are going on which EP's, as to when I get the discs pressed up. I put another proof copy of a book on Ebay. The jam night was unusual in that I quite enjoyed it for a change. This was due to someone else playing bass with a regular and playing a great set of songs for me to play bass on. Plus some nice young ladies to observe. I didn't get paid as we were all really busy at the end and I will get my dosh on Thursday, when we re-live the absolute horror that is the recording studio.

__________

August 19th:
Up before 10am. Struggled to fight with a duvet cover for a while.  Did an amount of band admin work. Recovering from a 3 gig weekend.

__________

August 22nd.
My band did a gig at the beginning of the month and we still haven't been paid by the brewery who were invoiced on the 5th. They read the email (as I got a read receipt) but they haven't dealt with the payment. I sent a reminder a week later, saying delays like this leave me out of pocket and could lead to future gig cancellations. I posted a mild grumble on Facebook about breweries - Joseph Holts Brewery in particular - and the landlady got in touch, aghast. She got onto her Area Manager yersterday. Nothing has happened yet. These faceless corporations, staffed by idlers who can't be bothered to pay people for the work they do, only give pub landladies a bad name that they don't deserve. We were in the studio today, mixing two songs for the forthcoming EP's. The songs sound great. I came home and straightaway slightly remixed a track that was recorded in my studio at Graham's request. I appear to have picked up a session next week and possibly some design work.

__________

August 23rd:
A small victory for mankind. Holts's brewery paid up this morning.

__________

August 24th:
The band played in Southport in the evening. The pub has lost its biker trade that used to make it really buzz. Graham took us outside to hear a new mix of When Things Go Wrong, as the first mix was a little heavy on the tambourine. The band have agreed to continue through next year. We mixed up the set and just played some stuff we don't usually play in the first half. We have said we are going to record here at my studio on Sept 5th. This means the album - we are back to it being an album and not two EPs - will not be ready for a  large gig that we are doing. Oh well.

__________

August 25th:
No jam night in the evening. Lynda accompanied me to a wedding. A good time was had by all and much getting up with the wedding band's gear was done. I asked Lynda a few times if she was wilting, as I was ready to take her home before she got too tired. She persevered until quite late and then had a bad AF attack. I got her home and to bed.

__________

August 26th:
Bank Holiday Monday. Not much to do all day, apart from walking the dogs. Late in the afternoon I set off to play at an all day festival in Bury. I mamaged to park up close by, which was a miracle. The band before us over-ran. Like they do and dawdled badly at getting offf the stage. Bastards. I didn't say anything. The Glaston-Bury tech spec said there would be a bass cab in place and that i just needed to bring an amp. WHY DID I TRUST THEM? Our guitarist had to go through the PA too. It was horrible. The gig was a total farce for me with the bass inaudible. We went down really well, but I was losing my shit with the guy who was not contending very well with the mixing desk and PA. He was fiddling with it throughout and just looked confused. He seemed lost. My bass disappeared, and it was joined by the guitar and vocals at times. Graham told me to be nice. I was furious. That was some of my life I will never get back. I got out of Bury like a shot as soon as we were off stage. The worst gig I have ever played. And it wasn't at all down to us. We won't get fooled again.

Photo: Ken Thompson

We found out later from a forum that someone in authority had got rather drunk and lost his mind because two people were in the bar without wristbands. An altercation blew up and the person then started taking it out on the bands lined up to play and cancelled them all. At least we got to play, I suppose.

__________

August 27th:
Apart from meeting Mike in town for a quick beer at lunch, today was a bit of a nothing day. The beer sadly wasn't that great. I have been invited to play bass on a recording session on Thursday. I spent some time sitting down, learning the two songs concerned from rough demo recordings I've just been sent and writing the approximate parts out for myself. One's a little hard to follow, with three sections running into each other. That maybe needs a little bit of arranging on the day. There's no vocal on the other very rough demo, so I haven't got a definite idea of  what they will want on bass to counterpoint a vocal. Where do verses and choruses start and end? We will need to run through it a few times so I can get a feel for it and contribute something. It's going to be a slightly difficult day, I feel, but I do like a bit of a challenge and to make something happen on tape. Not that anyone uses tape these days...

__________

August 28th:
I did some quick work on Slade In Flame At 50. I've also started booking band gigs for next year. I always intend to make us a little less busy, but the diary always seems to run away with itself and I get the others asking if we are out on empty dates, so I end up finding us something.

__________

August 29th: Up early and off to the other side of Rochdale to do the recording session. It went better than I expected, as everyone was very constructive. We'd all done our homework and after a number of run throughs we got the backing tracks for the two songs down fairly early in the afternoon. I took the opportunity to split as early as I could, having done my bit, as one of our cats looks a little like he needs to see the vet. I couldn't get him in today, but have got him an afternoon slot for tomorrow. __________ August 30th: I set a limited edition book to publish on Amazon, ready for an announcement on September 1st and finally got to bed at about 2am. I was woken up by a call from the Vet at 7.50am, advising that Vincent could be seen at 9am. I didn't go back to sleep, but stayed in bed with my eyes closed as I had a migraine. The Vet visit was quick and expensive. Oh well. I then went back to bed for the rest of the morning, as my head wasn't recovered from the migraine attack. A bit of last minute re-writing for the new book and I re-uploaded it. It's just going to be available through the start of September only and that's it. We have one more book planned at present to follow this and Flame At 50, which I will help Chris with. The evening's gig was in Wardle, near Rochdale. We had a decent sized but inattentive crowd. It's one we do for the money more than the fun of it. We mixed the set up a bit and played some different stuff - 3 songs by The Who that don't usually get into the set. Off at 11.25pm and home a short while later. The M60 was closed from J17-J15, which was not amusing at all. I came off at Prestwich and cut through the country roads to get back to Farnworth.

Graham had sent me a very rough mix of both of the songs that we recorded and I had a quick listen before hitting the hay. Rough is the correct word. I'm sure it will sound better later on when Pete does a proper mix. Bed at about 1.30am.

__________

August 31st:
Up at 10am and I did a bit of web work and book work. It's amazing what's still turning up for SLADE IN FLAME AT 50. Ordered some author copies of the new book from Amazon via the publisher portal. I was tired out after last night and spent a while asleep in the back graden on the swing seat, the most comfortable place, apart from bed. The evening's gig was in Leyland (where they used to make trucks).

__________

September 1st:
A tedious morning of editing a few things and I broke it up a bit by walking the dogs. The jam night was actually enjoyable for once. I'm not doing it next week. We had arranged cover, but he's let us down and has subbed the bass job out to someone he knows. I won't ever ask him again.

__________

September 2nd:
I spent some of the day emailing people regarding the Flame At 50 book. Amazon are being odd as to supply dates for the limited Whatever Happened To Flame book. They are saying people will get the paperback in March 2025, which is no use. I have let people know the issues are beyond our control and that we may get the book done elsewhere and just junk the Amazon edition.

__________

September 5th - 8th:
The last few days have been a slight stress about the new book not showing as available when people are ordering it from Amazon. Saying it will be delivered 'next March' is no use to us. It seems to be a glitch with Amazon. What was meant to be a quick in-and-out publish has been ruined by them. As soon as we get our author copies, we are deleting the book. The book was unpublished on Saturday evening. In and out, a quick win for the bookshelf. There was no intention to make any real money on the book.

I had the band in my home studio today to do two final tracks for the album. I have to finish the songs, then mix and master them over this weekend. It turns out that the two tracks recorded with the band need the drums re-recording, due to distortion on some tom hits on the the electronic kit. Graham wasn't well that day and we didn't quite manage to spend the time we needed on the kit. I have suggested to Graham that we get a room we use and re-do the drums using his regular drums. He's mentioned congas as well. Oh joy.

Talking of unwanted stalker attention, as I've had some recently, which is being dealt with..... American pop star Chappell Roan has been complaining that members of her family have been stalked and bothered by fans and that she's bothered by the siudeen anc constant invasion of her own personal space. She's made a couple of videos where she unapologetically tries to make people see that it is not reasonable behaviour. Now some might say 'you wanted fame, so deal with it...' The problem is that before there was the internet and social media, people in such a public position were not subjected to the kind of scrutiny and pressure that she's recently been getting since her recent meteoric rise. She's had anxiety issues in the past and I really worry that this is not going to do her any good mentally. She will have to come up with a second album next year and I just see this being a lot for her. Women in music have always to a degree had some unwanted attention, I suppose, but that doesn't make it right for people to try to get to her through her parents and relatives and friends. There are ways of dealing with contact with fans. Some hide, some are careful to make themselves strategically available. That way, you know you can actually meet them and it takes the idiocy and the tension out of it.. Last year, I went to see Samantha Fish in Manchester. She is known for signing things after shows so we hung around a little after she'd finished playing and sure enough, she came out and spent a little time with anyone and everyone who had bought something. It sells product and everyone feels a little better. She comes across as really nice. She might do this after most shows, with a large member of the road crew keeping a careful eye on proceedings, but she didn't look very comfortable about it when she first came out. She could have been tired and I know she felt the crowd were very reserved that night (because we listened). I've seen pictures of guys with arms round her - I do find that rather creepy - and she keeps a practiced smile in place. When it was my turn, I kept my safe distance and didn't make any bodily contact at all and she seemed quite relaxed. I got my record signed and a photo and a quick chat. I did mention respecting her personal space. She's set the boundary properly and established a good way for the people who like her to have a moment with her. Chappell Roan is suddenly selling a lot more records and her shows are selling out instantly. Popping out to the merch stall would end in a riot. I don't know what the answer is, short of her going into hiding.

No gigs for the band this weekend, apart from the jam night, which I'm having a night offf from. Curry beckoned and it was an enjoyable evening. The weekend off has done me a little bit of good. I could get used to this.

------------

September 14th:
I haven't been keeping up with my blog as I have been a bit lazy in that respect. I have been settling down with the Ultravox Lament box set which has arrived slightly late. The new Nick Lowe CD came yesterday and that will probably get a blast tomorrow. I sent Graham rough mixes of the two album tracks to see what he thought of them. I haven't finished the backing vocals due to the timing errors on the tracks. They are putting me off. The CD is coming out much later than we thought now. A vocalist has been in singing on the tracks I played bass on a couple of weeks back. I haven't heard them yet. I've taken a bunch of gigs. Some venues are being really slow at getting on with booking next year and they are going to find that I have boxed off more not available dates, as I want to slow it down just a little bit next year. On Wednesday, United Utilities attended, as a water main had burst and our water went off. They managed to get the water supply restored that evening. Thursday morning saw them digging the road up and as a result, my car was stranded on my drive. Nobody knocked on to advise me to get my car out. I asked a workman about getting my car out that evening and the result was that my drive was rather pointedly blocked with barriers and the pavement was not left safe to back the car over. Friday morning had me talking tot heir support line and the people who were fixing the carriageway kindly levelled the pavement area for me a bit so I will be able to get my car in and out tonight.

------------

September 18th:
The weekend's gigs were just a wee bit fraught. I have taken next year's gigs off the front page of the website for the time being, as there's still quite a lot to be confirmed. I don't like messy pages with TBC all over the place. I met up with Mike for lunch yesterday and went through my woes. This morning I booked two tickets for Supergrass in Manchester next May. I spent some time rejigging the album cover - the two last tracks didn't make it onto the album - and chasing Lynda's prescription.

------------

September 24th - 26th:
It was a busy weekend for the band. Two gigs and a jam night. Everything - thankfully - went fairly smoothly. Lots of frantic work has been going on behind the scenes to get the album ready for pressing up. Sequencing the album tracks took some doing and I left it to Graham in the end to sort that out. I did the artwork for the disc and cover. We decided against a booklet because of the additional costs. It looks like a result to me. I have a release date in mind, dependent on delivery. It has gone to print today. I met Mike for lunch in Bolton and we had a good catch up about my old workplace and life in general. I have done a little work on the next Slade book, but to be honest, working on two projects at once means either or both tend to suffer, so I will get back down to it again in late October. No spoilers, sorry. A bit of prep work for the coming weekend's gigs.

------------

September 27th - 29th:
Friday saw us in Wolverhampton, playing at the Slade convention. I'd been watching the attendee numbers dwindling slightly on Facebook as people made their apologies, due to health conditions and family commitments etc. The tribute band Slade UK were unable to play, as their singer was in hospital. Get well soon, Nidge. Graham travelled down in my car with me, which was nice. He spent a lot of the trip down working out a new song on his ukelele. I took a couple of spare books to put on the merch stall and they all went. That paid for my petrol. We went down well enough. We started with Cum On Feel The Noize, dedicated to Dave Graham. Later on we played Everyday (a pretty much one-off singalong with me on guitar, just to bump up the Slade content a bit) and just before the end we played the Slade seasonal epic, which I dedicated to the absent Chris Selby. It was nice to see some people I haven't seen for a good while (apart from a certain creepy guy in a baseball cap with mad staring eyes in a car who stared me out when I went to the local chippy to get something to eat) and I think the band impressed a bunch of people. The crowd couldn't have been nicer. I have seen some truly weedy bands play at these events. According to various accounts from friends, one particular Slade tribute singer went onstage drunk and obnoxious at a previous event, forgetting words and letting the rest of the band down. They apparently cleared the room. I didn't see that, but it's sad if it was true.

Saturday afternoon was my granddaughter April's 6th birthday party at some relatives near our house. We didn't stay for the duration, as Lynda wasn't feeling as well as she could. Again, we saw some people we haven't seen for a while, which was nice.

Saturday evening saw us playing in Heywood. A new venue for us and a bit of a pig to find and load in at. Getting enough space to set up was awkward until some of the punters moved on to another pub. The crowd were good in the first half and what were left ignored us in the second half. Graham stopped the gig early by saying thank you and good night as he'd plainly had enough. Some random bloke came along and sat next to my basses (in their cases as we'd packed up) and demanded to have a go on them. He was most put out when I said we'd finished and we don't do that. We got paid and got out quick smart and I don't think we will want to give them any more dates. We don't have a lot of Saturdays left next year and would like to keep them for decent crowds. I'd ordered a 7" promo 45 for Graham and gave it to him at the gig. Sunday's jam night was ok. It coincided with Nick Lowe playing in Manchester with Los Straightjackets, which I was very sorry to miss. It was also Lynda's birthday.  The jam went OK. I took a guitar that i had been talking to a chap about selling. He sort of ran off when I actually produced it, which was a bit of a relief as I had definitely underpriced it. I knew he'd go cold on it anyway, as I know what he's like. I put a Burns bass up for sale recently and it's had one enquiry. The guy wanted to do trades and I don't. I don't want other people's old stuff. I am trying to get rid, not buy.

------------

October 1st:
I went in town to meet Mike for an hour. I was a bit rushed for time and didn't manage to get to the tip on the way and was in a rush to get home afterwards. United Utilities are digging up the road outside of my house for a third time in a few weeks and I had to make a case for getting my car off my drive and beg them to move their barriers so I could do so. Not exactly funny. But worse things are happening in the world. So I try to stay a bit Zen about it. I am on a diet at the moment, cutting down to one chocolate digestive a day and I have given up crisps. I don't weigh myself, so I am just going to have to take it on trust that the abstinence is doing some good. The band's album CDs will be delivered to me on Monday. It will be quite some time before any cash is forthcoming from those (as costs have to be recouped before we buy our luxury yachts to sail on the Birmingham canalways), so beans on toast it is then.

------------

October 4th:
I got up rather late today as I was exhausted and drove to my daughter's house to help move the wood from a dismantled garden shed to the council tip. Once we had done the tip run, it was off to Carr's Pasties on Manchester Road to get pasties and black peas. Back to our house to eat those and then back off to Horwich to take Rachel back home and to do a bit of shopping at the huge and confusingly-laid-out Tesco. I'm used to the Farnworth and Walkden Tescos, but can't get my bearings in the Horwich one. I'm ok with the Asda in Horwich, though. TV in the evening. We're currently on season 8 of The Walking Dead and Carl has just died in it, after getting bitten by a walker. Hard to watch. Also the rave after Paul's funeral on Corrie. Another hard watch.

------------

October 6th / 7th:
We had a visitor in the evening before I set off for the jam night. We had a nice meal and then I had to go off to the jam night. A young lady keyboard player came along and did 5 songs. I backed her on a couple of them - Sweet Child of mine and Sweet dreams are made of this. Unfortunately, I didn't know the other songs. It's nice to be stretched a little sometimes. Not much in the way of a break from playing during the evening. Is there a shortage of bassists in the area? Dunno.

I got to bed very late after last night's jam night totally interrupted my weekend off. I couldn't get to sleep and came downstairs to try again. I was joined on a sofa by Tom and two of our cats. I eventually got some sleep. I woke up before 9am and Lynda came downstairs. We fed the cats and dogs and I tried going upstairs to get another hour or so. The new TV has an absolutely piercing sound and even with a pair of earplugs in place, I could still hear it. I went and sat in the car and I just couldn't get comfortable there either. Eventually I gave up and just ploughed on with the day. I'm not very good when i miss sleep. I start feeling sick and weary.

UPS failed miserably to deliver the box of CDs with our band's album in it. Now they say they will come to me tomorrow. Hmmmmm....

I watched a very good video interview with Jon Button, The Who's current bassist. I haven't been able to bear to watch the Who since John Entwistle died, as Pino Palladino was IMHO the wrong bassist for the band and I so much miss John - one of the nicest musicians I have ever met. Jon went through some of his sound settings and his playing techniques on a few key songs and I was impressed enough to start thinking if they come round again, I will probably go to see them. Off to bed with a book - early for me. I'm reading Chuck Berry's autobiography again.

------------

October 8th:
Up mid-morning. I woke up early enough but went back to sleep. After yesterday's quite annoying sleep-related misadventures, I decided it was probably best to catch up a bit. I'm not meeting Mike today. When the CDs have finally arrived, I will probably go for a good walk. The diet appears to be working a little bit. I skipped my evening meal yesterday and don't feel too bad for that. The dentists rang me to remind me about my check-up appointment at 2pm tomorrow. The dozen or so emails and texts gave me a clue. I apparently also have a hygienist appointment at 3pm tomorrow. Bizarrely, I didn't know about that one. No problem. That got rid of the November appointment.

Lynda wasn't feeling too great and went to bed, so an evening of TV. I caught up on Classic Coronation St and then went through the first two Sky doco programmes about Rolling Stone magazine. Later on I watched a quite good interview with Andy Summers from The Police. 11.30pm and the band CDs still haven't landed. Bloody UPS. Rubbish..... You're sitting reading this guff? I'll bore you to death....

------------

October 9th:
The album turned up in the morning. Result. All original material, no cover versions. Did a couple of Facebook posts to get some interest going. I now have to sort out prices for P&P, as we will be selling a number of them via mail order. I spent some of the afternoon at a check up and then hygienist appointment at the local dentist. Thank God that's it until next April.

   

A 1974 vinyl record I ordered from Denmark turned up. Instead of being on the USA Warner Brothers label, it was on German Polydor. Pretty much a standard edition of the album in question and not with the desired track listing. I contacted the seller and he refunded my payment and I got to keep the album. Now I have to find an affordable copy of the album, probably from the USA, with silly postage charges attached to it. Just to file it in my collection.

------------

October 13th:
I appear to be on a bit of a vinyl record-hunting thing at the moment. I haven't really done this for ages. After the dismal failure of my previous order, I ordered a copy of the Slade In Flame OST on the WB label from the USA from another Discogs seller. I then also snagged a signed Jim Lea Dummies 45 cheap, and a Japanese picture sleeve My Oh My for £12. I watched with some amusement as a copy of a replica N' Betweens Security demo 45 went for £252 on Ebay. They were only 10 of those pressed and they sold for (I think) £25 in the first place. Inflation. My own copy is going nowhere. Also on the want list was a copy of Slade's 1970 single Know Who You Are on a Polydor 45. I'm watching a copy that bidding ends on tonight. If my last-minute bid fails, I will be onto Discogs. I will get the money back from our book sales over the next month. I could spend it on Mars Bars if I wanted. It's entirely up to me where the ill-gotten gains go to. Nobody else. The small hole in my collection has bugged me slightly for years.

We played a local gig last night and sold a few copies of the band's CD. The problem we have is that only one song from it that is in the band's set list. I've never ever played with a band that can't promote its own releases before. That's just odd. Hey ho.

First thing this morning, I checked my emails and had a massive 1500 unwanted ones. Spam, garbage, etc. A bit of a record. Fortunately, I have an email filter programme that is truly excellent and I can tell it exactly what I don't want to see - certain words and email addresses will hide and block a rogue sender forever. It's truly brilliant and I can really recommend Mailwasher to everyone. No real effort and you will never see the crap that results from people spamming you.

The evening saw us doing our usual jam night and one of the regulars kindly ended his spot at just the right time for me to make a last-5-second bid on the Slade 45 and luckily win it, thus plugging the gap in my record collection with an expensive 54 year old 45. I got it a good bit cheaper than it goes for on Discogs, where people think Slade are just a licence to print money, but it is still by far the most expensive single I have ever bought.

------------

October 14th:
A venue approached us earlier this year (during May) in response to messages from me about bookings and picked an October date that we could play for them. Startlingly, with under two weeks to go until we are due to perform, they have simply cancelled the gig, claiming budget problems, yet they have other events that weekend that they have no doubt booked since our booking, and more during this month. Now call me cynical, but that qualifies to me as shitting on the band. I have invoiced them to demand our full fee. What will happen if they do not settle the amount, is that I will take them to HM Courts Service and we will still get our fee, less £35, for sitting at home. The landlord will have the awkwardness of a County Court Judgement against them. Meanwhile, The Bolton News stated their complete indifference to our new album in a message to me.

Posted some copies of the CD that have sold through FB ads and Ebay.

Later that night - one apologetic venue, saying a minion had messaged the wrong band and we weren't cancelled. Hmmmmm.

------------

October 16th:
I was quite surprised at how quickly a disc that I ordered from the USA arrived. That was FAST.
Also two items arrived from a UK seller. I posted a couple of our discs out this afternoon.

-----------

October 17th:
Into every life a little rain must fall - our gig in Crewe on October 25th has been cancelled as the venue has just changed hands. I wasn't really looking forward to the drive to get there and back anyway, but it's a bit late to replace the gig now.

Another gap plugged.

-----------

October 18th:
A quiet day. A trip to Tesco. A gig in the evening in Leigh, which went well. We kept the crowd in and they enjoyed us. When I emerged from the venue, one of my tyres was flat. I carry a device to inflate tyres and it went back up to full pressure, no problem. Home.

-----------

October 19th:
First thing on getting up, I checked out the tyre and it was down again -  a slow puncture. I reinflated the tyre fully and then I headed off to Jem tyres in Farnworth and they were closed. Unusual. I headed down Egerton St towards another tyre place and saw a sign for a back street outfit and went to them. I had two sharp objects in my tyre, one of which was a big screw. £15 to sort. Could have been a lot worse. All done in 45 minutes from getting up.

-----------

October 20th / 21st:
Sunday was a day spent quietly working on the almost-due Slade In Flame At 50 book. We got Jim Lea's brief last-minute contribution to the book added. Just waiting for a foreword from another Slade author now. Then we can check over and publish. The evening saw the jam night. There are a couple of people there who are offended by the title track of the album 'Don't Look 'Em In The Eye'. They think it's about them. It's not. They won't be buying the album, I guess. We managed to part with a few more copies at the jam night. I offered a copy to one guy, who was thrilled until he found out that he actually had to pay for it. Oh well. He's got an expensive girlfriend to maintain. We over-ran a little, as the evening contained a few tributes to a friend who had passed away this last week. Cancer again. A very pleasing video review of our album appeared on YouTube. Unfortunately, the CD player the reviewer was using was seriously playing up and it makes our disc look faulty, so I have asked for the reviewer to re-do the review with a working CD player.

Up at 10 today, and round the house like a dervish, seeing to the various needs of our cats and dogs and unloading the car after last night's exertions. For some reason, Tom has got his barking head on today - dogs on the nearby park - and I'm going to turn him into a rug and burgers if he doesn't shut up. Oscar joins in and then I can't hear myself think. I rearranged my studio room / office over the last couple of days and it's a reasonable working arrangement now. Posting a band CD to Northen Ireland from an Ebay order. Out for a meal later on with Lynda, my daughter Rachel and my grand-daughter April.

A fellow major Slade fan passed away today. Cancer again. My sympathies to his family and many friends.

This photo was taken today.

-----------

October 23rd:
A quick trip into Bolton. Booked the car in for its MOT and service next Tuesday. Our book Slade In Flame At 50 is now signed off as complete, except for a foreword, which we are expecting any time now. I really do think that the majority of people are going to be astonished by the book. It's a bit of a result.

-----------

October 27th:
A busy few days with quite a bit occurring. We played a venue last night that had messaged to cancel us, allegedly in error, and the gig was like playing a jazz club, with a small audience. But we had a good time and played some stuff that we don't usually trot out. I got a couple of unexpected last minute things for the new book.

Lynda has a new consultant at the hospital and a pacemaker is being mentioned. Positive.

The band have sold more copies of the album, but we're still not quite in profit on it - but we are approaching being in the black. It's quite funny to see some people looking at their shoes when we mention it being on sale.

We will be announcing another interesting disc release in the next couple of weeks.

-----------

October 28th:
I don't know if I was a bit wired, but after getting to bed at 1am after doing some final updates to Slade In Flame At 50 and then waking up not long after 5am and speaking to Chris, my writing partner at around 6am, the book got published. It's a fairly complete account of the whole Flame period of Slade's career. I went back to bed for an hour at 11am, before getting up, emptying the car, posting a band CD to Birmingham and dropping Lynda's prescription off.

I listened to a glass master copy of the forthcoming CD single. Happy with that and all of the associated artwork. We've found a way to keep the costs down this time.

-----------

October 31st:
The single that we are putting out has been ordered the other day and is now all paid for. Waiting for delivery now. This time, it's my turn to do the admin (the packing and posting) of the single, which we will just put on eBay at a fixed price and sell them all that way.  No messing about with paypal.

Frustratingly, the new book isn't on Amazon yet. The 72 hours maximum wait that they promise on the publishing page could be 3 to 10 days, according to a recent update on their support pages. I'm only slightly bothered because I know I will get bugged as to where the book is by some people. It will come out when they get round to it.

-------------

November 3rd:
The book ended up coming out just a day late. It could have been worse. The orders are coming in, which is nice.

We are putting the book out in hardback form for just a month. I really didn't want to do it because of the outrageous pricing that Amazon force on us for hardbacks and Chris wasn't particularly bothered about a hardback either, but we bowed to pressure and said we'll do it for a month, even though the price is frankly eye-watering and a rip-off. Annoyingly, being a completist, I've had to buy one.

If you want this book, I'd say you should just buy the paperback. It is exactly the same content as the hardback and a lot cheaper. We got the page count (and therefore the cost) down through some judicious editing - all of the 1975 Slade tour programme is now reproduced on a single page, instead of about 16 pages. We also cut out the novel part of the book, as we were a bit conflicted about  parge chunk of the book being fiction.

The buyers of the hardback version will get a particularly pleasing little Easter Egg. No, I'm not telling you what it is.

So you will have seen, on the various Slade pages that matter, our next magnum opus is published on November 1st. It's called Slade In Flame At 50. For one month only, during November, the book will be available in a hardback edition. Why for just one month? Pricing is why. Amazon doggedly insist on authors using premium colour printing for hardback editions of books, which is hideously expensive and makes books cost far more than we want them to. Standard colour looks exactly the same and costs less. Amazon charge £21.25 to print the 285 page full colour hardback book, which the author pays. This hikes the overall price up, as Amazon then grab 40% of their inflated overall price. The hardback cost frankly appalls me, but a number of people have insisted that we make one available, so we will do so. You have during November to order the hardback, after which I will be deleting the hardback forever and breathing a sigh of relief that it's gone.. In a far-flung village somewhere, there will be a dim and distant chorus from the village idiot that we are ripping everyone off with the hardback cost. It's not us, it's Amazon. The paperback - also published on Nov 1st - is going to be far more economical to buy, a thing of absolute pristine beauty, and will only cost readers £25.49. Whichever version you buy you will love it. There's masses of things in there that isn't easily available anywhere else, or is exclusive to this book.

Last night we played in Whalley. We stuck our anti-Christmas song in the set and sold a CD on the back of that. That's it. You're being Christmassed from now on. I spent this morning writing some thank you messages and ordering promo books for some of our valued contributors. Acting legend Tom Conti did an interview with us for the book, which is a bit of an exclusive and author Daryl Easlea provided a lovely foreword for us.

-------------

November 5th:
And yes, Tom is being driven scatty by the fireworks. I feel like going out shooting people. The Nextdoor site is full of entitled twunts who feel that the majotity like them, so screw the rest of us.

I emailed BMG about forthcoming Slade releases. During the day I dropped a CD in at Bolton FM  The guy who took it looked suspicious when I gave it to him. The local rag - The Bolton news - have said they don't report on local music news. They are just taking moneywages from the National chain and doing nothing at all to earn it. Why are they even there? Some prat called Leah Collins actually said, hen asked about reviewing the disc: "Hi Ian, thanks for letting me know - probably not one for us but definetly still reach out for future updates." Her spelling leaves something to be desired.

I have published 'Cheapskate versions' of the new book, with monochrome contents for those who are severely hard-of-wallet. I've also done a special paperback edition for Australia, who have their own rather strict publishing conditions. Sales of the new book have very pleasantly surprised us.

-------------

November 6th:
We have a 'new' President in America. Not one I would have voted for, but I wasn't eligible to vote, so I can't really complain. I have to sincerely hope that if he actually manages to get to office, he actually tries to do his job, instead of just swanning around preening, pardoning himself for his past crimes and making the world a more dangerous and worse place. Much is made of the fact that he cosies up to Putin. But if he can actually convince the Russian lunatic to stop pummelling Ukraine, then that would be a good thing. He has stated that if he had still been President, Putin would never have invaded. Possibly utter tripe, possibly not.

I have a stinking cold coming on and hope my voice doesn't go.

My current album listening:
Chappell Roan - The rise and fall of a Midwest Princess.
Ultravox - Lament deluxe edition.
Nick Lowe - Indoor Safari.
Thin Lizzy - 1976 (box set featuring Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox albums, plus out-takes and live disc).

-------------

November 8th:
The highlight of today was a visit from two of my American friends who mean a lot to me. We spent some time at our house and then went out for a nice meal. It would have been nice to spend loner with them and I hope we all get to see each other again soon. Book sales are exteremly pleasing. We are deleting the hardback, kindle and Cheapskate versions of Slade In Flame At 50 at the end of the month. They will have served their purpose by then. The feedback we are getting regarding the book is consistently good, which is also pleasing.

-------------

November 14th:
On the 9th, I was struggling a bit with extreme tiredness at our gig in Hindley, but we went down very well indeed nontheless.

The last couple of days have been mad-busy. The 300 disc pressing of the Jim Lea CD single 'All I Want Is You' arrived and we put 250 of them on Ebay. Some have gone to Jim Lea. There will be a couple of competition prizes and we are keeping a couple each. I posted the last ones this morning, along with the orders for 10 proof copies of the novel. The work took me back to my Clerical Assistant days! A lot went abroad. I can't say yet what is coming next. There has been criticism of the Jim Lea CD single release from one small area of the net of the release, just as I expected. One person ranting to himself and a number of people are telling him to just shut up. Gratifying. The moaners maths about the disc price was right out. We did come out 'in the black' on this, but not like was suggested. We may be able to get a discount deal to do the next one cheaper, according to the people we deal with.

A leisurely bath after lunch, trying to steam out this cold.

-------------

November 18th:
Two gigs this weekend. One in Radcliffe was a washout. Hardly anyone there on Fridays. A painful experience. The landlady texted me from upstairs saying we could finish early, but I didn't see it. Are we going to book to play there again next year? Unlikely. We played in Lowton as well. That gig was a total trial for me as I was absolutely exhausted before I set off and I was just too tired to enjoy it at all, but I got through it and everyone said what a good gig it was.. Our jam night went pretty much as usual.

A local venue who managed to make a total and utter bollocks of their diary last year has got in touch telling us to get back in touch with them. They realised that they had screwed up a date for us in September back in February. At that point we had straightened up the diary for the rest of the year and confirmed our remaining dates. Now they are coming back to us again about our December date. They are now within the period where we will claim part of our fee for a cancellation. We are going to have been booked first as we took the booking last December. If they choose to keep another band instead of us, there will be trouble. Thank Christ this next year is my very last year of doing this. I can't bear to deal with landlords who are so utterly inept. I won't name and shame.

In other news, the band probably won't be playing at all soon, as Joe Biden has upset Russia by allowing the use of US missiles inside Russia, prompting talk of a third world war. Putin is mad anough to sacrifice his people and Ukraine have enough legitimate grievances and and a long list of demands that he will not sort out. So they carry on..... It has looked inevitable for a while that it would get to an exchange of nukes. Putin will flatten Ukraine, rendering it uninhabitable for centuries, just to prove a point - the definition of a total madman. Am I frightened? There's no real point in being frightened. We'll possibly go in our sleep. It will all be over in minutes. Hiding under our beds won't do any good and there's nowhere safe to run to. The re-election of Donald Trump doesn't fill me with any confidence whatsoever that things are going to get any better at all.

-------------

November 20th:
I looked on Facebook and the venue I am supposed to be talking to during the day today have another band showing as booked on the December date that I have in my diary. I can't be arsed arguing with them and it doesn't help matters to get annoyed at them. We had a good crowd coming along. I rang the landlord and he admitted he had messed up. I was ever so calm and polite and reasonable and got two gigs there for the back end of next year.

Snow everywhere last night and it has stuck. I didn't go into Bolton to meet Mike yesterday as he is off work this week and was busy. I just didn't fancy going out anyway. It's been too cold to walk the dogs these last few days, though I got them out and about today. Oscar hates the cold with a passion.

Good news - Some news coverage is coming for our album and our SLADE IN FLAME AT 50 book is going to be in Classic Rock early next year. I've been doing some basic recording for the next band album. I have decided to revisit a couple of my old songs.

-------------

November 24th:
I just got in from a wild gig. Loads of dancing girls while we were playing. Very enjoyable. It was a weird night, though. The landlord gave us the date earlier in the year, but told us it was at another pub. It turns out he didn't actually get that pub, so they had no idea about us when we arrived. So I rang him and he apologised for not updating us and we played at the same pub we played at for him last time. Last time we played at this pub it was a dreadful gig. This time was 1000% better. We did get some strange requests. We do NOT do Meatloaf tracks. Some guy decided to take issue with the fact that I don't have The Fall or Magazine on my tablet to play over the PA. He wouldn't believe that I don't have all of the music in the world on there. The Heywood / Middleton junction (18) on the M62 motorway being closed on the way back was less exciting. The night before in Macclesfield was also quite enjoyable, though my bass sound onstage was a bit of a mire.

eBay has been really stupid with the listing last copies of the Jim Lea CD single. We had some left to use as promos, but we decided to let people buy them as they should go to fans, rather than just being filed and forgotten at a radio station. I am trying to stop people buying them to flip for profit, as I think that is just disgusting. I know someone who bought 11 copies with the intention of trading them. He's now blocked as a buyer on my account, unless I can find a way to limit him to one purchase or cancel his excess orders in future. I will be so glad when these last copies have gone.I'm going to take a week off from book and disc work, as I am pretty much burnt out with it all at the moment. Our next book is underway, but I need a break and then I can attack the work with a bit more enthusiasm. Working my way through selling the last dozen copies now, Tonight's jam night was really good fun. Afterwards, I found the Bolton News report on our album. They put the wrong names to photos, even though I identied who was who in which pic in a separate email. I also hand-delivered two discs from an eBay order to an address around the corner from me.

-------------

November 25th:
Up early. Fed and watered the menagerie,  paid my car tax for the next year and then set about unpacking the car from the weekend's gigs. We have started to sell the remainder of the Jim Lea CD's that we were going to use as promo copies. Fans may as well have them, instead of giving them to rubbish local radio stations like Bolton FM who would probably bin them. This morning only 8 copies remained. I took a bunch to the Post office. Our next projects need some work doing, but I am having a week off from sitting over a computer.

-------------

November 26th:
Awake quite early and up and about. Instead of going to meet Mike today (he's away), I decided to go out and make some use of my bus pass. After dropping some discs off in the post at my local Post Office. Then it was off to Bolton on the 36 bus, passing a Bee double decker bus stuck under the low railway bridge, then a train to Manchester Victoria station, going over that very same bridge. I had a brief walk around the Arndale Centre before getting a tram up to Bury. I went for a quick drink tin The Picturehouse and then caught a 512 bus back to Farnworth. What a tortuous and circuituous route that bus takes!! I finished my journey by getting the 501 bus back to close to my house. I was home before 3pm. Spent the rest of the day lazing about a bit.

-------------

November 28th:
Up 10.30am and straight into action, posting a CD to Helsinki. Also picked up Lynda's prescription and went to Tesco. I took a replacement booking for Dec 7th, seeing as The Ship And Anchor in Southport has now closed. In the diary. Poster image created. On the website. Facebook event done. Busy busy.

-------------

November 29th:
A post every hour on the NOIZE Books and recordings Facebook page, seeing as Slade's Flame album is now 50 years old. We've trumpeted the anniversary from the rooftops and have sort of propelled some action. The group have been relatively quiet about it all. It was 50 years ago after all, and apart from Jim Lea answering our questions for the book, there haven't been any insightful comments from them about the whole process.

Speaking of Jim Lea, he has a nice surprise coming up for fans. I got hold of it today and it's lovely. Ssssssh.

-------------

November 30th:
Our gig this evening was also a 30th birthday party. I arrived half an hour early to try to work out the tricky task of loading the gear in, as our stage space was always going to be full of people..... and the inevitable small people. We played in a sort of alcove, with the buffet off to our right. It took a while to get people cleared out and they still came and attacked the buffet, right up to us starting to play. Some small child knocked my pint over which didn't impress me at all, but I smiled sweetly throughout and got on with my evening's work. I missed that pint greatly, as the place was heaving and it was like a sauna in there. Three songs in and the bar staff came to attack the buffet - I let them get past me and we carried on. It was all quite funny really. I punctuated the gig with nibbles on bread sticks and salsa. We went down very well and the gorgeous landlady very generously upped our fee on the night. We started and finished early to accomodate the party and it was a good night. Back there again in a couple of weeks.

-------------

December 1st:
The season of goodwill and so we are now plugging our 'single' I Hate Christmas.

The surprise from Jim Lea was announced today.
It came to us too late to be able to put it out as a single anyway, but it is nice.

-------------

December 2nd:
I took Tom out on the full long walk today. He needed a bath when we got back, so I got on with that straight away. Tom is not very good at having baths, as it makes him extremely nervous, but he had to put up with it. I gave Oscar another bath later on, as some special shampoo came today for him to deal with some flaky skin which is irritating him. He's going to be done on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

-------------

December 3rd:
Up early and went for my Covid jab. They didn't have the flu jab in stock, so just the one needle today. The weather was fairly grim today, so I didn't go out anywhere else. It was pitch black outside quite early today. Miserable weather. I hate gigging in winter.

-------------

December 5th:
I was most discombobulated to get a message saying that tomorrow night's gig is cancelled. It turns out that the venue's landlady is unwell, but I am not sure exactly how that prevents us from playing. I was told that we will get gigs for next year to make up for it. I am thinking about whether I really want to play at a place that lets us down like that. Sometimes you just have to smile sweetly, say nothing and get on with it.

-------------

December 6th:
I met one of my former work colleagues for lunch at noon. We caught up nicely and the food was good. A hallumi wrap with fries, if anyone cares. In the absence of a gig tonight, I was able to take up the very kind offer to be the guest of Ken Fox from The Fleshtones at The Academy In Manchester, where they were opening for The Damned. They worked really hard and put on a great show, though I felt their opening slot could maybe have been a bit longer and that Doctor And The Medics' set could have been shorter! We had a great chat (including a video call to our chum Chris in Walsall). We watched the Damned from the side of the stage. I was careful not to get in anyone's way. It was a great evening and I really couldn't have been made to feel more welcome by Ken and his bandmates.

-------------

December 7th:
Up quite early. I gave Oscar a bath and then got in touch with Ken to arrange dropping a couple of CDs off with him, rather than filling out customs forms and posting them. We had a nice chat again and I was back home fairly quickly, as their hotel wasn't very far from where I live. The evening's gig was in Rochdale and we played quite well.

-------------

December 8th:
Up late. Walked the dogs at one point as the weather was tolerable. The evening's jam night was in turns very rewarding and at the odd time very frustrating. Stage-hogs REALLY irritate me. It stops the evening from being a jam. Graham's having next Sunday off from the jam and Ryan is doing it on drums for us. Someone the band knows advertised the next jam night as her private birthday bash in a FB event. This would very much upset the venue owner, as people might not come along, thinking it was a private invitation-only event, so I quickly asked for her event to be amended. It disappeared and I expect that my name was mud and that it will all be black looks coming my way on the day. I am preparing my witty retorts now. It's not the done thing to interfere with other people's work.

-------------

December 9th:
I took a local booking for December 20th. Decent money for the hours. The band are on 117 (possibly 118 bookings) for this year. I am going to box off some dates in 2025. 2026 will maybe have lots more dates boxed off, but I might change my mind. We will see.

-------------

December 11th:
Del Amitri in Manchester at The Albert Hall. I went my my friend Mike and his wife, plus my son Paul. The gig was fantastic and I look forward to them hopefully coming round again next year.

-------------

December 12th:
A quiet day. More intrigue with the venue that require me to submit multiple invoices to their brewery.

-------------

December 13th / 14th:
Our gig this evening was in Adlington and was again a cracker. One of the better landladies. Looking forward to playing there again next year.When I got home I checked out the prices of some remaining Paul McCartney tickets for tomorrow night in Manchester. They started at £165 and went up to £700 plus. I didn't buy.

Saturday night was a night off, as one of our local venues has messed us about with a double booking. They at least made up for it by giving us two extra dates next year. I'm full of a cold at the moment and trying hard to stop my voice from going. I went to to bed in the afternoon to have a read and predictably ended up having a couple of hours sleep.

The venue that messed us about by cancelling us on the 5th for the 6th are not responding to messages regarding make-up gigs for next year. I may pop along at some point during the next week and invoice them in full for the cancelled night. The venue is one of those that we just do to fill the diary, not because we actually like it. I can't really be seen when onstage there unless you're stood up the other end of the pub or right in front of us, due to a huge supporting post holding the upstairs up. I could sit down and play during the gig in a chair and nobody would really know.

-------------

December 15th:
A sleep in the afternoon. My head was muzzy for the whole evening, as I remained really tired. The jam was quite good. We didn't manage to get everyone up, so we are going to have to start keeping people to 20 minute slots and going around again. Ryan covered on drums. I asked the punters about a possible Christmas jam on the 27th. To my delight, the reaction was rather muted, so we are not doing it. It will be nice to have a bit of a break from it. Our jam on the 22nd is not even on their advertising and a bit of me hoped we would get away with a Sunday night off to help my throat heal up. But no.

-------------

December 16th / 17th / 18th / 19th:
A few days mainly spent resting and trying to get rid of a cold and to keep it off my throat. A quick bit of book work, but I have mainly knocked that on the head now until the new year. I met Mike in Bolton on Tuesday lunch time for a catch-up. Current reading 'The McCartney legacy Volume 2'. A friend of the band has very kindly helped us get our New Year's Eve booking for next year.

-------------

December 20th:
My throat has been getting progressively more and more itchy and I dare not think about it too much or I will end up cancelling gigs. Slade UK's December tour has been upset by a couple of cancellations due to member ill-health and they have my deepest sympathies. As do The Damned, who had to cancel their final London show as Captain Sensible was too ill to play. I booked a ticket for Samantha Fish's show in Liverpool next May.

We gigged in Atherton this evening and I got through the gig, but felt my voice going in the odd place. It was a works do and the crowd were all sat a distance away gabbing, and so I didn't push it that much. I can lay back a bit at the jam night on Sunday to hopefully help keep my voice in good enough shape for our Christmas eve gig.

-------------

December 21st:
I spent an amount of the day lying down and avoiding everything and everyone, apart from walking the dogs, etc. We gigged in Leigh in the evening and it was a really good night, though not quite a full house as a lot of people were on Christmas bashes. Every seat in the place seemed to be taken and we had a particularly lovely lady dancing to us who bought us a drink at the end of the gig.

-------------

December 22nd:
Up mid-morning. I walked the dogs when it stopped throwing it down and then I gave a reluctant Oscar a bath. He's getting more used to it now and he knows it's going to be over and done with quite quickly. Looking at the sales figures for our books this month and last month is quite satisfying. It's nice to see our effort is being rewarded (though as I always say, we are not making Stephen King lose any sleep). I still haven't quite got my mojo for book writing back, so I will have a go in January. The band have a break, too, so I'm going to suggest we get a couple more of our album songs together for playing onstage.

My blog is going to show for just the current month at a time in future, and then the entries will be added to an invite-only archive.

-------------

December 24th:
I began to get misgivings about this evening's gig at The Brickhouse Showbar in St Helens when I first saw the venue's advertising for it. Just as they did last year, the promoter / venue have misleadingly advertised us as a specific glam rock band, which we are NOT. We do play some glam rock, but we would never say that glam is 'what we do'. Their accompanying blurb mentions us playing songs by Showaddywaddy, which we don't... and they were not glam, either.

Our own poster was far more honest.

A message during the day that someone had complained last year (they put images of Roy Wood and The Rubettes on the poster, two bands that we don't touch) just set my nerves jingling. We talked amongst ourselves about how to rearrange the show to survive such critics. We were assured that it was just one person and that we should do our regular show. I dressed up. Some people at tables were dressed up glam-style and I felt slightly nervous, but we went on and played two great sets.

After the show, a Chinese lady who works for the venue took me off to a room to pay me. Our fee was £100 short. I showed her the message with the agreed fee and she directed me to talk to the chap who had booked us. We had a circular conversation about how the Chinese lady at the venue lies to him about attendance and rips him off, the attendance being a bit short so they couldn't pay our full fee (that he had agreed in July), and how, if I took money out of HIS pocket then we would never play there again.... He invited me to think about that.

After nearly thinking about it for a fraction of a second, I said that we did not want to deal with a rogue venue who cheats bands. He's got an ego about Himself being 'The Man Who Puts Bands On'.

He was very affronted when I said I would not be blackmailed and ripped off. I said that if he paid a plumber part of an agreed fee for doing a job, the plumber would hit him.

I walked away from him and he followed me, shouting pathetic insults about me politely asking him not to use his smoke machine, as they mess my throat up and I live in fear of them and cancelled shows. He had refrained from using it during our show, but as we were packing up, he drenched the stage with smoke. I had a huge, really powerful fan at my side of the stage and I just blew all of his smoke back at him.

Our drummer Graham went for a lengthy chat with him and came back with some more money, but not our full fee. I presume this means we will not be playing there again. I don't want to play there again.

I should have just said 'See you in Court'. I came home very annoyed.

The promoter concerned has unfortunately now got himself banned from the Facebook group which he does most of his advertising in - as I am the Admin of that group.

Happy Christmas.

-------------

December 25th / 26th / 27th:
Have a good Christmas everyone.

-------------

December 28th:
In the morning I re-recorded a bass part for a track I did some session work on recently. The finished mix I was sent was really disappointing for me, as it has has hardly any noticeable bass guitar on it at all and the mix was rather biased towards certain other instruments. I just wanted to be able to hear my performance on bass guitar. I think the new mix is quite good and I sent it to the artist for their consideration.

Our gig at Atherton and Tyldesley Botanical Gardens Club was a good one and we will be back three times next year. The band diary is just about full for next year now. Maybe a few Fridays to fill, maybe not.

I was pleased to see a good glowing 9/10 review for our recent 'Slade In Flame At 50' book in the February 2025 issue of Classic Rock magazine. Sales have been quite ok (as Slade books go) over the last couple of months as it is, but hopefully we will get a few more sales from the review.

December 31st:
Our last gig of the year was at The Old Cross in Radcliffe and we had a really good night.  A nice crowd and we had the crack with them.

-----------------

---

© www.ianedmundson.co.uk