You are allowed to enjoy this…

My recent illness has poured a little cold water on the delivery of a new piece of musical kit: a Korg Wavedrum. I’ve had a Roland Handsonic for a long while but was interested in this item as it appeared to be more drum than an electronic instrument. It appears to combine mocrophonic input as well as a touch sensitive pad, so you have the best of both worlds and an instrument that is more responsive in a performance sense. So you can tap it, stroke it, scratch it, etc and those actions will be picked up microphonically.
The only downside is that there is no MIDI output or input, so it really is just a live performance instrument and, as with most Korg gear, the operating manual might as well be written in Chinese. There are only six operating buttons and one settings knob, so a lot of the buttons double up. I can’t get my head around programming the thing, so I am just enjoying the presets at the moment. There’s also not as many sounds as the Handsonic, but this is a mere quibble because the sounds you do get a very, very realistic.
Comparing it to the Handsonic is a bit like comparing an apple to an orange: they are both fruit, but completely different. I think they would complement each other though and plan to setup my Handsonic with the Wavedrum and see if I can get some grooves out of them both.
This is something I recorded with the Wavedrum. It is done is two passes as live. The first pass is me on the drum, just vamping along, with the output going through a digital delay pedal and the second pass was a live tracking of my six-string bass. I like it. It goes a bit African in the middle and is sufficiently different to keep me interested. Enjoy!

Spent time and good money on Christmas decorations in order to impress Madame V because last year we couldn’t really have decorations as we were living in rented accommodation. I was proud of my display. Madame comes in after her nap, is less than impressed and tells me “No like them”.
It’s the first time I’ve had a woman break my heart…

This is the artwork for the forthcoming CD. Nice and minimal, isn’t it?

Yesterday, I received the letter telling me what sentence JNB got for all the damage, upheaval and stress he caused to my family and myself. It was 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years and a two year driving disqualification, plus our £175 compensation. Call that justice? I don’t…
This is the first and only official communication I’ve had from the police since the incident. There’s no counselling or victim support for us, because when broached at the time of the crash, it was revealed that this wasn’t a crime, merely a “road traffic accident”. Meanwhile, we discover that this person has his address in Muswell Hilll, where the average house price is half a million quid and is only around the corner from the former home of radiactive russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Strange world, innit?
Yes, I am thankful that no-one died, but the mental scars run deep and I find every day increasingly harder to deal with. The property is for sale and I will sell at any price to leave and start again. Meanwhile, this piece of human filth is probably driving around without a care in the world because there is no justice and no real weight behind the law. He was found guilty of five charges, but only sentenced for two. So for him he probably thinks that even if he does get caught again, he can dodge his spell in chokey by spinning some sob story.
And that’s why this country is heading down the sewer because you can do exactly what you like without any real comeback until you murder someone. And if, by chance, we’d all been blown up by the ruptured gas main that Mr Browne caused with his dangerous driving, he’d have probably only got five years (out in two) because it was a “road traffic accident” and “he didn’t mean to hit the building”. My only regret is that this scum wasn’t wiped out in the crash because I very much doubt he’s seen the light or seen the error of his ways or feels any remorse for what he inflicted on us. A true waste of human life, destined for nothing, just put here to inflict misery on others. I hope you have a happy life because your day will come and it will come at your own hands, and it will be remorseless and brutal.
Oh well, chapter closed. Time to move on…

New album is “finished”. Now the hard part: designing the sleeve. 

New CD sleeve design is finished. Huzzah!

So the new “album” is finished and the usual negative feelings that come with the downer after completing a project are present. Just need to design an album sleeve, but I am out of ideas. It’s always the hardest part. Misery and woe. Boo hoo hoo….

And so all the strands come together…’tis the endgame. The insurance company want to settle early rather than stumping up 12 months of Business Interruption payments. The ball is in their court. How much will they offer and will we accept? We don’t have a choice and I still have to pay my own loss assessor £13k