BA's to play Oslo, Athens and, er, Devon!

[chris sharp <sharpy@he...freeserve.co.uk>]

Hi everyone

I asked Lisa to tell Gerard I'm back in England until Christmas if he  
needed any recording done and he duly called me back the next day and  
asked me to meet up. We spent 2 hours chatting in a cafe at the top  
of Park Street in Bristol this afternoon. I just thought I'd share  
some of the new info which emerged from our conversation.
The band are rehearsing on Monday for the harbourside gig at the end  
of July. There is a new 17 year old female violinist joining the band  
for the show so expect a few violiny tunes at the gig! He mentioned  
Days of 49 and a couple of others. (If anyone has suggestions I'll  
pass them on)
They are rehearsing in a recording studio so that at the end of the  
session they can record the backing tracks to a load of new songs.  
He's hoping to capture the spontaneous vibe of the band playing the  
tracks for the first time. Gerard asked me to take my laptop in and  
transfer the files so we can get together and overdub extra  
instrumentation and vocals over the coming weeks at his place. It  
seems I've chosen a great time to spend a few weeks in Bristol! If  
they come out ok they may form the core of the next album.
I asked about any other shows on the horizon. He said they have been  
booked for the Beautiful Days festival in Devon (apparently organised  
by one of the Levellers) but he hasn't received the contract yet so  
it is still to be confirmed. He also mentioned upcoming gigs in Oslo  
and in Athens. That should please the Norwegian posse!!
I asked about the track listing for the Harvester album and he reeled  
of the following list of 10 songs (not in track order but in the  
order they came to mind!)
Fireball - Deep Purple
It Didn't Work Out - Micheal Chapman
Mazy - Syd Barrett
Stop This Train Again Doing It - Kevin Ayres
Staggerlee - Professor Longhair
Outdoor Miner - Wire
I'm Stranded - The Saints
Free Four - Pink Floyd
Hotel Room - Edger Broughton Band
Taking Some Time On - Barclay James Harvest

We spent about 20 minutes discussing conspiracy theories (one of my  
favourite subjects!). I was suprised to learn that he was well aware  
of the inconsistencies in the official story about Sept 11th. In fact  
he told me he had even written a song a few weeks after the attacks  
called "Dragon's Teeth" (based on an ancient proverb about killing a  
dragon and each of its teeth scattering and changing into more  
dragons). The song features a lot of violin so I encouraged him to  
think about re-recording it, especially with the 5th anniversary of  
9/11 approaching. I asked him if he had seen the film "Loose Change"  
but he hadn't as he doesn't have a broadband connection at home so I  
promised to take it round on my laptop next week. (http:// 
www.seeloosechange.com if any of you are interested!)
He also told me that crows are harder than seagulls! Apparently he  
learnt this watching a group of crows in a park and seeing a flock of  
about 40 seagulls approaching (sounds like a dodgy 80s band!). He  
settled in to watch the ensuing battle only to see the seagulls take  
a very wide birth as the 4 or 5 crows stood around "just looking  
hard". Amazing what you can learn in 2 hours with Gerard!
I'll post an update in a couple of weeks to let you know how the  
recordings are going
Chris

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