The End... A new beginning

Undeniably, we were a little rougher than we should have been. Undeniably, we were a little out of sorts, and undeniably, we're working out what works with regards to playing live. We're all on a fairly steep learning curve, and it's been a while....

That said, we kicked arse. And I couldn't be happier with how we sounded.

All of the stuff that happened in the set, all the mistakes made... that'll be just down to practice and lots of playing live. That's just what we have to do. We have to get out there again and get used to it. But we delivered. It may not have been Hammersmith or Donnington, but it was ours and the mission began with a total victory.

We even had a heckler. It's something of a tradition of the bands that we've been in before that there's always some pissed dude ruining it for everyone, and I'm not sure I understand the mentality of the lone heckler. He's always going to be shouted down, and why argue with people who have mics? All you end up doing is bringing the rest of the crowd on the bands side, unless the band is Nickelback.

But there we are, the first gig is out of the way. And my nerves are well and truly gone.


* * * * *


In other more heartwarming news, Shannon Mathews the schoolgirl who went missing nearly a month ago was found alive and well... admittedly there may well be some questions raised as to why it took the police so long to search the home of a man who was by all accounts some sort of relation to the family and who lived less than a mile away from the familial home... but it is still heartwarming.

Since I was about sixteen, I have carried myself with a certain level of cynicism when it comes to stories like this, namely that when you hear that a little girl has gone missing, my first thought is "You won't find her alive, and she'll probably have been raped." It's hard not to view the world through grey tinted spectacles when the empirical evidence of your eyes ears and historical knowledge can only prepare you for the greyest of outcomes.

This is why my cockles have been warmed. She's alive, and appears to be unharmed. Whatever dark details of the case may later emerge (there was talk of some sort of stockholm syndrome) the fact remains unchanged that in a culture of cynicism and preparation for the worst, one of the better outcomes against all odds and past experience has in fact happened instead.

It seems like a lesson for life. Don't abandon hope.

For the full story, visit

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/15/nshannon315.xml