The calm before the storm...

Well, that's it.

The new album has gone off to the pressing plant and not even the most embarrassing typo in the lyrics can be altered at this stage. (Speaking of typo's - When I was typing the title for this blog, I wrote the clam before the storm - which conjures up a quite different image than the one I was trying to purvey!)

By now we're far too close to give anything like an unbiased view on it, so you'll just have to take our word that it's the greatest release in rock and roll this year!!

Seriously though, we're very happy with it and we now have a weird period of about 2 or 3 weeks in limbo whilst we wait for it to return from being pressed somewhere in deepest Telford (via the Czech Republic!) Once it's back then the drive to promote it will begin in earnest - radio interviews and sessions, despatching copies to radio stations, magazines and websites, opening supermarkets and other such celebrity going's on (At least one of that list is extremely unlikely to happen, by the way.)

We had a great time in Denmark a couple of weekends ago and made lots of friends at the Skagen festival. It was ridiculously hot for somewhere that is geographically in line with Aberdeen! We were very different to many of the other acts at the festival though and it was a good test of us as a band. In amongst the eleven versions of Irish Rover and nine versions of Whiskey in the Jar that were played, was this little band singing songs about places and people in Stoke on Trent - a place that they'd never heard of! Still, we sold many CD's and had a thoroughly good time. We also got to see Oysterband and Suzanne Vega play - and that will live long in the memory!

Conversely, we played a festival yesterday in the main square in Nantwich Town Centre! You may think it doesn't have the glamour of Denmark and you'd probably be half right - but we had a blast anyway. We had people travel from as far away as Lancaster and Yorkshire and that was really nice to see. We managed to curse yet another festival with rain although it was mostly dry, so we shouldn't really complain. On top of this, I managed to buy all my fruit and veg for the week from a local stall near the stage. And they didn't have THAT in Denmark!