29th April 2001

Well after many months of promising on his part and gentle cajoling
on my part, me and Nigey Nige finally got it on at Big Top. Calm
down ladies, I am talking musically here. I thought it would be a
good idea to let Nige tell you what has been happening and allow him
to give you a little whiff of rock 'n' roll. Take it away Nige.
The last two days in the presence of Nasher has been an enjoyable
one. I admit it's only been 8 months since we completed the basic
tracks for the new album. What's 8 months amongst friends, "a long
time!" I hear Mr Nash scream. When I set off on Wednesday morning it
was raining and dismal. I arrived at the studio around 11.00a.m. to
be greeted by the man they call Mr Nash. I started setting up and
got straight into the recording. "Walking on Eggshells" is first up
with Mellotron strings and sundry. "Top of the Pops" gets the fiddle
treatment as I mock up a violin for a real one to replace (but the
notes are the right ones), "Face the Music" gets a bit of Nigey Nige
treatment. We stopped around 7.30 to take in a curry at Barnet's top
Curry house and very nice it was too. We continued until about 11.00
p.m. and headed off to Chez Nash. We watched a bit of "Human
Remains" and consumed a nice bottle of New World Shiraz. Watching
"Human Remains" has me in fits of laughter and I feel it's nice to
be back in London with me ol' mate. The following morning we head
back to the studio for the remainder of the recording. TK and Mark
Blaster are coming over later. After recording " Mad" and "Onjerry"
we head up to Digital Village to check out some new gear and for me
to possibly purchase a pair or KRK Rockit's like my mate. When we
enter the shop, there must be 5 staff in the front of the shop and 3
in the back. Nasher and myself are kept waiting for 10 minutes
before being greeted. Now if we were Boyozone (famous Welsh all-male
band from Upper Cwmtwrch) or Essay (or whatever their name is) they
would have served us like a shot, but OH NO, my partner has only
sold millions of albums and singles and has more credentials than a
Harley Street doctor. THAT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH. I must admit the way
most companies run their businesses, we'll all be ordering from mail
order catalogues soon. So back to the studio and we carry on with
the rest of the tracks. I lay down some groovy piano and soaring
strings on some tracks. "Doing the Mania" gets a Lucy In The Sky
With Diamonds-eque harpsichord part and some trumpets and horns.
When the Lads turned up, we headed off for a curry at Barnet's
finest. Lamb Ceylon tonight for me. No mercy spared for my nether
regions. The food once again is top. I decided not to go back to
Wales that evening, but to have a few Babycham and CrËme de Menthe's
with my mates. Alcohol has a great way of either binding or
repelling people, a bit like marriage. When we arrived back at the
Nash household, we consumed another bottled of wine.Tonight Matthew,
it was a Rioja. After a good sleep, I headed back to the studio to
pick up my equipment and shot off down the world's longest car
park,the M25. When I arrived home I was greeted by hoards of mail
and messages. Half of them were tapes from Nasher of the songs that
had arrived late and a kindly-worded invitation from KLM to take my
insurance claim against them and put it where the sun don't shine.
BUT the sun is shining (not up there) and it's a beautiful day out
there. I shall save my next correspondence with them for a day when
I can't stand the world and all is wrong in the Nigey Nige camp.
I'VE FINISHED MR NASH. YOU CAN STOP HARRASING ME NOW FOR ANOTHER 2
YEARS. But I really enjoyed it though. It won't be that long next
time.
Thanks Nige. Two years?? He'll be bloody lucky!

22nd April 2001

Hello everyone, nice to be back, hope you didn't miss me too much. I
will begin by apologising for not making the chat room on Thursday
night and despite what you may be thinking the abscence was not
alcohol induced. I left Jersey at 9.00am that morning after being up
since seven and had a four hour ferry journey followed by a three
hour car journey and didn't get home until 6.00pm and just managed
to get over to my mate's house to watch the Liverpool v Barcelona
game. If anyone of you watched that game then you will know that
there would have been a lot of nervous energy expeneded by all
Liverpool supporters and by the time I got back home at 10.10pm and
sat on the sofa my eyes were losing the battle to stay awake. I was
full of good intentions but got kidnapped and taken to the Land of
Nod before I got a chance to chat with you all. Normal service will
be resumed this Thursday and I apologise for not delivering another
bedtime story for you. Wanna know about my holiday, not like you get
a choice. the ferry going over was very rough and this resultied in
most of the passengers shouting out "Raaaalph" and "Beeert" in
various parts of the boat. I felt very rough as did all my family.
It is little babies who I feel sorry for because they don't
understand why they feel so bloody awful. Perked up as soon as we
hit dry land and then began a ten day binge of drinking and eating
too much. The ladies in the camp wiped out the island's supply of
Kettle Chips and Pinot Grigio while I did my best to deplete the
Guinness / Caffreys / Rioja / Shiraz supplies. Didn't get a hangover
once which I reckon was due to having a sauna everyday and taking in
litres of soda water. I will now be on the wagon until I fall of on
Cup Final Day. On the footy front I have to tell you about me taking
money from juveniles. I mate a young man called Joe (an Evertonian)
and in a show of bravery he thrust his hand towards me and bet me
that The Toffees would do The Reds in the Merseyside derby game. It
was an offer which was to good to refuse and I releived him of his
paper round money about ten seconds after Gary McAllister had
smashed in a 44 yard free kick to take the spoils with only twenty
seconds left on the clock. Mmmmm.......sweet!! I even found a few
minutes to ring my mate Jeff, an evil blue nose who never misses an
opportunity to give me stick about Liverpool, and give him a breif
slagging off. Had an excellent time and it was sad to leave all our
good freinds but it's back to the grindstone on Monday. Stayed up
until 5.00am this morning to watch Lennox get a good paying down in
Johannesburg so no doubt I will be flagging later and having an
early night tonight. I think if that guy would have hit me that hard
he would have lifted me out of the ring......ouch. Have to go and
ring Nigey Nige and see if he is coming down this week. He said
Wednesday and Thursday so I have to go and get some bunting to hang
across the studio dorr to welcome him. See ya on Thursday.

2nd April 2001

I begin this week in what can only be described as "fine fettle"
after a somewhat satisfying weekend. I went up to Liverpool early
Friday and arrived at two in the afternoon and went for a swift half
in "The Crown" whilst I waited for my mate Tony Griff to come and
pick me up. I don't know whether I have mentioned them in these
pages before but Tony Griff is a member of a band called "The Real
People". I have known Tony for ages and we hung out together
pre-FGTH in Liverpool. I did my first studio session with Tony in
the very early 80's when he was in another band. "The Real People"
are fucking great. They are one of two bands (you know the other by
now) who make me feel like a fan. When I see them play live I sing
along to all the tunes and the fact that I knows these guys makes it
even better. I popped over to see their studio in Birkenhead and
listen to some of their new stuff and then got to sit in on a little
unplugged rehearsal and heard the new tunes played live. They should
be huge and the fact that you don't know anything about this band is
a crime. I only hope they get the success they deserve with their
new project. Tony dropped me off at my parents for dinner and then I
went into town for a few beers with a few of the chaps. One of the
guys, Colin, is the older brother of Paul, my mate from when I was a
teenager, and I was meeting him for the first time in nearly twenty
years. Colin was a punk and he used to turn me and Paul and our
other mates onto the top tunes of the late seventies. Ultravox
(pre-Midge), Magazine, The Ruts, Simple Minds, Television and loads
of others I can't remember now. He is still mad and it was great to
see him again. We went to a few pubs and sank a few beers and I got
home about one. I didn't want to go mental because next morning was
the Liverpool v Manchester United game and it was an early kick-off
and I didn't fancy football with hangover again. My mate Anthony
arrived at my Mum's for breakfast and we shot out to the match, just
managing a swift one in The Flat Iron before kick off. For those who
don't know about the rivalry between Liverpool and Man U then I
should explain. We hate them and the feeling is mutual. The
atmosphere was boss and we won 2-0 with two fantastic goals. A funny
thing happened at the match which I should share with you. Where I
sit in the ground there is a family of four that have the seats next
to me. On this occasion the little boy was sitting next to me and he
must be about 12 or 13. During the game he was getting very animated
and had to be told off by his Mum for shouting at the Man U players.
It was very funny listening to this kid shouting "Shut It!! You Manc
Scum!!" at the top of his voice when David Beckham was complaining
to the referee. It was very nice to see such enthusiasm in one so
young!!! Left Liverpool and got home about 6.30 and went straight
out with Mrs Nash and a few friends to my daughters school for a
quiz night. We didn't win but there were loads of boffins there so
we didn't feel too bad. I was on TV on Saturday when the "X-rated
Top Ten" programme was on but I haven't seen it because I taped the
footy instead. Let me know your thoughts if you saw it. Phew! that
was a lot wasn't it? See ya next week.