16 april 2000

never again............that's it, no more..............not another drop of alcohol, in this case vintage cava, is going to pass my lips until next time............... i'm in the epicentre of one mutha of a hangover................ in fact the last time i felt like this i never drank gin again and that was 14 years ago.............it's evil stuff. my father rang to tell me i reminded him of himself when he used to drink a bit.........maybe hangovers are hereditary..........alcoholism probably is...........it was my birthday, we took the evening off and drank....and drank. i did a run down to majestic got the booze and issued strict instructions that no one was to leave until everything was finished.................and so it was......anyway enough of the fug.

we've been back a week after a two week layoff. finishing the large number of songs off is the priority.......and would you adam 'n eve it but we're so nearly there. nigel is booked into the studio on wednesday to mix and we start playing together/ rehearsing on wednesday week for the live shows, not knowing how the fuck we're going to put most of these songs over live.

so what i'm actually saying is that the recording part of this record will be finished in a couple of days......but you know if we're consistent in our behavioural patterns, then you might finally hear something in the autumn of '01............after arguments over track-listing, running orders, etc.........who'll be the first to suggest the quadruple album mixed in surroud sound? ....................might throw it in there myself to stir things up a bit.....the running order for an album is so important...... i don't think you have any idea how vital it is until you actually fuck it up which we did big time on the first record.....for 'ok computer' it was a nightmare, agendas had been set and at one time it was like bloody horse-trading............. "if you want 'let down' on the record then it only makes sense if 'electioneering' is on there too"......maybe it won't be such a torrid experience this time........somehow i don't think so and that's probably right anyway.

there's been a couple of articles recently in the press speculating what's up with us....the one in melody maker sent a journo down to oxford to snoop around......he or she was apparently outside each of our houses on a kind of indie 'stakeout'.... and the piece ultimately was very flattering, but you know this is a non-story............yes we go food shopping and fucking hell would you believe it we actually walk down the street in broad daylight........and what's more we've been known to sometimes break into a smile......the other was in the grauniad on friday, entitled 'why are we waiting?' again very nice and for the record, you won't have to wait too long now. but please don't waste column inches on mere speculation about when and what the album will be like.........all we've ever claimed is that the records will be different...... anyway if the truth be told we don't actually know. i've gone on way too long in this stream of alcohol induced consciousness and i must end before i write something even more stupid like offering that melody maker journo a handbags at dawn duel - see you at shotover a week on monday with your best louis vuitton..6am be there.

viva la lucha and good luck and respect to all the anti-imf and world bank protesters in washington this w/end, in fact go to thom's page and there are a couple of links to some relevant sites about what's going down.