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I’m a little wiped out.

I’ve been a little wiped out for a while.

I’m not the only one.

I don’t know why but I’m strangely comforted by the season. The Hyde Park gig last night was short, with a broken string and no spare guitar but certainly the best in years. We’re getting quite good and we’re enjoying ourselves.

I’ve been thinking about another show at the Fly some time next year.

I’m still waiting on news from the North but no doubt it will arrive some time in the coming days.

And that’s that, I suppose. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being with us and being one of us this year. I know there aren’t too many at the moment but we can all say we’ve been here from the beginning. I’m sure things will be very different next year. Much bigger and much better. But as always, I’ve no doubt we’ll be feeling a strange nostalgia for these less-than-ideal times and circumstances.

I love you guys. I mean it.

I feel like I’m feeding pieces of my soul into Protools and getting these sketchy demos in exchange. Caleb’s heard some of them. Then I dropped him home at midnight and lost another 4-6 hours. I’m like a junkie… It’s all-consuming…

Essentially, I threw together a song-list not too long ago for a rather important project that I’m not saying a damn thing about just yet… I’ve learned that lesson, finally, it seems. A few days ago, personal circumstance conspired to leave me alone without a whole lot to do. Well, there’s plenty I could do but not I lot I want to. So. I demoed. Sonic sketches. Musical post-it’s. And since Friday (it’s now Monday morning) that’s almost literally all I’ve been doing. That and sleeping (and I squeezed in watching Batman Begins in ten minute intervals somewhere as well )I’m about to go have a shower, finally. I think I’ve earned it.

This is certainly the most complete thing I’ve ever worked on. I’m quite chuffed to be perfectly honest.

Sorry for the state of my english. I can barely string a sentence together in my head at the moment. Looking forward to shower, then bed and hopefully waking up late enough to see someone I dearly miss.

Speaking of seeing people one hasn’t seen for quite a while… No. I’m not going to say. This is, after all, supposed to be a topical… I’m not using the “B” word. I just realised I don’t like it much…

Hey! The Trio’s playing a gig in 9 days. Hyde Park Hotel. 40 minutes. The day before Christmas Eve.

I’ll let you know how the rehearsal goes.

My personal life has gone to hell. My professional life is flourishing. Ain’t that always the way..?

We’re two days out from a battle of the bands at the Foundry in Perth. The first in years. I hate the subjective bastards but I’m doing it anyway. Gives me something to do. Helps me keep sane. Barely… Actually, who I am kidding? It don’t help at all but as long as I’m still breathing (rather reluctantly) I can’t think of anything better to do.

No-one’s going to read this until I’ve long forgotten about it and it comes back to bite me in the ass.

PS. Reunion was great. So much so I basked in the glow of it for several months and fooled myself into thinking it would last forever. How wrong I was…

Please, for future reference, if I ever start thinking I’ve got my personal shit together, slap me and put me back to work with a big sign around my neck that says: “No. You f**king don’t.”

It occured to me that this time next week I’ll be halfway between load in and sound check. Offset that with the fact that my personal life is a glorious and chaotic shambles and it makes for a very good ride.

I’m running for the finish line and I don’t care who gets in my way.

Just thought I’d let you know…

Eleven days to go. That certainly snuck up on us.

I use “us” instead of “me” because I’m… never mind. No-one needs to know the depth and detail of my mental short comings…

‘Played a solo warm-up gig some three days ago. Went both well enough and badly enough that I am as concerned as I need to be about the 31st.

My camera is now a regular, albeit unwelcome, guest every and where ever I happen to be at the time (and some places I’m not.) I’d show you a photograph or video now but I’m in bed, far too tired, far too mentally unsettled and probably have to work today. ‘Tis 4am, should be bedways. Never really cared for Nadsat or A Clockwork Orange and can’t recall where I found a print copy to thumb through this week but apparently I did. Briefly. Hence the reference. (Apparently Lewis’ style of prose is rubbing off a little also…)

I have recently discovered that Rohan is the only person who reads this. It’s a tad redundant as he is effectively half of the Trio (yes, I am aware of the irony but we don’t have a third permanent member though I must say, Caleb is doing a wonderful job in the interim.) Thus, the professionalism and promotionalism falls away just a little bit and I feel a little more comfortable in voicing the following, which is an abridged version of what I’ve been thinking all night:

The only thing worse than when I am completely alone is when I feel, shall we say “connected” to another individual. I make myself so completely, consistantly and readily avaliable for such a period of time, even the most resistant individuals find themselves taking advantage and ultimately using me until all that remains is a husk of my former self (which is in turn a husk of the person I was before that, which is yet again a husk of the person before that… ad infinitum.)

And I can’t blame anyone but myself, whom I can’t stop because I am, unfortunately, unstoppable.

For better and worse.

What can I say? ‘twas either that or codeine, vodka and green tea.

If anyone can suggest how to get this stuff off before my sister gets home from nightshift and realises my eyes do not pop this much naturally, that would be great. Either that or I’m just going to start scrubbing away with the steel wool. Almost seems a shame though… I would look damn sexy across a smoky room…

*

Yesterday the Trio reassembled for our first official rehearsal since 2006 (it’s scary when you put it that way…) Most anxieties are now alleviated. Without the aid of codeine. It should be quite the show. No doubt I’ll scream myself hoarse but I wouldn’t really have it any other way. The boys are pretty mega and the band breathes again. If anyone fondly recalls what it was, they won’t be disappointed. If anyone has never seen it in action they won’t be forgetting it any time soon.

‘Did an interview with the Canning Times today. A new and interesting experience. Hopefully a wholely positive one but time shall tell. If anything goes pear-shaped, I take full responisbility. They have treated me very kindly and respectfully which is, as I’ve repeatedly mentioned, a rarity these days.

Oh yes… I’m cutting a very important demo some time in the next month and hopefully getting it into the hands of someone equally important. It will absolutely end up in the hands of someone else who is most important of all… You.

(Yes, I went there. It’s a wee bit lame but we all love it.)

I’ll either have it up on the myspace or the AC or both. Download away. Consider it a first semi-official release or something like that.

‘Still haven’t managed to get my damn camera but it is coming. I’ll update soon with something more stimulating. ‘Promise.

There’s much left yet to do and many more problems to solve but things are beginning to take shape.

On July 31st The Calling of Levi, Pins and Ladles, Epsilon and the Jordan Azor Trio are set to play Reunion live at the Fly By Night. Check back regularly for, updates, pictures, rehearsal footage and the like. There’ll be a few warm up shows in the coming weeks, mostly low-key acoustic, also to be announced soon.

My therapist thinks I’m a megalomaniac. My ass is on the line. The gig is confirmed.

Jim O’Mac is in the living room watching Friends. He was kind enough to (forcefully) remind me that this is actually a good thing. Meanwhile, I’m flying off the handle and describing with great colour and detail, all the many more troubles left to overcome.

Straight back on the grind, I suppose…

Lately it seems that midnight has been substituting for morning. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re an almost-twenty-something…

Tonight marks the launch of azoriancollective.com, something we’re all very proud of. Many thanks to James Nelson and Liz Bogoni who have effectively done and will be doing, all the work, now and in the near future.

Expect a great deal of expansion and embellishment in the following weeks, as we do our best to create your first point of call to all things Azorian.

(Yes, I am aware of how moronic I sound. It happens when I try to do anything other than playing guitar.)