Succumb was released whilst I was flying over Afghanistan on my way to Edinburgh with the Cake. The sun was rising over the jagged rock and harsh treeless mountain ranges… impossibly beautiful and inhospitable landscape. Like the Scottish highlands we were to drive through ten days later, this is a unique landscape, one that drew me in and made me ponder the harshness of the human spirit that was capable of living in such country. Religion and War. Was it these mountains that Osama was hiding away in? We seemed to be flying over these jagged rock ranges for half an hour, no wonder noone can find him.

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Winter in Melbourne hits, doubly felt from having spent five days last week in the glorious PNG town of Madang. Madang, on the north coast between Lae and Wewak, features copious quantities of bats flying between the massive Banyan trees… It lies in a harbour of scattered islands. It was Remembrance Day in PNG, and as drove to the airport in Port Moresby I drove past these old grey haired lapun (old) men wobbling down the street dressed in their finest lap laps and weather-beaten coats from op shops showing off their war medals. Yes, it was these men (fuzzy wuzzy angels is a term that no longer annoys me) who saved Australia from the WW2 Japanese invasion that went from Popondetta over the Kokoda trail to Port Moresby. That they were turned back half way has much to do with the bravery and local knowledge of these PNG men who must have wondered why it was that the worlds super powers had chosen their country to fight their strategic kill to the last battles. PNG had nothing to do with European and Pan Asian power plays.

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Well, we are off and running. Played the first gig at the Northcote Social Club supported by the wonderful All India Radio. Played the whole new album bar Anti-Chase Music 2. Was rapt to have Adam, Matthew and Ken join us on stage towards the end to play the horn parts live on Succumb and Going Out With The Enemy, along with Nicole Shenko to sing the backing vocal parts… Which both rocked superbly. Such fun with ten people on stage. Tim had hung lightbulbs all round the stage and projected scratch 16mm film, an all analogue visual show, simple yet effective, and not only that… Tim pulled off a cracker mix, so big thanks to him (mind you all those lighbulbs made me sweat something shocking, clothes stunk to high heaven at the end of the evening). We finished the evening with a celebratory version of Too Much Superstition and were joined on stage by Albert David who enthralled all with his Torres Strait dancing… (Too Much Superstition is a nine minute hidden track at the end of the album coming in after Anti-Chase Music 2). It was a somewhat improvised version with the horns and Nicole joining in, totally unrehearsed and it probably sounded like that but as it was the end of the night, all and sundry were slightly pissed and entered into the spirit of the song.

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As my daughter watches “Black Books” in the background (I’m trying to keep a train of thought going whilst Dylan Moran screams at Manny), my cat, also called Manny, bites at my toes wanting to be fed. I’m writing the first of what I hope will be a regular blog on our newly designed, easy to use Bridie website.

Not sure any of this will be particularly interesting but it seems to be the way of the world, musicians writing blogs… I guess everybody is writing blogs these days, so I’ll try to keep it interesting. Here goes…

This new album SUCCUMB ushers in a new phase in my career – my 25th anniversary in the music industry. Yes, Another Pond, the first Not Drowning, Waving album was recorded in 1983, the single Moving Around was released on Rampant Records in November 83, and the album was released early 84. Man, that makes me feel old! Oh well, older, maybe wiser… at least I hope so. The new album has been mastered, the cover designed, tis all systems go. We started rehearsing last week in preparation for our Melbourne and Sydney gigs later this month and a RRR live to air gig. We shall embark on a national tour later in the year, October to December.

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Hey, Seasons greetings to you all,

Actually, I kinda lean towards the view that Christmas nowadays is about profit margins and kids greed, but hey, people finish work and get to relax and spend time with their loved ones if they have any and that can’t be too bad… For me, it often means a time of intense work, due to the schedules of films, but my daughters are off school, so I try to find some balance between studio and just bumming around… and of course the RRR christmas show and a day at the cricket…

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