15 January 2014
The gauntlet of excess which exceeded the tour and into the maelstrom of the holidays ending on the balcony in Durlach was indicating excessive wear and tear on the body and the light went off last week when Simone checked my blood pressure to discover a very scary 170 over 100! :-0
The previously mentioned molar and the associated infection was probably adding to the load but the bottle bank visits and the full ashtrays were a reminder of the real culprit! I decided to knock it on the head for quite a while when I got back home and set up an MOT.
The amoxcllin must have kicked in or maybe it was 2 days of cranberry juice and water ( ironically with my nickname my worst habit is not drinking enough!) but the blood pressure came up at 120 with my doctor telling me I had “the blood pressure of a 20 year old”. Cue smiley relieved face! 🙂
There’s still blood works to be done, an MRI scan I’ve requested and need recommendations for to check out various ailments; most to do with my joints and spine from the tour, an ear vacuuming and a check up with my voice doctor to get the final part of the MOT!
I just figured it’s that time of life to get a full once over and start a reappraisal of my health and lifestyle.
Gym time is also on the agenda as it wasn’t an alcohol induced hallucination that presented the “Fat Bastard” in the bathroom mirror in Germany! Months of no gig runs and feasting have added a few pounds and there’s only so much black a lead singer can wear! 🙂
It’s just about good biking weather as well as walking season soon so I can make a start after I get back from London and get back into using the other half of the wardrobe! 🙂
An architects meeting early afternoon interrupted a discussion a visiting Rab and I were having on East Lothian battlefields and hill forts to visit in the coming months. Elspeth had given me a book for Christmas “Bloodstained Fields” http://www.prestoungrangeartsfestivalboutique.org/books/blood-staind-fields-the-battles-of-east-lothian which as you can read on the attachment is all about the military history that makes East Lothian the most fought over county in Scotland. It’s a fascinating book and despite only being halfway through it’s opened up my eyes to a brand new perspective on the area. This immediately captured the imagination of Rab and I and the distinct sound of metal detectors were in our ears ! It was probably just as well the architect showed up as we were just about to get out the OS maps which would have covered the afternoon!
It’s all go on the extension which will give me a ground floor bathroom and shower that together with some other alterations makes the studio “wheel chair friendly” and thus finally an official domestic residence and not a “live in workplace”! I can now get tenders on the build which I want to get going on this summer. It’s a huge psychological jump and will totally transform the space. The other phase I am holding back on as it involves changing the main sound room, opening up the roof with skylights and tearing down the sound proofing and acoustic treatments. I don’t know whether I will record here in 2015 so I am delaying that decision.It’s going to be pretty exciting times and despite it being a pretty minor extension it will totally change the energies in what will then be a house!
On the music front Shaun is putting together a Top 10 live recordings from the desk ( with ambiance mikes) of best shows from the last European tour in the next couple of weeks and I hope to get these up for download through fishheadsclub.com by the end of February. he’s also sorting out the relevant desk recordings to go with Angus’s edits of the filming of the “Feast” numbers on the tour and I hope to get these up on the fishheadsclub.com You Tube site around the same time. Once I see how these go I may look at adding more if there’s a demand but it will set us up for the UK show recordings in May.
Angus will be up in the next couple of weeks to look at the new back screen projections for the 2014 tour and we need to take a careful look at High Wood as it’s a very strong possibility that the suite will be played in full this year on stage. I can’t believe I am already looking at a brand new set list and the prospect of rehearsals in the very near future!
I’ve been asked and have agree to host the Classic Rock Society awards in Rotherham on the 22nd February. It won’t be as near as glitzy as the Classic Rock awards but I’m sure I’ll have some fun despite being sober ! 🙂
As I said in a previous post we have all but run out of standard versions of “Feast of Consequences” because of the unexpected high demand over the holidays when the production plants had shut down. I expect a delivery date tomorrow but it should be in 2 weeks time. We are still taking orders but please be aware that the albums won’t be dispatched for another 2 weeks. I’ll keep you up to date with any news.
I’m discussing the vinyl release of “Feast of Consequences” in London next week.
To end on a perfectly morbid note I realised recently that my will was completely out of date and that circumstances had changed quite a lot since 2001!! Maybe triggered by those thoughts of mortality surrounding the Torch phase over the last couple of months combined with recent developments but I realised an appointment with my lawyer is in order.As ever the age old question returns. Who the fuck do I give the Grendel helmet to! 🙂