(Julia) We played at the Proud Gallery on Tuesday...

...in support of the Big Issue. The Proud Gallery is a converted horse hospital in Camden Stables Market; walking in felt like being fifteen and looking for a lava lamp and a Metallica poster, or being seventeen and looking for oversized white vintage flares to customise with a marker-pen (yes, yes, I was very eccentric, also my school didn't have a dress code, so it was entirely possible to turn up wearing nothing but a PVC catsuit and a pair of wings. I didn't, personally, but I did have a collection of kimonos, top hats, tailcoats and bow ties, and they were mainly sourced in Camden..)

We felt very honoured to be asked to play, met some lovely people, and enjoyed ourselves very much. Next gig is the Vibe Bar on the 31st with Temposhark. Looking forward to that one too..

(Julia) Lyrics to 'Fire' from 'The Elements'

I used to play with matches
When I was very small
Legends of wolves and witches
I memorised them all
So many nasty stitches
So many jagged blades
I tidied up the pieces
I tried to mend my ways
But he came right out of nowhere
Like an unfamiliar tune
Sat down upon my armchair
And opened up my wounds
I put up no resistance
So insistent was desire
But one of my addictions is
I used to play with fire

Do you
Do you have a light
Do you have the time of day
Would you
Would you save a life
If you had a life to save

How sweetly we collided
Just like two meteors
For days he did as I did
Mixed drinks and metaphors
Oh so much phosphorescence
We added spark to spark
I should have learnt my lesson
Already broke my heart

And I said

Do you
Do you have a light
Do you have the time of day
Would you
Lend your light to mine
Do you want to come and play

I engineered the chaos
I burnt the fortress down
Who knew about the lives lost
Who took a body count
In my act of supplication
I asked him for his help
But I was an imposition
I had to ask myself
I had to ask myself

Do you
Do you have a light
Do you have the time of day
Would you
Would you save a life
If you had a life to save
To save

(Julia) Lyrics to 'Wood' from 'The Elements'

You try to multiply your speed by time to get your distance
But you don’t see the wood for the trees
An experiment with existence
Is showing up anomalies
You see the day dissolve into the morrow
And the slow growing of your second skin
Adrenaline begins in the marrow
And then intoxicates your oxygen

Count one to a hundred and then you are ready to go

What do you know
What do you say
We have an acid chemistry today
What do you get
What do you like
We have a savage energy tonight

I’m not the light outside of the window
I’m not a damsel in distress
I’m not the gold at the end of the rainbow
And I am not a lost princess
Are you my love, my landlord, my lawyer
Are you the one I build my world around
Or are we wrapped in black paranoia
Ready to attack and take each other down

Exactly like Alice in Wonderland now when we grow

What do you know
What do you say
We have an acid chemistry today
What do you get
What do you like
We have a savage energy tonight
What do you say
We have a savage energy today

Oh my dear it’s dark in the dungeon
This is where my demons dwell
A sign says beware of the dragon
But you don’t attend it very well

Who was it who said that it’s better the devil you know

Oh ain’t it so
What do you say
We have an acid chemistry today
What do you get
What do you like
We have a savage energy tonight
What do you say
We have a savage energy today

(Julia) One of my favourite poems

The Silver Swan

The silver swan, who living had no note,
When death approached, unlocked her silent throat;
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
Thus sung her first and last, and sung no more.
Farewell, all joys; O Death, come close mine eyes;
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.


Orlando Gibbons

(Julia) A Haiku Poem...

Interesting day
Unexpectedly unfolds,
And liberates us.

Self-sufficiency
As an idea, itself, is
Uncomplicated,

And yet - to maintain
A sense of autonomy
Is not so easy.

We tried. Compromise
And promises and earnest
yearnings to make good

Overtook us all;
Things we never understood
carved out chains to bind.

Then the day came in
To make peace, one hand outstretched.
Clement, cautious, kind.

(Julia) Gigs, past and future.

We've just finished a run of gigs at Pizza on the Park, basking in the loucheness of the soft furnishings and allowing our egos to be delicately nourished by the burgeoning crowds. Apart from one night where some football teams had the temerity to be playing against each other on television, we performed to pretty much full houses. I'm told the pizzas are very nice. As a nervous performer who has discovered very few permissible foodstuffs (those that do not overfill the stomach or irritate the throat pre-singing), I never partake. I am always starving by the sixth or seventh song in the set. Pret a Manger does a very nice selection of honey and fennel-coated nuts; these go down a treat.

There is something satisfying about returning to a venue every three or so weeks. Not just the restaurant manager and staff doing a fairly convincing job of looking thrilled to see us, but becoming accustomed to the sound and the set-up and growing more confident in the space. Or such is the hope. Personally I take comfort in my increased skill at finding the venue without ending up at Victoria Coach Station, still plugged into 'Overcoming Stage Fright' and other classics on my iPod pre-performance playlist.

Here are all the songs we played:

Another Girlfriend
Gone Fishing
Come to Dust
The Alphabet Song
The Kitchen
Unretractable Facts
Days Number Themselves
Spilt Milk
Four Leaf Clover
Too Cold To Snow
Wood
Fire
Story With Only 2 Characters
Divine
Giant Steps
Paper Umbrella
Senseless Sentences

..and maybe some others which I've forgotten.

No more Pizza on the Park for a couple of months - partly because we developed an expensive habit of going to the Lanesborough Hotel for overpriced cocktails after every performance. We'll be back there in September, if they'll have us.

In the meantime, Mark suggested (and it was inspired) we 'go East for the Summer', so that is what we'll be doing, starting with The Proud Gallery in Camden on the 22nd July (East of Centre), then the Vibe Bar on the 31st July (Brick Lane, genuinely East), and then the Regal Room on the 2nd August. In Hammersmith.