Friday 15th February '08

Necessitated a day away from the tables and spoons of Rochesters Event Hire ( heretoafter referred to as 'work' ) as Stackridge were booked to appear at The Limelight, Crewe.

Yes, you read that right 'Crewe' – that's a long way from Bridport. Thankfully Crun, the Stack bass player, had offered to give Andy Davis and me a lift. All I had to do was be at the launch pad in Bath by 12:15 pm. I arrived in time for Crun to tell me that he would be there at 1:15 instead. A good hour of assiduous attention payed to The Times Su Doku and cryptic crossword saw neither finished and the arrival of Crun in his green VW people carrier. He bathed us in an aural cloud of effin' and effin' as Andy and I helped him load the back of the van – it's the patois of the Bath brickie apparently. It didn't mellow until we avoided Tewkesbury on the M5.

Crewe is an eneormous trading estate that has been left to regenerate itself over several decades. What's left of old Crewe festers at centre with The Limelight nursing a grievance somewhere near its bruised heart. It's a converted church, after its deconsecration someone with a sense of humour installed seven bars complete with neon signs, suits of armour and countless gaming machines. I had a pint and comfortably resisted the razzamatazz of their come hither flashing lights and screens. I don't know how many floors there were to the church originally, I don't even know how many there were on Friday the fifteenth February 2008 – I lost my bearings and then lost count of the levels. I did find the auditorium – it was in the basement.

It's a large box of a room with a high stage on one side and raised galleries on the other three a waist high railled ballustrade of dark polished wood stops the punters dropping four feet down onto the dance floor. A jam of Victorian gents in frock coats and earnest expressions might have leant on those rails and spent an instructive hour or so watching someone conduct an autopsy with gardening implements or, going even farther back, a steaming, fetid bunch of their forefathers may have howled and cheered at a cock fight on a bloody straw strewn floor. Just my imagination; no autopsies or cock fights, just an empty floor with empty galleries. We sound checked and hoped for enough people to dispel my ghosts.

They came, not in their masses, but more than enough. Some from Newcastle ( On-Tyne as well as Under-Lyme ), a couple from Swansea and ,even more astonishing, from St Ives, most of course were from Crewe and environs. They had filled the galleries and were spilling down onto the floor when we hit the floor running with our first number. The two forty five minute sets went in a blur with everyone – especially the audience – playing their rightful part in a Stackridge event. They sang with gusto when asked we sang even when no one could care less ( it's part of the job ). I will not detail the musical agenda here as it is more than adequately covered in the Stackridge chat room - www.zorgansgal@yahoogroups.com. This is The Mutter Slater Band web site anyway.

After the set we did some scribbling over people's cherished posters and CD inserts. For some reason I find writing 'Fly Mutter Airlines' on the side of a seagull on the first album cover a hoot. I can see no justification for this, when the moment has passed it seems childish and, worse still, distinctly unfunny, but slip a version of that album in front of me after a gig and I'm off on the gag again.

Crun and I shared a room at a Travel Lodge on the edge ot a trading estate on the edge of Crewe. I awoke refreshed, Crun was not so lucky, 'Like sharing a room with a bloody old carthorse' he intoned as I made my way to the shower. If I can keep this up I can see me getting a room to myself in no time at all. We arrived back in Bath in time for me to slide into the trusty old Escort estate and bomb off down the M5 to the next leg of my quest for world domination. I'll skip the solo gig for now, the story of Ade's birthday party in deeper Devon is for another day.

Chris Lonergan and I spent two and a half days later in the week with Leo Brown in Mojo Studios, Torquay putting some final touches to 'Riding a Hurricane' the imminent MSB CD. Three tracks have already been mixed and mastered, over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ( half day Wednesday 'cos Leo's wife was desperately ill ) we managed to complete all the overdubs and mix another five songs.

That's eight down four to go – well to be precise three and a quarter, Strangers in One Room is nearly done. Chris brought his plastic dobro type guitars ( £130 on ebay and worth every penny ) and his 1962 Ampeg guitar amp ( also from ebay ) and laid down some authentic bluesy colour on Sunday – Running Wild and Triumph Bonneville. I managed to re-record some lead vocals I couldn't share a room with.

Leo is the part owner and the house engineer of Mojo Studios and he is doing a blinding job on this album. The clarity and range of sounds he has elicited from my guitar playing is nothing short of miraculous. Here is a list of the songs that will feature on 'Riding a Hurricane'. In something like the final order:

1.Pig In The Middle
2.Sunday – Running Wild
3.Strangers In One Room
4.Excuse Me Ma'am
5.The Price
6.Last Train From Heartache
7.God's Gift
8.Only The Dues To Pay
9.Moth To A Flame
10.Riding A Hurricane
11.Triumph Bonneville
12.I'm Holding Your Picture

All Mutter Slater originals and lovingly played and recorded. As soon as a release date is finalised you will be the first to know.

The mooted charity single idea seems to have withered on the vine. So unless something rejuvenates it the album will be the only product generally available in the coming months. The three EP songs will be part of it anyway and the publishing royalties to 'I'm Holding Your Picture' will go to Help For Heroes as I originally intended.

That's all for now folks. I am heading to The Hope and Anchor, there to join in on the jam session at the request of my mate Alistair whose birthday it is today. I might as well have a pint of Stella while I'm at it!

Cheers,

Mutter