We’ve written before about how we like to record the same way we perform: the whole group together, often including the soloist. We like the authenticity, we find it more enjoyable, it’s cheaper and quicker (!)…

But we’ve decided to give it a go the other way: recording each part individually and letting our MD Michael play with it until it is something very different indeed.

More on that soon, but it was after one of these sessions that a few of us treated ourselves to a pub lunch. They must have recognised us, as shortly after finishing our meals (but, frustratingly, before we had finished the jug of Pimm’s), they laid on a fire alarm and oodles of smoke, presumably just for us.

It quickly spilled out into the beer garden:

…and even after we finished our drinks classily on the pavement outside, the journey to the toilets was a bit like being in Knightmare:

We’re assured it wasn’t actually a fire – somebody accidentally hit the alarm – but we never got an explanation as to where else the smoke might have come from. Anyway, it was In the Smoke (in the pub) in the smoke, which we agreed was worthy of a blog.

Here’s a trailer for our 31 July Summer Extravaganza – be there or… no, just be there.

– James