It seems a bit late to be saying that now as we’re already at Epiphany, but Happy New Year. May all your 2009 dreams come emphatically true. We saw in the new year in Edinburgh, doing an outdoor gig in front of the castle, alongside, amongst other things, a firework display and Michelle McManus. Despite going on stage in 8 layers of 3M’s Thinsulate composite all of us lost our toes to frostbite, and we were carrying icicles on our eyebrows all the way up to midnight. Thankfully the fireworks the City of Edinburgh provided were pretty intense, and we thawed out by huddling around a stray Roman candle. There’s something undeniably stirring about hearing Auld Lang Syne on the bagpipes. In fact once I’ve finished this, I’m going over to Youtube to relive the moment, and I’ll put some ice cubes down my front to make it extra realistic. Have I mentioned how cold it was?
Anyway, as we say goodbye to 2008 and some of its lamer cultural flotsam (the Rolex sweep, Orlando Bloom hats and Akon guest slots to name but three) we’re powering into 2009’s futurescape with a host of new stuff going on.
On 13th of January we’re taking over Radio 1 for two hours while Zane Lowe goes on his annual coarse fishing trip. There’ll be a load of music that we like, some suprise ‘celebrity’ guests on the phone (probably Foals), and some Radio 1 related anecdotes that we’ve been asked to prepare/fabricate. Who knows, this could be the beginning of a new career as drivetime legends of the FM dial. We might even meet Dave Pearce. That would be something to tell the grandkids: “Eee I tell thee, ‘e used to do yon Mix at 6 n play all thar reet good trance, and e wore t’at in all ‘is promo shots”.
Sometime in December we recorded a video for our new single Skeleton Boy. It features a load of little balls that kept flying into our mouths (make your own joke about this, wags), and the tiniest nod towards the theme of skeletons. I’m saying nowt else. It’ll preview somewhere soon enough.
Thanks to everyone who packed into Koko for the 12th of December. We hope it was as exciting for you all as it was for us. We heard reports of tickets changing hands for silly money on eBay, which is flattering, but in this time of huge economic uncertainty you should really make sure you buy your tickets promptly so you don’t end up paying through the nose. Tickets are still readily available for most of the the NME tour so no slacking… it could cost you.
The rest of January we’re working on some hot new material, so don’t distract us too much, or it’ll turn out rubbish.
Happy January
FFx
