"Might as well have a bar-code on your head, for all things you've left unsaid."

Ugly Rumours
could be considered an anti-war song, and is named after Tony Blair's band. Consider the relative evil of the below.. 1. Hitler 2. George Bush 3. Tony Blair 4. Wasps

Level Crossing
A song about wanting to end the days of wasting away indoors on the playstation. The freedom of the technological revolution has become the chains that shackle you, and anger has replaced reason as the main tool of communication. Further self-hatred is born of the knowledge of your lost dreams. You are regressing into a state of worthlessness to society, while society itself is fracturing around you… This song is probably our most musically simple song and strangely, one of the most fun to play.

Ugly Is The New Beautiful
This is a song about extremism, ignorance and media-crity filling a void created by the decline of moral values, trustworthy leadership and a cohesive society… We are all culpable… we repeat history… we are the Romans, they are the Zealots…. So where is the new Christ? Something must save us from the triumph of ignorance.

"War, War, War, and rumours of war "

"The great indoors: Walls, ceilings and floors."

“Lame is the new walking. Grunting is the new talking.”

My Safest Bet
My Safest Bet and Humanatee were both recorded in a single session - our first multiple song recording session at Joe's in a while.  My Safest Bet was originally conceived by Chris as a tale of a tortuous family holiday and the inevitable realisation that shitty old England ain't so bad after all.  But it soon became clear that it wasn't only England he was missing, but also his lady. ;0)

Humanatee
Humanatee is lyrically inspired by the nonsense poetry of Ogden Nash, Edward Lear and Spike Milligan.  Freudians out there may be able to perceive a meaning other than 'alcohol is bad for you'.  Features wicked sonic youth-isms by Chris on lead guitar and Joe's pulsating drums and excellent production.  Sometimes the stupid ideas are the best...  but only for a short while.  This groove perhaps deserves better lyrics.

"I love it all, but not quite true.  I am my own island, in spite of you"

"I see your Nan's teeth.  I see a manatee.  I see the humanity.  I see your Nan in a tree."

"I am time without a clock... I'm the dream without the sleep..."

Farewell To Vivienne. The lyrics for this song were originally written back in 1994, and are about a girl who came to a friend's massively attended birthday party... and didn't leave... she slept with many of the house mates, before finally disappearing weeks later in a blaze of glory, apparently to a married life running a pub in deepest Essex. A success... of sorts. We hope Vivienne is happy! She wasn’t quite the village bicycle, but perhaps the hamlet's spacehopper. The music was written in a way that deliberately tries to parody some of our older melancholic pop tunes such as Beautiful Loser and Holy Mother, which were written by Joe & Chris, when we were in the band Wormhole.

It's Almost There. Our favourite instrumental, which might get lyrics one day... It’s quite dramatic and a slightly edgy piece, which, according to a friend, has a chorus reminiscent of an indeterminate eighties cop show. Does he mean the Equalizer? Or Miami Vice? I think we’d prefer it if it sounded a bit like the Sweeney: all wet concrete and sinister alleyways... that is until the hesitantly optimistic bridge appears... This was written during the July bombings/broken-collarbone-in-Worthing era. Returning to a very different London as a very different person.

"Masturbation! It’s your only recreation, in the lonely towns where the merriment brings you down."

“It’s so hard to get my people together.”

Linda McCartney. Clearly never an a-side... But what can be said of a song that has somehow stood the test of time when other, seemingly mightier songs have fallen by the wayside. It was originally written in early 1996 by Chris, along with John Gleeson, as a dual condemnation of meat products and Linda's ready meals... that was until Chris started eating meat again and Linda passed away... Now, the song has become repentant and full of contrition, regretful over the follies of his youth… Actually, Chris is just fearful that Paul McCartney’s hired hitmen are going to turn up at his house. Not that we’re saying he hires killers, or anything… (…keep digging that hole guys…)

Ballad Of The Adventurers. The lyrics from this song are from 'Baal', Bertolt Brecht's first play. Chris played the eponymous anti-hero at drama school and arranged the music for this tale of wasted opportunities, intoxication and regrets. Baal yearns to be truly connected to the rest of the word but has difficulty in not surrendering to his most selfish impulses. It doesn't mirror our lives... honest...

"If I was going to get it wrong, why did I not get it wrong better? Instead of this kind-of-wrong, this 'almost' wrong?"

"Sometimes he still dreams of a small field he recognises..."