It was a pleasure to spend New Years with a room full of sober people playing songs with a band that were gentle and understanding, it was a pleasure to perform. Winchester Guildhall is a fine building and in the main hall we set up shop, Tim Weller on drums, Simon Little on bass and Matt Deighton on guitar. We were joined by Gavin, Simon and Tres from Arcalia who provided the most amazing harmonies. In the later afternoon we ran each song twice, that was it, our rehearsal. 8 songs from the Squeeze cannon and a few of my own. I played my Red Tele and felt pretty good about things. It was a varied night of performers and the 450 people in the room enjoyed everything we dished up along the way. Just before midnight the text pages began to ping, mostly from people i never hear from, and the people i hear from didn’t bother, its an odd thing. On stage we all gave what we had left in the tank, it had been a long day. Tim was as ever so reliable on the drums and Simon nailed it on the bass. Matt was lovely. Arcelia as ever sweet. For the last two songs Gilson Lavis got up and played the drums. I love this man, he was the inspiration for my sobriety many years ago. He played Take Me like it was fresh out of the can and Lablled with Love with a gentle swing. A good night staged well. Ravi was our stage director, and it was Ravi who hired out his house to Squeeze in 1975 to rehearse, egg boxes on the wall with red lights in every socket on the ceiling making it seem like a room in Amsterdam. It was so great to see him. Life is a load of circles that meet up where they left off, they hoop around me and complete each chapter with loveable memories. I wish Lou had been there but she was with kids at her sisters. I drove home, the M27 was blocked by blue flashing lights in the rain, i sat and waited as the road was being cleared, as i did i found a bagel wrapped in tinfoil on the seat next to me from this morning, i opened it and there was a sweet note from the Mrs. I tucked in and by the time i had digested my snack the accident had been cleared away. Yum! I got home around 2.30 in time for sleep. Outside the winds of the new year bashed the countryside into submission. Weeks of rain and wind leave a shambles of the roads. Nights like this never come back, it was good to savour each morsel each note of our playing, thank you to all who made the night a huge success.

Re Think Radio. Below is a link to some playlists i have put together, copy and paste. You may have to down load Mixcloud to really enjoy them! Happy ear holes…….

https://x.mixcloud.com/mews/