Assistant update

Did some work on new songs at the rehearsal last night - Don't Ask Me started out life as a demo I did on my keyboard, and was a (possibly misguided) attempt to sound like Soul II Soul. Early versions of it with the band saw it taking a much heavier, guitary sound, with tribal, krautrock drumming, but, like the early versions of Get Away, lacking structure. Last night we had another go at it, trying to differentiate between verses and bring out the chorus (it's the kind of song which relies on repetition and slightly shifting sounds, so - if we're not careful - it can end up sounding like soup). Eventually we hit on the idea of suddenly switching the drums in the chorus to a surprising, clear disco type beat, which worked really well, and finally the song is taking a bit of shape.

Another old one, which I've referred to before but never by name (because it hasn't got one), has existed as a fully fledged song for quite a while but lacked lyrics, so it never got anywhere. It's a pretty, melodic, indie-pop type number and writing a vocal melody has always been beyond me. But on the train yesterday I put our old MD recording of it on loop on my discman and had a go, and worked out a set of words and a melody that I was really pleased with. Having done so, I fretted about forgetting the tune, so ended up humming it in my head all day. When it came to playing it last night, my mind went completely blank and I forgot it. This morning, luckily, the tune popped back into my head. Anyway, I'd better give it a title now I've got some words, so I'll go for either Advice or, for singalongability value, the chorus's I'm Shit.

Of the three other tracks we worked on, we spent the least time on an instrumental song that arose out of the lead break for You Should Know a few months ago. Rehearsing without me a few weeks ago the others had the idea of blending the short section we already had with the really good, and no longer played, intro to one of our very first songs, Broken. It worked well, but we only really had one go at it. Still, it sounded good, and it's nice to have a faster number to play, too. Another one which we've worked on a little before, What it Means, is taking shape, although it's fast, monotonous bassline is taking its toll on Andy's fingers. Despite appalling slurs from Pete (he said it was melodic), it's one with lots of potential I think.

The final new one we had a go at was one I wrote in the week on my computer, and, though fairly simple, sounds endearing enough at the moment - a choppy, new wavey verse and a big sounding chorus which, horribly, reminded us slightly of Stairway to Heaven. We only gave it a couple of goes but it seemed to work, especially the bassline. Andy said it reminded him a bit of The Clash, so he's my friend for life.