We meant to get it all done and wrapped up today, but unfortunately only got to spend 7 hours on it in the end.  Will tie up the loose ends during the week.  The bulk of it’s done, but still no vocals on the second verse.  Thanks to Lloyd from Skyline Dossier & Bryony Burrows for lending their vocals to the track.  It’s a little different for us, the clue should come from the working title FantasyLand (Xmas In The Terror Zone).  Watch this space.

Now call me old fashioned, but FUCK, we’re playing with TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS at 93 Feet East!  This is god damned monumental!  Clear your diaries!  On Saturday 16th January, courtesy of The Playground, we will be tearing it up at 93 Feet East (E1 6QL).  This is sure to be an incredible night with the dirtiest electro till the wee hours in the morning.  Tickets link and more details to come soon.  Bring your gran.

Luminescence, the EP we’ve been talking about for almost as long as the band have been going is finally finished!  The mastering was completed by Simon Davey at The Exchange.  It was an honour working with the guy who’s polished off the latest Boys Noize, Vitalic, Chromeo recently.  Though tempting, we didn’t swipe the Filthy Dukes HDD which was lying around, we’ve got morals (download: here)!

We’re just putting the finishing touches to the artwork before sending it off to the printers before you’ll be able to ACTUALLY BUY IT.  Yes, that’s right, it will be real.  Jim’s other project still hasn’t released its debut EP!  It was 95% finished when we formed!  Mental!  Poke him, make it happen, we don’t care if it takes his time now, Luminescence is finished!

Mixing at 2.00am.  It’s more worth it than Jennifer Aniston, thankfully.

Ideally, you should not still be mixing at 1:36 on the day that you’re mastering.  The reason this is happening is because NEON HIGHWIRE ARE IDIOTS.  There.  I said it.  Here I am, unable to really help out with “what the fuck is going on with the high pass filter on the cymbals on Isometric View” so instead I’m on a laptop, on a Friday night / Saturday morning. Gotta stop typing now, Jim’s getting all Nazi on me.

As described by Kathie “It’s mint!”.  Listen here: http://bit.ly/neonsherwood

Although it shames me to say it and although I do my best to hide it, at heart I’m a total fanboy.  Much to the amusement of those who’ve had the opportunity to witness it first hand, when I meet certain people who I have a great respect for words fail me and I often resort to an endless tirade of compliments and obscure references that prove I know more about them than your average Joe.  I’m not proud of it, and keep trying to change my actions on the odd occasion where it becomes an issue, but yet I don’t know what else to say.  To Stephen Malkmus in Cardiff, I’m sorry I chastised you for not playing an obscure b-side to a badly attended gig.  To Ian MacKaye in Newport, I’m sorry for implying that you weren’t voting in the US elections that day by being outside of the US.  Most recently to Kelson Mathias, I’m sorry for trapping you in a conversation discussing why Ted Leo isn’t more successful than he currently is and should be.

Speaking of Ted Leo, an early Xmas present arrived yesterday when I found out that he’s playing in Brixton in less than two weeks time.  I bought myself a ticket without hesitation before checking out the further details on The Windmill Brixton‘s website.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t much fanfare about Mr Leo playing the little friendly venue where I’ve had the pleasure to see Clem Snide, The Rumble Strips and Cymbals Eat Guitars amongst others, merely the words “Solo show from the mighty leader of The Pharmacists” and little more.  A scan a couple of lines down the page though and I saw something which sent adrenaline through my body and also let a little wee out.  “*Ted Leo *Gold Future Joy Machine *tbc”.  TBC?  Wait a second.  I’m in a band.  I live in Brixton.  Ted motherfucking Leo?  Before I could stop myself, I began constructing a lengthy email pleading with the venue to allow Neon Highwire to be that TBC.  Sure we sound very little alike, but a brief listen to Gold Future Joy Machine revealed that neither do they (if anything, they sound more like us).  Call it pathetic, call it wishful thinking, call it whatever you want but nothing you could call it stopped me writing to them.  I wish I could say this is the first time I’d done something like this, but I confess that a similar email to Club Fandango about a year ago regarding the incredible Future Of The Left that remained heart-breakingly unanswered (though I had a good time regardless).

I recall the effect Hearts Of Oak had when I was stuck in a rut living in Bridgend working a dead-end job.  When Ted announced a UK tour, I travelled up to London on two consecutive weekends to catch the shows.  It cost more money than I really should have spent, but for Ted Leo, it was worth it.  It was enough to snap me out of my haze and move to London to stay on my brothers floor, regardless of whether I had a job or not.  It was one of the best decisions I made.

With less than two weeks to go, and despite the fact that we’re in dire need of a break following intense recording, writing, gigging and mixing (not to mention our tragic jobs) lately, this wouldn’t just be the greatest Xmas present I’d ever receive.  This would render 2010 a moot point.  What is a boy to do?

In the slightly bastardised words of Steve Albini “Tim Perry, can ya hear me now?”

This coming Tuesday, Neon Highwire will be playing at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch kicking off the night for Cold In Berlin‘s single launch.  The line-up is incredible, entry is free and you can find a nice news article about the details published on God Is In The TV Zine here: http://bit.ly/neoncoldinberlin

As we’re on stage first, make sure you’re there from 19:30.  It’s sure to be a good one!

Appreciated! http://bit.ly/Neonalex

Thanks Abbi! http://bit.ly/Neonabbi