Oh look! I'm back in Liverpool.

It's been ages since I last posted a blog. I didn't realise it was 3 months...it's flown by and absolutely loads has changed. I'm no longer living in Berlin for starters, which is quite big news (in the context of this blog). I arrived back in Liverpool on the 3rd December 2011. I think I decided to come home after a visit to Liverpool just before my birthday in October and I made the decision in about 10 minutes and without a great deal of thought. The main reason for me coming back was because I'd spoken to Andy and Rob about starting a new band and initially we spoke about sending tracks back and forth via email and trying to do it that way, but I knew that I would never be able to work that way as I'm far too easily distracted by going out and getting lashed and having fun in Berlin. That was another reason for me coming home...I was just going out and getting lashed and having fun in Berlin way too much and not getting anything proper done. I was doing stuff, no doubt about that, but it was so hickledy-pickledy and skew-wiff and I could never concentrate on anything in particular. It's easy to get distracted in Berlin, especially if you're that way inclined - and I certainly am that way inclined.

Loads of things happened in the last three months though and I'm going to end up skimming over them and probably forgetting a lot because it were so long ago now. Here are some things that happened.

I had a great big party in Klub der Republik for my 30th birthday - a load of my friends came over from Liverpool for it, which was amazing. The manager at the club, Deacon, is one of the loveliest people I've ever met and is a great example of what a club manager should behave like. Always going out of his way to help if there was a problem...one time I had a mega bout of toothache whilst I was DJing there and I asked if he had anything behind the bar that could help - 2 minutes later he comes over with a drink that he said contained most of the spirits behind the bar. he set the drink on fire before giving it to me. Moments later there was no toothache.

I went away, on and off, to Saarbrücken to work on a massive construction site with my friend Seb and a good lad called Simon, who I met in Berlin not too long before this - he played trumpet and sung on the last Silent Sleep EP. It was a big load of fucking hard work - 12 hours a day most days and absolutely hard graft. In a mad way though, although I FUCKING HATED it at the time, when I look back now, I kind of look back on it with fairly fond memories. The three of us had a laugh whilst we were there and we ended up meeting some great people, too. Some completely terrifying people, don't get me wrong, but some nice ones too. One night we went out to the local 'Indie club' or whatever you want to call it and we got lashed and met a group of people on the way out who we got talking to. Cut to the chase, they ended up organising a couple of really brilliant gigs for us to play whilst we were over there and we stayed friends with them after we left.





We had the last Liquidation Berlin just before I left for home. Jules came over and we had a dead good couple of days. The last Liquidation itself was amazing and for the first time in my life I blacked out because of drink. I remember leaving the club with Jules. We were on our way back to mine. Then I'm waking up on a train in a part of Berlin I never knew existed and it's 7.30am and there are parents taking their children to school and there are people on their way to work and there's me, wearing Jules' massive overcoat with no shirt on under it looking like a mad, pissed up flasher. I'm sure I remember kids cowering behind their parents' legs when I stood up and tried to make my way down the train to the door. Cowering and crying. Cowering and crying and screaming. I had no idea where Jules was. I made my way home and eventually, after a load of phone calls and google mappering, Jules arrived back too, wearing my coat, obviously. Turns out Jules can't remember how we got separated either but woke up in a park somewhere.

It was sad to leave behind the people that I'd met over there. I met some absolutely wonderful people who I hope I'll always stay mates with. People who totally reached out and helped me when they totally didn't need to. I'll definitely miss living in Berlin and I'll definitely miss these people.

I've been home 1 whole month now. It's good. It's great to be close to my friends who know me really well again. I'm living, bizarrely, in the same house that I lived in about 4 years ago with Graham and Claire, at the top of Penny Lane in Allerton.
I'm definitely going to continue doing my Silent Sleep stuff - I did think about jibbing it now that I've moved back but I realised that I really enjoy doing it, so I'm going to record the album properly with Rob Whiteley in his fancy studio. I'm absolutely looking forward to doing that. I'm more excited to get started on the band that I (mostly) moved home for though. We've got our first practise on Sunday.

I watched The Human Centipede 2 last night. It's going to ruin the rest of my life if I don't scrub my mind hard enough.

Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow Tree

I've decided that I want to become dead into country music for a bit so I can learn how to play country guitar...I really want to - I enjoy playing it loads. I've become obsessed by 'Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow Tree' by The Carted Family, so I'm sticking it into this list. I've also added a few more.


Low - Over The Ocean
Elliot Smith - Waltz no.2 (xo)
The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?
Elbow - Powder Blue
The Wedding Present - Spangle
Cinerama - Wow
Alton Ellis - I'm Still in love with you
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Talking Heads - Pulled Up
Billy Bragg - Sexuality
Hefner - Hello Kitten
Pixies - My Velouria
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
Radiohead - Black Star
Big STar - Thirteen
Weakerthans - Aside
Otis Redding - These Arms Of Mine
The Carter Family - Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow Tree
The Dears - 22. The Death Of All The Romance
The Notwist - Pick Up The Phone

sluggish entry

Last night was the launch party of Silent Sleep's 2nd EP. I finally got round to finishing it but it was really close to the bone. I'm so disorganised. Actually, no, swerve disorganised and replace it with lazy. I knew for about 2 months that I'd said it was happening on the 3rd September yet I still left it so that until 1 day before I was still recording it and until 1 hour before we were still making the sleeves!! What's the matter with me?? Anyway, it was a boss gig, loads of people came to see us and we had a lot of fun playing it. On the last song I got everybody to play drums on whatever large object was closest and everybody did it so it sounded amazing!

I'm settling into my new place really nicely...the people are both dead sound and sociable and we have a laugh - it feels so much more relaxed than my old place for some reason.

Ermmmm, I'm struggling loads to write anything good here because I'm well hung over and dead tired. I played at the opening of a vintage clothes shop yesterday afternoon too. Maggie, the girl that owns it, is really sound and she gave me a lovely shirt for playing. I had a nightmare on the way up though...well, maybe nightmare's a bit much like. My chain came off my bike. That doesn't sound that bad like but I realised there and then that I haven't put a chain back on a bike for about 20 years or something and it absolutely ruined the afternoon almost! I was already late for the gig so I ended up turning up super, super late, covered in sweat and oil. I was disgusting. The shop was full of absolutely cool looking people too so I felt like a right meff.

I've got quite a big beard at the moment that i'm getting into. I like it. I think I'm going to keep it.

I'm enjoying living in Berlin, you know, it's a fucking brilliant place to be and I've met some really, really good people here. I love Liverpool too, don't get me wrong, and I've got all of my best and closest friends there and obviously my family who I do miss loads, but I just can't see me coming back anytime soon.

It's my 30th birthday next month so I'm having a party and I'm gonna combine it with a few of my friends' birthdays too. Loads of mates from Liverpool are coming over for it so I'm really excite about it.

I can't think of anything else to write because my mind's slowing down really quickly.

Paul Green visits.

It's now the end of July and I've moved out of my place in Huttenroderweg with Paula and Angeline. I've taken on a room in a shared flat not too far away with a guy from Australia and a girl from Austria - both seem like nice people with a similar sense of humour. I don't move into this flat until the 12th August so for the time being I am homeless. I've got places to stay though, James has gone away until the end of the month and Seb and Charlotte have also gone away on holiday for a few weeks and both have very kindly left me the keys to their flats. So I write this from the relative luxury of Seb and Charlotte's brand new massive sofa bed.

One of my best friends ever, Paul Green, has just been to visit me and we had such a good time. It was great to see Paul. Paul suffers from manic depression (I don't think he'll mind me writing this as he was diagnosed a few years ago and also he told a lot of people here that, in his own words, he has mind problems) and at the moment he has just come out of a long spell of depression and is in a manic stage. Paul and I have known each other since I was 19 which is nearly 11 years now and we've been through quite a lot together. We've had some absolutely amazing and magical times and we've also had some really shitty and frightening times together. This trip to Berlin can be counted amongst the amazing and magical times (as are most tbh)...we had such a laugh from the moment he arrived here holding a sick bag with my name on it in the air. He helped me out at Liquidation on Thursday night (which was one of the busiest ever), then we had a great day on Friday drinking and playing pool and giggling and singing and then on Saturday, Pete turned up with his band, 'Pete Bentham and The Dinner Ladies', so we hung out with Pete and co all night and watched them do really great gig.
By Sunday we were both pretty done in so we just hung out at my place and ate some proper food (not kebabs, not pizza, not ale) and then on Monday we pretty much done the same and then I put Paul on the bus to the airport in the afternoon. It was a bit of a whirlwind but it was so, so good to see him and I hope it happens again soon. He's a beautiful person. If you want to see around 600 photographs of Paul's visit, you can go on his facebook and have a look.

Last week I had the responsibility of finding the cast for a video shoot that James was directing for a band called Twin Atlantic. I had to muster up 20 people to fill out a Berlin street. In the weeks/days leading up to the shoot I had gathered up the troops and managed to get 20 of my friends to promise that they will be there at 7am on what could have been a cold and wet July morning. I was so, so worried in the days and hours leading up to the shoot because if the people didn't show up then the whole shoot would have been a disaster and I would have gotten into loads of shit. The night before I didn't sleep at all worrying about it. Anyway, I needn't have feared as on the morning of the shoot there were about 25 or so people that turned out for me and the weather was boss!! I'm hugely grateful to all those who came along and did such a good job!! It was, at times, very boring with lots of waiting around and it was so hot too, but everyone was totally awesome and I think overall, we all had a really good day. The shoot went well and we had a big ol' BBQ afterwards and then went down to the canal for a bit of Kubb.

Right now I'm going to crack on with recording and then I'm going to go on a bit of a bike ride alone. I think I gained about 5 stone in ale whilst paul was over and I've just watched The Fighter so I feel dead motivated.

Just information.

Time seems to move super-fast-warp-speed-turbo boost here. I think I'm 54 years old already. No, that's not true. Sometimes I feel like I'm 54 years old though. My liver in particular. A 54 year old tramp. It's impossible to stay sober in Berlin. If you really want to stay sober I've found the best way is to not leave your bedroom. At all. You have to stay in there. Even if you leave, there might be a flat mate with a bottle of wine or some beers. If you actually go outside the house then there's nothing down for you - you're going to be pissed within minutes. It's cheaper to buy a bottle of beer here than it is to buy a bottle of water. Anway, I'm being dramatic and of course you don't have to drink if you don't want to, it's just way easier to find yourself drinking if you are that way inclined.

I've been working with James a little bit the last month on a music video for a norwegian band called Katzenjammer. I've recently seen the final edit and it looks cracking! I'll stick it up here when it's ready. I was mostly preparing the sets for the shoot - drilling and hammering and painting and re-wiring stuff. Good fun though and it was great to work with and meet loads of boss people.

I played a gig a couple of weeks ago at a kindergarten. I was a bit sceptical at first but once the hangover had been shaken off and we started playing it was kind of amazing! The kids all wandered over to us like tiny zombies and we had layed down a load of percussion instruments on the floor for them to grab, which they did...they went mental!! It was boss! We're doing it again tomorrow afternoon and I'm really looking forward to it.

It's been nice playing more with Silent Sleep. We went to Trier last week and played a couple of gigs there. It was so nice to see Alex and Katrin and Marius and all of those guys again - they're some of the best people in the world and I'm glad I can call them friends. The gigs were great and we had about 47 laughs in total. One of the things I like best about playing with Silent Sleep is that we can pretty much turn up anywhere and do our normal set - we've done quite a few gigs in parks recently and it's so much fun. People just turn up with a bottle of wine and some butties or whatever...it's absolutely one of the most civilised things ever. I've been recording the 2nd part of the trilogy too. It's taken me way longer than I expected but only due to me being too easily distracted. I'm looking forward to finishing it and getting it out there. James is going to make a video for the song 'Love Never Lasts' which is going to be great. I think that song is my bleakest ever song. I enjoy playing it to the children in the kindergarten. It's a valuable lesson that needs to be learnt.

I have to move out of the place I've been staying in since March at the end of this month so I'm looking for new places. It's tricky though - I've sent SO many emails replying to ads and out of maybe 40 I've had 1 reply. Not panicking just yet though.

Abandoned theme park

This weekend, Friday in particular, was one of the most fun weekends I've had, which is saying something because I've had quite a few bits of fun recently. But Friday was fun for loads of reasons. I was supposed to be djing in Prenzlauer Berg at 10pm but I met up with James in the afternoon and we had a dead cool time having casual ales in a few different bars around Neukoelln. We met some friends who own a cafe and sat with this dead nice guy who I'd never met before but can't remember his name, then we went to a bar around the corner and sat with this ex professional footy player who James and I met a couple of weeks ago in a turkish betting shop and had a few drinks with him. It was 9pm by this point and I remembered I had to go all the way back to mine to get my records before heading off to DJ (Prenzlauer Berg is about 30 mins by bike). We were both a bit boozy by this stage and James decided to come with me to DJ. We grabbed our bikes and my records and started pegging it towards the train station. We got on a train but it booted us off after 2 stops so we legged it from there to the tram and jumped on a tram. Eventually we arrived at the bar, 45 minutes late, only to find out that I'd been told the wrong date and it was actually the next day I was DJing. I couldn't believe it, I was dripping with sweat and totally out of breath and all flustered and what have you. The guy was sound though and apologised and gave us both a pint and me a packet of fags too. It wasn't that bad though because earlier in the day we were talking about this event that was happening at an old abandoned theme park so now, what with me not having to DJ, we could go. We cycled back from Prenzlauer Berg to Treptower Park singing Roy Orbison songs and Beach Boys songs and Beatles songs dead loud. It was about midnight now. Finally we made it to the park and to get the old amusement park we had to bike through the park in total darkness for about 20 minutes. It was kind of fun but I don't mind admitting that there were times when I was frightened. Anyway, we made it, but we only made it at the very end when it was emptying out and locking up for the night but James knew somebody who worked there and she let us in anyway so we decided to just get a bit lost in there. It was magic. All the old shacks and stands where all still there from when it last opened it's doors 20 years ago. Everywhere was a little bit battered and all the plants and grass and bushes where dead overgrown. There was even a couple of massive plastic dinosaurs left lying on the ground. It looked mad. We went past a pond that we thought had some speakers near it playing animal noises and then we realised that the pond was just full of frogs and the frogs were all croaking their mad little heads off!! We went past a really beautiful black horse (not real) and it was on a track so James and I took turns pushing each other around the track on it. It was completely overgrown with thorn bushes though so we got toally shredded whilst doing it, but it was really good fun and we made it all the way around. We carried on walking, avoiding the security guards and all that and eventually we found a group of people sat around a fire and drinking booze so we went over and sat down with them. Turns out they're all lovely french and german people so we sayed there for an hour or so, chatting and drinking and stuff. We decided to leave them to it and we headed back to our bikes.

Something a bit weird happened on the way home. not totally, totally weird, but defo a bit mad, like. We were biking, again through the dark - actually, just remembered that we both nearly absolutely fell off our bikes when we drove at a good bit of pace into a bit of tree that someone had left lying across the path - anyway, yeah, we were biking to Kreuzberg because we were going to meet some friends, by this point it's probably about 2.30am or something, and we came to this massive stretch of road that was closed to cars so we started pegging it dead fast, racing each other and then this guy who was going the same way started to join in the race and the three of us raced down the road until we came to where the road blocks where and then we slowed down and had a bit of a laugh and introduced ourselves to this guy who was gegging in on the race. Lovely fella, he was, Italian dude from Florence. Anyway, James and I split off and when we got to Kotbusser Tor I saw this girl I know called Lisa. She was just standing there smiling at me as if she was waiting for me or something, but she wasn't, like. So we stopped and said hello and a bit of a chat etc. She was waiting for her friend. Then her friend showed up whilst we were chatting. It was the Italian fella who we'd just met 10 minutes before!! How mad is that?!?! Is it mad or is it just me? That's well mad.

But yeah, it was just a dead nice day, spontaneous boozing, biking round, abandoned theme parks...mega.

I DJ'd in Mokum last night, which is a bar I've started playing in once a month. It's absolutely good fun and I really anjoy playing there but everytime I do it I stagger out at like 7am completely off my head on alcohol. Don't really remember getting home or leaving the bar but I'm here in my bedroom now and I managed to not get my records or my guitar robbed off me. I had my guitar on me because I played a gig at this open-air event in Schoneweide earlier in the day. I feel a bit ropey now though so I'm going to go and watch some more of the american version of the office before heading out later to eat delicious vietnamese food, which is my favourite thing to eat in Berlin.

p.s. can not be bothered to re-read that so probably loads of grammar and spelling mistakes. I always try and start off proper but then the faster I type and it all starts spewing out it just goes to pot.

This came in the post this morning...

Christopher,

Greetings this fne day. Thanks for getting back to me.
Regarding the questionairre. Please don't fret over the final couple answers. I Will have plenty to go on with the answers you've already finished. It's not supposed too be difficult. Just relax and let go and the answers will come out naturally. Not to worry.
Please send a picture.

Regarding the pricing, let me give you some perspective on your idea that the prices are high. There are some people that think the prices are too low. They understand the spiritual energy that I put into each picture. I've been an artist for most of my 55 years. So when I approach a subject I bring all those years of practice to bare. Each picture usually takes about 4 hours to complete. At $50 per hour that is
$150. I'm worth probably more like $150 per hour with all my experience, so I'm giving people a great deal at $150. And I offered you $50 off. This is considered a fantastic value!

I hope this helps you to see the oppurtunity in front of you.
Right now I have several portraits I'm working on so I'm getting busy. I can offer you this great price of $100 until tomorrow. Then it goes back up to $150. To make it an even better deal we can do a payment plan. $50 now and $50 in a couple weeks from now. We can spread it out for your convenience.

There is one more discount option I can give you. I''ll do it for $75 if you pay me all it up front right now by tomorrow.

So, we have one more day to decide.
Thanks so much Christopher!

Best,

€rial

I'm going to reply tomorrow.