HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN...

It's taken 12 years of incessant nagging and persistent pestering, but Rose Thorn's stubborn and willful refusal to accept no for an answer - in the most daunting of adversity - has finally paid dividends.

Let me fill you in. (I should use that - it's a pretty smoef pick up line...)

After an uninvited appearance at an early Grämlich band rehearsal, our dear Rose Thorn was inducted into the group on the strength of an impromptu acapella rendition of some or other Tori Amos song. Oh, and the willingness to learn le keyboard. Which she did. Immediately. Better than most peoples' wildest fantasies. Not mine of course. Let's not get into my fantasies...

Anyway, we have been making music together, along with a few other stalwart collaborators for many, many years since. Well, TDB. Mostly. Throughout all this time, and without stopping for breath, Miss Thorn has nagged and nagged and nagged and nagged and nagged and nagged and nagged and nagged (you get the picture) and nagged us to do a Tori cover. She's somewhat of a fan.

Up to now TDB and I have resolutely refused to budge in our denial of this request. Except for the acoustic version of one of her tracks planned for 'Birdbath Sessions' (an acoustic extravaganza of covers and originals sung whilst sitting IN a birdbath. It's tradition. It's open air. It's also invite only).

Another bit of info you may find useful is the current project we're on, which is creating yet another sub-genre of metal (because metal can never have enough sub-genres... EVERYBODY knows that!) called Djoom. We're already the pre-eminant purveyors of what you could classify as traditional Doom Metal, with all the usual trappings of slow, heavy guitars and depressed as hell everything else, so we decided to incorporate this with the math-metal phenomenon known as 'Djent' - a style of playing that involves discordant tones and poly-rhythmic time signatures.

We give you the birth of 'Djoom'. Not only that, Rose Thorn finally convinced us to do a heavy rendition of one of her precious Tori tracks - and we're gonna fuck it up thoroughly, giving it the full Djoom treatment. I wonder if any vestige of the original will be even vaguely recognizable.

And in keeping with the somewhat musical theme, here is today's Chapter & Verse, according to the gospel of Saint Smith:

Book 4 : Chapter 3 : Verse 7-8

In other news, Greyton has been issued with a natural disaster warning. Next weekend Hurricane Hell's-Loose hits the sleepy little hollow as the masses descend for a "chilled weekend away". Really, really looking forward to that! Especially since Tarty Farty Tequila Party is going to be there!

And on with the show, as we check in with the venerable Mr Goldwyer in NGDG: "I laugh at your "must be installed by a qualified electrician, in accordance with SANS 10142". Well, I did, before realising this twilight is still rapidly autumnal, as I stood atop a ladder, in the dark, my shoulders on fire as I strained against a heavy steel light-fitting, trying to anchor it through non-standard holes, and battling for an hour to get the wires to stop slipping out of the terminal block. Knackered!"

Spread The Love. At Least For A Short While...