1997

It took until February for the hangovers to finally wear off and Bobby decided that the return to full fitness meant he should go to Angora for a spot of Snowboarding. Recently Bobby has gone completely mad with this Snowboarding lark, sacrificing almost everything else in his quest to be at least half decent at it. So while Bobby was on piste Chris, Gen and Grant indulged in pursuits of a less taxing nature.

In March the ball started rolling again with a one off gig in Lille, at Ecole Centrale, which proved to be more of a night out rather than an opportunity for people to see a properly functioning, professional rawk 'n' roll band. The excessive rider supplied , comprising of Spin beer (very strong), Jack Daniel's, wine etc., was largely to blame for Chris and Grant's murderous performance of Queens "Crazy little thing called love" during the Karaoke. Five days following this gig in France the band were due to fly out to America, hopefully for up to 6 months. However, as is often the case with Baby Chaos, the trip was cancelled by the record company, Atlantic, apparently due to key staff not being able to attend a conference in Austin, Texas, who in turn would be unable to introduce the band to various radio big wigs. Hmm? So,as a result, gigs at the South by Southwest music conference and Brownies in New York were cancelled.

In April, Gen was dragged away from the sprawling metropolis known as London town in order to play a one off gig at the Cathouse in Glasgow. This gig gave the band the opportunity to let some fans hear a couple of new songs, "Follow the swallow", "Conversation", and "Heaven only knows", which they had spent the last couple of weeks rehearsing. Following this (rare) live appearance a return visit to the Brill Building in Glasgow resulted in three top new recordings, of the aforementioned songs. However, if you've read any of the recording diaries, you'll know probably wasn't the wisest of decisions. We recorded LYSA at the Brill Building and were hampered by a series of technical problems outwith our control. The same shortcomings were evident this time round too, plus we ended up having to record it all ourselves as the engineer, a guy from a band called The Godz of Glam, claimed he couldn't find the studio and hence never appeared. It probably sounds better for it. Fud.

We also managed to play a gig in possibly our favourite Glasgow drinking den, Nice 'n' Sleazy, as part of a week of gigs in support of the Big Issue, a magazine dedicated to raising money for the homeless in Britain. Other bands playing at Nice 'n' Sleazy that week were AC Acoustics, The Ranters, Mogwai, Toaster to name only a few.

Well that's just about it then, other than to say that Gen is currently in Japan watching over his wife and newly born kid. Congratulations, mate and a damn fine effort. Hurrah!