I came home on Saturday to find a letter on the mat from a young lad called Alexis - he wrote to very eloquently ask if I could send him some album artwork to have tattooed on his back (pictured). Pretty intense. I’m sure you’ve all noticed the gorgeous art that illustrates these pages kindly donated to us by Matt Littler; so I suppose it’s inevitable that people would like to own something unique - however, Alexis’ letter reminded me once again about how strange the Jetplane Landing world can be. We’re all connected delicately through the internet and our records to a world of people that perhaps we’ll never meet.

 

This week I’ve learned that:

- Someone has spent the last two weeks trying to work out how to play the drums to Climbing Up The Face Of Miles Davis

- Listening to the album on the STA site made two people late for work and one person late for school

- David Purley is still quite a celebrity in Bognor Regis

 

So many nice emails to say that you’re enjoying the record - I’d like to get a new message board up and running before the release date (June 18th) so that we can all have a chat about it. We’d also like to do a single before the end of the year and make a video for it. In the running is Backlash; Les Savy Fav; Dizzy and Lungs - so drop me a mail if you have an opinion on what might sound good on the radio.

 

I take it as good sign that the last two entries have been written in airport lounges; today I’m in Gatwick traveling firstly to Belfast for meetings and then to Derry for more of the same. The quest continues to find a sensible way forward for the record label - there are lots of good bands on there now. When I think of the difference of where we are now compared to when Once Like A Spark came out - I’m really pleased. Clone Quartet record is next up after we’re done with promo-ing Backlash. That’s a fantastic album and it’s so good to have it our discography.

 

You broke the Smalltown America site last night - we’ve exceeded our monthly bandwidth allowance by a factor of four! Eek - I’ve talked nicely to the powers that be, so as you read this we should be back up and running. It’s the latest in a litany of technical troubles that have beset the end of the production of BC; artwork snags; masters taking ages to compile correctly (freaking concept albums); track-listing being incorrect on Amazon (Pocock you’re still getting the blame for that one) - and now our store going into meltdown. But to be honest, OLAS was a lot more stressful - this has (mostly) been a pleasure.

 

Gig-wise we’re at Rotary Ten; Fight Like Apes; Somewhere Outside New York and Letters over the coming week. If you’re at any of those in London - come and say hello!

 

Syd from Les Savy Fav got in touch via myspace to say thanks for including them on the new album - what a thrill! It’s good to know that they’ve heard it - world travels fast on that delicate web that binds us together.

 

Don’t pass out Alexis - keep it tense son, release the bats!