So after a period of absence, the nearly band have a couple of gigs – and they’re all in the next 5 days. Blink and you’ll miss us – we’re off to tour Asia for four years after these dates. Our fanbase out there is *huge*.

SUNDAY 23rd August – Green Note Open Mic (Featured Act) – one of our favourite open mics, and they’ve sorted us out with a place to try new songs and be amongst great folk musicians many a time. Free entry, good food, freedom lager, and us. It’s on Parkway, between Camden tube and Regents Park (game of frisbee after the show?)

TUESDAY 25th August – TABARANK @ Below Zero – The Absolute Ice Bar – We’ve not played here before, but we love the TABARNAK ladies. We’re a last minute addition to an already brimming bill. We’re especially big fans of HERE TO BAGHDAD, who are playing. Music starts at 7.30pm, so arrive early, and message me for cheaplist (£3) – it’s £5 on the door. There’s a facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=119836398865

AND! We’re planning on popping along to Kal Lavelle’s excellent night at the World’s End in Finsbury Park on the Sunday evening after the Green Note show, but we don’t know if there’s space for us yet. It’s only down the road, and the music will be good, so we were going to go either way!

I suppose we shouldn’t sign off without some news and hellos. There are four or five new songs, all in that stage between thinking ‘this is awesome’ and thinking ‘we should really write some words before we play this’. We’ll try to write the words before the shows.

We’ll also be doing a ‘secret’ (hah!) appearance at the IKTOMS WIRED FESTIVAL on Sunday 27th September. Keep the date in your diaries – it’s a free entry celebration of amazing music – it’s going to be massive sized! Check www.myspace.com/iktoms for details.

And between now and then we’re going to get all of our new songs in order, and become the best band in the world. Exciting times.

Hope you’re all well, and see you soon!

Doug McNaught & The Nearly Band xxx

“Let no discredit grace your name,
I must be wrong, there is no shame,
But I wonder if I had your fame,
Would my ideas still look the same?

“Then tragedy falls, I meant no harm,
If your love dies, my love starts burning,
Oh so hot, my love will burn,
Oh world take head, you must start learning,
That less knowledge means more power,
And not always for the good is your yearning:
You can’t stand aside from the dance of life,
But if you stand real still, the world’s still turning.”

So Judas said to Jesus Christ,
“I don’t think that you’ve been doing it right,
Your teachings have shown me the light
But the way things are you’re going to start a fight.

“Let no discredit grace your name,
I must be wrong, there is no shame,
Oh but I wonder if I had your fame,
Would my ideas still look the same?

“Then tragedy falls, I meant no harm,
If your love dies, my hell starts burning,
Oh so hot love, and I must burn,
Oh world take heed, you must start learning,
That less knowledge means more power,
Not always for the good is your yearning,
You can’t stand aside from the dance of life,
But if you stand real still, the world’s still turning.”

So Lennon said to McCartney,
“I don’t like how you’ve been copying me,
You mess my songs around you see,
Then you sing them in much too high a key,

“Let no discredit grace your name,
I’m a jealous guy, I don’t have your range,
But I wonder if you had my fame,
Would your ideas still look the same?”

McCartney looked him dead in the eye
And said, “La-dee-dee-da-da-da, my-oh-my,
I love you John I’ve loved you all my life,
But stop acting like you’re Jesus Christ.

“Then tragedy falls I meant no harm,
If your love dies my wings start soaring,
Oh so hot love, my Jet must burn,
Oh world take heed, you must start learning,
That less knowledge, means more power,
Not always for the good is your yearning,
You can’t stand aside from the dance of life,
But if you stand real still the world’s still turning.”

These lyrics are interesting to write out because they’re full of extended speech. It caused me to roll out some of the more obscure details of speech mark usage – like not closing on the end of a paragraph if the speaker continues, but reopening them on the new paragraph. Oh the grammatic geekery…

Anyhow, I was asked by a new fan of the Nearly Band to upload some lyrics… so here’s the first lyric blog. You can hear a (rough) recording of the song on my myspace.

Kev x

Catching up on homework was the bane of an hour,
Girls names and equations all caught in a car crash,
Teachers and pupils all craning their necks to
See past the hormones and into the wreck.

But I think pretty quick on my metrical feet,
And though all my homework is but half-complete,
I think I know you fully, I can improvise,
But you despise such artistry, I must revise.

And I, I don’t want to give up too easily,
And I, I don’t want to give up on you at all.

So I’m a mountain goat looking for new pastures,
But there’s an Everest, and I can’t get past it,
It’s as wide as a country, and it’s top hits the moon,
It strikes fear in my heart, like the girl in the room

That my eyes keep snagging as they wander past,
And whose smile is a brick to my heart of glass.
The note is addressed to a love in tatters,
Saying nothing but you and me and eggshells matter.

So I tread pretty lightly cos I’m treading on half-formed
Streams of her consciousness pulled from her past,
And I don’t play piano, but I’m sure if I did,
This would make no more sense, but it might sound like it did.

And I, I don’t want to give up too easily,
And I, I don’t want to give up on you at all.

In another life I’d have paid the bearer
Of this song and words with black eyes and a stretcher,
For putting in words what’s beyond articulation,
And pushing my feet thirteen steps off the ledge.

And I’d hammer it home with a few simple truths,
Like: “I fucked things up”, and “I’d rather fuck you”.
And when simple truths fail, I’d employ simple lies,
Like I love you, I love you, I love you, and everything will be alright.