When there’s no future how can there be sin/We’re the flowers in the dustbin

Friday 7 March – It’s a blank weekend gig-wise, but there is so much news whizzing about that I feel I have to get it down in bytes before it’s old hat.

We start with news from Mostly Towers which basically boils down to Angela Gordon withdrawing from a full-time commitment and concentrating on motherhood, and Chris Johnson also leaving the band. On the other hand, the ranks are swelling again with Liam Davison back on guitars, Iain Jennings on keyboards, Anne Marie Helder on keyboards, guitars, vocals and flute, and a new drummer, Henry Bourne who will also feature on the new album, Glass Shadows.

Actually, we are likely to see more of Angela in York as she intends to continue to perform locally, both solo and with the York ensemble, Garland Of Flutes, and has plans to record a debut album later in the year. There is also the possibility that she might appear at Fibbers on 2 May, supporting Fairport Convention. TBC as they say.

Chris is currently touring with Fish and is hoping to grab some studio time to work on a solo album. He’s pulled out because “MA isn’t the kind of band where you can give less than 100%.” He’s probably right to do so, although he may leave a sour taste in the mouths of some MA fan. Chris has, up until his MA-Fish era, always been bigger than the bands he has played with and he needs the opportunity to stamp his mark on the fickle music business. Maybe he’ll sink, maybe he’ll swim, but he will survive, and I look forward to hearing his efforts in the future.

The Duels new album, The Barbarians Move In, was released for digital download on 13 February. This will be followed on 14 April by a 7” limited edition vinyl single of Regeneration/When The Sea Comes, and the physical album launch is scheduled for 28 April. They play at The Junction on 18 March.

And finally, a sad bit of news. Tuesday 4 March saw the death of Ernest Gary Gygax, co-creator of the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founder of the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye in 1973. I well remember being the proud owner of D&D First Edition rules back in 1978 when they first reached UK shores, and again, travelling to London in 1979 to purchase one of the AD&D First Edition rulebooks from the very first shipment to the UK. Yes, I was a sad Dungeon Master then, and I would do it today at the drop of a hat. Once a geek, always a geek.