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Get this. In recent news, researchers have identified the hitherto unknown element Kryptonite in a cave in Serbia. Even though the element up until now only existed in fiction, and isn‘t real…it makes you think... My God, is nothing safe. I’ve ordered my solid lead pork pie hat, just in case.

Confusion. Ambiguity. Mis-information. Ignorance. Enlightment. Panic. Relief. What would a Bombskare gig be without them. In other words, there was a cloud of uncertainty over the Studio 24 gig, as it was tied in with the aborted Cathouse gig, but there were personnel changes, and the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing, and yah-dee- yah-dah, etc, etc. The Edinburgh gig only happened at the last minute, but we’re glad it did. We originally intended to have The 44’s from Glasgow, and Short Notice from Aberdeen, but Taking Chase thankfully took the place of The 44’s after they had to bow out. Short Notice are outstanding. We played with them a few months ago and were so impressed that we insisted they come down to play in Edinburgh. Their band comprises two brothers, just like us, but they get along with each other, and they also feature a double bass player who plugs his double bass into a bass amp, and also climbs all over his double bass whilst playing the hell out of it, which impresses me greatly. I do impress easily, but I checked with others, and this was impressive. Short Notice didn’t disappoint, and received one of the highest accolades possible; a reasonably warm reception from an Edinburgh audience. Man, were they pleased. Taking Chase are brilliant. And they were brilliant on Saturday. It’s always great to play with those chappies. They are neck and neck with Big Hand for the coveted Band Most Often Played with Bombskare award. Close runner ups are Root System and Joe Viterbo. But we’re playing with both of them again soon over in the Kingdom before we head to Rum, so the scores on the doors will change.

It was one of those gigs where we didn’t play particularly well, made silly mistakes we’ve never made before and probably never will again, but it was still a cracking night and a good show. Highlights included completely fucking up the beginning of 'Hand of Fate', Sam’s drum break in 'Don’t Give It All Away', and also the beginning of 'Panic Button'. Nice. Also, before we went on, Sam had been necking Sambuca in imitation of Kev from Root System who has a penchant for drinking a bottle of the stuff before he goes on. Unfortunately Sam got it all over his hands, and when he started to play, blisters formed, the skin broke and the next thing he is bleeding all over his kit. By the end of the set the kit looked like it should be cordoned off with yellow tape, CSI style. Most importantly, he played through the pain because he is that committed to the Ska.

And get this. We have actually started mixing the album. We have vocals and harmonica still to record which will probably be later this month, but we have begun the preliminary mixing stage, using Fistful of Dynamite as our template because its instrumental. Initial reports are good. We’ll try and sort out a preview somehow. Our next gig will be with The Skatalites in Lochinver and then in Glasgow. We’ll be showing the old timers how to do it Scottish style. Me know it!