In the Beginning...

Hi! Well, this is my first blog.. ever. I am vaguelly nervous, not sure why (wonder how many blogs start off with such pathetic vunerability, making such a cynical and obvious appeal to people's better natures), so I will just get down to business and brass tacks.

If you are reading this then you'll have read the facebook page for the zine (yay!) and if you have done that then you probably want to know more about our plans for the launch for Vol 2.

Well, what we are planning for the next couple of months is as follows, some of which you will already know:

• A performance event at the Python Gallery in Middlesbrough on Friday 10^th December, which will include spoken word and poetry, music and film.
•  Vol 2 of “I’m afraid...” which will be longer and evolve in terms of content and accompanying art. I will also not be flying solo for this zine and will be assisted in the writing duties by Tim Marshall and John Chadwick, both of whom have plays being produced by Writers Block North East and Northern Stage as part of their joint ‘LISTEN@LUNCH’ scheme.
• We will be providing some space within the zine for people to make contributions, which can be anything from poetry, short fiction or art. All we ask is that people keep it edgy, funny and dark (more details will follow).
• We will be putting together pieces of promo film, roughly one or two a month between now and the launch, which we will put on the zine face book page.
• Accompanying the existing facebook page there will be a blog, where we will share drafts of art, stories etc. for the zine and ask for feedback as we go through the process of writing and producing it. We will also share with people what music, films and stories are influencing our work, as we want to make the experience of creating Vol 2 as interactive and as inclusive as possible.
• We will be performing at a bunch of performance and open mic nights running up to the launch in order to promote Vol 1 and spread the word about Vol 2. Dates will be announced on the facebook page.

So, those are our plans. What do you think? Do you think we're mad, or are we playing too safe. Please send us a comment and let us know.

In the next couple of days I'll put some more info on the blog about contributions and what we are after, deadlines etc. as I suspect that is going to be one of the elements people are most interested in. I'll put a posting on the FB page first to let people know to come here for details.

All this exciting stuff has got my adrenaline going and I must admit that there is one particular song I can't get out of my head at the mo.

It's by a band called The Scientists, who I saw at All Tomorrow's Parties a few years ago (I think it was the year that the Yeah Yeah Yeah curated), and the song is called 'Lead Foot'. You can find it on spotify via the following link:

http://open.spotify.com/album/7BwajgFMGtpc9YQNoC6KMG

There is also a video of them performing the song live on youtube and man it is a fxxking stomper. If you like this then do check our their albums on spotify, particularly 'Blood Red River', which has got that bluesy, Suicide riffing vibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMVhSXKUrBs

Again, drop us a comment, let us know what you think, maybe you've seen them live some time, maybe you're Australian, or know someone who is (in case you were wondering, that's where the band are from).

It's good to talk (again, wonder how many times that has been used in a blog)!