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Diary Archives

We've managed to persuade GRIEF SOCIETY bassist Angus Nurse to let us in on what's happening with GRIEF SOCIETY. Bookmark this page and follow Nursie's Diary, below...

MONDAY 4 November 2002

Some mates and I went to the Roadmender in Northampton for a Hanoi Rocks gig tonight.

Now at this point I expect there's a few raised eyebrows at the thought of me at a Hanoi Rocks gig. I mean, I could possibly be one of the least glam people in Britain, if not the entire Northern Hemisphere. But (and it's a big Butt!) it's a band that me and the boys used to go and see a lot in the mid to late 80s and, credit where credit's due, they know how to put on a show.

Respect is due to the Roadmender for having a great little venue with a nice friendly atmosphere, good beer, a half-decent sound system and friendly security staff. It's a much overlooked venue (it's only about 20 miles from my house) and a jolly good time was had by all!

FRIDAY 1 November 2002

There's been a lot of business activity in Grief Society circles of late. Songs are getting radio airplay, management people have been contracted and preparations are now underway for a full tour next year.

The plan is to play an extensive series of dates across the South coast of England (for some reason we've always gone North in the past)in between recording album number 3.

I've got so much to do and I don't know where to start.........

MONDAY 23 September 2002

I've been catching up on some of the Grief Society things that have happened this year. (Yes I know I'm behind but there's been a lot going on.)

Apparently after the voting was in, Grief Society's showing in the Dotmusic Online Music awards/hot 1000 best music website's (or something like that) put Grief Society at number 798. That's in the Top 1000 - Wow!

What caused great merriment at Grief Society central was that this placed us one place above the Official Hearsay website. Arf! Arf! Arf!

For the non-Brits reading this, it's worth pointing out that hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of pounds have been thrown at the chart-topping Hearsay, while the Grief Society budget remains (ahem)....modest!

..Well it made me smile...

SATURDAY 3 August 2002

We're currently hard at work putting together some new Grief Society material for use in some small and independent films. (Although any blockbuster producers that can't afford Trevor Rabin are welcome to give us a shout.)

It's tremendously exciting!

See, I'm a film Anorak (You could call me a Film nerd, but I'm probably bigger than you and it's not a very nice thing to say.)

Film is one of the few leisure activities that get to do on a regular basis. I LOVE going to the cinema, really, reeeeeeaaallly love it! Jim (the Mercy Street guitarist) says he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about and can't work out why I go so often. He's also shocked that there's a never-ending stream of people willing to go to the cinema with me.

Part of the excitement is that most of the new films I get to see are copies of old classics, and I've got this thing about old classic films. Mind you I'm not a fan of remakes.

For example, the remake of Rollerball?

No! No! No! No! No! No! No!

FRIDAY 2 August 2002

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews....

We're now in full flight on the promotional trail for 'Universal Misunderstanding'. A promo single comes out on 17th August (coincidentally my birthday) and in advance of the next tour we're doing a whole range of interviews and promotional things.

I get asked to do a lot of interviews. Mainly because: Steve often refuses to do them, we're all worried that Don will say something offensive, and Stef, well, Stef hasn't actually spoken for a year and a half. So the interviews are all down to me. (Gulp!)

Often the Interviews take the form of an advance questionnaire and then a chat about my questionnaire responses. They mostly fall into the same format. What's your favourite album, Why's the album called 'Universal Misunderstanding'? Why are you called Grief Society, What are your Top Ten albums, yadda, yadda, yadda. However, this week I got a really interesting one from a Rumanian magazine. The questions were all interesting in one way or another. One of which was......

"Which [ten] albums are you listening to at the moment?". I thought I'd share the answer with you all.......

1) Spearhead - Stay Human - one of the greatest and most thought provoking albums ever. 2) Marillion - Anorak In The UK - No really! Forget your preconceptions, It's great! 3) Ani DiFranco - Out of Range - Aaah Ani, the fire the passion, the guitar playing! 4) India Arie - Acoustic Soul - Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! 5) The Vegastones - Love Hotel - Tremendous album. The Cars meets Velvet Underground 6) Arrested Development - Zingalamadumi - I'm sure I've spelt that wrong. 2nd album 7) Speech - Hoopla - Fab solo album from the Arrested Development vocalist/preacher 8) Bob Marley - One Love - I normally hate compilations, but this really is brilliant! 9) 24/7-Spyz - Strength in Numbers - Now THIS is how Rap-metal should be done. Trust Me! 10)Spearhead - Home - Their first album, it's a bit of a corker

More questions and answers coming soon......