Onwards.......  the next project is a 12 track CD - provisionally titled "30 Years Singing In The Wrong Key".
This will contain the following: Rough Trade/ Platform Boots/RU Karl Burns/ Mitten on a Railing/ Stormy Sea/ When Girls Sleep/ My Girlfriend's Fiance/ Fire at Earth Records/ I Met My Girlfriend at a Friars Gig/ My Wasp Synthesiser/Daddy Don't Drink So Much/ I Never Noticed You Until You Wore That Fantastic Bra.
I'm working on it now - looking for an early 2010 release.

Lots of news , reviews and photos from the Friars gig on YouTube and the Friars site: www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk
I was pleased with the performance - we did what we were intending to. Mission completed.
Here's a photo of an over excited fellow receiving his 'Friars Hero Award'

The set for the recent gigs, and for Friars is :
1. Song For Mark E Smith/Mark E Smith's Dead
2. Kafkaesque
2. South Africa House
4. Mark E Smith Wannabe
5. The Most Handsome Man On TV
6.. I Ain't Been With No Prostitute
7.. Fire At Earth Records
8.. I Met My Girlfriend At A Friars Gig
9. We're All Gonna Die .

Two songs from 1979 - two from the last month - the others spanning the history of the DS.

We've played two warm up gigs - at the Bull & Gate, and Wendover Arms - and all's well. We've got the set right, and the group is working well.  The single will be ready in a couple of days - it's already available as a download. 

Here's the sleeve for the new single. Designed by Kris Needs.  It is a good thing. The single will be back from the pressing plant in around 10 days - I'm just sorting out the ITunes release.  We're off to the charts.

We've just recorded the two tracks for the single - 'I Met My Girlfriend At A Friars Gig'  and 'Fire At Earth Records'.  Kris Needs has been good enough to design the cover, David Stopps has recorded the intro - and I'm so pleased with the results.
We recorded the songs at Appletree studios in rural Ludgershall. Years ago, I wouldn't have entertained using a studio in a little Bucks village - I'd have insisted on being in London - you know, at the centre of everything. Isn't it interesting looking back at yourself? The record is now being pressed, and will be ready in around 10 days.

We are recording the single on the 24th September. There'll be two songs - "I met my girlfriend at a Friars gig"  and "There's a fire at Earth Records". There will be 500 copies presses on vinyl - then it will be available on ITunes. Kris Needs has agreed to design the sleeve.  The plan is to get the record into the charts. It can be done.

There'll be a D/S 'Lyric Archive' on the main website soon - http://www.discostudents.com/
I've had loads of notebooks and folders full of lyrics, ideas etc from 1977 to the present day, so I've been writing them up to put online.
We've just had a new date confirmed - Friday 16th October , The Wendover Arms in High Wycombe.

We are rehearsing for a flurry of live appearances during October - three in all. The Hope & Anchor, Islington on Thursday 8th, The Bull&Gate, Kentish Town on Sunday 11th then Friars, Aylesbury on Friday 23rd.

The new D/S line up is on the go. We have two London gigs in early October prior to the Friars appearance. There is a possibility of a 7" vinyl release to coincide with the Friars date. We'll have to see.

The Disco Students will play at Friars Club, Aylesbury on 23rd October 2009 - as part of the Friars' 40th Anniversary. The D/S will be sharing the stage with Penetration and Stiff Little Fingers. All the information is on the Friars site.

Here's something from a Blog relating to the DS.
http://lowdownkids.blogspot.com/2009/06/disco-students-spokesman-for-redhead.html

Not completely accurate - but interesting, none the less. SC no longer a 'professional redhead' by the way.

Two new songs are now on the MySpace site: www.myspace.com/2006discostudents
They are 'I Met My Girlfriend At A Friars Gig' and 'Platform Boots'.

'I Remain Your Obedient Servant' is the title of the latest Disco Students release.There'll be 12 songs -and I'm aiming for an October/November release.

I've been preparing for a new bout of writing and recording - I can only work in cycles. A tend to have a few months painting- as The Timid Proud One - then doing stuff under the Bugger's Muddle banner, then carrying on with my new book project ( The Life and Times of Dudley Chambers). I've just had a few months concentrating on my allotment - just to clear the mind. But now I'm back to music - 'Hooray' scream tens of thousands of Teeny-Boppers. A new song "When Girls Sleep" is up on the DS MySpace site. I'm singing in a kind of anti-singing style - yes, more so than normal.
More to come.

Look at this. A dish from my vegetable allotment. yum.

Disco Student stuff comes up quite often on eBay - I've seen all the records on there, as well as the "Aylesbury Goes Flaccid" LP. But this is the first time I've seen a DS badge. I haven't seen one of these for years - and at £2.90 I may well snap it up.

I've been very busy with various projects - including some new paintings, creating an organic vegetable garden ( which is now producing fine crops for all the disco students) and working on a new music thing which may be called either "me,me,me" or "yeah!vaccine" .
Anyway, it has come to my attention that the DS have been included on a compilation put together by one of the contributors to the Fall forum.
Unsurprisingly, the song "Mark E.Smith's Dead" has been included. Actually, this song is now named "Song for Mark E.Smith" but they didn't know that.

Written some new stuff for a side project called 'Bugger's Muddle' - the stuff is on myspace, easy to find. Seem to be suffering from some weird kind of agrophobia at the moment. It will pass and I will again take my place in busy society.

You know when you have a song buzzing around your head all day? Today I couldn't shake off "The Girl Who Waves At Trains" by The Lilac Time (Stephen Duffy). I hadn't played it for years. On hearing it again, I searched for young Duffy on the internet. He seems to have turned into an earnest anti-war recycling chap, with a nice pretentious streak running through him. He , apparently spent last Sunday morning reading 'Ulysses'( I can't even spell it, let alone read the fucker) and Alan Ginsberg poems.