Monday, 15 December 2008

Dear Santa......


Dear Santa,
This year as you are advancing in age and may be losing it a bit.....don‘t worry I fully understand ....you must be well older than Mother dearest but seeing what pandemonium she causes I can imagine that the old grey thing might not work as efficiently as it used to (I mean your brain not Mother Dearest that is). So I thought I’d give you a helping hand and suggest some pressies for people that regularly appear in these pages.

The Dark Marge....A stress ball......well he has been a good boy this year he has done bags of artwork for us, but as quiet and restrained as he is I can hear the stress in his voice when I say.. ”Well Marge that picture you did? For the CD cover ...the one that took you about 3 days to do..yep that one.....Wifey doesn’t like it” or .... “Hi Marge that winter scene? Yep the one we wanted in the snow...yep the ice thing......Wifey reckons it’d too cold needs to be warmer”..........I knew he was getting a bit fed up when the reply came back “Well you tell me how to make warm F*£ck1ng Snow!”. Many of my readers have commented on what a grand job ...the “3rd member of Spriggan mist “ does on the artwork........so Santa mate chuck him a stress ball and don’t hassle him for that 3D picture of Rudolph you have ordered.


Mother Dearest...hmmm where do we start....a good girl? S’pose so, all though the fruit and veg man at the market would probably debate that as he still dives for cover when she approaches in her mobility scooter. I think she could benefit from a spirit level........well the old vertigo thing can’t be easy for her so a level head could come in useful?!?!? And there are two things that really annoy me around Christmas time ....people that come round sit in my armchairs looking the decs we’ve put up and say......” oh that garland isn’t straight” Mother Dearest is good at this...well if you brought her a spirit level she could bloody well go and put it straight herself..in fact bring her some gift wrapped step ladders to reach the high bits too. The other favourite of MD is .......”oh look you know those chasing fairy lights that took you an hour to put up and made you swear in Maltese................you have a bulb gone!”
The children ...well you have their lists ......even you can’t get that wrong although how you are going to get a drum kit on the back of your sleigh is beyond me!
Mr T....... Well T is a difficult one really. Can you get some of Simon Cowell’s trousers? (T is officially the Spriggan Mist music critique in t’office) Or maybe a wall size picture of Elland Road (Leeds Utd ground) No.... I mean like 20ft along and 10 ft high. Why? Well that’s the only time he’s going to see Leeds as a big club again.
Road Runner...a homing device to pop into hubby The Diddler’s pocket. Well you see El Diddlelerio when out on a bender phones up his missus to come and get him...unfortunately asking her to pick him up from London really doesn’t narrow it down really ....If you could bring the Did’s a plastic card with a chain on it saying “ return me to this address if found” that would be helpful too.

Last but by no means least My wifey...........a peg........yep just a peg.......well it’s to pair her boots up. I said I’d keep this a secret so it’s between you and me alright Santa? . Well she chucked out an old pair of black boots recently as her new ones were better .......for about a month she was wearing her boots when she realised that what she actually did was chucked an old boot and a new boot out and she had been wearing odd boots ........like I said no one noticed so don’t tell anyone. She has been an exceptionally good girl mind .
And then me.......Santa don’t bring me anything this year...I’m happy ,healthy (bit over weight ) and have people around me I love, I have music and I have a large tin of celebrations. Sorted....!

Saturday, 6 December 2008

Konditions of change gets nominated! vote now!

OUR EP KONDITIONS OF CHANGE HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR MALTESE EP RELEASE OF THE YEAR VOTE FOR US AT http://apps.facebook.com/mmipoll/

Thursday, 4 December 2008

Days of Winter

Days of Winter

Words and music by Wifey

performed by Spriggan Mist

Released 03/12/2008

This song was writen by Wifey one Wednesday morning before work....by Saturday it was being recorded. A song written especially for Yule, it tells of how at the Winter solstice the sun is reborn and darker days start to become lighter as The Holly King gives up his reign to The Oak King as he does each year as that "Wonderous Wheel" that is mentioned in the song forever turns ....Winter becomes Spring ...summer becomes Autumn ...and then back to winter . This song is our celebration of this re birth. I get to play tambourine on this too..Woooo Hooo!
Ok ....on myspace I've kept this blog very proffesional here i'm going to be a bit more upfront...This song has had mixed reviews......We really did appreciate people's honesty (especially Mr Ts)and have taken a few views onboard but....
It is quite hymn like to a certain extent....and the message behind this although it has a very strong pagan theme to it, is celebrating the wonder of nature, the wheel of life. so whatever religion or your beliefs I liken this song as a prayer.

We are extremely proud of this piece of work and the feeling and reasons behind it makes the track

Wifey- Acoustic Guitar,Treble Recorder,Tenor Recorder, Vocals (lead and backing, percussion

Me-Bass and percussion

laters.....

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Spriggan Mist playing at the Faery Fest

She looked up at the sky and exclaimed “Look there is an aeroplane” I responded in my usual patient and humouring way......” We are indeed by Heathrow Mother dearest” she then tried to point out that the plane was really low....... how she thought that the passengers might disembark I can’t imagine ........parachute ...free fall......teleportation ....worked for Star Trek although Mr Sulu has inadvertently teleported into some jungle inhabited by gay ex police chiefs and people that eat kangaroo balls. I’m half expecting ...or rather hoping Kirk is going to appear and zap Paddick and friends and teleport Sulu off .........it would only be back on the enterprise that they would realise that Sulu has in fact turned gay too....but anyway I digress....Mother Dearest not content on pointing out the obvious ...like around one of the busiest airports in the world there would be planes flying around, we went to get petrol at a petrol station and came out with yet another statement ........”ooh I can smell petrol” ?!?!?!?!?!?

We were on a quest to prepare for the evenings surprise birthday party for Wifey and knowing her recent partiality for mead ...I went to Morris and Doris (Morrisons) on the way out I searched furiously for my car park ticket ...could of sworn I gave it to Mother dearest.....suffering the Barrage of abuse about putting things in a safe place I searched myself like a man being eaten by fleas.....there was nothing for it ....go to the grumpy man in the kiosk and admit I’d lost the ticket....”Sure I didn’t give it to you mother Dearest?” my voice disappearing across the car park as headed off to get another ticket and probably a hefty penalty......to my surprise the blokey bloke didn’t charge me and i raced towards the barrier with my fresh new ticket............Mother Dearest then produces the original ticket ...”oh you did give it to me “ she said all innocently ....AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!

But even the escapades of MD couldn’t distract my delight that Spriggan Mist have been asked to play at a Festival in Cornwall on Midsummer Solstice. The Festival is The Three Wishes Faery Fest a three day event 19th -21st of June 2009. It’s run by one of the three singers in the band the Daughters of Gaia who made contact via our myspace . We are going to play Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon we are really looking forward to it .....we’ve also been asked to do a charity gig in Weymouth in the new year too but more on that another time when we have more details.
So the hard work begins now, the new album needs to be released and backing tracks from it need to be produced and rehearsed and adapted for live performance....................
By for now ...be blessed!

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

Tis Wifey's Birthday

Happy Birthday wifey.......I'll apologise to the neighbours for the North American Flute being played at Stoopid O'Clock!........enjoy

So yes as you can see I have renamed the blog....."Life at the low end" made me sound like a depressive and although at the time I thought it was a play on words ....not all of my blogs are funny. So when I am being serious I just get the feeling that the blog appears like I'm not a positive happy kind of bloke . So the new name..."Highs at the Low End " still keeps the play on words and still gives it the bass perspective but it has a positive meaning.....after all life is to be enjoyed and for Spriggan Mist the sun is shining.

bright blessings!

Saturday, 15 November 2008

Wax on my fingers

Hello all you blog fans ...have you missed me? course you have ........well I can explain my absence i have been extremely busy burning the candle at both ends as well as in the middle.In fact my candle is just a mush of molten wax dripping down my fingers......but hey that's Rock 'n' Roll.

The 3 daft monkeys were indeed awesome as usual Dark Marge came up from the sticks and ended up buying their CD and T-shirt he even tapped his foot at one point! but then this is the bloke who admits to turning to the sky menu on the telly just to hear the annoying lift type music (kind of like the stuff Mr T listens to when not listening to his dodgy 70s porn music)


Keeping on the "monkeys" theme we missed "the last train to Bracknell" (clarksville? .....) and ended up in Staines...the evening was nicely rounded up with us being dropped to our car by the Police......ahem nuff said.

So we rolled into our beds at about 2 am. We got up at about 6 am listening to the sound of the Marge who doesn't sleep anywhere but on the floor being jumped upon by our 4 year old mini minx who was being supported by her older brother Rockstar. We dropped in on mother dearest eat her out of bread and bacon and set off to Croyden for Witchfest which ended with Katherine Blake of the Medieval Baebes playing a set with her solo band...... if that makes sense.....followed by The Dolmen who were .....very very lively but by that time we were pooped! we arrived home late chattering about what a wonderful weekend it was!

This week has seen Wifey's creative vein stretched even further with even more songs coming through . At this rate we will have enough for next years album......!!!! It would be nice to have the time to record them and then there is the small matter of Christmas which brings on even more musical opportunities in the form of "little baby Jesus" and "Oh little town of Bethlehem"....

After the usual dull doldrums of a working week (and trust me my job is dull at this time) this morning we prepared a picnic and set off to Avebury and spent the best part of the day looking around the stone circle...a truelly magical place it is too. Standing stones are quite dear to our hearts having adopted the stone for the cover of Konditions of change painstakingly brought to live by the Dark Marge. Wifey got a flash of inspiration from the stones and a tune came to her whilst there we have been rehearsing it tonight until the Mead that we drank (purchased from Avebury ) has rendered Wifey incapacitated on the sofa (she did do the driving today!) Avebury will be a place we will go back to I'm sure.

Friday, 7 November 2008

tis' the Weekend

Are you fed up of hearing about the credit crunch? Barak Obama? how that saggy faced Judas type turncoat anus Harry Redknapp is transforming Tottenham Hotspur? Yeah me too. In fact last night I said to Wifey "Wifey I'd rather watch Eastenders than the news".......the news is more depressing than Eastenders even with that icon of depression that is Dot Cotton who would challenge the Pope's faith in God... "If there was truelly a God he would zap Dot Cotton into Oblivion for being the most annoying person in soap land" Bazza chapter 153 letter to the blogites.So what is all this Americanism crud anyway...I mean what's with the Trick or Treat culture now.....where's the penny for the guy? and what happened to a good old fashioned recession...why is it called a credit crunch? sounds like Kellog's latest creation in more ways than one.

Anyway thank God it's Friday ...and yes ..it's 3 daft Monkeys tonight in Soho. The DarkMarge is coming up from the Wicky wicked wild wild west and is going to sample a bit of 3dm mania.....I defy anyone with a heartbeat not to at least toe tap to the Monkeys live.........then tomorrow Wifey,Marge and I are going to an all day festival ....should be really cool.

A great way to end a week of work......I have been in my current carreer for nearly 13 and a half years doing various roles but the last 7 months have been the worst by far . I took the wrong path and I have made a decision to put wheels in motion to sort this out today!!!! Punching the air and putting on my bestest Mel Gibson war face and shouting out loud......"Freedom!!!!!!!"

I'm often accused of flowering these blogs up but I swear (quite a bit at the moment actually) but I swear that the following is true ....imagine the face of a poor unsuspecting mobility scooter dealer in town sitting in his shop mulling over the latest edition of Dribbly chariot trader when in bursts Mother dearest having screamed her ferrari (red mobility scooter) to a halt outside forcing several pedestrians to dive for cover . She marches up to the counter and forces the hapless mobility matey's jaw to hit the counter as she proudly says to him.....

"I am in need of a Screw!"