Easter 2003:   Hello and welcome to the latest Lovejoy news instalment. It is very definitely spring-like now, warmer, sunnier, light in the evening, the hint of warmth in the sunshine, flowers, blossom appearing…as opposed to the half-baked attempt that happened in February, which lasted for all of two days and was quickly followed by snow, frost and weeks of rain. So much for optimism.

But, despite being only April, the year has been busy so far, with recording, touring, Djing… Oh, where to begin? Well the best place would seem to be the recent short tour of Spain:

You may have read in the previous update that we were booked to play with Harper Lee and Trembling Blue Stars for three dates in February – Barcelona, Madrid, and La Coruna. Well, this all went ahead and was absolutely brilliant! (Despite Dick and two thirds of Harper Lee missing the flight to Barcelona on the way out and both of Trembling Blue Stars nearly getting bumped off the return flight at the end). The whole tour was very hectic, but a lot of fun.The shows were well attended, the audiences were enthusiastic and we even got to play live for some radio shows, as well as doing a couple of interviews. Sooner or later we’ll try to post some photos on the site…(I think Matinée already have).

There are several people to say thank you to; Angel at Canciones Huerfanas for organising, promoting, driving, food, hotels and tirelessly looking after us, Jimmy for translating, organising and taking a million photos, Poti -our wonderful sound man, Luis at Elefant, Harper Lee, Pinkie and TBS for the company, Niza, Souvenir and all our Swedish and Spanish friends – you know who you are!

There were so many highlights, but to keep things brief we’ll stick to listing just a few: Madrid skyline at night… a packed Barbarella club with a great disco afterwards…Alex Harper Lee’s boundless enthusiasm for Dollar…and his personnel management style…taking photos on the beach at La Coruna…I could go on but I wouldn’t want to bore you all….

There’s no more dates confirmed at the moment, but if things work out there is a possibility of further UK shows and maybe a trip to Sweden later in the year…other commitments all permitting.

Speaking of which, Lovejoy and the Snowdrops have just returned to Church Road studio in Hove to begin this year’s recording schedule; a song each for Matinée 50, Jimmy’s celebratory half-century release where each Matinée band records a cover version of another band on the label. There seems to be quite a tight time schedule for this project, but there’s no confirmed release date yet….After the Easter holidays Lovejoy will be recording another song for a TVPs tribute album, and then some new songs for possibly a CD EP, a mini album or even a full length album, or a combination of these options (we don’t know which yet) to be released later in the year by Matinée. There has been one party we DJed at recently, and because it’s been a while, our appetites have been newly whetted, so hopefully it won’t be quite so long before we get back behind the decks again.

Finally, Dick was recently interviewed by Pennyblack music magazine and this has just been published on their website. Oh, and there should be some news on a long delayed compilation coming out in the Philippines soon as well…And lastly, the Snowdrops debut single - 'Mad World' c/w 'Don't Buy Anything', delayed by a mere two years for a whole range of reasons too complex and boring to go into here, should be out this month….fingers crossed.

More next time…

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