Monday, 22/04/02 | Hello from Sweden. Mixing is serious fun. We just heard back the mix for Night Vision really loud and we are so fucking happy it's disgusting. Everyone here has been really good to us. We've been invited over to families for dinner and we play football a lot with the local kids. The only trouble we've had was at 4 in the morning on Friday when some man with a Victorian moustache started harassing us in the hostel banging doors and shaking his fists cos he was scared we were gonna steal some of his beer. He was from Finland anyway. We've been drinking at the university bar and we have made some friends. We started rehearsing as well and it's good to hear noise at full volume once again. I am so excited to play shows I spend ages every day just daydreaming about it. So much built up energy to release! It feels like we've been away for so long, like these diary entries have been our only point of contact with the real world. The five of us have grown a lot closer though. We've shared nearly every moment these past few months. I think shit like that either breaks you or makes you tighter and fortunately for us it's definitely been the latter. We are playing the Umea Open Festival here next weekend. I hope I will be able to contain myself. Can't wait to see you all very soon. Justin

Monday, 15/04/02 | Hey there guys and gals. We've been in Sweden for just over a week now and the mixing starts today. For the past week we have been touching up little bits and pieces and Justin has been finishing the vocals which sound huge! We haven't really seen Sweden properly, we are staying two minutes from the studio in a hostel next to Pelle's (one of the producers) house. So all we have really seen is bed, the studio and the little supermarket next to the studio. We have been to town for a drink but not like we hit Los Angeles. We'll make up for that when Justin finishes the vocals. I am definitely gonna get him a beer. Apart from that, we are staring to think about the next single and I think it's down to two possibilities - Night Vision and I Can Climb Mountains.

Oh yeah, you should all check out the fansites, I've been checking them all out and they are without exception all wicked. On Ryan's one there is even a thing to vote for your favourite song of ours (good idea, we might nick it ha,ha) anyways, keep your eyes on the live section of our website, I swear we will have more dates up there soon.

Take care. Willxx

Wednesday, 10/04/02 | zzzzzzz...uh?
Jet-lag is a strange thing, instead of my normal sleeping routine I now live like normal people, going to bed at midnight and waking at 8am, it sucks and it certainly isn't Rock & Roll!Anyway, entering the last week in Los Angeles we said so long to Justin who left for Australia to see relatives for a few days, he had to be in Sweden days later and had a lot of plane journeys ahead. The lazier lot stayed for a few days taking it easy, preparing for the trip home.

After saying goodbye to the people we had met there, we left and had about two days to spend at home, with the exception of Joe who wasn't even in London for 24hours. We had a few pints and after a few cups of tea it was back to Heathrow and a flight to Stockholm and then to Umea a small town in the north of Sweden.

As we were coming in to land we could see a big river that looked like it was frozen and as we stepped off the plane we knew it was frozen. It was about 5 degrees and pretty fresh. We were met by Pelle and Eskil at the airport and they drove us through the snowy roads to their studio Tonteknik. We had found out before that it was a converted insane asylum so we couldn't wait to see the place. It had only been 15 years since it was converted but it wasn't very spooky as I am writing this in the basement of what was an old ward. Next to me is a door leading to an underground passage which connects the whole complex with the old ward signs still up, no lie. Will is playing Resident Evil 2 next to me in this dimly lit dungeon... I mean basement.

The place now is a mix of studios, houses and schools with shops and a cafe. It has a real community atmosphere and is a different world almost to LA. Also, the fact there is a shitload of snow everywhere sets a different atmosphere.

We started to finish off some over-dubs but the desk has kinda blown-up, but is being fixed. So as we wait for Justin to arrive, which should be soon, and the desk to get sorted, we can take the time to explore and play pinball and PS2. Life's hard but we struggle through. UK and Ireland Ozzfests are now confirmed which should be awesome, I hear we are playing between Cradle of Filth and Slayer which should be fun. The album is definately coming on well, everyone is happy and as soon as tours are confirmed we will let you know! We will miss Pelle and Eskil but are looking forward to coming home and playing some shows for you all! Take it easy. - Fin

Saturday, 23/03/02 | We have about a week left of recording here in L.A, so I suppose there are only gonna be a couple more diary entries from this side of the pond. We still have loads to do before getting the album finished, but it still feels like we are finishing a chapter. Sorting out flights home, setting up a finishing party, buying cheap clothes and trainers to take home. It's only starting to sink in how long we have been out here and before we know it we are leaving - y'know. The party is gonna be at the studio (Sound City) and we are going to play some songs for the people we have met out here and who we now consider friends. We are going to tape the whole day and maybe use the more interesting parts in between songs. Even though it feels like winding down, in truth we are about half way through making the album as we still have to head to Sweden to mix it and then master it. After that, we'll be trying to confirm as many shows as we can, and once again be thinking of things we haven't for ages, like sorting out t-shirts, and set lists and how many beers we can get on our rider. I can't wait to get out on the road, to play the songs that we have been working on over here, hopefully we will be confirming some shows in the next couple of weeks so keep checking in on the website. Take care guys and gals. - Willxx

Wednesday, 13/03/02 | Hi guys. We are now over half way through the recording of the album. After a few days off, we are back in the studio and doing longer days than ever, it feels like there is still so much to do recording wise so we are up early and coming home late. It is fun though. I don't usually say too much because I would hate for us to come over as full of shit, but I can honestly say that the album is sounding huge and feeling really good. We have 6 songs almost finished and we are ecstatic about how they sound. We don't want to lose the live energy that we have but we would be stupid to not pay attention to the ideas that Pelle and Eskil (our producers) are coming up with. More instruments, weird noises, it's all really exciting. It looks as though we are going to head to Sweden after Los Angeles to mix the album at their studio. After that we are gonna be touring loads. We are hoping to sort out touring the UK as soon as we can, so it will be cool for you all to hear the new songs, and see what we've done to the old songs. Oh yeah, I just want to say congratulations to Hundred Reasons with their single. The Top Of The Pops that they're on is gonna be shown over here next week on BBC America so we can still see what's happening with our friend's band from the glorious sunshine of the West Coast (ha ha).
Anyways, take care. - Willxx

Tuesday, 12/03/02 | Hey there Ryan,sorry it took so long but better late than never?where to start? we've only got a few weeks left here in l.a recording,but we still have loads to do.we're almost half way through all the songs and yesterday we began i can climb mountains.we never really shout about what we do but honestly,we think that this stuff is sounding really fucking huge.we can't wait to get the stuff out and play as many shows as we can now.it's pretty much confirmed now that pelle and eskil will also mix the album,so it looks like we are gonna spend most of april in sweden.that should be a lot of fun.we heard about hundred reasons getting into the charts and we are all sooooo happy for them.they have a channel over here called bbc america and the totp's performance should be with us next weekend!apart from that,it is heads down working,i know that me and tom mcshane,and tom o.d are gonna lose the plot on st patricks day (being irish)and jonah's onelinedrawing is playing nearby on the 21st so that's all my time set out for the next couple of months.i'll write again soon.hope you are ok,and hi to everyone that reads this,we can't wait to see you when we hit the road.take care. - Willxx

Monday, 04/03/02 | Hi there. Sorry it's been a while since our last post. We've been caning it in the studio - 12 to 14 hours a day on average. We got over our initial technical hitches and the machine is rolling. 6 tunes down and we're taking a couple of days off for the first time just to clear our heads and get some sunlight. It's kind of like a half way point and it just occurred to me how mentally drained I feel. Our Swedish friends are ruthless in getting the best out of us. It can get really frustrating at times but when you nail something it feels really fucking good.

Overall, making an album is one of those rare things that actually is as cool as I always imagined it would be. But there are a lot more hurdles to clear before we can sit back and smile. Last night we got messed up and found ourselves at some surreal house party in the Hollywood hills. I remember walking around by myself getting a weird kick out of just observing people and listening to conversations. I must have looked like some kind of freak. I like that feeling. Sometimes.

Talking of detachment, it seems like we're really out of touch with everything. We don't watch much TV as it's all adverts and we get barely any word from what's going on back home. We're like 7 European oddballs locked away in this studio all day with no windows, with the sprawling madness of LA going on all around us. We dont even fit in with the misfits here. But anyway my point is we do check out the message boards all the time so keep us updated. We want to know what other bands you're getting into, what shows you've seen, films, books, politics, basically opinions and questions about anything and everything. I'll piss off now before I really go off on one. Expect another update after our time off. Until then... - Justin

Tuesday, 19/02/02 | We have now been in Los Angeles for just over a month now rehearsing and playing shows, all of this leading to recording our first album. It's all been cool so far,the producers are big heroes of ours so it makes doing the album even more fun. They have done some of our favourite bands and all of the stuff that they have done sounds amazing. Man! They've done Refused, Fireside and loads of stuff for the Burning Heart label so to be with them is amazing.

This doesn't stop the recording process having it's boring bits though. You get in really early, excited and ready to play and you end up sitting around for 5 hrs waiting to get a good tom-tom sound. By the time it's time to do guitars.......

Being in L.A is fun though. All the bars are pretty cool and there are always good shows to go to. I saw 'Will Haven' the other day in front of about 60 people, it was AMAZING. They were still sounding super heavy in a half full club and the pit, even though it only had about 10 people in it was going crazy. It's really hard to get hold of Kerrang! out here,so the only way to find out what's going on back home is to check out the internet (kerrang.com). It sounds as though 'A' are gonna have it with their single, my friends tell me every time they turn on the radio it's 'A', so that's really cool.

Even though the sun is shining everyday over here, we can't wait to finish the album and play around the rainy old U.K again. That will probably be in April/May at the earliest but it is something for us to look forward to. Anyways,that's about it.

Take care. - Willxx

Monday, 18/02/02 | Hey there guys. This is just a quick note to make everyone back in sunny London feel jealous. Los Angeles is treating us all well even though we are working way longer hours than we ever thought rock n' rollers should work. From 10 in the morning, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week??? I kid you not. It's all really exciting though. We started the actual recording today, turning up at the studio super-excited only to do what normally happens on the first day in the studio - listen to snare drums getting hit for about five hours. Anyways, hope you are all ok. - Willxx

Tuesday, 12/02/02 | Hi. Things here have settled down to some kind of routine. We're putting in the studio hours and sleep has taken a back seat. Everything is getting kind of familiar. It feels strange not to feel like strangers much anymore. Dollars are thinning out so we're trying to steer clear of Sunset Strip and get wasted in more cost friendly arenas. About to go check out Will Haven at the Troubadour though so we might have to start that resolution tomorrow. That's the word for now anyway. Keep in touch. - Justin.S

Monday, 04/02/02 | "Greetings from Hollywood. It's been a strange week. We played our first proper show at the Troubadour, which was one of our better ones and went down a stormer even though the LA crowd is a little more reserved than your good selves. We heard on the news the next day that there was an earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale across town at 10:10pm. We went on stage at 10.09pm. No fucking kidding. Anyways this is just a quick note to say cheers to everyone who helped us out on the single - I still can't believe we charted at no.63! And it's not our best work by a long shot. The shit we're cranking out with our Swedish partners is another story my friends. Can't wait for you to hear it. Take care and keep in touch." - Justin.S

Mon, 28 Jan 2002 | Been here about a week and a half, staying in the valley area of Los Angeles. Contrary to popular belief we have got into quite a hardworking routine, today [Sun 27th] has been our first day off since we arrived which was probably due to some overindulgence last night. Basically the studio is about 30 mins drive away, Justin being the only one with a drivers licence has had to do the honours every day but remarkably for a man who would get lost in his own bedroom he has managed to navigate round the mean streets of L.A. with considerable ease...

We are in pre-production at the moment with Pelle and Eskil, which means rehearsing hard / trying out new arrangements / shouting at each other... but we're all well chuffed with the way things are going and there is a great vibe going on.

Last night we did our first U.S. show at a place called The Point in West Hollywood, it was a warm up for tomorrow's show at the Troubadour. We were quite sceptical at first after the promoter informed us that the crowd they would usually get in consisted of "those who cant get in anywhere else" and that the previous nights shenanigans ending in a shoot-out outside the entrance. So rather quickly we set up our equipment and blasted through 8 tunes [highlights being Justin falling off the 6ft stage, singing a song whilst standing on the bar...] it was all good and we left with a grin on our mugs to find some entertainment.....

Checked out sunset Strip, firstly place called The Rainbow, a famous hangout for bands through the ages, [some of which seem not to have left for 15 years] before moving onto a bar called On The Rox above the Roxy night-club, which in its time has seen its fair share of rock 'n' roll antics.... So by about 2ish the party consisting of band, management, record company, Tom McShane, Pelle and Eskil jumped into a limo and we went to drink record company's mini bar dry. Nice. So tomorrow brings another show and some press duties which should all be good banter.

Take it easy.... - Joe.B