Glen Strachan is a raging belljester, currently fronting new band Cruises to the Holy Land based in Cyprus.

17/01/17 Run Lola Run is a lot of fun ain't it, and being the clued-up monkey god made you to be you've probably seen it already, so I shan't dwell. That's the end of my Berlin film run for now though, gonna start a new page as I start Greek language movie evening, out of interest for the independent film culture here & also because I could really do with the extra exposure to the language which I'm studying at school here in Cyprus. I'm hidden away mostly for days at a time so don't really get to hear much local talk, and I can only stomach the radio stations for short bursts at a time. But this ain't a movie blog, naturally. Right now I'm using it purely because nobody comes here, and it saves me from wasting my weightless words on facebook friends I've come to abhor when communicating through such a medium. Roll on Greek Speak Week. 15/01/17 Finally got round to watching Goodbye Lenin! - what a movie that is. Any other Berlin classics I should be looking out for? Only Run Lola Run left on the list & I'm out of ideas. Gonna be road tripping around the island (Cyprus) with And. this week, can't wait to see Troodos, Ayia Napa and the North - Famagusta, Kyrenia, Bellapais. Broke my iPhone, which is a mixed blessing in itself, but will take the SLR camera & try to get some snaps on the old Instagram. 14/01/17 Been caning it for a couple days straight, but back in Strawport now, drinking tea. Love Rival And. is in town, and I'm spinning the new Flaming Lips record Oczy Mlody, pretty lovely, especially this 2nd track How??. Determined to keep track of the days this time round. Cruises record will be called New Ruins. 09/01/17 Continued the Berlin film theme of the month with Wings of Desire, so flippin' good, find it someplace with whatever subtitles you require, meanwhile here's an instrumental trailer: Dunno why it took me so long to get round to watching this stuff. Not much of a movie buff me; I generally burst into tears from the music in the opening credits & stifle sobs with varying degrees of success throughout a screening. One time I was inconsolable, in the grips of a long haul flight movie, and the air hostess was concerned for me and curious as to what feature might be having such an effect - I was rather ashamed to admit at the time that it was a Star Trek. Nowadays I stick to Kung Fu Panda on such journeys but I'm so involved with all the characters now that they get me all emotional too, so what's a travel monkey gonna do. 03/01/17 Looks like the time of four seasons & two natural disasters in a day has passed for the time being - it's like a Spring morning in Cyprus, perhaps over 20 degrees. Bet you're glad you came here for the Cypriot weather report, but really - it makes so much difference for us! Out here, at the foot of the hills between Pegeia & Agiou Geirgiou, this place wasn't built for habitation during the winter months - no gutters, no heating - and when you have to walk an hour to the nearest shop, constant lightning storms & thunderous rain becomes less romantic & a real practical disadvantage. But.. today we ride. Cruises was a four-piece alt-rock band for a short while over Christmas, but in this fickle modern world where plans change every 5 moments, I've made the decision that this record will go the Muster Point route after all whereby we'll use musicians from our entire network & take things from there. SO - kid from down the street - get your clarinet in tune, I might very well come a-knocking. 02/01/17 LOL, well, as you can probably tell, I was having a right shithole of a time for a while there, but I love the new year & all it's forgiveness, and things are looking up for sure. A love rival or two will hit this island in a week or two, there are already two here, and I may even go visit two others in Athens tomorrow, so there'll doubtless be plenty material for the project. 6 Love Rivals is currently taking shape, here are some song titles from that; Richard Hate Was Robert (But There Is A Richard Hate); The Greek Girls Are In Greece; Kalid's Been Turning Tables; William Nein Lives; Krokadillos Goes To Strasburg; Towler Gets Tazered; Anna Yu Wants To Hang Out With Those She Knew Before She Died. At least one of those will have to wait to be included on 5 Love Rivals. 30/12/16 End of the year then innit I guess how about that then. Feels like it's been another complete waste, but then some dude tweeted about all the 2016 Jeeps releases the other day & I guess we did some half decent stuff after all. Cruises is turning into something of a long ting, and don't get me started on the CYPRIOT POST or any other institution round here (the police from Nicosia have to swap with the Paphos police for one month a year because all arrests are otherwise avoided due to friends/family in the force etc) but I ain't gonna moan too much. Still hasn't stopped raining, but I ain't gonna moan too much. Looking forward to school restarting in a week or so, maybe I can learn a couple other ways to say Skasmos - shut the fuck up. 24/12/16 Watched Sonnenallee last night, here it is in full if yer interested, beautiful stuff: I was so naive when I first moved to Berlin. I don't blame myself too haughtily for that - we're all born ignorant - and it was steps into the unknown like moving to Germany which helped me find half a know-how in the darkness. But still, what fool was I. I'll never stop missing Berlin, The Love Rivals will always circle that city & I'm at peace with the constant changes, the kaleidoscopic Fernsehturm, the influx of schmucks. 23/12/16 These goddam Apple updates are driving me BARMY. First, with Sierra, the Plugin Alliance stuff wasn't working, now they just fixed that but I can't send MIDI information to the Focusrite anymore. That, along with this incessant rain (OK it ceased for a few hours this morning) is DRIVING UP THE WALL! Gonna fucking give it all up & write a book if this shit keeps up. You ever see The Lives Of Others? Everyone & anyone with an interest in visiting or living in Berlin should see this movie: 23/12/16 The sun finally came out today, and the building work we've done around the basement here seems to have worked in keeping all that water out, so I feel comfortable finally getting a piano in here now. You ever hear that Neil Young record Le Noise? Pretty amazing how he manages to conjure epic beauty in distortion with such sparse arrangements. No drums & no bass in the main: Might have a bash at something like that later. I've often DI'd the bass, but experimenting with 'soft' guitar amps now that new technology has minimised the delay factor - it's practically real-time performance now. Some crazy plug-ins out there, been fucking with this snare buzz thing that emulates playing guitar in a room with a drumkit in the same space, and the way the snare rattle resonates when you hit certain notes. Bonkers. Otherwise I'm using some iZotope stuff, Plugin Alliance & Waves of course, the API stuff. Anyway, gonna go have a bash on the bouzouki, that's real enough. 22/12/16 Good heavens, the lightening storms here in Cyprus! I've never seen anything like it outside of rainforest documentaries. Did you see Planet Earth II by the way? So happy for that little hamster-mouse thing that got away from the pouncing catmonkey. I'm down in my little basement studio here in Pegeia, painted in the Straw Port colours & cringing away from the world. Roughly half of the Cruises to the Holy Land record is down in demo form, but we're starting afresh. Want to get further away from that rock sound. There was never any time for me to be a good friend in London town, so I can hardly ben surprised to find that nobody had time for me when I was there last week. Berlin was, and remains, a different matter, but here in nobodyplace I'm able to value you all a little more. Been reading books authored by ladies & gentlemen I'm honoured to know in person, and humbled by their penmanship. 16/12/16 I came back to Cyprus the other day from a little trip to Athens, London & Berlin, and by golly am I glad to be home. It's freezing here though, y'see nobody has heating 'cos it's only cold for such a short amount of time, but IT'S THAT TIME NOW & I'M FREEZIN'. We're busy building up Straw Port Studio, Cyprus, and working on the Cruises to the Holy Land record, here are the two demos we've currently released: 16/12/16 So here we are in a basement on a hill in Cyprus. Come back soon for more updates like this one but worse as we all degenerate & curse the fiends. Previous