A little bit more work was completed on the album today – Anthony went in and recorded some mandolin for the track Second Life. And the band returns in full force at the end of the month for a three day session that should see everything completed except for some brass overdubs.

Chris has a new MySpace page that features, amongst other things, some great photos. Go check it out: www.myspace.com/chriswilsonflamingroovy

This will also be getting a revamp in the next few days so check back soon for updates.

This site regularly attracts visitors from around the world – we know this because we can see where people come from thanks to some hit counter software loaded onto the pages. However, the last few weeks have been truly remarkable.

We’ve seen people arrive at the site from India, Thailand, Israel, Greece, Egypt, Argentina, Russia, Iceland, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Poland. These visitors join fans of Chris from France, Scandinavia, the UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, the US, Australia and Canada, who all make regular visits to the site. And Chris is delighted.

"It’s really exciting seeing so many people coming to my site from around the world – I really wouldn’t have expected such a truly global interest in what we’re trying to achieve on these pages. Thanks to everyone – please keep coming back."

Another step closer to completing the album… Anthony and Andy Thomas spent last weekend recording some guitar parts at Andrew’s home studio down in Folkestone. The track, Second Life, has been handed over to our producer, Dick Coppen, for him to ready it for some vocals.

Chris and the band will be recording a version of All the Action at the next session and while working up an arrangement Chris remembered a verse that failed to make the final cut on the Stevie Klasson take.

This weekend saw Chris and Anthony return to the studio to work on some vocals and add some guitar overdubs. The result of the two days’ labours is that there are now eight songs nearing completion – basically all that’s needed is some final mixing and mastering. As before, Dick Coppen sat at the controls. He also made some valuable contributions to arrangements and generally helped drive things along.

We’ll be back to finish off the album very soon so check back for updates…

The Marquee gig last night was a great success. Chris turned in a blistering set with the aid of Jim Kimberley [drums] and Bob Kelly [bass] from support band Kelly’s Heels, and this site’s web master, Anthony Clark, on second guitar. Chris was joined by Robin Wills of The Barracudas for the first encore, supplying added punch to Teenage Head and Slow Death.

The only sour note of the night was the news that The Marquee is closing this weekend, to be replaced by a shopping mall. But Chris had the honour of playing the venue out in good style, his guitar being the last to echo around its walls.

Chris is playing a London date at the capitol’s famed Marquee club. The show, on 7 February, will feature Chris and a full band playing songs from his Flamin’ Groovies back catalogue and some material from his solo career. There’s also the chance of some new songs from the forthcoming album. More details about the show will be available soon.

Chris is also set to record some material over in Paris at APC studios. 2008 looks set to be a busy year…

Jumpin’ in the Night
Take Me Back
When I Heard Your Name
Yes I am

A further session is planned for the New Year, which will be predominantly for vocals and mixing.

Plenty of Groovies news… First, a version of Shake Some Action is apparently being used for a Latvian TV show, while a reworded take on the song – entitled Take Some Action – is being used somewhere in Europe by political activists. If anyone knows anything more about these please let us know.

The Not Lame record label has published a book, aptly titled Shake Some Action, that reportedly lists the "Greatest 200 Power Pop Albums". The eponymous Flamin’ Groovies album is placed at number 23. Surely some mistake.

And finally, both Shake Some Action and Slow Death were played by Paul Schaeffer on the Letterman show.

We’ve had a couple of days to listen to the mixes of the four songs are they’ve turned out really well. There are a couple of fixes that need to be done – one 12-string part suffered a tuning problem due to the heat… we chose the hottest weekend of the year so far to go into the studio! Apart from that it’s just a brief tidy up.

The next session will take place in early September due to the commitments of Anthony Clark and Andy Thomas – a pair of hard-pressed journalists. In the meantime we’ll all be working up some more songs in readiness.

The first session for the album is over and was a great success. Four tracks were started – Set Free, Not for Real, Shake that Feeling and Blaze Away. Drummer Andy Woodard was the star of the day – his contributions really brought the songs to life.