Principally comprising recording the entire band on 'Coming Up On Empty' - by 3pm we were all thoroughly sick of the song!

Si spent the morning putting the bass on 'Sex Noises', then went onto record male vocals onto as much as possible. In the meantime, Nicky and I sat outside on the sofa and watched episodes of 'Family Guy' patiently...

The first day of recording the forthcoming EP at Purple Pro Audio in Leeds, with Rob doing drums and Nicky working on the flute parts.

We're preparing for next Wednesday's gig and had a special guest appearance from Shrood's drummer, Rob!

Si playing with the DMX lighting rig and planning for our forthcoming Obvious Pseudonym gig in Wakefield.

...well, most of OP anyway given Jim was hiking in the Dales. This was mostly a tech layout rehearsal with the new keyboard rig (only 2-tier so I can see the audience now!) and using the new Nord C2. Oh yeah baby.

Photos from before and after our fourth outing to Escobar, at the heart of a Saturday night. This was the first gig with Jim The Grynn on lead guitar and we rocked royally, oh yeah

Pre-gig rehearsals at Diamond Studios, who plopped us in one of their smaller rooms - Ben and Ellie were also in attendance as we couldn't find a babysitter. Still, a reasonable rehearsal even with the constant threat of feedback!

'Obvious Pseudonym' show up at Doncaster College for the beer festival, and to try our own Obvious Pseudobeer (4.2%, a refreshing hoppy ale). Photos of random people outside are by request - hope you like them, folks.

We were gigging at Escobar and had a couple of drinks before the show, then met all our friends at The Hop for yet more beers until the small hours. Joel had the fish-eye lens which made for some comedy shots.

While waiting for some audio to bounce down I took a pic of the current setup I'm using to write songs for Obvious Pseudonym.

We went back to Escobar for a third Monday appearance as part of 'Louder Than Bombs' unsigned bands night. A quiet evening, not very well attended (we always struggle on a Monday) but some nice unexpected appearances from friends wanting to see Joel's pink suit.

Sat in the back room of The Hop before our appearance, and then hanging around in the beer garden with Lou and Tony.

In preparation for some PR work our old chum Neal Lewis directed a photoshoot of the band at his studio in Leeds - quite a bizarre experience monkeying around in front of the camera for a change, with several outfit changes and a general hamming-up of our onstage personas. A properly enjoyable evening with a true professional

We opened an 'Unsigned Band' night at Escobar in Wakefield with a 40-minute set - a bit of an odd gig because we were opening for two rock bands! Following that, the band wandered down to The Hop where were performed two acoustic numbers for the remains of the Open Mic contingent. Ace!

Because of the children, it can sometimes be easier to rehearse in a dedicated practice space; and with a gig coming up we did a marathon session at Diamond Studios near Thornes Park, Wakefield.

Another scarily productive rehearsal, fuelled by Strongbow and Fosters - with most stuff played live while we learned new songs. It was also the first rehearsal with the full live keyboard rig which wasn't as unwieldy as first thought. Dan's new amp is a bit of a beast though.

A bank holiday Monday in the studio writing a new disco hit - maybe a little insight here into the creative process of Obvious Pseudonym, note the cans of Fosters...

A return from holiday and we're back rehearsing! With the studio getting out of control and five new songs in progress, how could we not succeed? Really? How could we not? OK then.

As we're due on in a few weeks, we figured it'd be a good idea to practice a bit. I'd also taken delivery of some digital drums which we faffed with a bit while running through the set then writing new material.

The Obvious Pseudonym love-in continues with a barbeque at Wrenthorpe, which ended up being a bit of a jamming session when Dan played us a new song he'd been working on and all the instruments came out. Granted this was after a lot of Pimms, wine, and Si's acrobatics on the lawn so we were all a bit the worse for wear

Our final studio rehearsal before we braved the real performance. Photos here are mostly taken by the children who we dragged along in absence of a babysitter, but who behaved reasonably OK for the most part. Dan showed off his new guitar too!