Dear friend,

I want to talk about God for a second.

…actually I don’t.

……but I will anyway.

Here it goes:

If you’ve seen us play, you’ll notice a lot of our songs are about God, religion, Jesus etc. (Wilco reference intentional) and I often get asked something along the lines of “am I being serious”? Or - more often than not - I’ll be met with general confusion. My favourite instance of this was an American artist telling me after I played that “at first I thought you were being ironic with the whole God thing, but then I thought, man… this guy really does love Jesus”.

So what’s the answer?

Before I get to that, here’s some facts:

• I went to church every Sunday from the age of 0 to 15

• I once tried to read the whole Bible but got stuck at the X begat Y section (which is pretty much straight after Genesis)

• I went to Christian youth camp at least three times and got really into it at least two of those three times

• And… and… I’ve got no more facts right now

Anyway - I’m thinking about this because I just walked past the church I used to go to - back home in Coventry. This church is in the village that George Eliot based the fictional village of Raveloe on, from her novel Silas Marner. Having just read the aforementioned novel, I found that the once dull village I grew up in had taken on a Disneylandesque sheen. I imagined myself as one of the characters, trudging through the lanes to the local pub, The Rainbow - one of the only location names Eliot didn’t change.

(Side note: Maybe I’m a Disney adult but for George Eliot novels).

This led me to think: it’s a shame our school didn't teach her work, as she was a local. But maybe that would have made me hate it. And the I would never have read Middlemarch (all about marriage and mismatched relationships) which was essential during a year of near-marriage and a mismatched relationship. If I’d read it a year earlier it might have meant nothing to me.

But books take on different meanings at different points in your life.

As do relationships.

As does religion. 

Which brings me back to my point (somewhat) that I had gone to church during the most malleable period of my life (early teens). And religion has - whether I like it or not - shaped a large amount of my beliefs. And some of those beliefs are now so entrenched that even logic and reason have a hard time staking a claim.

(Which is the power of art, coincidently - that it stakes a claim beyond logic and reason).

Which brings me back to my point (properly this time): do I believe all the religious stuff I sing about?

And my answer is : I always believe everything I sing.

-

If you want to hear one of our songs about God, “You Will Never Get That Feeling Back” is available for download from Bandcamp. Since it’s Bandcamp Friday, we’ll keep any money you throw at us.

So, if you like it, download it for free. And, if you love it, why not chuck us 50p?

I would also like to mention again that Frankie’s compilation - The Music Scene Stands With Gaza - is perhaps an even more worthwhile place to throw your money. All the proceeds will go towards Gaza Soup Kitchen and you’ll also get some incredible tunes in the process.