Ah, it seems like ages since I posted in this journal. Oh - wait a minute - that's cos it IS ages. Oh well. Here I am again, rambling on about whatever crosses my mind. So let me update you. Immediately after the show at Sundance, I started work on the Circus Diablo album. This is a new band, with myself handling the lead singer thing, Ricky Warwick (from UK band The Almighty) on rhythm guitar and Billy Duffy (him of The Cult) on lead guitar. We also enlisted the talents of Mr. Matt Sorum (Cult, GnR, Velvet Revolver) on the drums. As it happened, Matt has just finished building his own recording studio, so we just sat ourselves down in his place and did the work.

A month later and it was all finished. We wrote all the songs late last year, and recording them was easy. We kept the vibe raw and exciting, and to that end, we banned the use of Autotune and Beat Detective at ALL times. Probably the first record I've made that doesnt have any of those classic Pro Tools helpers on it. We are all really happy with the result. Now we need to put the release timeline into effect. We are currently doing the meetings and planning a tentative June/July release, with a couple of select shows shortly afterwards. Then we plan to get a UK tour and a selection of US dates late in the year. Who knows if that will all happen, but we will do what we can.
For more information, you can check out WWW.CIRCUSDIABLO.COM and you can also go to MYSPACE.COM/CIRCUSDIABLO if you want to become part of the community.

I am getting ready to go to New York tomorrow, to go to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony. My wife and I are friends with the Osbournes, so we are going in support of Black Sabbaths induction, and of course, even though they are not attending the ceremony, my all time favorite band, The Sex Pistols are being inducted as well. So it should be a fun few days. I will, no doubt, meet up with my friends at Gibson Guitars. Can't hit the Big Apple without checking in with them. And I am sure that an afternoon of Retail Therapy will be in order.

Things have been quiet since the New Year. Camp Freddy has been on some well deserved 'quiet time' but I feel we will be emerging soon with a couple of things. And I have had my head down, working on the Circus Diablo album, and writing songs for another record that I might do. Not sure yet, but I'll record the tracks and see what the vibe is. And other than appearing on the VH-1 I Love Toys series (oh yes - you know the ones - where they edit ridiculously quickly, put you in front of stupid backgrounds, and only use the sound bites that make you appear like a lunatic ...... THAT series!!) it's all been peaceful.

I did receive a yellow Melody Maker from Gibson, to use on the new record. You know the Les Paul-shaped ones, but with the vintage P90 p/up in it? I have to tell you that using that thing on one side, and the Seymour Duncan Custom LP on the other sounds HUGE!! The Melody Maker has found a permanent home in my studio line up of guitars after that. How did I ever get by without one? Now all I need to do is get me an SG (can you believe that with all the guitars I have, I don't own an SG? Shame on you, Mr. Morrison). Still waiting for Gibson to bring out those single cutaway J200's that I saw at NAMM. Very excited to get one of those. I played one and it felt and sounded SO good. I'll ask them about that next week.

Not a lot else to report. You can fly over to WWW.BILLYMORRISON.NET to see some of the mad V-Blogs I post over there. Pretty much film anything that I can think of (including me shooting my 9mm Beretta at the range!!) and post the footage up for the world to see. Why? ..... well, because I can. It's fun, it's better than shooting smack in an alleyway, and it keeps me busy. That's it from me - there are a few episodes of Season 3 of 24 for me to watch tonight (thanks to Netflix) so I am outta here. My life, as usual, contains many guitars, and that, I believe, is why we read Modern Guitars. Vive Le Rock.

Billy