I can barely remember why I decided to take a purely improvisational direction with this group. I only remember that it had something to do with me being too lazy to arrange songs in the form that I had in mind.

Either way, I'm glad that we're writing songs now. It seemed a unanimous decision when one person piped up in frustration during a jam, then everyone else voiced their agreement, including myself (surprising myself as I did so).

Anyway, I have a clearer idea of how to not only arrange my own parts, but how to arrange my gear as well - manipulating switches, twiddling dials and things, as well as routing things differently.

I will be writing by myself and with other members and rehearsing with the full group when we have enough stuff to go over in a session. Writing with different people should produce a pretty diverse range of sounds.

Another thought: I have been thinking about who I want to interest with what we play and have decided that it'll mostly be other musicians. I guess the decision was arrived at unconciously. I'd like to say that we'll ideally entertain anyone, but that's not realistic - somebody will be put off by what we're doing, regardless of what we do, especially if we write music that's not reliant on contemporary mucial conventions.

I'm hoping that we can steer away from lyrics for a while. I think that this may not only distract from the music, but also give people something to sing along to - I feel that this might be talking down to the listener in question. Three of us would be willing to sing, but the vocals would have to be purely musical. I have thought about covering some songs, a few of which have lyrics, which I'd have to sing. Personally, I have no problem having my voice mixed as far back as possible and possibly have what I'm singing garbled beyond lyrical coherency by various effects.

That isn't a new thing to do, but in the context of the songs I'd be singing...I think it serves to completely change the focus of the song.