epidural

ˌɛpɪˈdjʊər(ə)l/Submit

Adjective – ANATOMY

on or around the dura mater, in particular (of an anaesthetic) introduced into the space around the dura mater of the spinal cord.

subdural

sʌbˈdjʊər(ə)l/Submit

adjective – ANATOMY

situated or occurring between the dura mater and the arachnoid membrane of the brain and spinal cord.

There were two major threads to my life this year – Epidural and Subdural

I’m not too sure when the leg thing started but it must have been just after we finished the mastering of the album – there was so much walking involved in that that I couldn’t have physically have done it

I remember having trouble with the load in at San Fran for the record release gig

We didn’t play a lot of gigs this year – the whole focus of the Spines was in recording and mixing the Epidural album. You could say we changed tack.

But I did a power of writing this year. These here stories each week and also the lyrics to about ten percent of the album.

It was a feat to make the album this year and to put it out ourselves but we had a really strong critical response. It was reviewed in some depth by Simon Sweetman and Nick Bollinger on RNZ and I wound up doing an interview about Wellington music with Jesse Mulligan.

I would limp down to the post shop and send Epidural to all parts of the globe and was trying to book a South Island tour when I got halted in my tracks – couldn’t even look at a screen

It was on the night of the elections that the real pain arrived in the form of iron bars across the midriff – the pancreas playing up

I went on for a while deluding myself till it got so bad that I just had to surrender to the hospital for the first time ever.  They took me right in but I managed to nip back across the road and salvage this computer and continue to write and keep in touch.

The mind is an amazing creature and all we have in a way.

It encompasses heart and body

Soul – I don’t know but we all have it.

I went down in a spin of ill health

But I did get out of there alive

After a weak

So I did get healthy

I’ve been thinking about the next album ever since

Ironing out the songs

I’m unsure where the year has taken me but we did manage to play a gig down south and I got on Matinee Idle for the first time after listening to it all those years.

Hannah and I did an hilarious podcast about the album and we continue to grow closer musically.

And it’s not all over yet – I’m about to turn Sixty so stay tuned

I have an idea about changing up these Ghost stories once we get to the two hundred mark

Maybe scurrying back to the Herman Manslaughter persona

We shall see…

The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary