Before Christmas I played for what is becoming an annual fixture in my diary: Robin Ince's 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People shows. These are always good fun. I wasn't performing any comedy, but was part of the on-stage band, the Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra, led by Martin White. It's always a great experience, and the green room is full of extraordinary people, including: Alan Moore, Barry Cryer, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Simon Singh, Ben Goldacre, Marcus Chown, Jim al-Khalili, Marcus du Sautoy, Josie Long, Rich Sandling, Jo Neary and about a million other fantastic people. I did a couple of duets with the inimitable (by which I mean borderline nuts - but in a good way) Robyn Hitchcock and a somewhat impromptu version of Fairytale of New York with Gavin Osborne, as well as lending some agressively loud surprise trumpet in the stalls for Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden. All in all: ace. 

December was also a busy time for the band, with lots of public, private and corporate gigs around the country, including a bizarre gig inside the horribly-named Xscape Snowdome in Leeds (yep, on the indoor snow) for a snowboarding competition, 

a great wedding at the BAC and a fun gig at the PigPen awards (alongside my friends Charlotte Young and Darren Hayman and ace band United Vibrations), as well as various private functions. We also smashed it at a sold out gig at Scala where we played to probably our largest (and most enthusiastic) crowd yet! Was a superb gig, and thanks as always to Wah Wah 45s for hosting and having us along.