Kensington Gardens, all dressed up, I say hello to the Darling children Wendy, John and Michael and leave for a Christmas party leaving Nana the dog in charge.
Hold on a sec, that's the wrong set I'm on about. I'll come back to that.

Right. Sunday 22nd of November. It's 5am. It's freezing and the Soviets are starting their day. We performed at Hyem bar just a few hours earlier in what was a great gig and I'm knackered but at the same time I'm buzzing. This is our first video and we've chosen The Waitress to be our first single release. 2010 could be a big year and even though it's pitch black and biting cold I couldn't give a fuck, because I'm too excited at the day ahead.

Although it may seem that The Soviets have been lying dormant for the last few weeks, this is far from the truth.

We played some great gigs during Carnival week at Cromer (following the penultimate gig in our 'Summer at The Cluny' franchise), and had a little bit of a party while we were at it, then returned home for some respite and to prepare for September.

Since then we've all been doing fairly monotonous tasks behind the scenes for the Reckless General Records project; setting a definite date for the release of debut EP "Who We Are", which you can stream for free on MySpace or here on the website. Once everything is finalised you will find the information right here first.

Before then, the songs will still be avaiable, and we will be playing The Cluny on September 17th, full details of which can be found on the gigs page.

Gigs are good.

We like them a lot. In fact we like them enough to bother telling you internet peoples about the one's we've just been doing. Firstly let me say a very big thank you to everyone who turned up to our lovely RGR at The Cluny event last month, we love you long time. And what a night it was!

The Soviets, on a real post-studio high, closed the night with one of the tightest performances we've ever played. We, like, rocked and that. Support came in the form of the ever-entertaining Hattie Murdoch, who opened the night with a brilliant solo set. Gary Phelan closed up the acoustic acts, performing a polished and engaging set that held the crowd from start to finish.

And on the third set, the lord created The Kush, and he saw that it was good. I think I'm in love with this band, all I really remember from the set is the hypnotic and terribly unsettling effect a man in a pigs mask can have. Who was this vicious swine-beast? What did he want. Is he a gimmick or a terrible warning of things to come. The proto-humans are coming my friends, and I urge you to arm yourselves to the teeth and to head for the hills. 'Get yer pig oot' all you want, but don't come crying to me when it eats your children.

Which brings me on nicely to last months other noteworthy gig. Up in aforementioned hills, the Electric Barn festival was possibly the most fun I've ever had.  Seriously. Donkey punching Keith Chegwin? Not even close. Fearsome sunshine and a well thought out line up packed with local talent combined to provide a beer-soaked, BBQ-fuelled mini-festival that will undoubtedly be running for years. The music goddamn it! Get back to the music.

Right!  A whole slew of acoustic acts dominated the first few hours, starting perfectly with the marvellous Ian Courtney and ending with the mental Nick Gladdish via Kelly Brownell, Ian Bredis and more. At this point, with the sun starting to lower and the BBQ rapidly approaching completion, it was deemed to safe to unpack the drummers. A truly staggering performance from the always impressive Verity Burton band demonstrated exactly why she continues to reap praise where ever she goes, and worked to scare the following bands into playing as well as they possibly could. SHAZAM! SOVIETS TIME!

There are many ways in which you could describe the Unstable Tables set, but I don't want to. Instead, lets look at what they weren't. Subtle, clean-shaven and completely lacking in cool ska riffs.  There we go. Special dancing time! Liveoke closed the night, bringing a perfect end to a fantastic night, allowing those who spent all day watching and chance to join in on the musical fun. And all this despite the musicians involved in Liveoke coming down with crippling, last-minute case of food poisoning (Nb: by 'food' we may mean 'beer').

The music is long since finished, and the sun went down some time ago. Things started to get a bit... Apocalypse Now. Back in the camp-site, Guy-ropes snatched at ankles like vicious Punji traps (albeit minus the human faeces), and the screams of the falling pierced the night. Huddled around wind-up lanterns, us few remaining revellers fought back against the encroaching morning with anything we could - a whirlwind of acoustic guitars, beer and Chili.

The most fun I've ever had?

Yeah, probably.

If you're a musician and haven't got a Producer... get one! Those of you who have been following The Soviets blog will know that we have been working with John Elliott and Andrew Archer of Loft production LLP on a three track EP and they've done a brilliant job. We've worked hard as a band to arrange the songs and achieve a sound that we felt gave the songs maximum impact but working with John and Andrew has really opened our eyes as to how many layers and magical sprinkles go into making even the simplest of songs. They used ideas and techniques that we wouldn't have even dreamt of in a million years, especially on the vocals, and they really did what a producer is supposed to do... take what they have and make it better! We're at the first round of mastering now and the five members of the band and two producers are sitting on the songs for a week to make some notes, get used to the songs then we'll get back together to discuss, make any necessary tweaks, then send them out into the abyss of the interweb... I can't wait!

We've also been working with Phil Hunton (www.philiphunton.co.uk), a Newcastle-based photographer for our latest photoshoot. Now, I'm sure Phil would agree that none of us are going to knock Cheryl Cole of her rightful perch as one of Britain's loveliest looking ladies... largely due to the fact that none of us are lovely and (although this is open to debate) none of us are ladies. However, if I'm not mistaken, Phil has done the impossible and beaten some really good pictures out of us. Granted this has nothing to do with our modelling ability and everything to do with Phil's talent and experience, but still I think the lads deserve a little pat on the back. The vast majority of the bands I speak to, seem to have something against photo shoots, but you need to accept that image is just as important (if not more important in some cases) as the music itself in the overall product. I can pretty much guarantee that when you first arrived on the site you had a quick listen to the music, then looked for photos... and were a little bit annoyed when you couldn't find any (we're giving the site an overhaul and the photos will be in place once it is launched in August). The pictures themselves are in post production getting a little bit of the Photoshop magic, but I have to say that Phil was brilliant in relaxing all the lads, getting them to forget there was a camera there and really focussing our minds on what the overall look and feel of The Soviets should be. To Phil, John and Andrew - we salute you!

Micky C