We had a rehearsal last night, we Burn members. Well, more we Bu members — or should that be ur, or maybe rn? Because ‘s still on paternity leave, and phoned in sick (hope you’re feeling better, Tony); so only and I were there to hold the fort.

Which was quite limiting, but also interesting. We hadn’t rehearsed at all in nearly a month, and our last fully-plugged one was on the 8th of April, if my diary is to be believed. So we were, to say the least, rusty. It was appropriate, then, that we should close with ‘Powderfinger‘, since that comes from Rust Never Sleeps.

And indeed it doesn’t. But still, we did some good work. Memories were refreshed and songs were practised. We showed a definite pattern of “play it badly, try it again, play it better; sometimes repeat.” Which is as it should be, of course.

It was good to be back in Backstreet, with its strange, mouldy, under-the-railway-arch smell; it was good to crank the guitars up and let rip; and it was good to drive there on a sunny evening with all the windows open and Bruce Springsteen‘s The River blasting.

I arrived at the studio just as ‘Hungry Heart‘ was playing, which was appropriate, as we considered covering it once, when we heard that Springsteen originally wrote it for The Ramones.