There goes another one.
In the early days of this new year, 65daysofstatic are almost exclusively “with flu”. This is presumably because we sat down for long enough over the christmas holiday for our collective immune systems to awake fully from a year being dragged through airport lounges, ferry ports, sub-degree van’s and burning deserts to finally succumb to more conventional forms of illness than just being dog tired and drinking too much.
Having had our first week off since June 2006 without doing something 65 related, we’ve fast realised that real life is boring and we’re back at 65HQ adding heartbeat kick drum samples to old never-polished screaming samples and trawling through endless budgets to work out a way to drive across Europe in the slipstream of the mighty Cure in about four weeks. Things have been less than busy on this website of late, but we can guarantee that’s all going to change real soon as we embark on this five month touring extravaganza. The plan is to add more dates (just to keep us busy) between the two six week Cure tours of Europe and the USA. An enormous tour sandwich, if you will.

So, to sum up 2007: 65′s most strange and confusing year to date, I think we’d all agree, where we finally proved just how uncool we really are, and most of the music press agreed, and somehow we’ve still managed to play some of our favourite shows of all time this year, to some of the most remarkable audiences we’ve ever come across. We salute you for being there. 100 shows last year EXACTLY is a new 65 record, but secretly we wish it could have been more.

Our highlight’s of 2007:

- Watching the music industry collectively fondle itself at the groundlessly self-serving promotional theme-park-for-the-soul-less that is SXSW, but still managing to catch Saul Williams and Russian Circles create something wonderful amidst the terror.

- Japan, forever and ever and ever.

- Riding the Moscow underground, playing a show, watching the snow stick to the towerblocks.

- Touring with Rolo-Tomassi, The Mirimar Disaster and Josh Pearson, Fear Before the March of Flames, YouInSeries and This Will Destroy You, Cats and Cats and Cats, The Butterfly Explosion, Tired Irie, Bong-Ra, Cougar, and those old comrades of ours Youthmovies, (whose new album we’ve had the pleasure of hearing and we can only say is our album of the DECADE) as well as playing some great shows and festivals with Lethal Bizzle, Explosions in the Sky, Gravenhurst, Sunn O))), The Cure, AFI, Liars, Creature with the Atom Brain and Asobi Seksu. Between us, our gigs of the year would probably be …Trail of Dead at Sheffield Leadmill with Smokers Die Younger, Earth, Sunn O))) and Boris on one bill, Arcade Fire at Eurockeenes, Qui, and The Meat Puppets in Texas.

- Driving across America in a little van for three weeks with nowt but a legendary sound man from Derbyshire and a legendary driver from Iowa.

- Radiohead’s Ecological Footprint and Carbon Audit, the single most inspiring thing a band has done in living memory? Certainly years ahead of the government, the global business nexus and the popular mass media combined. Real action where so many (including us) have failed.
We can’t tell you what we’re cooking for the first half of this year, but we hope it you’ll find it as exciting as we do. After that please please please can we make a another album? We hope so…

Boring administrative facts: New t-shirts in the shop section of the site, and some nice bags.  They are cheaper than they were and all prices should be the same regardless of currency. (There were problems with this. Sorry. If it hasn’t changed and you’re looking to buy new shirts, just hold on a couple of days and all will be well). Full tour dates on the shows page as usual (expect these to be added to).
We’ll leave you with proof of the 65influx into South America, specifically in this instance, Peru: