FEBRUARY 2013

Rather a late annual Christmas update! What did we do in 2012 we hear you feintly cry amongst the sound of tumbleweed blowing across FragileLand? Well, we had 5, yes FIVE!!!!! practices in 2012. This sudden rush of activity thoroughly exhausted us all...! Hopefully, we shall equal this number or even surpass it this year. Neale's still holding out for a 20th anniversary of releasing bugger all (only 2 years to go!) and Mark is beavering away at maybe, just maybe completing a new Shining Hour CD early this year.

DECEMBER 2011

So two years go by without updating the website. "Blimey", you are thinking, or possibly "Lazy bastards!". Whatever, it's been way too long but we guess nobody really noticed. Anyhow, we didn't have a practices for about two years so there wasn't much to talk about. But heavens above we had our first get together on November 7th followed, unbelievably, by another on December 7th. What jolly good fun they were as well. So much so, that we are looking to do more in 2012. Will there be any more Fragile releases? Hmmm, Neale is still working on his long awaited follow-up to "It's A Lie" (released 1995!). Just think about it - anyone who had a year old baby when that was released has an 18 year old adult on their hands now! Will there be any gigs? Unlikely, though the dream of a reunion gig with our friends Brideshead is a nice thought. If you have stumbled across this latest newsflash, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Make a note for your diary to revisit in December 2013!!

DECEMBER 2009

When thinking about updating the website, the thought didn't even occur that there has been no update since December 2008. And what a busy year we've had (yeah, right!) Not zero, not one, but TWO whole band practices in July and November plus our first ever video uploaded to YouTube, which is a compilation of clips from the July practice to the 1998 Apricot released version of 'Worlds Apart'. Well, 11 years late isn't too bad for us. Check it out here .

NEWSFLASH! It was reported in August 2004 (scroll down) that Neale had finished a song called 'Goodbye Fifteen'. Following recent enquiries, it appears that the song actually has not been finished, so please accept our profound apologies for this mis-reporting of the facts. Apparently there are several other songs missing in action and who knows when we'll hear them but no doubt they'll be another report about their disappearance this time next year so keep tuning in folks! In the meantime Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

DECEMBER 2008

Unbelievable. It's been over a year since the last news update and we didn't even notice. So what's been happening in the year of Fragile? Er... Neale bought a new recording unit which he's yet to produce anything on. Hopes are high that some new songs will appear in 2014... sorry 2009! We had a full band practice at the end of August in a rehearsal studio which was great fun. We were trying to organise one for the year end but unfortunately the stars weren't aligned or something and it didn't happen. However, with some dates we can all do, we look forward to thrashing skins, shredding fretboards and wailing atop our lungs. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to anyone still visiting the Fragile website. (You really should get out more!)

NOVEMBER 2007

Well, the "next month news update" didn't happen - no surprise seeing as there was "no news"! But rest easy because events have increased from a snail's pace with the news that Miami's Cloudberry Records release a 3 inch mini CD on November 15th containing three Fragile tracks; I Miss You, I'm Not Here To Make You Happy and Failure No2. Whilst I Miss You has seen the light of day on the It's A Lie album and I'm Not Here To Make You Happy was on Norwegian Jazz, Failure No2 has never been released. Neale finished this song fairly recently for this CD. Trainspotters amongst you may have noticed that there is already a song called Failure which was on Sky Blue Records' "Popular World" compilation in 2000. Okay, so perhaps you didn't notice! Anyway, Failure No2 is a brand new version and it's quite funky but not in the Jamiroquai sense (thank heavens). Many thanks to Roque who runs this splendid label. Fragile's CD is available direct from Cloudberry for $5 US. The Shining Hour also had a release in August.

Other eagle eyed web-watchers may have noticed that the band picture has changed. The old photo was good but was taken in the 90s (the 1890's!) whilst the new one was two years ago. There are more which probably should have been uploaded but the internet is already full of dodgy pictures and there really is no need for us to contribute even more!

MAY 2007 (!)

Yes, you are not reading that incorrectly! This IS a news update from Fragile central. So what the hell happened to us? Well, Neale in search of musical inspiration decided to raft down the Amazon whereupon he was kidnapped by a tribe of pygmies curious about the 'indie-rock' jangling from his i-Pod. Held in captivity for 16 months, and forced to impart all of his knowledge of how to "Rock" (yes it really took that long!), Neale was finally released once the locals had grasped the idea. On his return to the UK, he decided to 'get the band back together' and have an acoustic practice in early May. Let's hope the acoustic guitars are not joined by bongos and pan-pipes! Actually, the reason we've been so lacking in any activity is that we're lazy gits. Sorry, that should read: old, lazy gits! Whatever happened to the photos from November 2005? They're still on Mark's hard-drive awaiting publication. Don't hold your breath, it's difficult enough for 3 minutes let alone 18 months.

Mark finally released a new Shining Hour CD 'Long Lost' in November 2006 whilst Neale's songs really are long lost! Another update next month... probably!

DECEMBER 2005

We had our one and only band practice of this year on 21st November and a fine time was had by all. A few rusty numbers and some bum notes (no change there then!) but overall it was a pretty good considering we haven't played together for 13 months. It was good to turn the volume up to 4 and a half and crank out the old songs again!

We also got some fine photographs which will be uploaded at a later date to replace/augment the ones that have been here since time began. The Gallery page will need a little work with its formatting first which with the festivities ahead may take a bit of time to do. The photos are good though. Yes we look a little older, a few more grey hairs but we won't look... in Rob's words... "shit...and gay". He was of course alluding to the fact that he has his arm around Steve in one pic when we squeezed together on a short settee for a band photo.

It just remains for us to say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" to all that still bother visiting the website!!

NOVEMBER 2005

Yes 2005! Amazing but the website has been updated with some news! While Neale and Mark are still beavering away on new songs, the planets and stars have been slowly aligning in the sky or something and proclaim the band Fragile are actually due to have a practice - the first since October 2004 - on 21st November 2005... so lock up your gerbils! A further report may well appear in this spot, post practice, where a team of analysts will pick over every bum note, dropped drum stick and dodgy vocal warbling/harmonies. A fun will be had by all we are sure. Now then... er, what were the chords to 'I Need Help'?

DECEMBER 2004

It's been an extremely quiet year in FragileLand. We've only had one practice this year which is even less than 2003. Neale and Mark have not finished any songs this year either. Frankly, it's embarrassing! We hope to rectify that by producing some superb songs next year, followed by an extensive World tour covering 97 countries, appearing on National TV all around the world... hang on a sec, that was all a dream. Well... at least we hope to produce some superb songs. We will also delete the Real Audio files and replace them with MP3s as a lot of people are getting Broadband and the like. That's to come but in the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks to anyone who wrote to us this year... there was at least one!

OCTOBER 2004

We had our first band practice of the year (and the first for 10 months!) in the middle of September. Even though we hadn't played for such a long time the magic (ahem) was still there and it was really good fun. We hope to get together sometime before Christmas. Meanwhile, on the recording front, Neale advises that he has to do some vocal tracks before some new songs are finished. It's entirely possible that all of the real audio files on this site will be deleted and replaced by MP3s. As more and more people are able to download faster, we may as well make some of the old songs available in a better quality format. This on the "to-do" list so check back soon.

AUGUST 2004

Neale has apparently finished a new song called "Goodbye Fifteen". Hopefully we can make it available as a MP3 download soon. We are trying to get a rehearsal together as we haven't played at all this year! Absolutely shocking!

FEBRUARY 2004

The news will now only be updated when something significant happens. Sadly there's hasn't been much news on the Fragile front for sometime and therefore it seems pointless to update the news pages when there isn't anything to report!

JANUARY 2004

As you have realised, the website has been moved to a new address. This is because it's easier to share the same server address as The Shining hour and also means we can get some statistics on whether anyone visits this website!

DECEMBER 2003

We had quite a good band practice on 8th December which was good fun. The news on the Fragile front is fairly scant most of the time, so it will only be updated when something significant happens. Hopefully Neale will finish some new songs this year. Mark is also looking to complete a CD-R sometime this year.

AUGUST 2003

We had a practice in the early part of August. It was during the heatwave which crossed much of Europe. Unfortunately it was extremely hot in the hall and affected our playing somewhat (our excuse anyway). Also it was the first time for about 5 months that we had a practice. We captured some video footage of several songs via a digital camera which was quite interesting. The song performances weren't great but it was fun to see ourselves 'rockin' out'! The videos are unlikely to be uploaded due to their size - probably a good thing as most of the band are wearing shorts!