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Zanos Ltd Gilbert House Haig Road Knutsford Cheshire WA16 8DX UK

Gilbert House Haig Road Knutsford Cheshire WA16 8DX UK

14TH MARCH 2019

Flavour Talk 2019 Amsterdam, Flavour and Health

by Rachel Reyer

Flavour Talk 2019 Raw Materials RoundTable Exhibition is taking place this week in Amsterdam. Our natural ingredients principal Payan Betrand had a busy time at the RoundTable event.

The Flavour Talk RoundTable exhibition gives flavourists a unique insight into EU naturals, flavour substances, natural essential oils, extracts and other ingredients. Therefore it shares useful information formulating new flavourings.

Likewise, the Flavour Talk  conference provides an opportunity to to hear leading speakers at the forefront of flavour innovation. This year the conference focuses on the theme of Flavour and Health.

As a result discussions include latest research in understanding flavour perception by different groups within society. This is due to the importance of flavour in developing healthy eating patterns.

UK manufacturers of flavour ingredients please contact our Natural Ingredients Sales Specialist Lisa Senior for further information

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Original posted by Pete Snyders – Source

A door is only as good as it’s lock

Strike plates or door strikes are the protective metal plates installed in the door jam that receives the latch or lock tongue when the door is closed. The ones in issue are the dove tail striker plates incorporating an aggressive toothed pattern on the bottom of the plate. This type is used on the Anglia 105E/123E, Consul, Zephyr, Zodiac and more. As English Fords from the 50’s/60’s continue to age, I’m seeing striker plate teeth wearing to a point of safety concern. In those conditions the door needs to be slammed hard to close properly. In that case a new replacement is necessary. I’ve contacted many sources regarding the availability for new plates with no avail. So I decided to give it a try and repair the most promising plates.

Note: To start with, door latches need to be in good condition.

Figure 1 and 3 plates are in good enough condition for repair. Figure 2 cannot be used for this type of repair. These are worn beyond a point of safety and the door will be in danger of flying open whilst the car is being driven at speed.

I’ve had success with using J-B weld epoxy. After rough sanding the worn area apply epoxy to plates to Fig 1 and Fig 3. Fill the cavity over flush in Fig 6. After the epoxy is dry file down until flush Fig 7. The epoxy filling is still holding to the plate tooth pattern on my Anglia 124E after a few months with little wear showing at the same time preventing any further wear on the tooth pattern. The filing may one day fall off but I’ll just re-apply a new batch.

The Anglia 105E/123E sedan came with two styles of striker plates Fig 8: early type < 10/1962 and Fig 3 later type > 10/1962. Estate later > 6/1963. Fig. 4 are the early types. The L/H plate tooth pattern are solid while the R/H has a hollow front tooth. Fig 5 is the later type all hollow tooth. Be aware of these hollow tooth plates esp. if worn completely through the casting. REPLACE THEM.

Fig 8 are restored early type striker plates with new bumper rubber. Be sure that the door lock striker safety plate is installed p/n: E2093-AA-1 on both early and later striker plates.


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Jim Norton/ Indians v. Orioles

Make your Friday plans now to see comedian Jim Norton at Hilarities on East 4th Street!  He’ll headline Friday and Saturday night with performances at 7 and 10pm on both nights!  Or get tickets to see the Indians play the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at Progressive Field!  First pitch is at 7:10 this Friday night!

Content Goes Here


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Are you looking for Alcohol dog names?

Finding that one perfect name for your new dog can be quite a hard task. This is a struggle that we have seen often and that is why we are here to help you. On you will find over 38.000 dog names, a dog name generator to help you find the names you like and you will find all the names divided into categories. These tools are all available to you and can help you find that one perfect name. Ranging from Disney dog names to dog names starting with B and everything else. Whatever you are looking for, we have it here! Keep reading to find out more about alcohol dog names.

Alcohol inspired dog names examples

Alcohol dog names can be anything related to alcohol. Here are a few examples of famous drinks that make great dog names!

  • Bailey
  • Jack
  • Merlot
  • Malibu
  • Pinot
  • Baco
  • Martini
  • Gin
  • Vino
  • Whisky

Find the best name for your dog! Choose from more than 30,000 dog names!

View all dog names
Dog name trends

Alcohol dog names

Through the years, dog names have changed. Giving a dog a name is special to us, in our western culture but there are cultures in which dogs are not seen as special. They are sometimes even seen as food! Many years ago dogs were used as working animals, which sometimes they still are now. Think about guard dogs and hunting dogs. Many breeds were bred especially for the purpose of herding or hunting. This is something you can keep in mind when choosing the right name for your dog.

A historical name

The first dog name recorded in history is that of a dog named Abuwtiyuw. When George Reisner led an expedition in 1935 in Egypt, they stumbled upon an inscription on a grave at the great cemetery. This indicated the burial of a dog named Abuwtiyuw. What was so special about this grave was the fact that the dog was buried with honors and in the time Abuwtiyuw lived, only noblemen and kings were buried that way! The Egyptian King worshipped his dog so much that he gave him his own grave.

Find the best name for your dog! Choose from more than 30,000 dog names!

View all dog names

The perfect name

Whether you are looking for alcohol related dog names or Mexican food related dog names, you want to find the perfect name. What makes a name perfect? That is something you are the only judge of. If you, the owner, believes the name is perfect then it most definitely is! Remember this at all times, you get to choose. Take your time in choosing the name as well. Really think it through! Make sure you love the name and will also still like it after a few years as well. Besides that, there are a few things you can keep in mind. Think these aspects through and you will, for sure, get to that one special name.

The sound of the name

Alcoholic drink names for dogs can be good names for dogs when it comes to the sound of it. Sound is an important aspect of the name because your puppy needs to be able to really understand you. Research has shown that dogs respond better to certain letters that can be pronounced clearly and hard. This comes down to letters like ‘s’, ‘t’ and names ending in ‘y’ or ‘a’. For example Bailey would be a very good name because the ‘b’ can always be pronounced with emphasis and the name ends on ‘y’ which makes a very good sound as well.

The length of the name

Dog names after alcohol can often be a bit long. This is not completely wrong but it is something to think about. A longer name will often be harder for you to pronounce clearly in emergency situations and that will make it hard for your puppy to always understand you. If your puppy is about to run off onto a busy street you will be alarmed and call the name quickly. This will be easier done with a short name than a long one. Stick to a name of about one or two syllables, that is best.

The complexity of the name

Hand in hand with the length of the name goes the complexity of it. A long name is often more complex but a short name can be complex as well. If you are not able to pronounce the name clearly you might have to think twice. The alcoholic beverage Licor 43 might not be such a good dog name but Jack, from Jack Daniels, is a great example of alcohol beverage dog names. You could decide to pronounce Licor 43 as liquor forty-three but is that really a good name? It would still be too long and trying to pronounce it the Spanish way might be really hard. Even if you do speak Spanish, the name would be too long.
Think about these things and you will find that one name that is perfect for your new dog.

Famous dog names from history

There have been some dogs that did a very brave thing or changed the world a bit. Just like we can, dogs can become famous as well. Some dogs are remembered for their extreme loyalty or a heroic deed. Often the beautiful relationship between dog and human is reflected in these deeds. A good example of a story like that is that of the Japanese Akita Hachiko. Hachiko is not an alcoholic drink name for dogs but his story is quite magnificent.

Hachiko walked his owner to the train station in Tokyo every day and waited there for him to return from work. When his owner returned at the station after a long day, he and Hachiko walked home together. Doing the same thing the next day. When Hachiko’s owner passed away, Hachiko kept waiting. Never leaving the spot in front of the station, day in day out. This extreme loyalty did not go unnoticed. After Hachiko passed away a statue was put in his place and there has even been made a movie about the story. You can still find the statue at the station in Tokyo to this day.

Another very famous dog is Laika the Russian stray dog. She became famous because she was the first dog to orbit the earth! Sovjet professors picked her up from the streets of Moscow and trained her to be able to stay in confined spaces and live off fluid food. Sadly, Laika was never destined to survive the ride. The spacecraft was designed to burn up into space but Laika already died 3 hours into the ride.

Alright, one last famous dog. Not an alcohol dog name but a lovely TV character! Lassie, the Collie from the Lassie movie and TV show. If you are about to own a cute Collie, Lassie might be the perfect name! Lassie is also a unisex name, we believe. After all, in the movie and TV series the character of Lassie is a girl but she was actually played by male collies! This was because male collies have a longer, thicker coat which looked better on screen.

The purpose of a name

As we mentioned, a name is important. Especially the length, sound and complexity of the name are important. Some names are good for specific breeds and types as well. A dog’s name also says a lot about his character, it shows other people what he is like. Of course this is only a first impression but it can tell a lot about you, the relationship between you and your dog and your dog himself. If your dog is a big German Shepherd and her name is Lucy, she could be as sweet as the name itself. These are things you can take in mind but do not have to. After all, most of the time these things come naturally.

Some breeds were bred for certain purposes, like hunting dogs. These are Labradors, Retrievers, Beagles, Setters etc. If you are about to own a dog of a hunting dog breed, it can be fun to give him a name that suits his hunting instincts, or not at all. This could be names like Chase, Sniff, Hunter, Arrow or Scout.

Whatever name you end up choosing for your new dog, there is one thing you ought to remember at all times. This is time. Take your time. Really, you do not have to rush this decision. Even if your puppy is coming home with you in a few days, it is completely fine to think about it. The first few days your puppy is at home with you he already has so much to learn, it is fine to teach him his name a few days later. You can take these first few days to really get to know your puppy and then you will know which name suits him best! Make a list of the names you like, practice them out loud and see how your puppy responds to them. Calling the name out loud with your puppy in front of you will soon let you know if it is perfect or not. Good luck!


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Best Linear Actuators Used In Medical Equipment

An actuator is a useful piece of technology that has already brought innovation to a lot of areas of human lives, and, with further improvement, is going to do even more. One of the most important areas for such a modernization is medicine. The recent technological advancements have made it a good idea to include linear actuators in medical devices, both in the applied field of this science and in medical research. However, the development of the technology has led to large quantities of different types of actuators being available out there. Which one would suit your venture the best? Let’s find out.

How Do Linear Actuators Work?

In order to determine which linear actuator would suit your needs the best, you need to know how different types work. The linear actuator is a motor that provokes a motion of something along a straight line. Most of them convert the circular motions of a motor into the linear motion we need.
Linear actuators that work on electricity are based on the same principle, too. With the help of a screw, it transforms a circular motion of the electric rotor into the motion of the rod. Recent technologies have made it possible to make this motion much more accurate and less power-consuming, which has led to the decrease of the actuator’s size. Since then, there has been a surge of new ways of using linear actuators in medical equipment. Let’s have a look at the most popular uses out there.

How Are Linear Actuators Used In Medical Equipment?

1. Patient rooms

Probably the first piece of medical equipment the actuators have been used for is a patient’s bed with an adjustable back angle. Nowadays, linear actuators can be used to help handicapped patients reach for something or adjust their position. They can also be used for more important medical “furniture”, like operating tables. This is perhaps the simplest way of using this technology, although it still requires a lot of skill and knowledge to implement.

2. Prosthetic limbs

Simulating a natural movement of our limbs would be impossible without linear actuators. However, scientists and engineers have only recently come close to it, with the help of the smallest and most accurate actuators. Such devices require a high level of precision in their work, which makes it very difficult to find a suitable actuator for them.

3. Medical robots

Although it seems like something out of a science-fiction tale, medical robots have been used for different purposes for decades. The first surgical robot helper was used in 1985, and since then the technology has continued to improve. Now there are talks of minimizing the presence of a surgeon in the room with the patient. Of course, there is a long way to go before we reach such a future, but linear actuators can be considered a major factor in making it at least possible.
Creating and operating a medical robot is also not a trivial task. In order to choose a linear actuator for a small functioning part of it, you would need years of specific education.

4. Medical research

There are a lot of different ways a linear actuator can be applied in medical research. Mostly, though, it is used during the chemical and biochemical research, either to stabilize the position of compounds or for a good shake to make the reaction possible. If there are a lot of samples and reagents, an actuator-based system can be used to provide an easy and quick access to them. There also are some invasive procedures that could use some help from the actuator implementation.

How To Select The Most Suitable Linear Actuator For Your Project?

First things first, the best linear actuators for the medical industry are the electric ones. They are easy to control, have an almost infinite life expectancy, and are much more accurate than any other type of actuators.
It is difficult to say which actuator model is the best because most of them are suitable for specific tasks. The way for you to choose which one of them is the best for your purpose is to measure the parameters of your system and match them with the parameters of the actuators available.
It sounds pretty easy to do, but in reality is much harder. It is rather difficult to calculate the force you’d need for such a complex system, and the stroke of the actuator doesn’t really reflect its resolution, which might be quite different on the maximum and minimum strokes. However, you can always ask someone for help.

Why Choose ProgressiveAutomations?

ProgressiveAutomations is one of the companies that you can contact not only to buy almost any type of the device you need, but also to ask any questions you might have about each and every one of them. The company is not only the distributor, but also the developer and maker of the actuators, so there are plenty of people who know what they are doing.
Furthermore, you can apply to get a custom product designed exclusively for your system and your needs. Not only can you develop your own actuator almost from scratch, but you can alter the engine that almost suits you and modify it in any way you need. They also offer a lot of additional products that make the implementation of the technology much easier and more fun.

All in all, it’s impossible to determine which linear actuator for medical equipment is the best. However, you can still find out which drive suits your project the best. Although this task is quite difficult, you can easily find experts that will help you to determine the parameters of your system and make a thought-out decision.

ProgressiveAutomations is one of the companies that offer immense help in the actuator choosing process. So, if you want to make your project successful and your life much easier, contact the experts from ProgressiveAutomations and start innovating the industry right now!

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SB County Water Guardians File Initiative To Ban Fracking

For immediate release
March 18, 2014

Filing is first step to protect County residents’ health, environment and local resources City of Santa Barbara – Today, Santa Barbara County Water Guardians, a grassroots group of concerned local citizens, filed a notice of intent with the Santa Barbara County Registrar to circulate an initiative petition within the County of Santa Barbara to protect the County’s air, water, and health by prohibiting land uses related to fracking, cyclic steam injection and other high-intensity petroleum operations.

As oil companies plan to expand the use of high-intensity petroleum operations to extract oil and gas from the Monterey Shale and other formations across Santa Barbara County, public concerns grow. Chemicals involved in many of these operations are associated with serious health problems such as cancer and birth defects. The increased emission of air pollutants has been tied to a greater risk of asthma attacks and reduced agricultural yields. At the same time, the threatened proliferation of new wells threatens the County’s famed scenic vistas, robust tourism industry and quality of life.

Expanding high-intensity petroleum operations will also compete with agricultural and public uses for Santa Barbara County’s limited water supplies. With reports of groundwater contamination in four states related to these operations, Santa Barbara’s local farms and wineries could be devastated if a well casing fails or wastewater is mismanaged. Activities associated with these advanced drilling practices have also been linked to increased seismic activity, which is concerning for a County that sits on a number of active fault lines.

“Using these technologies, the petroleum industry would gain increased access to oil resources lying below our homes, farms and natural areas,” said Rebecca Claassen of Santa Barbara County Water Guardians. “The impacts and risks associated with high-intensity petroleum operations are too great for Santa Barbara County residents to accept.

In order to protect local resources and interests, we want to prohibit this land use before it further endangers human health and the environment in Santa Barbara County.”

The initiative will protect the health and environment of Santa Barbara County by amending the Santa Barbara County Comprehensive Plan and related codes to prohibit the use of any land within the County’s unincorporated area for fracking and other high-intensity petroleum operations. The initiative includes provisions to protect vested rights and constitutionally protected property rights.

Upon the County Registrar’s certification that proponents have secured the requisite number of signatures on the petition, the Board of Supervisors can elect to adopt the initiative or put the measure on the ballot for voters to decide this November. The measure is widely supported by a broad coalition of Santa Barbara community groups and environmental organizations.

Measures to ban fracking and high-intensity petroleum operations have been adopted in New Mexico, Colorado and New York, to protect public health and safeguard natural resources. In California, residents of San Benito County are also circulating an initiative petition to ban high-intensity petroleum operations in that county. The San Francisco law firm of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP, which has extensive experience in land use and environmental issues, and attorney Nathan G. Alley of Limestone Law & Policy Advocates drafted the Santa Barbara measure.

Santa Barbara County Water Guardians is a growing coalition of concerned parents, professionals, farmers, students and others opposed to fracking and other high-intensive petroleum operations that threaten our water quality and supplies in Santa Barbara County.

We invite supporters to come to an April 5 kickoff party and to join our roster of hundreds of volunteers who will be gathering signatures to qualify our initiative for the November ballot at:

Bus trip to Sacramento – March 15

March15Invite CAFsmall

All aboard!

On March 15th THOUSANDS of Californians will descend on Sacramento to demand that Governor Brown ban fracking! Will you be one of them?

We’ve organized a bus that picks up in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. We’re hoping you’ll hop on the bus with us and join in the largest anti-fracking effort California has ever seen.

You can buy tickets here, or you can sponsor a ticket for someone to go in your place.

Just imagine: you’ll be on a bus full of 60 anti-fracking activists from your area – some you know and some you don’t! Then you’ll converge with THOUSANDS of others all over the state to demand the same thing: a ban on fracking in California!

Let’s not miss this historic opportunity!

350 Santa Barbara

PS. Email me directly for details:


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Break In by desertaura

Break In

A scene from Gaslight Theatre's comedic stage production of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

(Photo Date: 2 October 2016)
Great scene!
October 31st, 2017
The sign is the perfect touch! His bland décor really sets off his green entrance.
October 31st, 2017
He's annoyed, he banged his head...
November 1st, 2017
@kwind @janeandcharlie @joannakate – Thank you for commenting on my photo!
November 2nd, 2017
Leave a Comment
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text:
4AD logo, click to visit 4AD siteLush logo, click to visit lush site

to view.

Chorus CD box Set

Ciao! - Best Of Vinyl

Origami LP box Set

Blind Spot EP

Origins 01.Gala 02.Spooky 03.Split 04.Lovelife 05.Topolino / Chorus / Origami 06.

Lush In Conversation With Martin Aston

Lush's announcement of their first shows in 20 years has a different ring than comparative band reformations because of what brought them to a halt. Sure, there were attendant stresses of relentless touring and recording (especially during the 'format wars' of the Nineties, with the demands for all those B-sides), management teams lacking in empathy, complicated by their record label's own internal strife - and this on a band that struggled to believe in their own abilities. But what brought the curtain down was the suicide of drummer Chris Acland, completely without warning. For 20 years, Lush have lived with that severe and shocking denouement, and haunted by the idea of what might come after; to make music, to honour what they once had, or perhaps, in the words of Ian Curtis, to walk away in silence. But during the last five years, tentative discussions have finally led to an affirmative decision.

Phil King (bass): We'd all meet up for meals sometimes, and see each other socially, but with families and day jobs, it hasn't happened. Last year, I wanted to do the Psychocandy tour with the Jesus & Mary Chain, so we put it back a year, since when Ride have reformed. But it will make it twenty years since Lush split up.

Emma Anderson (lead guitar, vocals): Looking at the new photos, of Miki, Phil and me, it's striking how clear it was that someone's missing. It's so sad. It will be weird up there on stage, without Chris, we'll feel the absence.

That loss will be tempered by the addition of Justin Welch, an old friend of Chris who drummed for Spitfire and then Elastica, and with Emma on the initial demos for her post-Lush band project Sing-Sing.

Miki Berenyi (lead vocals, guitar): Even now, it won't be easy knowing Chris won't be there. We know you can't recapture what you had before, but hopefully it will be brilliant in a different way. If I think of all best bits of the band, how great it is to play live, and to play your own songs, then there's an open door you can walk through. I know I'll regret it if I don't.

Preceding the Lush reunion shows, the band released a four –track EP named after its opening track, Out Of Control.

Emma: Recording again was really good fun and relaxed too, though we did it differently to how we used to, because we hadn’t even played again as a band in a room, or rehearsed the new songs. I recorded the demos of the music on Garageband, and then we recorded it at [producer] Jim Abbiss’ studio, but the next record we’ll rehearse the songs first before recording.

Miki: I was having sleepless nights, thinking it would be a disaster as we hadn’t even rehearsed beforehand. I even had a singing lesson! Jim [Abbiss] has an amazing CV, he’s worked with people like Adele… I visualised standing in the vocal booth and seeing a discussion outside about how to make it OK! But it went really easily, and it really helped with the band going forward with rehearsals for the live shows.

4AD have celebrated their return with the first ever pressing of Ciao! The Best Of Lush on red vinyl, but more crucially, the limited edition boxsets of Chorus (5 CDs presented in a book) and Origami (a 5 LP box released on Record Store Day 2016). Artwork for both is by Chris Bigg, who, alongside design chief Vaughan Oliver, was responsible for those iconic 4AD covers in the Nineties. Both boxsets contain the band’s five albums, the early compilation Gala (1990), the three studio albums Spooky (1992), Split (1994) and Lovelife (1996) and the B-sides collection Topolino (1996). The CD boxset also contains a selection of radio sessions, band demos and remixes. If anything will convince the band of reconnecting with their past, this will do it.

That past is best recaptured in the band's own words; of how their twin songwriters, Miki and Emma, emerged from unconventional childhoods to tentative forays into music, and the craziness that followed, at a time when the media focus on bands was merciless, instantly putting unproven talent in the spotlight. Lush had terrific tunes, they also looked the part, they were recording for an iconic record label, but they were also vulnerable ingénues, and hostage to the interpretation of events – in their case, preceding shoegaze but being shoehorned into it, and then lumped into Britpop. Back at the start, when their demo arrived on the desk of 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell, there was no aim, musically or otherwise, but a lot of hope and promise. As Ivo recalls, "A lot of English bands at that time, like Slowdive and Ride, suggested that things could develop, that they were experimenting, taking influences from the Sixties but being just as experimental from one album to the next, like The Byrds had."

Miki: I was born in London. My dad was Hungarian, a journalist, and he met my mum at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. It was a whirlwind romance, but they'd divorced by the time I was four, mainly because of his relentless philandering. She remarried a TV director and moved to the US when I was twelve, but I didn't want to go and stayed here. My dad had fought to keep me with him, but he wasn't up to the parenting, and I was mostly left in the care of my grandmother, who was a very bitter and cruel woman. These days, we'd probably say she had mental health problems. So I left home at 14 – I lived in the school music room for a year! I'd been to about seven different schools by then - state, private, a convent, you name it, partly because of my mum always moving. I felt very unsettled having to constantly be the new kid and leave behind friends I'd made. I met Emma at a Harley Street girls' school. I made several lifelong friends there, but there was an elite of snobby kids who looked down on girls like us whose parents could just about scrape together the fees. We rebelled against them and their values - shaved off bits of our hair, wore tatty clothes. They thought we were revolting! And I suddenly realised how liberating it is to not give a shit what people like that think.

Emma: I was born in London but I was adopted when I was a month old. At the time of my adoption, my dad was 48 and my mother was 38. That isn't so odd these days but in the 1960s, it was, and it also meant my parents were from a time before there was such a thing as popular culture. They also had very strong ideas about a woman's role, i.e. as wife and mother, so as I grew up and my ambitions grew beyond those limits, they tried to block me at every step. I even wanted to learn the piano when I was about eight but that wasn't allowed. I grew up in quite a strange place. My father was the Club Secretary of this old boys' club called The Naval and Military on Piccadilly in Mayfair. We lived in a flat provided by the job so my parents didn't have the usual mortgage or bills, which meant they had enough disposable income to send me to private schools, although I was moved around a lot – I'd been to five different schools by the time I was sixteen. When I was 14, I was sent to Queens College in London - where I met Miki - and that's when my obsession with music really took hold. Miki had had a very atypical childhood too, so I think we gravitated toward each other because we didn't connect with the wealthy, more privileged London kids that mainly populated the school. We were outsiders and misfits and were more or less ignored by the others. The school was unusual in the fact that was no uniform so Miki and myself started wearing black and clothes from army surplus stores where the other girls were dressed head-to-toe in designer clothes. Music was a little club for us that excluded them.

Miki: Music wasn't big in my family, so I just liked what was in the charts as I was growing up and I liked ABBA. I fantasised around music, like acting out a life story to ABBA's 'Knowing Me, Knowing You', which felt dramatic and real because it was about divorce. I was really into 2-Tone, but I wasn't picky - disco, synth pop, Sixties girl groups, I loved all sorts.

Emma: I started getting into music by listening to the Top Forty on a Sunday, when I was about 12, at boarding school in Sussex. I homed in on New Order, The Teardrop Explodes and The Human League when all the other girls were into Michael Jackson and Billy Joel.

Miki: We became completely obsessive about music. But we had no older siblings to guide us, and no one to tell us what was cool and what wasn't, we just listened to anything and everything. We would go to loads of gigs but we were completely scattergun in our approach: in one month alone, I think it was April 1983, I can recall going to see Culture Club, The Danse Society, Tears For Fears, The Gun Club, The Electric Guitars and The Birthday Party.

Emma: I'd been soaking up music like a sponge, but eventually your tastes get more defined. I got very into 4AD. I loved their artwork – it had such strong imagery. I would buy 4AD records without hearing them. I once found a copy of the Nature Mortes compilation in Record & Tape Exchange, but I hadn’t got any cash on me so I hid it in the dance section (so no one else could find it), went home on the tube and borrowed the money from my mum then went back to the shop and bought it.

Miki: We started a fanzine when we were 15, called Alphabet Soup. The tag line was "It may be shit but only 5p". It was very juvenile and smutty, and makes me cringe when I remember it. We interviewed Xmal Deutschland in their hotel room and managed to mumble about five words throughout. But we were shy and awkward, and it was a good way for us to come out of our shell.

Emma: We got more embroiled in the live scene, so it was natural to start to make music ourselves. We both started off playing bass in different bands, I was in The Rover Girls with two of Silverfish, Miki was in a garage band called The Bugs. But we wanted to write songs as well, so we were trying to form our own band. We'd get together in my kitchen and play guitar and bass. Our first songs were very naïve and basic, we were just finding our way around.

Miki: Emma ended up at Ealing College and I was at North London Poly. That's where I met Chris, Steve and Meriel. I asked them if they wanted to be in a band and they said yes. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal. It was like asking someone if they fancied going to the pub.

Steve Rippon (original bassist): I was born in Carshalton [Surrey]. I'd got into music big time from the age of ten, I was a massive Beatles fan and other great Sixties bands like The Beach Boys and The Byrds. I was into punk too. I started my first band at eleven with school friends. I sang and played a bit of bass, and then guitar. I didn't pick up a bass again until Miki and Chris asked me to join their band. I had about six weeks to learn eight songs before our first gig at the Falcon in Camden.

Miki: Chris was born in Lancaster and grew up in Burneside, a Lake District village. I remember enviously looking at family photos of barge holidays and get-togethers that conjured up images of an idyllic Enid Blyton childhood! His early musical loves were The Jam, The Stooges, a slew of Oi, Anarcho and Positive Punk bands from Discharge to The Mob to The Sisters of Mercy, and he loved Nick Cave. Chris would go and see bands in Manchester, but these were violent times and on one occasion, coming home from a PiL gig, he had half his hair ripped out by a gang in Moss Side and was almost beaten to a pulp after seeing The Jam by some Salford soul boys who only let up when they realised he was just 14 years old! Chris was a seasoned drummer by the time he joined Lush. He had already been in a string of punk bands including Infection, Panik, A Touch of Hysteria, Les Turds and Poison In The Machine. I remember first meeting him in 1986 outside a lecture hall at North London Polytechnic. He was wearing a Southern Death Cult t-shirt, so it was an instant signal that we'd get on!

Emma: We started off as The Baby Machines, which we culled from the lyrics of Siouxsie & The Banshees' 'Arabian Knights'. Some songs were a bit gothy or a bit C86, but none were very good. The best was one of Meriel's, called 'Skin', which sounded quite Primitives and Darling Buds. But we had a set of songs to play when we changed our name to Lush. We never actually played a gig as Baby Machines.

Miki: To call Baby Machines 'riot grrl' is to dignify it with an insight and direction we didn't really have. 'He's A Bastard' was about an ex and 'Female Hybrid' about The Sun's Page Three, slightly feminist anthems, it made Chris collapse into fits of laughter and poor old Meriel would understandably wince at having to be the mouthpiece for this garbage. I think we just wanted to be out there and in a band.

Lush, Baby Machines, they both had a feminist slant. Reclaiming insulting words for women and making them a badge of courage. We played a handful of times, but Chris was the only one of us who was any good as a musician. We started to realise it was no fun playing when everyone thinks you're total crap, so we started to take it more seriously. That meant more commitment - so I left the Bugs - but Meriel was less interested.

Meriel Barham: My experience of Lush was in its early, thrashy days, which was great fun among mates, and much more Emma and Miki's project than something that I was as focused on, so I understood our different standpoints.

Miki: Meriel left and we didn't have a singer. We advertised, which was a disaster. One was a complete racist, one was so claustrophobic, she couldn't travel by tube, just nuts! I was already singing backing vocals so it was - well, either you sing or we'll just have to split up. It was needs must.

Emma: After Meriel left, something clicked in our brains. I don't know how or why, but I just started writing better songs, like 'Etheriel' and 'Thoughtforms'.

Miki: We realised that it wasn't just a case of writing something – anything – just so we could do a gig, but that the quality of the songs also depended on writing to the band's strengths - or accommodating its weaknesses! 'Scarlet' was still about why boys like slutty girls, and 'Etheriel' was still about a break-up of sorts, but the lyrics started to have extra levels of meaning. The sounds of the words became as important as what was being said, and the songs became a lot more enjoyable to play as well as listen to.

Emma: We recorded a demo and Geoff Travis at Rough Trade was the first to show interest, but he said that if Ivo was keen, he could see us on 4AD. Ivo came to see us play at the Falcon, with Pale Saints, who were great while we were a mess. But Ivo could see potential in us. One day, Ivo left an answerphone message - it's good, but we need to chat because not everyone at 4AD agrees. Howard [Gough, 4AD promotions) was trying persuade Ivo not to sign us. He'd seen us live at ULU, and said we were a shambles. But Ivo wanted to give us another chance, so he put us in the studio with [producer] John Fryer to record more demos.

SCAR (1989)

Lush's 4AD debut was the mini-album Scar. It wasn't a groundbreaking statement, with Miki's vocals slathered in effects, but it was a suitably sparkling testament to new beginnings and ethereal melody, with Miki sounding much more confident than she probably was, and 'Thoughtforms' and 'Etheriel' showing a much stronger pop sensibility than any other band following in the slipstream of My Bloody Valentine's brilliant album Isn't Anything. 'Second Sight' was in thrall to that MBV template, while 'Scarlet' had something of the Sixties psych feel that Ivo had mentioned. The press reaction to Scar was positive, likewise to their image, with Emma's jet-black hair contrasting with Miki's scarlet rinse.

Emma: The three tracks on Scar were recorded as demos, partly because 4AD needed convincing that we could really come up with the goods. They were never meant to be for a record but Ivo liked them so much he said, ‘Go back and do three more and I’ll release it as a mini-album’.

Miki: I can still remember hearing the final mix of 'Thoughtforms' coming out of the speakers and being genuinely blown away that that was us! And Ivo's response was so flattering. We couldn't believe a label like 4AD wanted us, it was beyond our wildest dreams. There was no question of us not signing. They could have offered us fifty pence and we'd have signed.

MAD LOVE EP (1990)

Lush's second release, a four-track EP, was produced by Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie – who'd instantly responded to hearing them perform a new track, 'De-Luxe'. Mad Love sounded bolder and brighter than Scar (contrast this version of 'Thoughtforms' with the original). Guthrie was spot on about the cascading 'De-Luxe', and neither 'Downer' nor 'Leaves Me Cold' revealed them as a band with self-esteem issues.

Miki: Ivo had 'De-Luxe' marked as a single the first time he'd heard us play it live, and Robin said he could do great things with it, but I was worried that our performances were so ropey. Robin said, don't worry, it'll be fantastic. And we really needed that support. Working with John Fryer had been great, but he'd had to chisel any response out of us. We were so grateful that anything we had done sounded good that we didn't want to express our opinions or suggest any changes or additions, in case they'd get shot down. Robin encouraged us to add embellishments and we started to understand how putting together a record works.

Miki: We were on the cover of Melody Maker six months after we formed, which became a nightmare because we weren't prepared – we'd only played about four gigs. We didn't even have a long enough set to be able to headline. And we were awful live, so we were forced to become good in public.

Emma: We were still very inexperienced and we thought it would be good to try something else first, to not get entrenched in one direction. Working with Tim [Friese-Green, Talk Talk producer] brought a new perspective.

A three-track EP was helmed by Tim Friese-Green, at Ivo's suggestion. Talk Talk's producer-collaborator was much more of a perfectionist than Guthrie, and spent six weeks with Lush recording and mixing just three tracks. The title track was a longer, comparatively dreamier and, indeed, lusher Lush than before, while 'Sunbathing' was Lush's first "ballad". As Ivo said, "I loved Talk Talk's space and clarity, but 'Sweetness And Light' sounded thin and woolly, and so unrepresentative of Lush's live sound. Yet it was a fantastic song, and the record served its purpose by accelerating the band's popularity."

Emma: It took so long to record! Most time was spent on 'Sweetness And Light' and a lot of that was us playing it endlessly in a rehearsal room with Tim sitting in the corner nodding along, deep in thought. It was a good learning curve, but very time-consuming, and as there were so many different mixes as we went along that we could barely tell any difference between them.

Miki: Tim really focused on Chris's performance, saying, do it again, do it again. Poor Chris got quite upset, but he did eventually realise that the discipline had a remarkable effect. Tim's sound was very different to Robin's, more nebulous, which may have meant the record suffered in comparison.

GALA (1990)

As an introduction to the US and Japanese markets, 4AD conjoined Scar, Mad Love, 'Sweetness And Light', 'Hey Hey Helen' and a second version of 'Scarlet' that Robin Guthrie had produced.

Emma: The problem we encountered down the line was, where most bands use their first songs on their first album, people said to us, Where's your first album, then?

Miki: Tim Carr, from Warner Brothers, had come over to see us play and he was keen to license us for America. Other labels were interested, so we went to LA for meetings. It was very corporate and full of nodding execs going, "We love you guys," but none of them seemed to, "get," the band and we were suspicious of their motives.

Emma: I remember a meeting at Columbia. While they were schmoozing us with all the amazing things they were going to do for us, one of their people was sitting next to me taking notes. I caught a glimpse of his notepad and he'd written: "We already have Ultra Vivid Scene, do we need this band as well?"

Miki: In the end, we went with Tim and Reprise (a famous subsidiary of Warners), mainly because we liked him. He was passionate about Lush - about music in general - and the label had a good track record with bands. Gala came as a result of that deal, and we did a short US tour to support it.

Emma: We were so happy with Mad Love that we decided to do the album with Robin. But we were still very inexperienced and we thought it would be good to try something else first, to not get entrenched in one direction. Working with Tim [Friese-Green, Talk Talk producer] brought a new perspective.

Miki: It got tiresome having to explain over and over that Gala wasn't a 'proper' album. And I don't think Ivo was happy having the three different records just shoved onto one disc. Scar, Mad Love and Sweetness And Light each had its own concept and artwork and sound, and lumping them together for convenience was not very 4AD at all.

First came the Black Spring EP, four tracks that included 'Nothing Natural' and 'Monochrome' that were included on Lush's official debut album, produced by Robin Guthrie. 'Nothing Natural' and future single 'For Love' sat alongside an elated 'Superblast!' and the wistful Sixties strain of 'Untogether' and the serene madrigal of 'Monochrome'. At 48 minutes, Spooky was at least two tracks too long, and felt a little repetitious in parts, and sections, like the intro to 'Stray' sounded more Cocteaus than Lush. But Guthrie had clearly boosted Lush's confidence while the space rock coda on 'Laura' showed his sonic trickery could be exemplary, and the album it topped the UK indie chart and the national charts' top ten – a gratifying sign of acceptance.

Miki: There was a fair bit of drama and disruption with the recording, which wasn't our fault! But Robin really brought out the best in a lot of the songs. He's said since that our ability often didn't match our ambitions, and I agree with that. We still lacked confidence and assertiveness, but we had raised our game. Press-wise, when Spooky was released, we ended up having the Cocteaus comparison thrown at us. I thought, How can you even mistake my voice for Liz's? And the songs are nothing like Cocteau Twins! But the naysayers were out.

Emma: Some songs suffered, like 'Covert', which is buried in that Guthrie sound, but the album as a whole has this bubblegum pop feel that I really like. And I have to say, Spooky is probably my favourite Lush album. Plus, it went top ten, and we had our first top Forty single with 'For Love'.

Steve: The early recordings were great fun, and getting into a real studio was a massive thrill. My favourite time was recording Scar and it's still my personal favourite, I think it represents our early sound best. I thought Mad Love and 'Sweetness And Light' turned out really well too, but Spooky is more like Robin Guthrie's idea of what we should sound like than ours. It was too digital-sounding for me.

Miki: Steve left after our 'secret' support appearance with Ride at ULU in London, in December 1991. To be honest, when Lush started, we needed a bassist and I asked Steve because he was a nice bloke, not because he was an amazing bass player! His taste in music was quite different to ours and I don't think he even liked any 4AD bands. Once he'd had the experience of a headline tour and making a record, he was done.

Steve: I'd had a brilliant time in the band but I wasn't keen to get on the tour-record-tour bandwagon which I could see looming, so I got out while I was still enjoying it. I missed Miki, Chris and Emma, but I spent my first year out of Lush travelling round the world with my girlfriend and it was the best thing I ever did so I didn't regret leaving.

Miki: Phil was recommended to us by a mutual friend, so we met up for a drink. As with Steve, finding a new member for Lush was primarily about liking the person. And we knew Phil had a strong background playing with other bands.

Phil King (bass): I had been in The Beautiful Losers, and then The Servants, we supported all the Creation bands, and then I joined Felt. I was also in Biff Bang Pow, and had a solo single ['Love Resistance') under the name Apple Boutique. I'd met Emma, and I'd seen Lush play, I remember lots of giggling in between songs! They were like a late Seventies post-punk band, quite angular and interesting. Emma's chords had quite unusual formations, with melodic vocal harmonies over the top, they immediately sound like Lush. I didn't even have an audition. I learned all the bass parts from the record and got dropped in the deep end - 120 shows (in 1992), which included Lollapalooza.

Miki: We were stunned to be considered for Lollapalooza, and we had a whale of a time. It was like having front seats at the circus. The places were packed, and we got loads better live.

Choosing a producer to replace Guthrie for a new album proved difficult, but after much deliberation, Mike Hedges got the job. The recording of Split was great, though this time, the mixing caused ructions, but eventually Lush made this writer's (and Ivo's) favourite Lush album. There was new-found intensity to the sound and lyrics - clear evidence of how far they'd come. But with their singles yet to break the national Top 30 – 4AD were not – yet - in the chart-chasing game – their new manager Howard Gough suggested preceding Split with two new singles on the same day, as if to say, We don't stand a chance, let's make a musical statement instead. At least the band's two distinct halves equally shone, from Miki's buzzing 'Hypocrite' to Emma's lengthy, languid 'Desire Lines'.

Emma: Howard had gone from hating us to becoming our manager after we'd released Mad Love. I think he liked us as people, but maybe he was just unhappy [at 4AD], or he was bored of plugging, or he could see an opportunity. Credit where it's due, it was Howard's persistence that got us Lollapalooza, but it got him thinking that we were some kind of rock contenders. There were all these female-fronted bands - The Cranberries and The Sundays, even Belly - that were suddenly selling a million, and there was a pressure on us to do the same. When people get a sniff of success in America, they just see dollar signs, and that definitely had an effect on Howard.

Miki: Warners loved working with Howard, maybe because he had a more corporate mentality and was into the business of 'shifting units'. Of course, that's important. Of course, we wanted to be successful, but the emphasis changed. Right from the start, it felt like Howard was pushing us to make a record to impress Reprise, rather than 4AD.

Emma: Howard was coming up with all these big American producers, like John Paul Jones and Rick Rubin. It was getting out of hand, and none of us wanted to record an album in America. I'd had a chat with Bob Mould about possible recordings, but he had his own definitive sound and, after Robin, we felt we needed to make an album that didn't have a producers stamp all over it, but sounded like Lush.

Miki: We loved Sulk [Associates], A Kiss in the Dreamhouse [Siouxsie And the Banshees) and Seventeen Seconds [The Cure], which Mike had all produced, and we thought he might get our kind of music.

Phil: We recorded at Rockfield in Wales and then mixed at Mike's house in France, but it sounded as flat as a pancake, no dynamics at all.

Miki: We weren't particularly keen to record in a residential studio - we don't 'jam' and grow the songs in that way, so it didn't really add anything. But again, I think Howard was pushing the idea, probably because he thought there was something more 'legendary' about the concept. Mike did a great job with the recording, but he insisted on mixing at his own studio in France, which was in the middle of nowhere. It was January, so it was bloody freezing, and we'd already been away from home at Rockfield for eight weeks. We were isolated and homesick - it was completely the wrong environment.

Emma: I think Mike just lost interest in the end. The mixes started going back to Ivo, who said they sounded like they were coming out of a transistor radio.

Miki: In our heart of hearts, we knew it sounded awful, so we remixed it. Ivo suggested that we have the entire album remixed by Alan Moulder, who had already worked with My Bloody Valentine and Ride. We were really demoralised by then, but Alan was brilliant. But Howard still had his eyes on America, so he railroaded us into doing a couple of mixes with [R.E.M. producer] Scott Litt. I think he just wanted his name to be associated with us. That was a complete waste of time and money. But, thanks to Alan, we were really happy with Split in the end.

Emma: We didn't get totally slagged off in the UK press, but the album was dismissed and largely ignored. Britpop was on the ascendant, and we weren't in step with that.

Miki: Some reviews said the lyrics were too dark; others said we were irrelevant because we only sang about fluffy clouds. How much darker could the lyrics be? There were songs about death in the family, child abuse, abandonment, neglect… The papers wanted to crucify shoegazing, like, "that soft, Southern shite, let's hang this lot out to dry". I still stand by Split, and we shouldn't have listened to comments, but you needed a hard shell to deal with the critics, and we got bruised.

Emma: Split didn't sell as well as Spooky so tour-wise, we didn't hammer it to death. But being on 4AD, it wasn't a massive problem. They just said, It's fine, go away and write more songs. Also, the press stayed pretty positive in the US.

Lush's third studio album, which turned out to be their last. Seven years after the first band show that Ivo had seen, they didn't need knocking into shape, and 4AD agreed to let their live sound engineer Pete Bartlett produce the record. Without the drama that had marred the recording of Spooky and Split, Bartlett got the desired results, with much less reliance on effects, to match the three-minute charge of the new tracks. Miki had written pop songs before, but nothing like the dynamic zip of 'Ladykillers' with its sharp putdown of misplaced machismo that you'd have expected more from The Baby Machines. Anderson's response was the ironic submission of 'Single Girl', brilliantly bittersweet with a marked Sixties lilt. But with the release of both tracks as singles, across a multitude of formats, the band needed a total of 14 B-sides. More were needed for a third single '500 (Shake, Baby Shake)' – and the pressure started to show...Especially when the band finally has success in the singles chart.

Emma: Lovelife was very easy to make. Pete knew us better than anyone, and we were happy to be working in London again, rather than trapped in a residential studio in the middle of nowhere.

Phil: Alan Moulder had saved the day with Split, and it's my favourite Lush record, quite dark and brooding, though it starts with 'Hypocrite' which sounded poppier, as well as 'Lit Up', and 'God's Gift' (from the Black Spring EP]. Those songs were reflected more on Lovelife.

Miki: The response to Split had knocked my confidence as a songwriter. And the lyrics, which were so personal and raw, had been belittled. I remember one reviewer said something like, 'Everybody knows Miki was abused as a child. This isn't news'. I couldn't face exposing myself like that again, so with Lovelife, the lyrics are less inward looking and more confrontational. And I threw everything at 'Ladykillers' – handclaps, simpler harmonies, sudden stops - to prove I could write a catchy song.

Emma: There was some accusation that we'd deliberately set out to make a Britpop record. No, we just wrote what came out. I was listening to Supergrass and Elastica at the time, so that may have had an influence. There was an element of, everyone's having a bloody hit, let's try and have a go, but it wasn't that calculated, they were just three-minute punchy songs. And it worked.

Miki: Chris [Acland] had said he'd like to sing on a track, but when I played 'Ciao!' to him, he said, "No way I can sing that!" We were mates with Pulp, so we asked Jarvis. He was great – he did it in one or two takes and made up the talking bit in the middle section. Of course, most of the UK press then accused us of jumping on the bandwagon, like, this is the Britpop album, they're trying to play catch up. But I can see a natural development from 'Hypocrite' to 'Ladykillers' and 'Lit Up' to 'I've Been Here Before'. It was us saying, We are confident, we don't have to cower. We felt brasher, more upbeat. The mood was chipper again.

Lush's chipper mood was soon to turn un-chipper when the band began to have management problems, which had the unfortunate effect of turning bandmates against each other.

Emma: Howard got totally sucked into running his record label, Laurel, and he lost interest in us completely. 4AD didn't want us to work with him anyway. So we'd got on with making Lovelife, and met other managers.

Miki: Warners suggested an American and Emma rightly said we didn't want someone always pulling us over there. The focus on America was making Emma turn the other way, saying it wasn't why she'd formed Lush, that Europe was more our sensibility. We chose The Boo Radleys' manager Peter Felstead, he was a bit pedestrian, but also a relief after Howard's craziness.

Emma:Lovelife had come out and we did well with 'Single Girl', we got on Top Of The Pops, and then again with 'Ladykillers'. America was rearing its head again, but we were doing well in the UK! We did a UK tour but had just eight days break before going to America to tour with [fellow 4AD bands] Mojave 3 and Scheer for the Shaving The Pavement tour. But the atmosphere was more hanging out, getting drunk and passing out, and less about breaking America.

Miki: We came home looking forward to a less gruelling summer of weekend festival dates in the UK and Europe . But yet again, our management got dazzled by the American dream. We were mentally and physically exhausted at this point, and Emma and I - who had always managed to solve our disagreements in the past - were not seeing eye to eye. A bit of time apart would have done wonders, but pressure was put on us to immediately go back to the US, and while Emma was violently against it, the rest of us caved. Peter was fixated on success in the US and saw Emma as the 'problem' and the rest of us as vacillators who could be won round. Never mind what that did to the internal relationships in the band.

Emma : Our last US tour supporting The Gin Blossoms was a complete mistake. Their audience hated us, and our fans couldn't see the point of coming to see us again after just a couple of months. And we missed out on touring Europe. Morale was rock bottom. I told management how unhappy we all were and they said, "Stop moaning, you're only there to keep them Warners interested or they'll move on to the next thing."

Miki: We went back to America for a radio festival tour, the KROQ Weenie Roast. That's fine because it's a big deal, but we found ourselves in Philadelphia, with only a handful of people in the audience, when we could be playing to big crowds at European festivals. Or in Britain!

Phil: The management was trying to break us to a new audience, but this audience was holding a big container of popcorn and coke. One Saturday night in Toledo, because of the licensing laws, there was a hockey net down the centre of the hall, with one side under 21 and the other over 21. I sat on this park bench beforehand, this homeless guy was on the other bench, and I thought, you know what? I'd quite like a normal day job.

Emma: In Connecticut, Miki got repeatedly soaked by bottles of water chucked by the crowd. She couldn't go near the microphone. This massive boot came towards me and I ducked and put my guitar down and walked off. What was the point? It wasn't helping sell records. The radio station called us pussies… That was the turning point for me. I decided I'd get through the tour and then leave.

Miki: We got back off tour, and she called a meeting with me and Phil – Chris was already back home in The Lakes. She said she was done with Lush, but that we could carry on without her, no problem. She wasn't interested any more in chasing success and just wanted to make the music she wanted to make. I said, OK, the most important thing is to stay together, so let's get rid of management, we'll do it your way. But let's at least give it another chance. It was tentatively positive.

Emma: Chris was depressed and exhausted and had admitted he felt unable to tour again, but he felt he was letting us down if he didn't do the European dates. Together, we came up with a possible plan, to start with another drummer and maybe he could join us a as soon as he felt ready. He was quite down, but he could go home to his parents, which would help. He was so such a lovely funny guy. There was not an inkling of what was about to happen.

Miki: Chris was a very up and sociable person, but anytime he felt low, he was very unforgiving with himself. He hated the thought of burdening his friends with his problems, of imposing a bad time on anyone. That's when he would return home, see his family, clear his head and recharge his batteries and things would be fine again. I phoned after the weekend, and his mum thought he'd gone out. Chris was dead by then. He hanged himself from a tree in the garden. It was such an unspeakable, crushing waste.

Phil: Chris was literally the last person in the world who'd do something like that. I remember talking to Mark Eitzel in a bar, I was feeling pretty down, and Chris was like the party animal, so when Mark heard that Chris had died, he thought it was me. I was first to find out, I heard he wasn't well, so I called to have a chat. We all went to ground. I still can't really listen to Lovelife, it's just overshadowed by Chris.

Miki: For me, Chris was the glue that held things together, the core of the band. It was all over.

Topolino / Chorus / Origami

Five months after Lovelife was released, 4AD compiled a number of recent B-sides for the album Topolino, for the Japanese market. A year later, another more representative version was released in Canada. It's the latter that has been used for Chorus, boosted by two tracks ('Piledriver' and 'Plums And Oranges') from the Japanese version. All five CDs in the box set have expanded track listings, while the vinyl box set’s additional exclusive download adds another ten of Emma and Miki’s home demos, so here's a guide to Lush's alternative recordings…

The B-sides

Emma : Of the B-sides that I wrote, my favourites are 'God's Gift' - musically, I was influenced by Big Star at the time - and "Carmen". Miki wrote the lyrics to both. Also 'Shut Up', which I had a deadline of literally the next day for, to write yet another B-side for the endless formats we were releasing in 1996. I was in bed, tired, thinking, I am never going to do this, and suddenly the melody came to me. I really like the result. Of Miki's, 'Ex' is a great song and also 'Dear Me', which was written before Lovelife was recorded, so I'm not sure why it wasn't recorded in the album sessions.

Miki: We had to write a ton of extra songs and we didn't just want sixteen different versions of the same Lovelife tracks, so there wasn't much time to develop them from the demo stage. I would have liked 'Half and Half' to have a bit more to it, but maybe it's just as well it didn't as it already caused a huge row between me and an ex-boyfriend!

Phil: I wrote two B sides around the time of Lovelife. 'Cul De Sac' was a bit jazzy and 'Matador' was bit Morricone, a bit like Marden Hill. Chris wrote a couple too, 'Piledriver' and 'Sweetie'.

Miki: I remember playing the recorder part for 'Tinkerbell' in the demo studio and I looked up from the vocal booth, behind a glass screen, and Pete Bartlett had vanished from the mixing desk. He was actually on the floor, doubled up and weeping with laughter, because the whole concept of a recorder solo was so ludicrous.

The radio sessions:

Emma: John Peel wasn't that keen at the start, I think he thought we were hyped. In the end, at a London gig, I had a copy of Mad Love and Howard said to give it to him in person, so I did, and we got this one session. When he saw we'd done 'Hey Hey Helen', he got very chipper, maybe he'd thought we were this po-faced 4AD band. He grew fonder of us after that.

The cover versions:

Emma: Of the cover versions that were B-sides, I am fond of 'Fallin' In Love' which was written by Denis Wilson of The Beach Boys. We used the American Spring version as the template, though, and not Denis' version. Robin Guthrie used one of his old beatboxes set to 'bossanova' as the rhythm track and it works really well. I also love 'I'd Like To Walk Around in Your Mind' by Vashti Bunyan. When we covered it, we didn't actually know what or who it was because Phil just had this white label single of it, so unfortunately on the B-side to one of the '500 (Shake Baby Shake)' CDs, it's just credited to 'Unknown'. I think the problem was solved eventually and Vashti did get some money!

Phil: The Vashti song came from an acetate that I'd been given. She told me it was the first time she'd ever received royalties from one of her songs! [The Magnetic Fields'] 'I Have The Moon' and [The Gist's] 'Love at First Sight' were great, they were such fun. I'm not saying the albums weren't but there was pressure there, especially from management.

Miki: We'd had toyed with [Baccara's] 'Yes Sir I Can Boogie' for the Alvin Lives (In Leeds) Anti-Poll Tax compilation, but we went with [Middle Of The Road's] 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' instead. When we were recording it, Robin was going, "Speed it up for fuck's sake, and enjoy it!" He was right, we were trying too hard, and it suddenly all came together. After that, we approached all our covers from that perspective. I think that's why Colin Newman of Wire really liked our versions of his songs. The Rubinoos' 'I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend' [originally 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend'] was this really bubblegum track I had that Pete Bartlett really liked – it got cited in a court case when Avril Lavigne was accused of ripping off the original track for one of her singles. The Zounds cover was my choice, but Chris was delighted, it got him some kudos back with his punk rock mates who thought Lush were crap!

Emma: 'All this Useless Beauty' was an interesting one as Elvis Costello, whose song it was, asked us to cover it for a B-side for one of his singles. We did it and really liked the version - it's quite Lushy. A few years later, Greil Marcus wrote about it [in the bookStars Don't Stand Still In the Sky. Music and Myth] where he said our version of the song is, "as hard, as resistant, as betrayed as anything in 'Anarchy in the UK'." 'Mannequin' was the second Wire cover we'd done, for a tribute album; the first was 'Outdoor Miner' for the B-side to 'For Love'. Recently Colin Newman said our versions were his favourite covers that anyone had ever done of Wire songs.

The remixes:

Emma: The Kevin Shields remix of 'Sweetness and Light' wasn't done for a Lush B-side, but for the American film Splendor that was released in 1998, so Kevin actually did that remix after Lush had split up. It is called 'The Orange Squash Mix' after an argument Kevin and I had years before where Kevin ended up pouring a bottle of undiluted squash over me while I was lying in bed. The Spooky mix of 'Undertow' was a B-side to 'Hypocrite'. It's probably the best, most inventive remix we ever had done - of course we had to ask Spooky to do a remix for us because we had had an album called Spooky!

Miki: Emma was more into the dance scene than I was. Sometimes I used to think it was a bit lazy doing remixes, and the dance scene could be a bit sneery toward indie, but that was probably more the people who listened to it, rather than the artists themselves! But I liked Spooky's remix of 'Undertow', which we started using as our live intro.

Emma: The 'Undertow' remix has a video with footage that Phil shot on super 8 film on the 1994 tour.

The acoustic session:

Emma: That was done around Lovelife, at the beginning of 1996 with Pete Bartlett, but we can't remember where it was done. l think it's really nice. I prefer the version of 'Olympia' to the album version.

The demos:

Miki: I used to take trouble over my home demos, I think because I was too shy to present a song as just the bare bones. So I’d fiddle with drum machines for hours, while Emma’s demos would just have a click track! Her main interest was the melody, the musical quality of the song. But I also liked the contrast of some demos being stripped down and fragile, so you get the real essence of the song. We weren’t the kind of band that came in with two riffs and a chorus and built the song up. It’s a male thing, I think, that jamming and noodling about. "Half And Half" and "Dear Me" would have been for the record after Lovelife, I think. We’ve "Ladykillers" is pretty much already there as a demo but the demo of "Papasan" sounds completely different, it’s much more shoegaze-y, as the Lovelife version ended up much more stripped back after we tried throwing different things at it that didn’t work. "Untogether" is very different too, which shows Robin [Guthrie’s]'s talent and skill at getting the best from the song – and proves wrong the naysayers who claimed he did nothing more than get out his Cocteaus box of tricks.

Emma: Miki was a lot more professional with her demos, she’d programme the drums while I would just use something like a loop. I like the demos as they’re snapshots of how the songs came to be. For example, "Single Girl" had a different guitar melody to begin with, "Covert" was a band demo around the time of Spooky. We took the end of the "Problem Child" demo and used it for "Nothing Natural", which shows a work in progress. Miki’s home demo of "Half And Half" was on the Volume 16 CD. The "Desire Lines" demo was on [4AD compilation] The13 Year Itch, and neither has appeared anywhere else. "Lit Up" is from the same session as "Desire Lines", and was a Lush fan club flexi.


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Castle Rock Fire Rescue

Castle Rock Fire & Rescue Department (CRFD), covering 66 square miles in Douglas County including the cities and areas of Baldwin Park, Bell Mountain Ranch, Castle Oaks, Castlewood Ranch, Crowfoot Valley, Crystal Valley, Diamond Ridge, Founders Village, Highlands Vista, Keene Ranch, Liberty Village, Metzler Ranch, Plum Creek, Red Hawk, Rock Park, The Meadows, Sapphire Pointe, Silver Heights, Wilcox Square & the Woodlands.

Castle Rock Fire Rescue started out in 1892 and was organized in 1915 as the Castle Rock Volunteer Fire Department until the late 1990’s.

Castle Rock Fire Rescue is dispatched by Douglas Regional 911 Communications Center.

Station 151 – Downtown
Station 152 – Crystal Valley
Station 153 – Founders Village
Station 154 – The Meadows
Station 155 – Crowfoot Valley
Command / Support
Training Center
Official Site

If you want to help us update this department with photos or information, contact us here.


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Tag: funding

A Response to a Socialist

Joshua D. Glawson | United States

Recently, I wrote a short article critiquing Socialism and Communism. In the response section, a person responded with the following statements (errors are theirs):

“This has a few errors. Capitalism is a hypocritical ideology in its core, if everything is given to the free market, so not everyone can get an education this destroys the argument of “Eh, if you weren’t good in school, you wont be good in the future”. Your point comes about the “more wealth the rich have the better” is wrong, and misleading. There needs to be government interference for this to happen with the social programs that you hate distributing the wealth. Other wise the rich will hoard money with no restrictions and pay less to their employees since there is no interest in supporting the workers. Infact the word you support has been tried out before, in the 1800s, with massive industrial bosses monopolising industry, using child labor and abusing their power, this stems from the fact that the government didnt wish to interefere into the free market. A completely free market will unavoidably colapse into either a monoply or something else. You will also probably refuse to admit that some of the most succesful countries are once with high taxes and societies with not much economic freedom, yet the majority lives well. Compare the average life of a city dweller in the US and Norway, one has to constantly think about his medical insurance bills and if he will have enough capital to pay for his rent, while the other has a more bright life.”

I decided to take the liberty- pun intended- to respond to the typical Socialist reply, and I believe it may help you in your future debates with Statists, Socialists, and Communists. My reply is as follows:

First, understanding what Capitalism is what it is not is imperative for discussion. Capitalism, as I am describing it, is the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services, i.e. Laissez Faire Capitalism.

The free market does, in fact, solve the establishment of education and can provide it at a reasonable price, as the competition of the marketplace is what drives up sales and profits. E.g. the oldest schools in the US are still some of the top schools in the world and were started by private and/or religious organizations. There are also several developing organizations providing free private education in the US: Free Schools | PrivateSchoolReview.com , Private School May Be Free If You Make Less Than $75,000 | PrivateSchoolReview.com , 8 Colleges Where Students Attend For Free, etc.

Additionally, when a government is coercing people to attend school, it forces education to lose its ‘value.’ A high school diploma means little-to-nothing anymore in the US because so many people have them. This has become such an issue that most employers do not actually check if someone actually has a high school diploma when they check yes in the degree box. Another important principle is that if something “good” is being forced on people, or people are being coerced to do, the good that is done is negated because something done well requires free and voluntary action, not coercion.

Laissez Faire Capitalism has NOT been tried in the US, and I am sad to say that it has not been fully implemented in any country-wide economy. What has been tried is near-Capitalism, where there are mixed economies and approaches to attempt more market freedom. What we do know is that the closer we are allowed to move towards Capitalism, the better off the majority of people are, and in the long run everyone is better off.

Monopolies come in four main categories, not just one. There are geographic monopolies, where simply due to their location almost everyone purchases from the supplier; technological monopolies are where an organization excels in technological advancements when compared to their competitors, and this gives them the  edge for monopolizing the marketplace; natural monopolies are completely free and voluntary, there just are not any direct competitors yet in the market; lastly, government monopolies are coercive powers that only exist because of government influences and protection by government with the threat of fines, prison, garnishments, removal of property, and up to death for those that dare to compete against the coercive monopoly assisted by government. This is important to distinguish, because Laissez Faire Capitalism, in its very philosophy, does not allow coercion as that is the antithesis of Justice. Furthermore, government, itself, is a coercive monopoly as it has monopolized the initiation of force and coercion.

Socialism and Communism are contradictory to Justice as they pontificate that free and voluntary exchanges between people cannot be conducted, i.e. via Laissez Faire Capitalism, while a select few of the political elite who run the Marxist government institution determines who the winners and losers are through arbitrary means. These same people will say in one sentence that [coercive] monopolies are bad, and then turn around and say government should control the marketplace. That is, by its definition, a coercive monopoly.

In response to your pointing out of child labor in the US, please note that it is a “privilege” for children to not work hard labor, not a moral stance. The nature of mankind, when born in nature, is without clothing, with little food primarily from one’s mother (hopefully), with no shelter except that of the voluntary guardian (hopefully), no weapons, inability to walk or talk, etc. We are born helpless, and our state at birth is that of extreme poverty. The US, and other European countries, moved towards not having children in the labor force for multiple reasons. One, because it was not financially necessary for everyone to have their children working because they had better-paying jobs that enabled them, primarily men, to provide for their families’ needs and some desires. Two, many of the labor laws against child labor were directed towards Blacks and other low socioeconomic minorities within the US to prevent them from gaining political and financial leverage in the US. Three, social pressure from those in society were disappointed in seeing that the significant primary provider of child labor was not the private marketplace, but in fact, government sending orphans to work in factories in order to fund their housing, staff pay, food, clothing, etc. especially for the orphans themselves. Today, there are still a number of countries that have child laborers, but they are mostly in developing countries, which points back to my original premise of the “privilege” of not needing child laborers.

As for your erroneous comparison of the US to Norway, let’s take a look at a few facts first. I will begin by stating it is very difficult and fallacious to compare these two countries. Also, there are, of course, major limitations in Norway that come along with having a major Welfare State: The Nordic Glass Ceiling . Nevertheless, Norway has an almost similar economic freedom as the US. Norway’s financial success comes mostly from the private market sells of oil. Norway’s population consists of a homogeneous society with similar ideas, views, and philosophy; whereas the US is far more diverse, and the US has a higher per capita GDP. The enjoyment of life in the US is far greater, overall, than in Norway. Additionally, Norway does not have the utopian system that you seem to be alluding to. The heterogeneous character of the US is what helps it drive forward in the world, providing a superior and diverse competitive market, especially when compared to Norway. This also prevents a true cross-comparison of the two countries, as they are not even similar- it is a false equivalence logical fallacy.

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Government Could Be Funded Without Taxation

By Jack Parkos | United States

The libertarian ideology is made up of various factions and ideologies, a major one being Minarchy. Minarchists advocate for a small state whose sole purpose is to protect natural rights, including our right to life, liberty, and property. This state would only provide basic functions of government: courts, police, military to protect from crimes such as theft, breach of contract, or aggression.

A common issue brought up with a Minarchist state is of how it should be funded. As libertarians, we are opposed to income tax, capital gains tax, property tax etc. But we also believe in a small state to protect rights. So there appears to be a conflict in funding the state and keeping our principles. However, there are many solutions.

In the early days of the United States, the government was funded through lottery revenue.  The first of these lotteries was held during the Colonial area in Boston Massachusetts in 1745. The revenue from the lotteries was used to build bridges, fix roads, and fund other projects. This would be an efficient way to fund a Night-Watchman state.

Just like in Colonial America, a government lottery would be completely voluntary to participate in. People would purchase lottery tickets from the government and put money into a pool. Then, the winner would be drawn and would keep a certain amount of the prize money, and the rest would go towards funding the state. The amount going to the state may vary, but this would be an efficient way to fund. The lotteries would run similarly to raffles at fundraisers. Skeptics of a lottery system may counter that the government would not be able to function with these means of funding. But it must be remembered that this is a nightwatchman state with a small budget, requiring less revenue.

Fundraising, in general, could be a good way to fund the state. Many parents participate in fundraisers for things like kid’s sports teams, and it would make sense  they would do these to fund police or courts. If a service is good enough, people will be willing to pay for it. Perhaps the people or the government could do silent auctions on items and raise money like they do now. These could be run by the people and have the government funded via a donation or the government itself could run an auction.

Another way the government could function is fining people who commit crimes. Of course, a minarchist would never advocate a fine for a victimless crime, but rather for actual crimes; theft, breach of contract, assault etc. Let’s say, for example, someone damages another man’s property and is found guilty in court. In addition to paying for the damages, he may also pay a small fee to cover court costs. Some may scoff at this idea thinking of it as enforced taxation. But it must be remembered that this is the guilty party paying. This person chose to commit a crime that harmed another party knowing the consequences, this being one of them.

This is a system already used. Instead of abolishing fines, we have them only be put in place for actual offenses. So a person would not be fined or even punished for using drugs, but if they broke a contract or harmed someone and is found guilty by a jury, the guilty party would have to cover court costs. This system would be a great way of keeping courts running, ensuring justice, and protecting rights.

The minimal state will require funding, but this funding does not have to be taken from your income. There are plenty of ways to fund a basic government that do not require such a system. In the past civilizations have had systems similar to these. It worked well to fund a small, more localized government in early America. If we can shrink the government and reduce budgets, there is no reason it would not work today.

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12 Things to Do After You’ve Written a Blog Post

shaking hands and business team

You’ve just finished writing a great new blog post. You’re excited that you’ve shared your ideas and expertise with the world. But what should you do next?

As we work with companies to develop a regular content marketing and social engagement routine, blogging is always key. A strong corporate blog can pay big dividends in the form of increased customer engagement and search engine rankings. But what many companies forget is the “marketing” part of content marketing.

UPDATE: Looking for more ideas? Check out NEW Things to Do After You’ve Published a Blog Post.

Even Great Content Can Go Unnoticed

We would like to think after hitting “publish” on a new post that the seas will part, angels will sing and Moses will lead customers straight into our shopping carts.  But that’s obviously not going to happen.

In reality, the only people who know your post is there are you and your RSS subscribers. After a while, a search engine spider will come along and your post will begin jockeying for search-engine position among the thousands of other web pages related to that same topic. Sure, your post is probably groundbreaking, but Google might not figure that out for months.

Rather than rely solely on search engines and a handful of subscribers to pump up your organic volume, content publishers need to establish syndication connections and plan for some targeted promotion to ensure that each piece of content gets noticed by key influencers and your ideal customers.

Blog Post Promotional Tools: Your 12-Step Checklist

1. SEO / Keyword integration

Your content may be good as is, but a little keyword research and integration can have a big impact on search engine rankings and traffic. Scan through your content and pick out the main topics covered in your post. Plug those terms/phrases into Google Adwords’ free keyword suggestion tool. Take note of the most popular search terms and variations in phrasing and wording. Go back to your content and try to beef up your post title, content, meta description and tags with those popular terms/phrases.

2. Syndication

One of the most powerful and misunderstood mechanisms of a blog is its RSS feed. This reallysimple syndication method allows you to automatically feed your blog’s content to many different places, including many social networking sites.

Let me say that another way. When your RSS feed URL is plugged into your social networking sites or profiles, hitting “publish” on your new blog post initiates an automatic “push” of that content to those sites. This can significantly expand your reach and save you hours of time versus posting content manually.

Also note that this step is more of a one-time setup. Once you have established RSS connections on your social sites, you shouldn’t have to do it again. To get started, locate your blog’s RSS URL and plug that into the following:

Facebook Business Page – In your applications area, search for the “Social RSS” application and get it set up to publish your content to your Facebook page wall automatically.

LinkedIn Personal Profiles – Look for “Blog Link” or “WordPress” in the applications section on your profile page and set it up to auto-post your content to your LinkedIn profile. Don’t forget to tell all of your employees to do this too. If you have a lot of employees, the increase in your potential reach could be gigantic.

Plaxo – Although not as popular, Plaxo is another great business networking site that makes it really easy to “add a feed” and plug in your blog content automatically.

Ning Community Sites – If any of your fishing holes are built on the Ning platform, you can plug in your feed using the “Add RSS” widget included on your profile page.

Other Social Networking Sites – There are many other social sites that allow you to plug in your blog’s RSS feed. Scour your sites for this option.

3. Shorten your post’s URL

This step used to only apply to posting links on Twitter, but with the addition of analytics (click-through tracking) on many of the URL shortening services, posting a shortened URL on any of your social sites is a smart strategy.

Here’s how it works:

  • Copy your new blog post’s URL, paste it in a URL shortener that offers analytics (Bit.ly, Ow.ly, Cli.gs).
  • Use the shortened URL in any status update, link posting or teaser you plan on executing.
  • Check your URL shortener account for click stats, geographic and referring site data after your link has been up a while.

4. Status updates

While this one may seem pretty obvious, it’s not that simple. Sure, you could just type your blog post’s headline into all of your social site’s status boxes, include your shortened link and call it good. But this might not get you the most clicks.

Realize that each social site is a bit different (environment, social etiquette, audience demographics / psychographics). Tailoring your status/headline for each community could make a big difference.

You also need to remember that when you post your new content via a status update, only a small percentage of your friends/followers will actually be online at that moment to see it. To maximize the likelihood of your followers seeing and reading your new post, you may need to send multiple updates on different days and at different times. You’ll also want to use different headlines each time since you may get banned from Twitter for sending the same post multiple times.

If your content covers multiple topics, create a different status update for each topic and then spread those out over the course of a few days. Don’t forget to ask your followers to share or retweet the link.

Productivity Tip: There are many tools out there that allow you to set up and schedule your updates to go out anytime in the future (Hootsuite, Twuffer, Later Bro). I’ll often schedule four to five updates with different headline variations all at once to post throughout the week.

5. Content teasers on other sites

Most social networking sites and online forums allow content promotion as long as it’s valuable, relevant to the community, and not blatant self promotion. A few examples:

  • LinkedIn group forums
  • LinkedIn Answers
  • Facebook groups
  • Ning community group forums
  • Niche industry forums.

A great strategy is to write a compelling headline or question as your forum post title, then include some thoughtful commentary followed by your shortened URL. Lastly, ask for readers to provide feedback on the forum to continue the discussion.

6. Social bookmarking

While this technique doesn’t have the horsepower it used to, posting your content to popular social bookmarking sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.) can still be a great source of traffic, backlinks and overall exposure. Think of social bookmarking as peer-reviewed content. If others bookmark/digg your content, the more exposure you get and the more opportunity you have for others to link to you or reference your content on their sites.

7. Seek out and comment on other blogs with similar topics

Providing helpful, valuable comments on other blogs can be a great way to generate traffic, develop relationships, build a following and add backlinks. If you’ve just finished a blog post on a topic, now is the perfect time to do a quick search to find other blog posts on the same topic. Are the other posts lacking something that you covered in your post? Add your viewpoint in a genuine, non-self-promotional way. If the comment form asks for your website URL, paste in your blog URL.

8. Seek and assist on Twitter

Genuine assistance is one of the best ways to build a community of loyal Twitter followers. Let me use this post as an example. When it’s posted and I’ve created a shortened URL, I might jump on Twitter and do a search for a phrase like, “need help promoting my blog.” Scanning the resulting tweets will probably offer me several opportunities to help people who are reaching out for help. I reply to them with some genuine advice and the shortened URL. The result is often a new Twitter follower, a new subscriber to my blog and a blog comment. Then I get all warm and fuzzy inside…in an opportunistic kind of way.

9. Email signature

Another powerful little technique is to add your latest blog post headline to your email signature. Many email platforms now have nifty little apps (Wisestamp for Gmail) that will pull your latest blog post headline into your email signature automatically. Do it manually if you have to. You never know when a prospect, vendor or client might read a post that sparks a conversation or creates an opportunity.

10. Share your blog post with target customers

You’ve just created a blog post that you know would be beneficial for certain customers. What are you waiting for? Send them an email with the shortened URL and a note, “thought this could really help your business.” Then check the analytics to see if they clicked on it.

11. Add your blog post to your next e-newsletter

If you have an e-newsletter, you should be incorporating at least some of your blog content. Include a few post headlines/teasers and see which posts get the most clicks. You may just find that you need to do some follow-up blog posts on a topic that received a lot of clicks.

12. Ask other bloggers to mention your post

Building relationships with other bloggers in your space and asking them to blog about or link to your post can be a great way to expand your reach. Reciprocating promotional efforts can have a big payoff in the form of high-quality backlinks and big jumps in search engine rankings, blog traffic and subscribers.

The First Time is the Hardest

As with most tasks in life, the first time through this list might be tough and time-consuming. Setting up accounts and getting to know the interface and functions of the various social sites may make your brain hurt. But it will get easier. I usually dedicate an hour to blog post promotion after each launch. Also note that most of these tasks can easily be outsourced.

The key is to make this promotional effort part of your process. It’s unfortunate when I see companies put so much time and effort into creating a solid content strategy, developing their editorial process and consistently publishing great stuff, but then it just sits there. Said another way, they have awesome bait but they’ve forgotten to go fishing.

Immediate, Trackable Results

If you’re using the shortened URL and have analytics installed on your website/blog, you should see your hard work pay off almost immediately. I typically see large spikes in traffic and conversions on the days I’m promoting a new post. Multiply this by a blog post per day and that activity spike is no longer a spike. It’s now a constant. Moreover, the results should be significant increases in activity, traffic, rankings, reach, opportunities and overall sales.

About the author

R Knight

CEO of 7Day Marketing Inc., a digital marketing company focused on helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs, organizations and businesses build powerful sales funnels, increase visibility and convert prospects into profitable clients.

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