Timeframes

NOTE:
Apologies for the length of this section, but many people might deem it appropriate.

Before I continue, I should clarify a few things about the night in question, specifically with regard to its timeframe - which may lead some people to doubt its authenticity. With all accounts of "unexplained" occurences, being able to provide the precise date of the event helps assure that the report is taken seriously. Now, I could simply make up a date to strengthen our case and claim that it happened then. Owen might even think "yeah, that was about right" and confirm it. However, I do not want to decieve. I simply don't know the actual date - and I'm happy to risk ridicule in saying so. If I ever wrote it down (and I'd be frankly surprised if I didn't make some sort of note at the time), it lost itself in the move. Further, for me, the date is not the most integral part of the story. That it happened is what I'm primarily concerned with - not when. Those who choose to discard the tale of "The Flincher" on the basis of not knowing the day it happened are entitled to do so. I'm merely conveying something that I experienced, not in any way attempting to present a case watertight enough to be put before a jury. In Monkfish's Flinch, Owen and I sing that "No-one's gonna believe us". As such, I see no point in attempting to justify the tale - it's a "take it or leave it" affair - and one in which only two opinions matter to me: Those of Owen and myself. Although I'm more than willing to listen to the thoughts of others - please feel free to throw your theories at us - it's always interesting to hear what other people think. However, both Owen and myself can only ever know what we experienced. And to this extent, nobody else can ever truly know. So, for those who are still with us, let me explain how I've determined an approximate date.

The month of April 1994 is probably about right, but let me explain my vagueness. During the first week of June 1994, I flew off to Australia where I have somehow remained ever since. Thus, with all the packing up to move and psychological preparation for such a massive upheaval in my life, the order of events around that period have become slightly blurred to me (I never kept a diary in those days). Although hospital visits continued until the last possible moment - my final foray being the day before I left (witnessing the sun rise over the ruins with friends), I can be sure that "The Flincher" happened before May 1994. I know this for a number of reasons. May saw the recording and release of Monkfish's Nuclear War - What's in it for you? E.P. This, a documented fact, is pertinent because our song Flinch appeared on its predecessor Gas Music. Being a song about this incident, it is obviously a useful indicator in determining the timeframe. The next factor then, is to determine the otherwise undocumented release date of Gas Music  - given that even its "press release" was un-dated.

Perhaps the best indicator here is the fact that the second Wire Jesus demo was recorded on the 7th May 1994. I vividly rememberthat whilst driving to a go-karting event with singer Mike Murray and planning planning the Wire Jesus recordings, he commented that he actually liked Gas Music. Given the mixed reactions the album had recieved (it was thought rather avant-garde at the time), this was not the kind of comment I was likely to forget. Mike had been in posession of Gas Music for perhaps a week, having obtained a copy very shortly after its release. Thus, it can be said with some degree of certainty that Gas Music was released about a week before the end of May. Given also that Pwürg's Bad Cheese - The Smell of Royalty was released on the 1st April 1994 (finally freeing Owen and Myself up to begin work on the next project), Gas Music, which was written and recorded in the space of a single day, must have been laid down between 1st and about the 21st of April 1994. Due to the spontanaiety of our recording style - particularly with Gas Music - the "Flincher" experience would have been very fresh in our heads when we made the recording (otherwise, we simply wouldn't have done a song about it - choosing instead a topic more recent and pressing).

When I originally put together the map from a few pages back, I specified that this episode occured in "late April 1994" (it just says "April 1994" now). Having reviewed the available information from the musical sessions that shaped our lives in those days, I have persuaded myself to alter the projected date slightly. It now seems almost certain (unless Owen himself can further enlighten me) that our experience with "The Flincher" took place sometime in the first half of April 1994. Any earlier and it simply would not have influenced Gas Music. Any later and it becomes a practical impossibility. I trust then, that the issue of dating this occurence has now been resolved - perhaps as fully as it ever can be.