When in the West of Ireland, a bit of the old "near/faraway" is always welcome.

If I were to describe a record shop located in a small, sleepy Irish town, that only opens for a couple of hours on Sunday mornings, with two dogs roaming around and free tea and coffee; it might sound like "Brigadoon" rewritten by Nick Hornby. Happily, it's very real. Vintage Vinyl in Rathangan.

Look, it's my first (and almost certainly last) magazine front cover, and it only took 45 years to get. Of course I'm going to have it framed. Thank you Push and Electronic Sound.

€15 to watch the National Symphony Orchestra play Mendelssohn, Massenet, Saint-Saens and R. Vaughan Williams at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. An absolute bargain.

Really enjoyed CV in Brussels last Friday. Everything: set-list, production, sound & the onstage confidence felt like a big leap forward from Manchester last year. Very much looking forward to Dublin in October. Try and see them if you can before the show comes to the end of the road in Sheffield.

Released today. Really happy to see 'Thirst' by ClockDVA back out in the world.

Spotted on the wall of an old, long-closed newsagent in Dun Laoghaire.

Good times. Thank you Arsenal. Photo (and replica trophy) courtesy of Adrian at Marcie's pub in Trim.

Congratulations to Daniel Dylan Wray on the publication of his book on Sheffield music from 1960 to 2020. I'm delighted to have made a small contribution to the story and happier still to receive a glowing endorsement for my blog www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com

Delighted to get my hands on one of these pump clips for the recent brew of "Nag Nag Nag" from Bradfield Brewery. Thank you to Sheffield pal Brent Sharp who brought it over to Ireland this week.

12.05.1979. Arsenal beat Man Utd. 3-2 in the "Five-minute final" at Wembley. Further north, I joined ClockDVA.

08.05.1980. CV / DVA / FG / TC / ULU.

Hello Sunshine. A trip down the time tunnel with Super Furry Animals in Dublin last night.

For anyone going to the polling station today...

I really like it when the postie delivers something that you had completely forgotten that you had ordered. It's like a little Christmas.

In search of the hair of the dog.

Spotted on a recent trip to Sheffield. The old shop front for Revolution Records, high up on the now mostly derelict Castle Market Arcade walkway. Pictured outside the shop in its punk-rock heyday are Paul Weller of The Jam, shop owner Pete Martin and young fan Michael Denton.

26.04.1980. DVA recorded 'White Souls In Black Suits' in an old 'Little Mesters' garret in Sheffield. I'm very happy that 'White Souls' is back out in the world again. This new re-release by Mute Records is the closest that the listener will ever get to being in the room on that day in Spring 1980.

It's taken some time, but my podcast finally reached 25,000 downloads. Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to check out an episode or two. If you don't know what I'm banging on about, follow the link to check it out on Apple, Spotify or YouTube: lnk.bio/rogerquail

Dublin docker.

Meanwhile, in Central Spain. An imposter is spotted in the solemn Easter week procession...

New blog & podcast up. Back to January 1985 and the last night of The Box at The Leadmill in Sheffield. Blog - www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com podcast options - lnk.bio/rogerquail RSS - feeds.buzzsprout.com/289673.rss Box photo by Pete Care. Sheffield 1984.

New blog & podcast episode up! The last gig by Sheffield band The Box at The Leadmill in January 1985. Links: blog - www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com podcast - lnk.bio/rogerquail (I've just switched to Lnk.Bio so please let me know of any gremlins in the links.) Enjoy!

On this day in 1980.

Help needed. Can't stop saying "In the Straits of Hormuz" in the same sultry style of D. Bowie's "On the streets of Brazil".

Here's another one of Mons Railway Station.

"The next ship from platform 9 will call at all stations to Alpha Centauri..." Mons railway station doing a good impression of an interstellar space port.

Spotted in Lille. The lesser-known French tribute act.

The Courtauld Gallery. Come for the Seurat, stay for the staircase.

It's only taken 45 years but I've finally made it to the cover of a magazine. (I took the photo too, which is a bonus.) Myself and fellow X-DVA guitarist David Hammond celebrating in Dublin over the weekend.

Snail, meet Ark. thequietus.com/news/clock-d...

21 years and 2 days since I moved to Ireland. Happy out.

Thank you for sharing @nancypreg.bsky.social

15th December 1979 and members of Sheffield bands Clock DVA, Stunt Kites, I'm So Hollow & Vice Versa gather to have their photo taken by Pete Hill, ahead of the release of "1980: The First 15 Minutes" on VV's Neutron Records label. Remembering Judd and Steve Chapman. Long gone, not forgotten.

December 1967. Sheffield boutique Lift Up Your Skirt And Fly, at the junction of Howard St. and Norfolk Street. (Photo: JR James Archive).

Thank you folks for checking out my latest blog & podcast about Marc Almond's visit to The Leadmill in October 1984. If you haven't dipped in yet, here are the links: Apple - bit.ly/4rtcl0G Spotify - bit.ly/4pdo4yQ YouTube - bit.ly/47KfCQ6 Blog - bit.ly/3Mvj89S

Saturday morning plug for my latest podcast and blog episode. October 1984 and a trip to see Marc Almond launch his solo career at The Leadmill in Sheffield. Links: podcast - pods.to/ex8mxwr blog - www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com YouTube - bit.ly/47KfCQ6

Really enjoyed catching up with Mal & Chris at their Cabaret Voltaire gig in Manchester this week.

New blog & podcast! Marc Almond kicks off his 'Vermin In Ermine' 1984 tour at The Leadmill in Sheffield, which has just been blown to smithereens in the BBC TV film 'Threads'. Interested? Follow the links: podcast - pods.to/ex8mxwr blog - www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com YouTube - bit.ly/47KfCQ6

New blog & podcast up. October 1984 and Sheffield has been destroyed in 'Threads' on the BBC. A trip thru' the fallout to The Leadmill to see Marc Almond offers some light relief. Links: podcast - pods.to/ex8mxwr blog - www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com YouTube - bit.ly/47KfCQ6

Before my time with the band, but nice to share nonetheless. Back to November 1978 and ZigZag magazine heads up north to Sheffield to meet a bunch of weirdos called Clock DVA.

Merano.

Bolzano, Italy. Where it has all gone a bit Hawkwind.

Venice night-time.

Venice at night.

Very happy to see and hear 'Brigade' back out in the world. Recorded at Western Works with Cabaret Voltaire on September 28th, 1979. The day before my 19th birthday. Links to listen here: Apple - apple.co/4gXlQ3m YouTube - bit.ly/4nFEvTV Spotty - bit.ly/4h5CdLm

1952 Fiat 500 Belvedere. Spotted in the NH Lingotto, Turin.

Night people, Cafe Des Arts, Turin.

29.08.1980. DVA / PTI / De Tian at The Leadmill, Sheffield. DVA played 2 sets. The main one being: North Loop, Uncertain, Sensorium, 4 Hours and Piano Pain. An earlier first set was a semi-improvised piece called 'The Clock DVA Theme', also known (briefly) as 'The Psychedelic Angler'.