This is our third week back in action, and things seem to be going well.  We’ve already learnt more about Dylan’s acting career, magicians and how to pick up satellite TV without a satellite – so I think now it’s time to leak out some more information about our upcoming album.

It’s been about three and a half years since Dylan and I released the first Brothers Streep album, “It Couldn’t Have Been Miss Scarlett, She Was With Us At The Time” – which if you haven’t heard yet, be sure to make your way to our music section, because most of those tracks are available to download for free.  Needless to say, the album was released to rave reviews:

“Schucks this stuff is funny, and I know funny.” Leon Schuster
“This redefines everything I have ever thought I knew about music, and pirates.” Bob Dylan
“I can now die happy knowing that people will finally appreciate my movie Sharkman for the masterpiece it is.” Boaz Davidson (dir. Sharkman / Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy)
“I used to believe Bubble Toes was the stupidest song ever, until I heard Mr Floppy – thank you Brothers - you saved my career.” Jack Johnson
“We were genuinely having trouble figuring out who killed Mr Black, and being able to legitimately cross Miss Scarlett off the list, was a huge help.” Anonymous Detective

Okay, so maybe I made up some... most... perhaps all... of those quotes, but either way, we released the album, and as far as we know people liked it.  (There was perhaps one person who didn’t like it, because our friend Gareth Alison spotted it in a Cash Crusaders.  Of course, I see Hanson albums in Cash Crusaders all the time, so, um... moving on...)

Since Scarlett, we've written new songs, become a full band, written some more new songs, and Dylan even briefly grew a beard, although that little piece of information isn't entirely relevant to this sentence.  Either way, we thought it's about time to record a new album, and to help us with this goal is Matt Alison.

Matt Alison has been a fan of our work for a while now, and although he is a SAMA award nominated artist and acclaimed engineer and producer, he didn't seem too put off by us when our first meeting with him consisted of us doing Wookiee impressions for about 30 minutes.

As this will be our first professionally recorded album, we'll be including a balance of old and new songs - giving some of the old songs a better chance than they had when they were simply home recorded.  We haven't settled on the final track list yet, but you can expect old favourites such as Anna Paquin and My Pirate Friends and Me, and newer songs like Bruce Willis Is Dead! and Shopping Anthem.  (I've linked to older recordings of these songs in case you're interested!)

We're all quite excited about the recording process - instead of recording in a normal studio, we're looking at going away from Friday 30th April till Wednesday 5th May, and recording the album in a holiday house or farm or... well, this is where you can actually help us...

We're looking for a venue which can house 6 people, and has at least one big room (preferably with a high ceiling and wooden floors).  If you have any suggestions, or can help in anyway, please contact us.

Whilst on the topic of getting your help, we've got many exciting Streep projects for this year, but they all require quite a bit of money and will probably only be possible if we get interested investors or sponsors.  If you think you could help in anyway - even if it's merely suggesting a potential investor or sponsor - please contact us.

Okay, diary time again - here are some dates you can look forward to...

29th Jan (this Friday), we'll be journeying to the mystical land of Fish Hoek to play at the newly established  Bottomup Youth Cafe hosted by the Fish Hoek Full Gospel Church.  Moustreepie suggests coming barefoot to help you fit in.  I suggest wearing a jacket made out of bokkoms.

5th Feb (next Friday), the duo is off to play in Brackenfell at a place called The Zone.  It's R30 to get in and starts at 8pm.

7th Feb (Sunday), it's our Felicia Mabuza Suttle Tribute Show at the V&A Waterfront Amphitheatre.  We should start at 5pm, and the show will be free.

19th Feb (Friday), it has been a while, but we'll be heading to Kalk Bay to play a show at Octopus Gardens with our good friends Forgottensuperhero.

13th Feb (Saturday), it's off to Rygersdal for the Barleycorn Music Festival - be sure to click here for more information.  It starts at 2pm, and we'll be playing round 6:35pm.

10th March 2010 (Wednesday), this is not actually a gig, but rather the date that we think the episode of The Graham Norton Show we're in will be airing on BBC Entertainment here in South Africa.

23rd March (Tuesday), it's a Northern Suburbs mission  to play a duo show at Die Boer in Durbanville with K, Ray and the Bird.  This show will also be free, and will start round 8pm.

And that's it for this week's newsletter.  Later on the site this week we'll be uploading our performance on KFM, so be sure to look out for that.  For now though, have a great end of January!

[Oh and in case you're wondering who that guy is sliding down the matress on the hill, download this.]