Sincere thanks to everyone who has had a listen to or downloaded the “4-14-44” EP. I’ve had a lot of very positive comments about it, and a good many enquiries as to whether it’ll be released on vinyl or become available on iTunes. The answer to the first question is “maybe”. I can imagine at some point a vinyl release of some, if not all, of the tunes, or their inclusion on compilation albums. As to an iTunes release, the answer is “most probably”. Many of you will have iTunes accounts; not so many of you will have heard of Bandcamp. It’s not difficult to store things you’ve downloaded from Bandcamp in your iTunes folder, though I do concede it’s a bit more of a faff than just clicking to buy from an outlet you know and trust. I’m looking into getting the tracks onto iTunes in the coming weeks, so to those of you with an iTunes account I say-“Watch this space!”

In the meantime, searching for Andy Lewis on the iTunes store throws up a host of material that you might not be familiar with. Take a look today, and you’ll discover tunes like “What Can I Say” (from the Remix EP), “Barney’s Theme” (on “The Best Of Days“), “A Good Soul In The Good Times” (on “A Good Soul In The Good Times“), “Centre Of Attention” and “Mr Camera” (on “41”) and “(Love Is) Alive In My Heart” (on “Billion Pound Project”), all of which you might enjoy.

(You’ll also see this rather peculiar-looking item… it’s nothing to do with me but I’m sure is worthy of a listen if you like trumpet-based versions of Manic Street Preachers songs, and who wouldn’t?!)

If you prefer your music in a physical format, then there’s still time (but in the case of some releases, only just) to order it from your local record store. If you no longer live near a record store, or they can’t help you for whatever reason, then buying direct from Acid Jazz’s Virtual Shop is going to do the most good in the world. Acid Jazz also have a presence on eBay (where they often list promotional items or limited edition versions that won’t generally be for sale anywhere else).

Also available from Acid Jazz is the marvellous “Soul Potential”, a compilation of contemporary soul inspired music which features a track I did with the wonderful Jess Roberts called “Turn Your Head Around” (which you can hear here). Then there’s the Red Inspectors album “Are We The Red Inspectors? Are We?”, an album that features my longest-standing (some say suffering) musical collaborators playing the grooviest, funkiest, weirdest sounds ever recorded in a front room in Watford. Check out “Spectrum Boy” and “Frankenstein’s Finger”. A second album by The Red Inspectors will be completed soon.

Talking of things in the pipeline, I’m currently working on a couple of projects that are exceedingly enjoyable. I won’t give too much away at this stage, but needless to say if you like what I’ve done in the past then you probably won’t be disappointed. I’ve also been doing a bit of remixing, and coming soon will be something I did for Lisa Stansfield- a remix of her current single “Carry On”, which you can hear a snippet of here. 

Last November I was honoured to play bass for the great John Howard when he played a rare UK show in London. It was recorded, and will be made available on CD soon. Pre-order a copy today. 

You might remember that I play bass for Spearmint. Well, they have a new album coming soon called “News From Nowhere”. In the meantime,  a host of Spearmint’s promo videos are now available on YouTube for the first time in ages. There’s some great pop to enjoy, and as the bloke in “500 Days Of Summer” points out, “It pains me we live in a world where nobody’s heard of Spearmint!” 

Even further back in the mists of time (ok, the 1990s), I was in a band called Pimlico, who released material between 1995 and 1998, some of which is available on iTunes. Pimlico never really split up, and are completing a much-delayed follow up to 1998’s “Housebound”. You can download the first completed track, “The Gutter” from Bandcamp. More news on this album follows shortly.

In the meantime, I will be DJing in various places around the Capital and the country during the coming weeks. Keep an eye on Twitter or Facebook for information.

Thank you for your continued support- and hope to see you soon!