Tate what you do it's the way that you do it

For each day of the year my Harvey's Brewery diary for 2007 provides me with an interesting snippet of information about an event that took place on the corresponding day in a previous year, e.g. on my birthday in 1585* 'English ships in Spanish ports confiscated, war starts', that sort of thing. On 6th January 1928 apparently, the Thames flooded, drowning four people and damaging paintings at the Tate. As far as we know no-one drowned and no paintings were damaged last night but it didn't stop the conservationists at Tate Britain from being horrified at the events in room 9 as we hosted The Electricity Bill, with four top-notch outfits giving it their all. First up were the sublime Jeremy Smoking Jacket, whose singer Rose Kemp is not only the daughter of two members of Steeleye Span but also, and more importantly, in possession of a quite remarkable voice. Their version of Tom Waits's 'No-one Knows I'm Gone' makes what is surely the finest use of coughing in a pop song to date. Sweden's Skull Defekts were up next with a mesmering set of electronic distortion, followed by HG faves James III and the Courtesan armed with strap-on electronics and a very impressive, if slightly disturbing visual display. 21st century renaissance man and all round good egg Momus finished the evening off in style, wearing a rather fetching wig, while Liberation Jumpsuit did a grand job of entertaining the punters in the bar. Top night all round, though unlikely to be repeated as the sight of people enjoying themselves in the vicinity of expensive paintings gave the Tate authorities a serious case of the vapours apparently.

*not the actual year I was born in, but not far off



Momus and the Skull Defekts also came into the studio today for live sessions and bloody marvellous they were too. Not a bad start to the new year all things considered.