Bernie's Blog

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“The News

One of the things that makes me feel qualified to write a novel about a band reunion is that I’ve been in and around bands since about 1966 (when I was eight!), and that reunions are a thing that occur from time to time, like it or not. The Breaking Wave, though not an actual band, are composed of many, various and made-up ideal bandmates I’ve played with, but I guess the reunion bit has its foundation in my long and complicated relationship with The National Game.

I joined John Hogben and Steve Porrit’s Newhaven supergroup in 1981, and I left in 1984. The original of the gig poster above is on display in Brighton Museum, and dates from about 1983. John and Steve recruited several new members, and kept going for years. I’m not sure if the band were in mothballs in 2000, but that was when I met John Hogben for the first time in many years (in the queue for the Millenium Dome,) and we had the bright idea of doing a reunion gig in Newhaven. We even wrote a few new songs for the occasion. This was great fun, which we repeated in 2001, and it looked like being an annual event, until I got jobs in Devon and then Birmingham, which meant I couldn’t get down to Sussex very often - though, when I did, I would often make my way to John’s home studio to hear what was new in the world of The National Game.

In 2018, it was my 60th birthday. It was Terry Heacock, the long-time NatGame’s drummers 60th birthday too. I got invited to his surprise party in Seaford… a surprise party at which four of the members of the ‘classic’ line up were present, and, at which, the idea of another reunion gig was mooted, and agreed upon. John and Steve contacted the National Game’s second guitarist, Chris Doyle, and we began rehearsals, hoping to play a few gigs, and maybe the odd festival. In late December, 2018, Chris Doyle was found dead in his Peacehaven studio flat. We arranged for an old pal of mine, Richard Parker, a pal since 1968, to stand in for Chris at the gig we did at his wake in early 2019. The gig went OK; but I think it was pretty obvious that my hearing was now so bad that I couldn’t really pitch my notes. So that was me gone again. John, Steve and Terry recruited a new singer for a gig in Newhaven in summer 2024, but really she wanted to sing metal. And then Terry faced up to the fact that he wasn’t quite as fit as he used to be, and packed up drumming.

So, as it was in the beginning, so it is now - The National Game are John Hogben and Steve Porritt. But I was thrilled when 18 months ago John sent me some chords and an idea for a song, and asked me to contribute lyrics and ideas for a topline.

And so, here is The News, by The National Game. John sings, drums, plays guitar and keyboards, while Steve plays bass, sings BV’s, and is the producer. I like this lots. I like especially that I can have the fun of listening to a song I co-wrote without the embarrassment of hearing my creaky old voice no longer quite in tune. John sounds great, I reckon.

I think the point of this post is to remind myself of my credentials. So many attempts to write novels about rock bands are by authors who wish they were in bands. I’m glad I’m not in a band of any kind anymore, but I’ve loved my latest collaboration with the National Game.

And I love writing ‘The True History of The Breaking Wave.’ And I reckon this song will find its way into the book.

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IAN MARCHANT 

FEB 17"

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From ‘Emergence’ Magazine…..

“Deep Time Diligence

 An Interview with Tyson Yunkaporta

The rapid development of AI, server farms, and cloud computing has ushered in an era of unprecedented innovation in processing, storing, and sharing data. But this technology is time-bound—designed for obsolescence and driven by profit. As cultural and ecological systems fissure, it’s unlikely this tech, which is dependent on Earth’s minerals, immense energy production, and stable international trade relations, can maintain our data into the far future. In this archive conversation, Aboriginal scholar Tyson Yunkaporta suggests that to ensure its resiliency, we must turn to our oldest technology: storytelling. Inviting us into an Indigenous understanding of “deep time diligence,” he shares how intergenerational narratives can safeguard essential data, and help it adapt to vast systemic shifts, over millennia. With candor and humor, he pokes holes in the superiority of Western technological advances, urging us to work with knowledge and story from a place of “right relationship” with each other and the Earth.

https://emergencemagazine.org/conversation/deep-time-diligence/

“The only way to store data long term, like proper long term, is in intergenerational relationships, where data is stored in narratives, intergenerational narratives, that can last for forty, fifty, sixty thousand years. As long as relations continue, that data will last.”

—Tyson Yunkaporta