Hello

I always feel the need to ask how you are at the start of these blogs. I think I learnt that at school. I don’t know if there is a point to it. Whenever I get letters or emails asking me how I am, I never actually think about how I am. I just think oh lovely, polite. I am making a conscious effort to not ask you how you are in this blog and already it’s making me feel nervous and impolite so I have to move on.

Damon and I are so excited for you guys to hear ‘Walls’ but that’s still a little way off. I figured I would start blogging more regularly because it might make time feel faster. I just really want everyone to hear ‘Walls’. However patience is a virtue and you should never wish for time to move faster. Time does move faster the higher up you are. It’s true! Einstein, that overachieving son of a gun, figured it out. This is why I always insist on staying on the lower level of my apartment, though lately I have noticed I have been upstairs more.

So over on the ol’ Facebook page I asked you guys what you wanted to talk about. I am happy so many people responded. Sometimes writing these things is like talking to that person on the phone. The friend who doesn’t talk. They always want to hang out or they always call you but they don’t say anything. To have you guys shout out rules. I can use your suggestions for these blogs and for that friend on the phone. Obviously we can’t talk about everything but we can try. I sure can talk and I have a lot of stories.

I don’t even know how you all knew I have food phobias. Did I tell you that? Did Damon tell you that? I have a terrible memory. Did you see me screaming at a piece of fruit? All these things are possible. I once read that Billy Bob Thornton had an aversion to orange food or maybe he only ate orange food….. I just googled that and it didn’t say anything about food. It just talked about his fear of antique furniture. More power to the man for being so openly honest about something so insane.

So I don’t like fruit but it’s not really as weird as it sounds. I have met many kindred spirits who share my aversion. Since I was a child I have battled my parents and friends not eating it. They ask me “But why don’t you like it? It’s sent from the gods. It’s so good”. And to that I say the gods also sent us the cows that were made to eat other cows that gave everyone mad cow disease.

I am a middle child. I have a feeling I developed my anti-fruit stance to get attention. My big brother and little sister are mad fruit eaters. So mad it makes me sick thinking about it. I grew up in a sub-tropical place by the beach. Fruit was everywhere. Gross. However I do eat some fruit. I like bananas, which, a lot of fruit lovers hate. I don’t like bananas if they are too straight though. I can take a bite of watermelon and not want to spit it back out. I like fruit juices! I mean apart from fruit I eat nearly everything. I love anchovies and brussel sprouts and chilli, not necessarily all together but it does sound kinda delicious. The only thing I really can’t eat, apart from fruit is cubed food, unless of course it’s chocolate in which case a cube is preferred. I understand this sounds like a land mine of eating phobias and neurosis. I have to admit it does take some getting used to when people enter my life but it doesn’t take much to master. For example at Christmas my best friend always makes the traditional delicious pavlova covered in fruit (gross) but leaves two slices untouched by fruit for me. When I got out for breakfast I ask for no fruit garnish. They are so popular in North America! Gross. Without fail my breakfast is delivered with a fruit garnish and whoever I am eating with removes it with out saying a word (even that friend removes it without a word but they never talk anyways).

The great thing about making ‘Walls’ was that early on in the process someone left an apple core or some piece of disgusting fruit refuse somewhere in the studio. Howard and I both looked at it and made the same face. This is one of the reasons why I think ‘Walls’ is good. Howard and I are kindred spirits in our phobia of fruit. It was such a breakthrough for us. I feel like our shared phobia helped us get to a higher plane of creativity and thus make a better record. Damon’s girlfriend has a serious fruit phobia too! So you see he was able to get to that place Howard and I were by sharing his own anti-fruit experiences. Also Damon hates avocado, tomatoes and some other stuff. I just can’t remember. He can eat cubed food though.

The fruit thing is not a big deal. It’s actually kind of normal. My cubed food phobia is slightly more odd. My absolute cold, hard fear of mice and rats is the worst. In fact I would eat a bath tub full of fruit rather than get in a bath tub full of mice. I would however sit in a bath tub full of spiders rather than eat a bath tub full of fruit. So you see it gets complicated but, I hope you get my point.

Okay until next week. Love lovers.

Kate x