Ben's new message (Sep. 30th 2004)

hello again

juat a little update for you all ...

we still have no new studio album planned, but we will be releasing a double CD remix retrospective in early 2005, covering most of the best remixes of our work from 1994-2005, and we have commissioned 2 or 3 new mixes to add to the tracklisting. tracey remains contentedly out of the media glare (her own choice, for those who still think i keep her in chains!) and as a result, i continue to work on other projects - buzzin fly, remixing etc

while i appreciate many of your comments on this board, i still feel there is a school of thought that i have somehow brought about the downfall of EBTG by taking us in the direction of electronica in the 90's and now somehow enslaving tracey in a life of family duties. i would just like to say that tracey has always shared every muscial vision we have ever had and has never been co-erced into anything, and that drawing a line under EBTG in 2000 and focussing on family life was something she instigated, of her own volition. we tried touring and recording after the kids were born (1998-2000) and it was just too much of a struggle, trying to be responsible for a family and to our audience. we were pulled in 2 different directions. it was very stressful. something had to give way. faced with the rigours of life on the road, responsibility to two (and now three) young children clearly had to take priority. and during all this, tracey was also feeling she needed a long-term, possibly permanent, break from the music business, from singing, from writing, from 20 yrs of doing the same thing. this is not to de-value artistic commitment, nor to de-value the desire to combine work and family at the same time. it is simply what tracey felt. a fork in the road. these are the reasons behind what has happened.

i support tracey in all her decisions. if she chooses to return to singing, i will support her again. until then i will continue to work in music in my own way. some people keep asking me to admit that the band is really over, for ever, and to stop pretending. i am not pretending. i don't know the answer. at the moment we are 'on hiatus' - maybe for good, maybe not. i simply don't know what the future holds. i really hope this clears things up.

The other day the virgin server mis-routed the ebtg website (and this forum) for a few days during routine maintenance and it went offline, and someone assumed it was my doing, and accused me on another forum of finally unceremoniously pulling the plug on the band, and putting the final nail in the coffin. it prompted me to write this message. i would just like to say the opposite is true, and that i have been the gatekeeper of the site for 10 years, providing this forum for everyone, that i have always tried to look out for you all, that i come on here when i have news for you all, and that i am planning a new modern site for next year when we release the remix retrospective album.

i just asked tracey if she had a message for you, in the light of what i have just said, and she said she was too busy tied up in chains, padlocked to the fridge, slaving over a hot oven with three kids under each arm, being forcibly prevented from recording her album of rare folk ballads - at least she still has her sense of humour!

peace and respect

b

wow，一生就生三个小孩:-D

分开生的吧
responsibility to two (and now three)

当然是分开生的，只不过之前他们一直没有承认自己生了孩子，
现在一下子就说有了三个孩子，还是挺意外的:-D