Billy's Comet

The Fatman turned up on the doorstep one day, as he often did, back when I was living with Davie Ord Metal Warlord (Geek Theatre, By Virtue of Being, Scudbuzz), with this 4-track. His mate was selling it, or so he said, for forty notes and he wanted to buy it. A Tascam Porta 05 for forty quid! Cheap as chips, dude! But the Fatman was skint so had come round to see if he could borrow it. I didn't have it but Davie stepped in, too fond of a bargain to let this one slip by. So Davie gave him the cash to buy it but with one condition; the 4-track stayed with us until the Fatman paid him back.Davie, being caught up in a life of I Ching and politics, never used the thing once but I wasn't shy, not with a brand new toy! I also had a feeling that the Fatman would never have £40 to spare so why let it gather dust? He never did come good with the cash so the 4-track stayed at Davie's as long as I did. When I moved, in April '99, it came too. (I gave Davie this shitty little colour portable I got off me auntie in exchange.)Billy's Comet was born when the 4-track arrived. There was never a 'line-up' as such, whoever happened to be around got involved, one way or another. As long as it was done with the 4-track, it was Billy's Comet.The first album 'Mental Perk' was ready to go in 2001 but, for reasons of good taste and the possibilty of a number of libel cases, it was shelved. As was 2002's follow-up 'Foulus Maximus Muse'. In 2003, the best tracks from both albums were remixed to make 'That's No Moon It's Billy's Comet'. Which wasn't shelved and actually saw the light of day.Life and stuff almost ground the Comet to a halt for a couple of years until the summer of 2006 when recording began for the forthcoming 'Concerns for the Well Being of the Feeble Minded' which will be finished sometime this year, honest. A limited edition festive EP 'Mistletoe and Crime', three old yuletide classics and a new one recorded specially, was available around Christmas last year (and probably will be every Christmas to come).The 4-track itself eventually give up the ghost during the most recent sessions (although is still being used as a basic mixer) but, as the 'band' had settled down into pretty much a steady line-up (of four or five) by this point, the Comet continues to hurtle on regardless and probably always will... Why Billy's? Why not?