A big milestone today - this is the first ever session that has required me to leave Leeds. I wasn’t happy about it, especially over the Pennines to Manchester (ew, right?), but I must say, getting there and being greeted by the lovely Meat Bags, made me feel like it’s a journey I could do more often. Meat Bags are a loud, brash and witty bunch who’ve just played at the Packhorse with the lovely Muckypup. Committee of Sleep must have mentioned me to them and a few emails later and I was heading down the M62.

We met outside Midnight Blue Studios in an old Mill near Etihad Stadium and didn’t really know how to get in. We had to wait for a tattooist to open the door for her client and we sheepishly snuck in behind them. Lovely room, big ceiling, big window, but it was bloody boiling. Was a really nice day that day, I’m pretty sure we all had in the back of our heads we wanted to be in the sunshiiiine (little Manchester related Oasis joke there). So with a pint and the sun in the back of our mind, we got to work.

With their usual drummer not available for this session, Guitarist Harry took responsibility for the kit. Proper fast track, i mean have you seen how long it is? The shortest Contact Buzz tune to date (we definitely just wanted more time in the sun). Real heavy hitting from Harry, really happy with the snare sound too, really chunky and punchy. Then me and Harry had to go move the cars onto this kinda dodgy little street, people hanging about, but I know they’re not gonna touch my shitheap and it was free parking. The shit car privilege is a privilege I want to keep for the rest of my life.

We got back in time to record Matt’s Bass - he’s the precision of the band, some real hooks present on this thing in the low end. Things were going so quick by this point - I was plowing through my tupperware full of smashed up discounted easter eggs and the pint was on the horizon. Harry then picked up his guitar, super trebily, we had to consider whether we wanted clarity or we wanted gnarliness. My argument is, in a track of gnarliness, make decisions towards clarity when you can. I think the grit we settled with was perfect, just the right amount of fuzz.

Tom was next up to the podium (anyone think he looks like Josh from the 113?). Quintessential punk vocals, very Joe Talbot, very George McDermott in some ways, especially between performances, just a mild-mannered sweet guy. A little bit of slapback, but we also got a little bit of grit from one of Harry’s many mind-bending pedals. This one was called ‘When the sun explodes’ by Beautiful Noise Effects and when we finished with the main vocals, it came to life on the ambient bits we chucked in at the end. Whispered vocals, a few whoops and feedback bits, as the guys put it, the panning sounds like a current sweeping you away.

Tunes like this are proof you need to finish the song leaving people wanting more, so much is jammed into 50 seconds, it's a wonder it doesn't clock in at two minutes at least! We finished the day with a visit to Mars Tapes and a Pint in a shed. What a way to spend your limited time in the British sun. Then it was back to Leeds, the place I love, but I realised that Manchester wasn’t so bad after all.

For Fans of unfounded optimism and reduced cognitive endurance.