Last week (January 24th), the Stranglers played the industry-only "Midem" Festival in Cannes, France; this appearance was part of the "British at Midem" event. JJ reports that "It was the best gig of the week as far as the local press was concerned. We certainly had a full hall of jaded music biz people rocking." The band also apparently met up with Chris Smith, the UK Minister of Culture.

Possible (but as yet unconfirmed) events for the band this year are some festivals in Europe and maybe some semi-acoustic gigs. There are also plans for JJ to possibly do an accoustic tour in the spring. As and when these ideas are confirmed, we will be posting all the relevant details here.

Our "Reference Articles" area has rapidly become the largest section of this site, containing all manner of Stranglers-related information. To make this wealth of information easier to navigate, this area has just undergone a major overhaul: items are now listed by subject-heading and the last update for each is indicated (many of the original files have been updated since their first appearance).

The Stranglers are set to headline the "Rat's Rally" on 22nd July 2000. This event will take place at the Milky Way Adventure Park, near Bideford, North Devon. Tickets are £15.50, inclusive of booking fee and overnight camping for the 22nd. More information can be obtained via the ticket hotline at: 01288 359-640.

This event, on 29th July, will feature Paul Roberts in concert. Full details can be obtained from: 01288 359-640.

John tells us that he is currently finishing off a CD of electronic instrumental music to be released later this year on the "NOW & ZEN" label. The working title for the album is "WABI", with all the track titles and artwork being related to Chanoyu (the Japanese Tea Ceremony).

In an interesting departure, John has been asked to design a range of tee-shirts which will go on sale in Europe later this year. We will let you know as this project develops.

The music side of "Curly's Airships", the two-hour song-story about Britain's foray into the global airship arena, is now finished. Judge Smith (the composer) is now on the hunt for a label to release this project. In John's words: "I've heard some of the final mixes and it sounds rather wonderful!".

Castle Music have informed us that the DVD "The Stranglers - Live at Alexandra Palace" will be released on 14th February, 2000. As the name suggests, this is a recording of the last gig with Hugh. Additional details, as supplied by Castle are:

Extras: Photo Gallery; Animated Comic; Moving Menus; Biography; Trivia Quiz.

Note: DVDs are coded to play in certain regions only -- a map can be found here. As yet, there is no indication as to whether versions for regions other than region 2 will be forthcoming.

A discography of John's work is now available via his page.

The JJ Burnel section on the ITV show "After they were famous" finally ran on Saturday, December 4th (after being postponed twice).

A "Hits & Heroes" gig review has now been added to our "Reviews" page. This page can be found in our "Reference Articles" section.

The official UK Subs European Home page is currently offering a free downloadable single featuring John Ellis on guitar, bass and drums. John also produced this work.

To get yourself a copy, go to http://www.btinternet.com/~uksubs.

To mark World AIDS Day (December 1st), the World AIDS Day Project of the National AIDS Trust, the Health Education Authority and Dr. Martens have teamed up to host an exhibition of celebrity decorated boots with celebrity appearances and performances throughout the day.

The event will start at 2pm (GMT) on Wednesday 1st December, hosted by Pip Gill, and will be broadcast live on the Dr Martens web site. The following stars have agreed to take part:

• JJ Burnel will perform "In the end"'.
• Dot Allison will perform an acoustic number.
• Julie Graham.
• Saffron from Republica.
• Sonja Nuttal.
• Jo, Mark, Steve, Paul McGann.
• Marcella Detroit
• Ex Honeyz singer Heavenli with her new band "Priority".
• Vinnie Jones has decorated a pair of the silver 'Limited Edition World AIDS Day' boots to add to the 52 pairs from last year.

Other celebrities will be confirmed closer to the date.

For more information, visit the Dr. Martens web site at: http://www.drmartens.com.

Following the UK tour, JJ gave a 2 hour audience at Glasgow's "Sound Control" (the "largest music shop in town" according to JJ). About 200 people attended and he has been asked to do some more. On the strength of this positive feedback, JJ tells us that he is "going to prepare about one hour of repertoire and then go out and play a few small venues, pubs, folk clubs just for the hell of it. Hopefully it'll give more ideas for Strangler type things."

On a sporting note: in September, JJ received his 4th dan from master Yoshiji Soeno, the grandmaster of Shidokan Karate.

On the Stranglers front, there may be another semi-acoustic outing in the near future with "material which we don't normally play like Cruel Garden and the more ballady stuff or Feline". More details as we get them.

An official Stranglers merchandise page is now available at:

This site contains a range of merchandise and albums, which can be ordered via a "secure" server.

Please note that SIS OnLine (The Rat's Lair) are not involved with the sale of merchandise, or the running of www.stranglers.co.uk. As such, all enquiries regarding merchandise, orders, etc., should be addressed to the webmaster of that site.

Last night's (17th November) transmission of the show "After they were famous", featuring JJ, was cancelled (again) due to a Euro 2000 football qualifier match. We have no word at the moment as to a new transmission date.

Many thanks to all those who emailed us about this.

Tomorrow (Novemeber 12th) marks the release date of "Faith?" by Paul Roberts. The track listing for this CD will be:

So Easy; Postcard; Chasing Rainbows; Sail Your Soul; Sunset; Hard One; Free; New Mourning Town; All We Need; Can't Seem; Lady Grinning Soul.

The first 100 copies will be signed by Paul.

Further details on this release can be obtained from Paul's site, which also has an explanation of all the songs in Paul's words, plus 90 second samples of four tracks.

The previously cancelled episode of "After they were famous", featuring JJ, will now be shown on Wednesday 17th November at 10.30pm (on U.K Channel I.T.V.).