Next summer Simon Morice is shooting a documentary about a polar expedition involving some brave men from Lymington who hope to break the record for the: “fastest, unsupported, unassisted crossing from edge of continent to South Pole”.

The above promo has music scored by Southampton’s Mike Torr.

See also: South pole soundtrack for Mike Torr

This is a great video from Archive, an act that many in Europe know about but few in the UK are up-to-speed on.

They are one of the new breed of bands using their fan base to raise funds for projects and new releases.

It will be the subject of my next column.

First published in the Southern Daily Echo, Friday 25th July 2010

You know you’re getting old when you drop your biro beside a mosh pit… and try to pick it up.

And when the mosh is in full swing you have to watch your back, front and ball point pen in The Joiners!

The whirling revellers beside me were propelled by Southampton’s ‘Kids Can’t Fly’ one of six bands competing in Southampton Takedown.

Up for grabs was the chance to support Welsh band ‘The Blackout’ at the Takedown Festival in Salisbury on 24^th July.

As a judge I was delighted to see all entrants approaching the event at full steam and, whatever time you walked in, you would have thought it was the headliners on stage.

But for me ‘Kids Can’t Fly’ ticked all the essential boxes: attitude, songs and entertainment.

With 50% of the vote coming from the audience their win was confirmation that many there agreed.

They mix Ska-punk with an infectious attitude that causes the body to pogo with a smile on the face.

Surprisingly they’re formed around a brass section of Ryan (trombone) and Dave (saxophone) who told me: “We’re trying to be something original, adding a horn section to a pop-punk backing, rather than copying bands of the past.”

The brass also gives a touch of class (and proper metal) and completes a line-up whose infectious energy engages the audience while playing songs that lodge in the memory.

This band might claim to lack the ability of flight but they definitely walk the walk.

Houses of Parliament

The justified anger about MP’s expenses has led many people to demand that something must be done about the government.

But have you noticed that in times of stress and frustration with politicians we blame ‘the’ government? It’s almost seen a foreign entity that prods and pokes us in a most irritating manner. It’s blamed for almost everything yet we forget it is ‘our’ government.

We vote them into the House of Commons to spend ‘our’ money and so we are not only responsible for who takes charge of this country, but we also give them the funds to keep it going.

It is time to reclaim ‘our’ government and demand that ‘it’ work for ‘us’.

But we should not go down the route suggested by Lord Tebbit. (Boycott big parties, says Tebbit) He’s calling for people to demonstrate their anger by voting for minority parties at the forthcoming European elections and thereby give the main parties a “right kicking” (my words not his).

It’s difficult to see how this childish idea will help those in the real world and, when you remember that Lord Tebbit is unelected and can not be voted out, you wonder if a serious political, if not physical, revolution is required to get ‘our’ government back into ‘our’ hands.

However we, the voters, have to undergo our own mental revolution. We have to remember that pressure can be easily put on MPs by writing letters, sending emails, going to meetings and speaking out: telling the elected exactly how the electorate feel.

We also have to remember that voting is a privilege which was won by many brave and determined people in our past. As they say: “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

National apathy about politics has put us in this position and voting for minority parties, parties who are mainly concerned with single issues, will not make the situation any better.

We need the party system to disappear and a solution to this awful mess found without Labour or the Conservatives receiving beneficial spin from their actions or proposals.

A possible option could be a Government of National Unity.

It was suggested as a fantasy idea by Michael White when the financial crisis took hold in 2008. (Financial crisis may lead to government of national unity) and would mean that MPs work together for a common cause.

Seeing as Members of Parliament are so discredited, it could be the stop-gap that gives us an opportunity to reclaim “our government”.