Bumped into Guy Garvey last night and he had a great little nugget of news he was going to hold on to, but as he was holding my son and going all soft inside, he let me know there and then. Guy is donating the original cover art to The Seldom Seen Kid, what I done, to the Manchester Art Gallery’s permanent ‘Manchester’ collection (in which I believe Jim Medway has something) where it will remain forever more, hopefully on view and not in a dusty cupboard. The frame is pretty special as well and something Guy sorted out after I gave him the art. Amongst the recurring themes of the album, the band’s lost friend, new love and Manchester itself, is the bar The Temple, where I used to work. Down the back stairs, where there’s no awnings were two banisters that were exposed to the elements for 10+ years. Every now and then some bell-ends who couldn’t get their meat heads around The Temple ethos would take a vicious stabbing kick at them on their moody exit and eventually, and much more preferable than my head, they caved in and came away from the wall. Now to cut a long story short, a long-sighted carpenter friend of ours rescued them and made a frame for the art on Guy’s request, all brown weatherworn wood. Looks great and the story’s in keeping with the album’s mythos (?). Anyway, it’s not been given yet and I don’t know when it is, but as soon as I do I’ll let you know.