It’s so good to see your friends doing well.

The Kirk family have been good friends of mine for about 20 years. My trip to Islay (Scotland) to visit them 17 years ago was probably my first ever ‘big’ trip somewhere by myself. Later, they were kind enough to let me live with them for a few months. Jo remains one of my bestest friends – it’s been great to grow up ‘together’ (by letter / phone / email / visits to Hereford & Bristol).

It’s also been great to see the boys (Jo’s brothers) grow up. They’re not much younger than me, although when you’re a child a few years seems like decades.

Anyhow, a few years back Pedro, the eldest, started a band with his friend Luke. Joined by another three friends, they converted the garage into a studio, and then worked damn hard at getting good at what they did.

Things are really taking off now for Brandon Steep. Just last week I got a mail to let me know that they have a CD out in Japan, available from (Amazon, HMV and iTunes.

I was so excited buying this CD at HMV today. I’ve never bought a friend’s CD from a ‘proper’ shop before. It felt real good to be able to support them from such a distance (and get something good to listen to too).

(The chap behind the counter was full of praise for them, saying they were getting quite a following over here).

Congrats to Brandon Steep for your continuing rise, long may it continue!

Their website seems to be being re-worked at the moment, so for now www.myspace.com/brandonsteep is the place to go to check them out.

Oh, and check out the Herefordian field in this video 🙂