BREAKING NEWS

With the triumphant completion of the Balustrade xmas single still fresh in their minds, our mighty troubadours have been hit by a disaster that may affect the very future of the band itself. Like Jack White and Ryan Adams before him in 2004, Balustrade plucking supremo, El Cartino has suffered a debilitating finger injury (losing an argument with a particualry testy kitchen drawer) that has seen the cancellation of their christmas live dates.

Word is vague at the moment with only brief descriptions coming from the bed-ridden Mr Carter. All we know for sure that it is'icky' and that there is 'puss' involved. A squeamish Lex was asked to give comment when the news broke, but was only able to shudder and mutter incomprehensibly before passing out at the very mention of it. However when we caught up with him the following day day, he had this to say;

"We are not sure where this leaves Balustrade at the moment. Our first priority is to finish the final mix of the single and approve the artwork which we shot recently. However, there is a very real chance that he may never shape an F major 7th again which will mean we may have to learn a new one if we are intending to finish our debut album in 2005!"

Here at balustrade HQ we want to wish Matthew the best of luck in his recovery and hope that his plucking pinky is back to full working order soon. With a hectic Xmas festive season ahead we hope that this does not overshadow the imminent arrival of new balustrade material which, according to the boys, should be hitting the shops soon and is well worth the wait.