Toaster Props.

At one point we had an internal discussion triggered by Ali asking if anyone in the band had something against his putting a Palestine flag with the word "genocide" on his guitar strap. The debate wasn't around the Israel-Palestine issue, but more about how do we as a band approach publicly stating political views. There's bands that just prefer to stick to music. Same for band members. Our rule of thumb has always been that we take all decision unanimously - either we're all in, or none of us. At the same time, we're all individuals with an opinion, at times a strong stance. We will not be a band to filter or censor individual expression. It's quite the opposite - I expect to support each other. The outcome is that any one of us may and will express their view publicly. You will never know if anyone among us is against it. We respect each others' opinions and rights to express them. As a band, we will encourage it because we believe freedom of expression is fundamental and we won't judge if anyone keeps their opinion to themselves.  We will express our collective stance as a group on topics (e.g. anti-government protest in Bulgaria). We believe that our audience will respect our right to do so, but if you don't - that's fine and won't change our philosophy. For what it's worth, it will always be to employ our platform for the benefit of the cause, never vice versa. It's your right to believe us or not.

So that's that.

The last rehearsals, as was the original intent, were about creating new material. Mostly one, to be honest. And we're feeling great about it. It's got great, cinematic atmosphere. Very fertile for all sorts of sounds, harmonies, grooves, structure, etc. Perfect for what we need right now. Don't forget, we have a new bass player. And he (it's a boy!) is fitting very well in the process. Ideas that are very ALI, but also new and refreshing. One of the basslines is rather repetitive (in the best way possible), but he's being extremely patient with us. One of the issues we have is figuring out who'll push the keys on the synth, but that's part of the fun. It's difficult to talk about making music using words. Could even be pointless. Maybe we can share some audio next time, we'll see.

Also, we're on the cusp of refreshing Dying Leonard! You can't know the full journey this song has had. It's the first original we've ever attempted at a rehearsal. It's still not recorded because we've evolved a bit since its inception and there's a collective feeling of something missing. But! Last night we finally got a chord progression which may take it places... Fingers crossed for our eldest to make it into the world at long last. Our little Leonard, all grown up. Special treat for those who read this - it's highly likely the next songs we release are Happiness and Time Bubble. Don't hate us if they're not, but I wouldn't be writing this if it wasn't a real possibility.

Elsewhere we're planning our winter retreat to the mountain. Likely at the end of February. We got our first date for 2026: Phil Good Festival, mid-July, same day as... The Cure! We'll be on a different stage, but who cares - it will be a blast. The whole festival line-up is arguably the best one we've had in the country - The Cure, Gorillaz, Moby, Suede, Einsturzende Neubauten, Wolf Alice, Sleaford Mods, Thievery Corporation, etc. After years of complaining how all meaningful acts go everywhere but here the signal is clear. It has been for a few years, but the collective bang of Phil Good's bill says it louder and clearer that we're back on the map with more to come. Expectations are higher now, which is a tough one for the organizers. We'll do our part not to disappoint.

Finally, something we've forgotten, but is actually important. Toaster is in the charts. Namely ZRock's Top 30, you can vote here: https://zrockradio.bg/reynaers-top-30. It's not doing great, but that's on us. Now we do what we can to fix this and prop it up. We'll also be entering BNR's Top 20, so stay tuned for that.