encyclo

0-9

4am: Previously known as 'the jangly one', this song has been performed by the band many times late in 2004, and also appears on the Strangers Almanac's first album 'Pocketbook Philosophies'. No relation to '3am' by Busted.

A

ALIVE AND KICKING IN MONTERREY: Written by Mike, dirty rock and roll song played live once or twice back in 2001/2002.

ALL THE SAME: Written by Gord. One of our first songs. Pretty rubbish really... wouldn't mind forgetting this one!

AMY HITS THE ATMOSPHERE: The band, duh! Gord: vocals and guitar, Mike: bass and vocals, Ad: drums.
We've been playing together for ages now, Gord and Mike go back years and it's now 18 months since Ad joined the band. Also the title of our latest record.

AMY HITS THE SMALLER KIDS AND TAKES THEIR LUNCH MONEY: Live EP recorded September 2003 at the Haugh Park. Quality isn't that great but it's not too bad.

ANATOMY: Lyrics by Gord, Music by Mike. Written after a practise one day, a nice simple song with two chords all the way through. The first song of ours to be covered when Greg Williams and Gerard Black of Findo Chug performed it during an acoustic gig. Became quite a live favourite before we kinda forgot to play it and dropped it from the set

ARTESIAN WELL: Previous incarnation of the band, featuring Gord, Mike and ex Half Of The Worry guitarist Thomas Smith (not related to Tank Engine, The)

B

BROKEN FLOWERS: Written by Mike, performed once or twice live in 2002. Quickly forgotton about, although it was one of Gord's favourites.

BLITZKRIEG BOP: Ramones cover, performed live once in 2002, with our good mate Roddy on guest 'vocals'

BLACK AND BLUE. Lyrics by Gord, Music by Mike. Officially the bands first ever song. Another one we'd like to forget.

BUTTERED AND BRUISED: Written by Gord, features on 'The Magnolia Tapes, vol. 1'

D

DAVIES, JEFFERY: Gord's flatmate and honourory member of the band since he joined us on stage once night in April for a cover of 'Kitty'. Has also had a hand in writing one or two new Amy Hits songs.

DIG YOUR OWN GRAVE (AND SAVE): A little ditty of a song, used by the band as a sort of intro at a gig in Kirkcaldy in 2003. The title is from a Simpsons episode, "hi, i'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from such D.I.Y. films as 'dig your own grave and save'";
This song later evolved into 'Powerstat'

DENIED, THE: Another former incarnation of the band. Featured Gord, Mike, Peter Ramwell (not related to ANY porn stars) and Andrew Cook. Not related to Cook, Captain.

DETRIMENTAL SONG, THE: Written by Gord, a real rock and roller! Not related to 'Fight Song, The'. We still play this one, although it'll be disappearing from the set very soon.

DON'T MIND ME: Written by Mike, performed live a couple of times in 2002/2003, accompanied by manic feedback.

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN: Gord broke a record by performing this song live less than 24 hours from when it was written. It made it's debut at The Vale lounge in Glasgow in October 2004; Gord sings it by himself, Mike and Ad watch and pull faces. Watch out for a version of this on the new Strangers Almanac album

E

EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE COOL THIS CHRISTMAS: Eels cover. Performed at Stop the War gig in December '02. Fulfilled Gord's three year old dream of being in a band that covers eels songs. The acoustic version of this song was also covered by Gord on his second solo record.

F

FALLAWAY: Written by Gord, Recorded for 'Demos in the Attic'. No longer played live.

FORMER PAST: Written by Gord; A cheesy pop-punk style song, file under "what were we thinking?!"

G

GET CAUGHT READING: Written by Gord. No longer played live, appeared on Screaming Child EP, track 4.

H

HEAD CLEANER: Our former name. Changed in Sept. 2003 after weeks of thinking about it. Basically, there's too many Head Cleaner's, and it's actually a really shit name for a band.

HUGHES, CHRISTOPHER: Former Head Cleaner sticksman.  Later of the band Fallopian Tube, and currently wanted for alleged drug trafficking. No relation to Christopher Robin, of 'Pooh, Winnie The' fame.

I

IDLE HEARTS: Written by gord. Titled as it is because Gord thinks it sounds like a cross between Idlewild and the Wildhearts. No longer played live.

I GET HIGH: Gord's new favourite Amy Hits The Atmosphere song. Damn good fun to play, hope it's fun to listen to!
04/09/03 at the Westport: Gord: This song is called 'I Get High'. Mike: Because he does.
Features on our self-titled EP.

I'LL FOLLOW THE SINNERS: Written by Gord, took twelve minutes to write.  Features on the Live EP and the self-titled EP.

I WAS WRONG: Written by Gord, Features on the latest EP. This is a really old song, written way back in 2001. No longer played live because it's too goddamned difficult.

J

JESSICA: Llama Farmers cover we used to play fucking loads. Don't play it much now.

JOHNSON, DANIEL: Gorgeous ex-bassist of Head Cleaner. Affectionately known as 'Sexy Dan'. Formed Fallopian Tube with Chris, and now forms funny patterns in the carpet. No relation to Daniel Johns.

K

KITTY: Presidents of the USA cover, played once, ludicrously fast, with Gord's flatmate Jeff guesting on guitar

L

LENNIE, MIKE: Amy's bass player, one-time guitarist and some-time vocalist. Born 19th June 1983 in Perth. Hobbies include water ski-ing and aerobics. No relation to Lenny Henry.

LONELY FROM ROCK AND ROLL: Rock and roll song added to the set towards the arse end of 2004. The title came from a line in the Tragically Hip song 'Escape is at Hand For The Travellin' Man'

M

MATHESON, GORDON: Singer, guitarist and chief songwriter for Amy Hits The Atmosphere. Born 26th July 1983 in Stirling. Past-times such as cross-stitching and salvaging sunken barges for scrap-metal take up most of the frontman's spare time. No relation to Gordon, Big Blue Engine, The.

MISTER SUPERSTAR: Marilyn Manson cover, performed live once, years and years ago when we were still naive.

MY SHARONA: Cover of The Knack's only hit. Played live once or twice, with Mike on vocals

P

POLICEMAN, A: Some policemen are paedophiles. But not all of them.

POWERSTAT: Written by Gord. Played live frequently. Features on the Live EP and the newest EP. The one with the bomb on the front.

PUNCHING WALLS: Written by Gord. Not really a proper song, just a poem over some music. Stupid song about a crush. Abandoned live a long time ago. Track 3 on Screaming Child EP.

R

RAPE ME: Nirvana cover, performed live once, at the ill-fated Moonzie festival in

REID, ADAM: Amy's drummer. Born sometime in 1926. Ninth man to sit in the bands drumstool.  Not related to teen heart-throb Adam Ricketts

S

SCREAMING CHILD EP: Debut release from the band, under the old Head Cleaner guise. Not related to The Screaming Life EP by Soundgarden.

SEX IS SACRED: Our favourite song right now, becoming quite a favourite after we let everyone download it on the downloads page, and after it was played at Felt one night. Rocknroll!

SMILE: Nice song written by Gord, features on 'The Magnolia Tapes, Vol. 1'

SOILED: Written by Gord, purely so the band could make alot of noise at the end of a gig. Don't play this one anymore, but I've got a really poor quality MP3 of it if anyone's interested.

STRANGERS ALMANAC, THE: The name Gord records solo albums under. Check out www.strangersalmanac.com!

T

TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLING: Camper Van Beethoven cover. Fucking ace song! And we know you love it too.... You can get our version on our live EP. Also covered by Teenage Fanclub and the Manic Street Preachers, But 9 out of 10 cats recommend our version.

TESCO STORES LTD: Gord's employers. He says it's a pretty good place to work. Well he has to, or he'll be crushed by corporate muscle.  Gord recently worked out that he loses about �40 a week off his wage in National Insurance & Tax, which, ironically enough is how much Mike was getting a week for being on the dole.

THE HEROINE: Written by Gord. Last of the 'Screaming Child' songs to be dropped from the setlist.

THERE'S NO POINT TO THIS: Written by Gord, his attempt at a 'ska' song. Ended up as a 'shite' song. Played live once or twice.

W
WASTED ON YOU: Most recent addition to the encyclopedia, and it's stuck all the way down here! From now on all our new songs will begin with a number, or the letter A. Debuted this song in January 2005.

WHERE IS MY MIND: Pixies cover that went down really well when we played it at CraigROCKie, 27.09.03 and in Bar Bliss, 13.10.03

Just a nice wee reference guide we've compiled over the years. If you ever get confused, don't come here!