There's nothing to stop me doing anything, really.
A Feb update while the US fucks with ancient Persia.
Hello. I know it’s been a minute since I’ve written you, and I’m sorry that Izzi Club hasn’t been anything like I said it would be. The truth is the writer and songwriter in me have been battling it out for attention, and for the last year the songwriter has won out, with all my focus going toward finishing the songs for another Preatures album and writing about one million emails.
Two years ago, I set out to reform the band, pay off the debt we owed, get our businesses back in the black, and put on a successful tour. With no manager at the helm, I took on that role. And fuck, it’s given me a lot of appreciation for the endless thankless task of being a band manager. Although I brought on How Good to handle top-level stuff, and a promoter for the tour, I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my own ability to direct a creative business and produce the kind of work I want to.
To be in charge of ourselves again and directing that energy has felt good, like back in the day before we ever had any fame or success. Ultimately I find it more compelling to make my own mistakes than to be beholden to someone else’s. I like this quote by Grace Sands:
I do believe people can feel when that directive energy is radiating outwards from the artist. That said, managing the band is not something I want to do longterm. I’m not cut out for the world of the sharks at that level. I’d rather be a slinky fish, swimming in my own little world, with my rainbow scales intact.
Since getting back from Australia I’ve been settling back into life in San Francisco and reflecting on a very busy time: The Preatures finished our reformation tour with some festivals and a final headline show in Melbourne, released a live record (Blue Planet Eyes…Live!), put on a retrospective exhibition, and then spent 7 weeks recording our new album.
Launching the Blue Planet Eyes…Live! Record in Sydney in December.
I’ve had a surreal feeling of calm since coming back. Some of the songs we just recorded have been camped out in me for 7 years. I feel the peace of having them off my chest. The outcome - whatever that might be - has in many ways already been achieved really, and whatever comes of it feels like a bonus. I know I need to figure out how I’m gonna make a living this year, but I’ve been putting my attention into teaching Mina how to read, taking care of the house, watering my plants, watching a bit of TV (Love Story), ticking off all the bits of life I’ve neglected, and walking. I’m trying to do 10,000 steps a day and get up the hill at Bernal Peak every morning after I drop Mina at school. We’ll see how that goes. It’s hard to walk that much in America. But my legs need to be strong for whatever the next steps I’ll be taking might be.
Voice memo of me and my friend Holiday working on the topline for a new song at The Music Farm.
I’ve been thinking a lot about having another baby. This decision seems harder than the first. I’m 39 this October, and though technically I could wait a few years when we’re more settled and the band is established with our next record, I feel anxious. Will that magic year ever come? What if I miss my window? I’ve always been the kind of person that if I want to do something, I do it. But something in me is resisting right now, and I’m respecting that too. I love my career and I want to work, but also, like I said, I feel I have nothing to prove right now either.
I feel a bit like this in my favourite meme about 2026 (that references The Never Ending Story):
&…
I can’t believe we’re at war with fucking Iran. What the actual fuck. A distinction for us on a temporary US Visa is that it does not entitle you to free speech. That is a right reserved for American Citizens. Implications here are for attending protests, posting on social media, and generally being a pain in the arse the way I would usually. I feel blindsided and numbed by this war as I try and keep up with the influx of information as well as figure out what I am supposed to do about it.
My dear friend Emma Louise has released the first single off an album she’s been sitting on for 7 years, called God Between Us. Emma and I became friends as she was making this album. Since then she’s gotten married, had a baby, and gotten divorced. This song is sublime, and the video by Kristofski is the best I’ve seen in ages.
I’m excited to read this book NO TAGS, or at least - I’m excited to have the option to read this book. I’m excited to have this book look at me from the shelf for a period of time hopefully being months and not extending into years. I really hope I do read this book because it looks great and right up my alley. It’s always such a gamble with books. Buying them feels like I am basically in a Casino. But I find comfort in having the right sorts of the books laying around - because I know if I were actually reading and not doing things like googling The Kennedy Curse and which Kennedy drove off a bridge and killed the passenger before bed, it’s books like these I would be reading. And that makes me feel good
.Until soon, Izzi.
