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Ciao! Best of Lush

Five years have passed since Ciao! Best of Lush was released.

Of course, Ciao! Best of Lush is a collection of Lush singles, nothing "new" here. But the recognition is more than deserved and should turn on some recent listeners who were not as fortunate to be in on their entire catalog as it unfolded in the 1990's.






Ciao! Best of Lush
released: 19 Mar 2001 UK, 05 Jun 2001 US

Format: CD, Compilation, Remastered

TRACKLIST

1. Ladykillers 3:13
2. Single Girl 2:35
3. Ciao! 3:31
4. 500 (Shake Baby Shake) (Single Remix) 3:21
5. Light From A Dead Star 3:16
6. Love At First Sight 5:12
7. Hypocrite 2:53
8. Desire Lines 7:39
9. Lovelife 3:56
10. When I Die 4:18
11. Nothing Natural 5:54
12. Untogether 3:34
13. For Love 3:29
14. Monochrome 5:06
15. De-Luxe 3:27
16. Sweetness And Light 5:17
17. Thoughtforms 2:43
18. Etheriel 3:24

Artwork By [Art Direction] - Vaughan Oliver
Artwork By [Design] - Chris Bigg
Mastered By [Remastered] - John Dent
Remastered at Loud Mastering
Mixed By - Alan Moulder (tracks: 5 to 10) , John Fryer (tracks: 17, 18) , Paul Q. Kolderie (tracks: 1 to 4) , Robin Guthrie (tracks: 11 to 15) , Sean Slade (tracks: 1 to 4) , Tim Friese-Greene (tracks: 16)
Photography - Dominic Davies
Photography [Original] - Ichiro Kono , Jim Friedman , Richard Caldicott
Photography [Portrait Page 12] - Suzie Gibbons
Photography [Portrait Page 3] - Mike Diver
Photography [Portrait Page 6] - Michael Lavine
Photography [Portrait Page 9-19] - Sheila Rock
Producer - John Fryer (tracks: 17, 18) , Lush (tracks: 1 to 10, 17, 18) , Mike Hedges (tracks: 5 to 10) , Pete Bartlett (tracks: 1 to 4) , Robin Guthrie (tracks: 11 to 15) , Tim Friese-Greene (tracks: 16)
Written-By - E. Anderson* (tracks: 2, 4, 8 to 11, 14 to 18) , M. Berenyi* (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 18)

The inner booklet contains this full bio by Dominic Wills for 4AD, which is also presented on 4AD's artists page for Lush.

In a sense, the beginning of Lush was as inevitable as its ending was not. One of the Nineties' most unusual, fascinating and confounding independent bands, they sprang from a friendship formed, at 14, by Londoners Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson. In their own words "music was it" - closer involvement was imperative. They ran a fanzine, attended a catholic variety of gigs nightly at the likes of Fulham Greyhound and Hammersmith Clarendon (all rough, all gone). It'd be ABC one day, then Xmal Deutschland, then Gang Of Four. And they were learning the ropes in other people's bands - Berenyi in The Bugs, Anderson in The Rover Girls - working to make "our band" a reality. Eventually, along with the absurdly good-humoured Lancastrian punk drummer Chris Acland, and bassist Steve Rippon, they went out on their own.

For music, the late Eighties were a vibrant and volatile time. There was acid house, US art-core, death metal, fledgling industrial and European sampledelia, a rising Madchester and the shimmering punk pop of The Primitives, plus the delicate oceanics of The Sundays. Having much in common with these last two and, attitude-wise, at least three of the others, Lush were quickly hot property. One review in Melody Maker brought 12 major labels to see them play at London's ULU. None called again, but 4AD's Ivo Watts-Russell was interested, soon putting the band in Blackwing Studios with John Fryer.

"We were kind of punk rock in one way", says Anderson. "We did think 'Well, if they can do it, why the fuck can't we?' Basically, our idea was to have extremely loud guitars with much weaker vocals. And, really the vocals were weaker due to nervousness - we'd always be going 'Turn them down! Turn them down!'."

"We weren't good enough musicians to just jam," continues Berenyi, "so the songs had to come first. We had to go for good melodies, so I guess we drew on any music we heard in our youth, anything from The Beatles to Carly Simon, any pop music. The great swathes of sound, the effects came after the song, and were probably born of our incompetence and lack of confidence. We just didn't think we were good enough to do anything more complicated."

"It made us more open-minded when working with producers," she adds. "There wasn't this 'Well, we do it this way' attitude. We were willing to learn. And that's what happened when we did Scar. That was supposed to be demos because Ivo still wasn't sure about us. He was completely taken aback by what came out of that session."

"We started by writing crappy riot grrl anthems," says Berenyi, "which was probably charming in a juvenile way. But there was a very rapid shift from the minute we started to write for records. The music, the lyrics became much more thoughtful and expressive, more important, really. I remember that change beginning when Emma wrote Thoughtforms, it certainly made me think I needed to get my act together."

They all got their acts together quickly, so much so that Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, producer of Lush's Mad Love EP and their debut LP, Spooky, was in some quarters credited with transforming them, even with writing their material. "Ivo was against us working with Robin," says Anderson. "People said at the time, 'Don't you think that being produced by Robin that you're being swamped by the 4AD collective, that you're not Lush anymore?' But I never saw it like that. I knew Robin before I knew Ivo and I knew he liked what we did, and we all loved the Cocteaus anyway. And we had an enormous amount of freedom, and more loyalty and attention from the label than most other bands ever got."

"As for Robin writing the songs," says Berenyi, "they were already written, every part, every tambourine hit, everything was arranged. Then we went into the studio and experimented with different sounds. We did learn a lot from Robin, about sound, about how to sound bigger. Before him we had, like, two pedals. Then the next tour we had banks of equipment to reproduce that sound."

By the time Spooky was released in 1992, Rippon had amicably departed, to be replaced by Phil King (ex of altie legends Felt and Biff Bang Pow!). The LP went Top 10 in the UK and was an indie chart-topper. It sold upwards of 120,000 in the US too, in part due to one of the most glorious chapters in the Lush story: Lollapalooza II.

"We were bottom of a very heavy bill," explains Berenyi "and, though we knew Perry Farrell was a fan, we felt like we had nothing to lose - we were just grateful not to get bottled off. As a result we had zero attitude, simply tried to be pals with everyone. Bear in mind that this was only the second Lolla and cynicism and star pecking-order hadn't yet come into it. Everyone shared the same backstage area, nobody was treated like royalty. "I guess we 'bonded' mostly with The Mary Chain (fellow Britishers) and Ministry. There was a lot of stage invading and leakage from one band to another. On selected occasions, Lush had Soundgarden's drummer, Pearl Jam's guitarist (in a dress), Ministry's drummer (again in a dress) and a naked invasion by two Ministry roadies (BIG guys) and Mr Lifto from Jim Rose's performers. We in turn joined Soundgarden (Emma and Chris on drums during Cop Killer), Pearl Jam (me on guitar for Keep On Rockin' In The Free World - yes yes, I know...), The Mary Chain on backing vocals. Ice Cube was jumping around to Lord knows what. Probably the Chili Peppers too, but I'd be too drunk to remember. The other major event was my spectacular, tequila-fuelled stage dive off a 15-foot stage in Dallas to Ministry which ended up with a blood soaked dress and 14 stitches in my head. All in all, an absolutely grand time. I loved it."

Having proven beyond all argument their hellraising credentials, Lush repaired to Rockfield Studios in Wales with the renowned Mike Hedges. The recording of Split, their second LP proper (a collection of their early EPs, entitled Gala, had been released in the US only) was exceptionally testing. Expectations of an American breakthrough were high and the pressure was on. Beyond this, Berenyi and Anderson, writing separately as usual, were digging deep. A writing pattern seemed to be emerging. With the likes of "Hypocrite", Berenyi appeared to be more punky with a melodic pop edge, her lyrics like confrontational diary extracts, while Anderson was more impressionistic, brooding, even progressive, enjoying the sound of words as much as their meaning, as evinced by her "Desire Lines". It was not a theory that held up for long.

"Everything was great," says Anderson about the build-up and reaction to Split. "We got everything we wanted. Our own tour? We got it. Europe? We got it. America? Yes. In fact, everything was going well until Split, when the momentum dropped. We were immensely pleased with it, even though it had taken so much out of us. We thought it was the best work we'd done. So we were disappointed with the reaction - it sold half as much as Spooky. But, having got through that bad time, when the carpet really felt like it was being pulled out from under us, we really did get stronger. Strangely, it really boosted our confidence."

Despite its musical bravado and violent lyrical honesty - "We both seemed to move between massive self-hatred and violent accusation of other people," says Anderson - Split was seen as a disaster, and changed the band's approach.

"With me it was a case of once bitten," explains Berenyi. "I felt I'd written extremely personally on Split and had that dismissed incredibly glibly. I felt I had to back off because I couldn't really take that reaction, to my stuff or to Emma's. I mean, "When I Die" was all about her father dying, it was really poignant and that was ignored - not so much in Europe or the US, but certainly in the UK."

As is often the case, failure proved liberating. While the pressure came off, new enthusiasm was injected by the arrival of new manager Peter Felstead. The band threw themselves into recording what would be their final LP, Lovelife. Exploding the myth of their individual writing styles, the "brooding and progressive" Anderson wrote the shimmering pop hit "Single Girl", and "500" (about a little Fiat), while Berenyi maintained her confrontational rep with the bruising, brilliant "Ladykillers", then undermined it utterly with the mournful, pastoral "Papasan".

"I remember the first track I wrote for the LP was "Ladykillers"," says Berenyi "and it took me nearly three weeks to write it because I'd had such a bruising to my self-confidence as a songwriter with Split. I decided to fill the song full of every bloody corny gimmick I could think of - simpler harmonies, handclaps, sudden stops, etc, a kind of 'give 'em what they want' thing. Of course, my idea of commercialism is still a long, long way from other people's. "Ciao!" may be a lilting duet with Jarvis Cocker but it's still basically two people telling each other to f*ck off."

The combination of this freedom with a growing experience and expertise obviously took Lush onto a new creative plane. So obviously, in fact, that the pressure was immediately back on to break America. Now the touring became back-breaking and repetitive. During yet another US tour - this time with the perhaps inappropriate Gin Blossoms and Goo Goo Dolls - even the fans began to ask why the band were playing so often. The frustration and bad feeling within the band grew inexorably. Acland, ordered to rest by his doctor, returned to his parents' home in the Lake District. Anderson, dissatisfied with her current position, called a meeting and announced her departure. "It was total overkill," says Anderson "I felt like a product being shoved down people's throats. It felt soulless."

"Everyone was sick of touring," says Berenyi "and Emma said she didn't want to go through anything like the Lovelife experience ever again. She thought we should continue without her ('Well, look at Suede') but I said no way. Things were left at that with no definite decision. Being the eternal optimist, I believe it was rocky but it would have continued, gone in a totally different direction. Then two days later we heard about Chris."

Up in the Lakes - horribly, terribly - Acland had hanged himself. "For me," says Berenyi "That was the end. There was no way on earth I could have gone on with Lush without him, because I always firmly believed that without his benign influence Emma and I would have torn each other apart years ago. Not to mention the obvious fact that he was one of my closest friends ever and there was very little else I wanted to do without him, for that matter. So I guess to Emma the end was aready in sight. For me personally, it was Chris's death, and Chris's death only that finished Lush. I enjoyed being in the band immensely, I'm glad I did it. But that really was a full stop, his personality was such a major part of the band."

It should have come as no surprise that Acland's death finished Lush. Privately and professionally, in their joyful celebrations and their painful (and far more frequent) self-examinations, they were in the business of living life, really living it. Such a tragedy, the loss of their life and soul, could only serve to drain the fun from their adventures. The fun, of course, is vital to the Lush story. It was a raison d'etre and, incredibly, held them back as the UK was gripped first by grunge melancholia and then by po-faced, swaggering Britpop.

Their talent and their exuberance though had already made a difference. Particularly in the States, where their music was deeply respected and their lyrics - often moving, rigorous and earthy appraisals of themselves and their relationships, their nature and nurturing - were a motivating force for female songwriters. As well as being accidental icons (the best kind), Lush also made exceptional music: classic pop, fiery punk, soaring ambient and a modern, lilting folk. It can be harrowing - fun or fraught, these are recognisably real life experiences. But it's all worthwhile, all of it. And few bands could truthfully say that.

- Dominic Wills

At the booklet's end there is a dedication:
to the memory of Christopher Acland. Forever loved, eternally missed and always remembered with a smile.

"Sing-Sing and I" is Out!

Sing-Sing and I
Emma Anderson
Lisa O'Neill
release: February 14, 2006
on: Reincarnate Music

A Modern Girl and Going Out Tonight

TRACKLIST

1 Lover	2:28
2 Come, Sing Me A Song	3:38
3 Mister Kadali	3:59
4 A Modern Girl	3:49
5 Ruby	3:25
6 I Do	3:32
7 Going Out Tonight	3:35
8 Unseen	4:34
9 The Time Has Come	3:46
10 When I Was Made	4:03
11 A Kind Of Love	4:13
12 Lover	2:47

Vocals, Backing Vocals, Harmonica: Lisa O'Neill
Backing Vocals: Mark Van Hoen (tracks: 9)
Bass: Mark Van Hoen (tracks: 2 to 3) , Michael Scrivens (tracks: 5)
Guitar, Bass: Emma Anderson
Voice [Talking]: Jamie Kane (tracks: 8) , Olayinka Dada (tracks: 3)
Written By: Emma Anderson (tracks: 1, 4, 7, 8 to 10) , Lisa O'Neill (tracks: 2, 3, 5 to 7, 11)

Mastered By: Denis Blackham
Mixed By: Alan Moulder (tracks: 1, 4, 5) , Ray O'Neill (tracks: 2, 3, 6 to 11)
Producer: El Drezidente (tracks: 3, 6, 10) , Mark Van Hoen (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 11)
Producer [Additional Instrumentation]: El Drezidente (tracks: 10)
Programmed By, Keyboards: Mark Van Hoen

The Joy of Sing-Sing

Emma comes back!

Joining forces with singer Lisa O'Neill, Sing-Sing releases its 12 track debut album in 2001. Definitely aimed as being a group to stand on it's own merits, the songs penned by Emma are catchy, upbeat, a bit dreampop and an bit retro 60's in style.

"Feels Like Summer" is by far my favorite pick to obsessively hit the repeat button on over and over. But please, play responsibly and listen to all the tracks ;)

The Joy of Sing-Sing
released: August 29, 2001
Sing-Sing are: Emma Anderson and Lisa O'Neill
on: Manifesto Records

1 Everything	Listen
2 Tegan	Listen
3 I'll Be	Listen
4 Me and My Friend	Listen
5 Far Away from Love	Listen
6 Panda Eyes	Listen
7 Command	Listen
8 Feels Like Summer	Listen
9 Émigré	Listen
10 You Don't Know	Listen
11 Underage	Listen
12 I Can See You	Listen

The song links directly to Amazon.com, where you can purchase the album or individual tracks.

In the beginning...

A Lush Chronology

1960
April 28 - Philip King born in London, England

1966
September 7 - Christopher Acland born in Lancaster, England

1967
March 18 - Miki Berenyi born in London, England.
June 10 - Emma Anderson born in London, England

1981
At the age of 14, Berenyi met future bandmate Emma Anderson at Queen's College in England. They found they had a common bond: their parents had bounced them both from school to school depending on family finances at the time.

Emma: Me and Miki have known each other since we were fourteen and we both got into music sorta around the same time

1983-85 (approx.)
Young Miki and Emma work together on music fanzines (Alphabet Soup)
the two teenagers wrote and produced a fanzine called Alphabet Soup, which only lasted for five issues.

1987
September - LUSH is born, conceived by Chris Ackland, Steve Rippon, Meriel Barham, Emma Anderson, and Miki Berenyi.

Miki: We just wanted to be in a band together really. I met Chris and steve at Polytechnic doing a degree. And um, Chris joined first and then, I think, Emma was playing bass then and I was playing guitar and we had a different singer. And then we all changed what we were playing and stuff and then Steve joined.

Emma: He could play a bit of guitar so I just asked him if he wanted to play bass and he said yes and that was it really. Really ropey beginnings.


1988
(According to other sources) Lush formed in London, England, in 1988 Berenyi studied English literature at London's Polytechnic University, where she met drummer Christopher Acland, bassist Steve Rippon, and singer Meriel Barham. Along with Anderson, they decided to form their own band. Anderson's friend Kevin Pickering told her he thought Lush would be a perfect name for a band. Anderson agreed, suggested the name to the band, and they started writing and rehearsing. After that conversation, Anderson never saw Pickering again.

On March 6, 1988, Lush played their very first performance at Camden Falcon in London. Not long after the band's first show, the U.K. press started to take notice with favorable reviews. But Barham decided he didn't want to stay with the band and later went on to join Lush's 4AD labelmates, the Pale Saints. The remaining members of Lush placed ads in local papers looking for Barham's replacement, but they couldn't find the singer they wanted. Berenyi took over the vocals, and the band continued to perform in clubs around London.

Miki replaced original lead Meriel Barham on vocals

Emma: Well, I think what happened was, well, yeah, we did want to start playing gigs as soon as possible however abyssmal we were. we just went out and did it. We had, I don't know about five, six songs. And we just played and played and played. And this line-up was really finalized, if you like, around October 88 - no...yeah, October 88. And we were sorta just still playing, sorta just improved our song-writing and our playing. It wasn't like we all got together and we could play and it was really good. It was a slow learning process.

Miki: We did a demo of two songs: "Etheriel" and "Second Sight" and we sent them out to about six companies - independant ones. We were going to go with another one first and do a single, but Ivo kept phoning to see what was going on, so he was interested, but I think he heard, from people, that we weren't very good live and whatever, so he was a bit cautious. but in the end he said "Well, I'll put you into the studio and you can record three songs. If I like them, we'll see what happens". So that's what we did. We went in the studio and we did "Babytalk", "Thoughtforms" and "Scarlet". And he really liked them. so he said "well, why don't you go back in the studio and do three more?" so we did and we did "Bitter", "Second Sight" and "Etheriel". and that was "Scar." So really, Scar's like demos, really.

Miki: Once we did release "Scar" it made it a lot better for us live 'cos it meant people already knew what we sounded like having bought the record. that made live a bit easier and then when we got a tour with...was it the Darling Buds? Yeah. We got a support tour with the Darling Buds, which was alright. It was okay and then we played with loop. We did a tour with them almost straight afterwards. As soon as we finished that was when we recorded "De-Luxe". Then we did our first headline tour the following year, followed immediately by a european tour with the Pale Saints.

1989

In January of 1989 Chris Roberts in Melody Maker wrote a rave review of Lush, describing them as "a delta," "irresistible" and "monstrously wonderful." Once the magazine hit the street, Lush received nonstop phone calls from record companies interested in the band.

Signed with 4AD Records in the U.K., 1989. By the summer, 4AD Records had sent them into the studio with producer John Fryer to record a three-song demo called Etheriel. Those three songs became the first side of Lush's debut mini-album, titled Scar, which they released that fall.

Lush is four people: Emma Anderson (guitar & vocals), Miki Berenyi (vocals & guitar), Chris Ackland (drums), and Steve Rippon (bass). The band came together in Camden (North London) in 1989 while Miki, Steve, & Chris were finishing up their degrees at London Polytechnic. (Emma was Miki's school-chum from way back. The two had put together a 'zine of sorts called "Alphabet Soup" that was apparently mostly just rude!). Steve left the band in Feb. 1992, after recording the B-sides the "For Love" e.p. He was replaced with former NME employee Phil King. Also, it should be noted that way back at the beginning, Muriel (now of Pale Saints fame), was the lead vocalist, before she moved onto her present band.

"Scar" tracks 8,9,10,11,12,13, recorded at Blackwood Studios, London July 1989, released as "Scar" ep / debut mini-LP October 1989.

"Scar" tracks 4,5,6,7, recorded at September Sound and the Church, London, December 1989, released Feb 1990 on "Mad Love" ep.

1990
On February 26, 1990, Lush released their next EP, Mad Love, and its first single, "Sweetness and Light." Produced by Cocteau Twins' guitarist Robin Guthrie, "Mad Love" provided another step in their musical growth and got the attention of Warner/Reprise Records, who licensed the band's releases in the United States. Lush didn't set out on a certain plan in their career from this point; they put aside ambition and decided to take things one step at a time.

In December of 1990 4AD/Reprise compiled and released Lush's two preceding EPs as "Gala," their first release in the United States. The group named the album after Salvador Dali's wife.

Released two EPs before licensing for U.S. distribution with Reprise Records, 1990

Released debut LP, "Gala," 1990

"Scar" tracks 1,2,3, recorded at Greenhouse, London 1990, released October 1990 on ep.

"Scar" track 14 recorded at First Protocol and September Sound, London, February 1990.

"Scar" album is released.

1991
Embarked on U.S. tour, 1991

In April of 1991 they returned to the United States for their second tour co-headlining with Ride. Then, at the end of the year, bassist Steve Rippon left the band to concentrate on writing novels full time. To replace him, Lush approached Philip King, a former New Musical Express journalist, who had played bass for many U.K. bands, including Felt, and Biff Bang Pow!

July-October: "Spooky" album is recorded at September Sound, London.

August: tracks on "Black Spring" ep recorded at September Sound, London, released that same year.



1992
With their new lineup in place, Lush headed back into the studio and released their next EP, "For Love," in January of 1992. Later in the year, Lush arrived in the record stores once again with their next album--also produced by Robin Guthrie — called "Spooky." Although it debuted at Number Seven on the U.K. charts, it received a negative reaction from the press. Some critics berated the band for bad songwriting, and others accused Guthrie of subduing the band's talents.

"Spooky" album is released.

They toured Great Britain, the United States, and Europe, then returned to the States to join the second annual Lollapalooza tour with Pearl Jam, Ministry, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Ice Cube. At the end of the summer, the band took their tour to Japan and Australia.

Performed on Lollapalooza tour '92

Miki, under the influence on many tequilas, stage-dived during Ministry's set one night (Dallas I think) and landed on the barrier between the stagefront and the audience, leaving her with 15 stitches, and meaning she had to perform guitarless at the following show.

At an afterparty, Emma smashed a pane of glass with both fists which caused a few major cuts.

Rippon left, the band at this stage in order to concentrate on writing, though his book Cold Turkey Sandwich - a fictionalized chronicle of his time in touring - was rejected by publishers.

Philip King replaced Rippon on bass.

1993
October-December: Recording (for "Split") at Rockford Studios, Wales Berry House, Sussex and Abbey Road London.

Lush played in 4AD's "13 Year Itch" celebration at England's Institute of Contemporary Art and joined Rage Against the Machine for a special benefit concert for the Anti-Nazi League at the Brixton Academy.

1994
Releases: "Hypocrite" and "Desire Lines" ep's, and "Split" album.

On June 14, 1994, Lush released "Split," produced by Mike Hedges. In Great Britain, 4AD simultaneously released two EPs along with the album — "Hypocrite" and "Desire Lines." Berenyi wrote four of the album's songs, and Anderson wrote the other eight. Chris Gill in Guitar Player commented, "Split shares moments of hypnotic, resplendent pleasure-punk and hard, lardy angst-pop" and added that the album was "easily the British dream-pop band's most varied, cocksure, and commercial effort."

1995
May-August: Back to the studios to record (for "Lovelife")- Protocol Studios, London

1996
"Lady Killers (disc one and disc two)" ep's, "Lovelife" and "Topolino" albums released.

Acland killed himself in October 1996

One of the songs performed at Chris' funeral touchingly is "When I Die"...I'll see you again.


1998
The remaining band members officially announce that Lush has permanently disbanded.

2000
Miki records "Smile" in 2000. The song appears on a Japanese-only various artists release titled "Possessed".

2001?
"Ciao! Best of Lush" (4AD) 2001, a compilation of singles is released

Miki's daughter Stella is born

Emma: Yes! she has had a baby, it is her first baby, there were some rumours about three years ago, so she’s had a little baby girl and she’s at home looking after her at the moment, Phil is working for NME still and some other magazines off and on, I’m not sure if he’s doing anything musically at the moment - he has done bits and pieces over the last few years, but nothing that’s really... well he was in the Mary Chain for a while after we split up but I don’t think he’s made any records and Steve lives in Ireland with his wife and he works at a computer company and he writes sometimes for Mojo and Q, mainly reviewing reissues and stuff, back catalogue type things.

Emma: I have a day job, and I work for another band... who were big in the 80’s....
their initials are DD (*editor note-Duran Duran) and they’ve just got back together in the original line up.

2002
September 3: Emma's new band Sing-Sing releases it's debut album, "The Joy of Sing-Sing"

2004?
Miki's son Ivan is born

2005
Targeted Release of Sing-Sing's second album





(2011 note: not sure at all who originally started this excellent timeline and the sources — aside from some interviews ... but took someone's hard work, edited/expanded on it a bit myself, and now resharing it sheerly for the wealth of info provided in a simple timeline form for the benefit of those interested)