On the Precipice of Portugal (Stoop Chat 💬)

Off we go, or here we come, depending on where you are ✈️

We sat down last night for a final debrief before Keith and his wife jet to the south of Portugal today — Chris heads to Portugal’s north country on Saturday — in anticipation of next week’s shows. Those are followed not long after by a string of gigs and festivals in the UK and Ireland, all of which comes up for discussion in this stoopid chat, along with erotic thrillers, an off-brand Chuck E. Cheese thing called “Circus Playhouse,” and LOTS MORE. 💋

Episode notes…

• Keith reflects reverentially on Circus Playhouse — you can get a taste of those iconic tunes here, and glimpse the animals’ retirement conditions right over here.

• Chris discusses a recent viewing of Showgirls (1995), but neglects to point out one of the most interesting (ironic?) aspects of the film, which is only occurring to him now: it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors.

• We mention that next month’s show in Cardiff is selling worse than any other on that tour. It recently came to our attention that the promoter has posted ads with the wrong date — the show is on 2 August. Not sure that would have affected sales, but thought this would be a decent place to clarify all the same.

We need your advice…

We also mention this in the chat: should we manufacture a hat? Is that something people are waiting for, a We Are Scientists hat? Our merch people think so, but we’re not so sure. Here are the four types of hat we’re looking at, followed by a poll. Please vote! And let us know in the comments if you have strong feelings about what should be printed on there (smoking cat, band logo, both, the Godfather 2 logo, etc.) Don’t worry about the colors in the pictures — we’re just looking at styles. (Though do put your color thoughts in the comments.)

Four hat styles: Trucker (pink), Baseball (blue), Dad (white), and Bucket (black). Note: I think the “Baseball” has a stiff forehead zone, and the “Dad” does not?)

You could probably tell we were drinking during that stoop chat…

…and maybe you’re wondering how the hell we paid for the booze. We used Deborah Page’s subscription fees. Oi! Mate! Deborah! Goddamn did we ever need these beers. Nothing works quite like beer for gassing up our brain engines (“adding petrol to our brain motors”), and ‘twas your coins we put into the bartender’s clammy palm on this occasion. We and the entire S.D.I.R. community thank you, and consider you a mate.

Jesus christ, did Deborah’s beers ever go down easy.

Thanks for listening, reading, and watching Showgirls! We’ve got a loaded week coming up, with our inaugural episodes of “Subscriber Q&A” and “Subscriber Song Request” 🤯, plus reflections on the ground in Portugal, unless it just turns out to be really boring and uninspiring there.

Now go make your bed!

C + K