The Primal Screamer

by Nick Blinko, Roger Neighbour (Introduction)

The nameless evil that haunts a legendary punk rock outfit....a Gothic Horror novel about severe mental distress and punk rock. Semi-autobiographical novel from the Rudimentary Peni leading light plunging into the worlds of madness, suicide and anarchist punk. And it's a good read.

Genres: Horror, Music, Fiction, Punk, Literature, Thriller, Novels

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Nick Blinko (born 4 September 1961) is a British musician, lyricist, and artist best known as the lead singer, lyricist and guitar player for the British band Rudimentary Peni. He is also known for being an "outsider" artist who creates all the drawings used by the band for its artwork. Blinko began his career in the band The Magits, which formed before Rudimentary Peni in 1977 and was primarily electronic and considered inaccessible to most punk listeners.

Blinko has written a fictionalized semi-autobiographical novel with horror elements, entitled The Primal Screamer. It was published in 1995 by Spare Change Books. The book is written as a series of journal entries made by the therapist of one Nathaniel Snoxell (who starts a band which is never named but is similar to Rudimentary Peni in many ways).

Blinko also contributed to a collection of punk fiction short stories, entitled "Gobbing Pogoing And Gratuitous Bad Language". It was published in 1996 by Spare Change Books. The story is titled Punk Alice, a reference to Rudimentary Peni's song Alice Crucifies the Paedophiles. The story is written in a sketchbook style of doodles and scribbled phrases referencing the death of punk, chess, Catholicism, depression, goth, Rudimentary Peni lyrics, and drug chemicals.

Blinko contributed artwork for Coil's 1997 release, Unnatural History III released on Threshold House. The use of many bright colors in the drawings is a departure from his usual black & white style.

Blinko draws intensely dense and detailed compositions of faces, figures and obsessive patterns, which at times also incorporate fragmented phrases. Diagnosed as suffering from Schizoaffective disorder, and in the past hospitalized, Blinko creates his pictures when not taking therapeutic medication that adversely affects his ability to work. His art conjures a nightmarish, anxiety-ridden world where inner demons might be exorcised through repetitive graphic marks. Out of thousands of tiny flecks and dashes emerge elaborate visions of skeletons, mysterious symbols and religious figures. Reminiscent of the macabre images of Goya or James Ensor, Blinko creates a personal iconography that evokes the magic and menace of a rich imagination.

Another example of this is the Rudimentary Peni concept album Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric.

Nick Blinko currently resides on the "outskirts of London" in Abbots Langley.

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft or Rudimentary Peni, you've probably read this book already. If you're neither, then read a book on knot-tying and practice 'em around your neck.

[Sarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is easy to devour in one session. I had to read it being a huge Rudimentary Peni fan & a H.P. Lovecraft fan. I first picked it up when I was living at a punk house a few years back, & I had an annoyingly hip roommate with impeccable taste & resources for sourcing & owning incredibly neat shit that I was always pretty jealous of. This book was one of those things that he owned that always made my fingers itch as I walked past, & I had to remind myself constantly that I didn't steal from friends. This was of course around the time that the book was rare as hell & a crappy paperback copy went for like $150.

Anyways, it's a good, fun read. I have to say you'll probably only like it if you're a fan of Nick Blinko's to begin with. He liberally bites Lovecraft in ways that are at times, I hate to admit, comical, but if you can appreciate Blinko's music then you can appreciate the way he does it here. The first time I read this book I found the ending to be INFURIATING, but the second time around (very recently) I can say that it fits better than I thought, although it still feels rushed & crazed. I think he wanted it that way. It goes from spooky to dangerous & psychotic & unfathomable within a few pages, & I can see that definitely pissing people off.

So, I would only recommend this to a Rudimentary Peni fan that loves H.P. Lovecraft. Pretty specific stuff.

[Laura Brower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't think it's quite as crazy as it thinks it is, but then I've never really been impressed with the whole Shogallothlothloth (and so on) Lovecraft stuff or people's appropriation of it. I was more drawn to the punkness of it, the illustrations, but the actual prose is pretty characterless compared with actual incendiary and experimental titles I've read over the last couple of years. I wouldn't say this is bad as such, it's actually alright and you could probably get a good kick out of it, but didn't grab me.

[Dow Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell asleep during the first half of it but once Nat started Rudimentary Peni, that's when it got good. I loved hearing all the history behind that stuff. My favorite part was when the doctor says Nat got an acoustic guitar and played constantly and the neighbors didn't care except for when he would scream to sing.

[David Agranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

You may not have ever heard of Nick Blinko, but he is well nown and
popular in certain circles. He was the guitarist of Rudimentary Peni,
a popular crust punk band. (crust punk is a subgenre of a subgenre,
anarcho-political punk) besides their fellow British standard Crass -
Rudimentary Peni is one the most popular bands of the genre 30 years
after they started.

Since the band recorded a tribute to HP Lovecraft I think the idea
that the novel was a twisting of Crust punk with Lovecraft vibe was a
little over sold on the back of the book. Besides a single reference
to the Necronomicon, and standard Gothic feel this thin but powerful
novel didn't feel Lovecraftian to me, and the horror aspect is a bit oversold.

The more you know about this pioneering band, the more likely you
are to enjoy this novel, which is a paper thin autobiography. The
novel follows the event of Blinko and the band's life with only a few
names changed and a few horrific visions added. the rumor is that
Blinko himself has been committed, but I don't know if that is just
legend. It's true that the band's bass player died of cancer.

One very bold choice was to tell the story through the eyes of Nat
(although it's clear he represents the author)'s psychotherapist. As
he gets to know Nat he feels his dreams slipping into insanity, this
and the method of regressive therapy which takes you back under
hypnosis to feeling of being in the womb. This is a great analogy
considering the name of the band the characters and the author were
in. In Maximum RocknRoll, issue #237 (February 2003), the bass player
Matthews explained how he came up with the name of the band: "When I
was at school studying biology, we were told that in the fetal stage
the clitoris is a rudimentary penis."

Over all I personally enjoyed the novel, but I didn't exactly think it
was a masterpiece. As a history of the band and a dark artist knowing
so much of this experience is true makes for a compelling read. At the
same time as a horror novel I don't think it would work for anyone who
was not already a fan of or interested in Blinko's music. The
therapists descendent into madness to me feels short and rush at the
end, happening most clearly in the last five pages of the novel.
Events of the story while interesting and gothic were not strong
enough to carry it as a horror novel.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone bought this book for me on eBay for $80, and I think it's safe to say it was worth every penny.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Βαθμολογία: 7/10

Ο Νικ Μπλίνκο είναι στιχογράφος, κιθαρίστας και τραγουδιστής του αναρχοπανκ βρετανικού συγκροτήματος Rudimentary Peni, το οποίο ιδρύθηκε και έλαμψε την δεκαετία του '80 (και νομίζω ότι υπάρχει ακόμα). Το μικρό αυτό βιβλιαράκι είναι μια κατά κάποιο τρόπο αυτοβιογραφία των νεανικών χρόνων του συγγραφέα και των πρώτων του βημάτων στον χώρο της υποκουλτούρας. Η αφήγηση γίνεται μέσω μιας σειράς ημερολογιακών εγγραφών του ψυχιάτρου Ρόντνεϊ Χ. Ντουέλερ, ο οποίος κούραρε τον νεαρό αυτοκτονικό και αντικοινωνικό Ναθάνιελ (Νατ) Σνόξελ, από το 1979 έως το 1985. Η όλη ιστορία με την ψυχική ασθένεια του νεαρού και την πρωτογενή θεραπεία εκ μέρους του γιατρού του, έχει και κάποιες προεκτάσεις στο είδος του τρόμου και του παράξενου.

Αν και έχω ακούσει κάποια τραγούδια των Rudimentary Peni, δεν θεωρώ τον εαυτό μου ούτε φαν ούτε γνώστη της ιστορίας του συγκροτήματος, οπότε ίσως γι'αυτό και δεν ξετρελάθηκα από την όλη ιστορία. Σίγουρα η ατμόσφαιρα είναι κάπως μουντή και περίεργη, προς το τέλος υπάρχουν σκηνές και εικόνες του αλλόκοτου, όμως γενικά ο τρόπος αφήγησης με τις κλινικές ημερολογιακές εγγραφές έκανε την ιστορία λιγάκι ανιαρή και επίπεδη (κυρίως στην αρχή της ιστορίας). Με λίγα λόγια θα ήθελα περισσότερο τρόμο, διαφορετικό τρόπο αφήγησης, ίσως περισσότερες περιγραφές από τα πρώτα βήματα του νεαρού Νατ στον χώρο του πανκ. Πάντως, δεν πέρασα και άσχημα, και η γραφή ήταν αρκετά καλή και ευκολοδιάβαστη, με μια φιλοσοφική διάθεση.

[Tait · Rating 5 out of 5]

The singer and artist of seminal anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni, Blinko followed in the footsteps of many great artists by going insane. From the asylum he produced an album dedicated entirely to H.P. Lovecraft, and this novel. "Primal Screamer" charts his descent into madness and childhood regression from the perspective of his psychiatrist, who may also be going mad.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to give an honest opinion of this book. Nick Blinko's anarcho punk Rudimentary Peni has been a favorite band of mine since I was 16 years old. I still mark them as one of the most brilliant punk bands to exist and I treasure my original records by them. Nick Blinko's schizophrenic artwork is the stuff of legend. I was privileged to see some of the original pieces used in Rudimentary Peni's "Death Church" some years back at a small exhibit in Portland. The "Cacophony" LP is a bonkers concept album about the life and works of H.P. Lovecraft that's essential listening for horror fans; never again will you hear Arthur Machen and M.R. James name dropped on a punk record. Adding to their mythology is their studio band status - they only gigged around 10 times in the early '80s, and the one live video that exists from a 1992 one-off is a terrible performance. Only a few photos taken during their height exist.
"The Primal Screamer" is a loosely autobiographical account of Nathaniel Snoxell, a formerly institutionalized man suffering from schizophrenia who finds himself enmeshed in the British punk scene of the '80s, living in squats, playing music and possessing a black sense of humor, talent for art and a taste for the macabre. The writing style is obviously influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, but you will be disappointed if you are expecting a Lovecraftian story. This is a must for Peni / Blinko / British anarcho punk fans and anyone who likes offbeat and outsider art.

[Volmer Berendse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als groot bewonderaar van de muzikant en kunstenaar Nick Blinko was ik erg benieuwd naar dit boek. Vooral omdat het 'semi-autobiografisch' is.
Ik werd de tweede helft een beetje moe van het perspectief vanuit de psychiater en had gehoopt op iets meer Rudimentary Peni. Niet slecht. Niet echt goed.

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eldritch exploration of the Weird plus anarcho-punk? Yes please.

[Lenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this has to be the most poetic book I have ever read in my entire life. I genuinely don't believe anything could ever even come close to the level of depth this book has. It is just so easy to become so drawn in to the beauty and macabre it details, I love the format of writing and the story itself. It is so entirely unlike anything else I have ever read, I grew to be so fascinated by the characters and their way of thinking, all of it is just so brilliant. I feel like the climactic end was very fitting and sinister, it was only appropriate to end on such a strange and mysterious note. I also really loved the art showcased in this book as well. Nick Blinko's artwork is truly something to behold and I am honestly so surprised to have not stumbled across him and Rudimentary Peni far sooner. I am glad I have now though.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiographical fiction? Remembered unreality? Madness and a deathwish collide with punk rock, anarchy,a Buddhist psychiatrist, Nathaniel Snoxell and sundry other monstrosities. Gets an extra star for the artwork, some of which I have a tattoo of, btw.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in my teenage time-killer days, I learned about Rudimentary Peni and ended up with every CD of theirs that I could get my hands on. There was something sincerely tortured about their vibe, compared to other punk. No blunt political slogans, just crabbed artwork of faces and fetuses, and songs that featured whispers and muttered chants. There were rumors about the lead singer, Nick Blinko, that he had gone insane and thought he was the pope.

I would listen to RP in my bedroom at night, through the headphones of my battered Discman. This music transported me from my provincial southern town into a subterranean nightmare-world, which matched my mood and gave me hope that I could find kindred spirits someday. I turned an RP t-shirt into a back patch for a black hoodie that I wore all through high school and college, which is about the highest tribute I could have given any band at the time.

Three quarters of the world are starving
The rest are dead

RP became the soundtrack to my existence, but the band itself seemed so unknowable. They had sent these eldritch communiques from the early 80s, but beyond the CD liner notes I knew nothing about them, what they were doing now, or what they looked like. What did the band name even mean? (Looking back... I feel like we were the last cohort of teenagers to be part of subculture in this way, just before the internet got big.)

In the 90s The Primal Screamer was out of print and inaccessible. So I forgot all about it until some memory prompted me to look it up many years later. With a few clicks I ordered Nick Blinko's legendary, underground text -- which felt so strange, as in my imagination it was on par with the Necronomicon itself, not something that one should find for sale online like any other book.

Reading it after all these years was an odd experience. The book combines autobiography with Lovecraftian horror, as Nick Blinko's story is told through the perspective of his psychologist. I would have appreciated the weirdness and attitude of the story more when I was 16. But I loved finally, FINALLY having this glimpse into the origins the band after all these years, including some coded references to RP's interactions with the Crass Records folks, and (at last!) an explanation of the phrase "Rudimentary Peni." Recommended for other RP fans.

[Isaac Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nathaniel Snoxell is a disturbed young bloke. This 20-year-old first meets Dr. Rodney H. Dweller, a London psychiatrist, after slicing up both of his wrists in a botched suicide attempt that is anything but a “cry for help.” The doctor admits that he’s has never, “seen such grevious self-inflicted injuries as those that lay upon the wrists of Nathaniel Snoxell.”

Nick Blinko’s novel The Primal Screamer is structured as a series of first-person journal entries from this Dr. Dweller, who treats Nat on-and-off from 1979 to 1984. In these journal entries, Dweller tries to understand why Nat suffers from an infatuation with death and a “strong desire for oblivion.” Here are some of the doctor’s early observations of Nat’s mental state:

“Nat’s death wish is both incredibly deep-rooted and close to the surface.”

“What the poor boy has repressed for these last twenty years is inconceivable.”

“At times, though, he feels murderous. Paradoxically, I know he has the wherewithal to kill himself and yet I do not think that he could ever kill another person: he is emphatically one who could not deliberately injure a fly.”

The doctor uses psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and a method he calls “primal therapy” — a kind of deep hypnotherapy designed to uncover trauma stemming back to birth, even earlier. Dr. Dweller barely considers medicating Nat, a choice that seems like it borders on professionally irresponsible considering Nat’s “severe mental distress.” At one point, frustrated yet again by the lack of progress with his client, the doctor laments: “I wish I could give him a pill that would provide the thrill and insight of his love of death, whilst simultaneously freeing him from the threat that it poses to his life. Such a pill, sadly, does not exist, and psychology favours all-pervasive healthy normalcy over morbid unwholesomeness, however visionary it might be.”

A deeply anti-social person, one day Nat picks up the guitar and starts strumming. He soon meets up with a group of anarchist punks who start a band, making music that they view as a means of artistic and socio-political liberation. Dr. Dweller is skeptical of Nat’s growing obsession with this whole “punk” thing: “I had thought [punk music] extinct by now, or at least out of fashion. The punk styles have been transmuted, absorbed and adopted by society, though the polemics — always a minority taste — remain untouched. Nat informed me that ‘punk is not a fashion, it’s an attitude.’ I have heard this somewhere before.”

A classical violinist himself, Dr. Dweller admits that the interaction with other band members and gig attendees could do some good for the reclusive Nat. “Although at the moment he only aspires to long drone-ridden dirges, I believe that his fascination for the instrument will eventually educe much more beneficial effects, most of them probably not musical.”

But even with raucous anarcho-punk as an outlet, Nat cannot defeat his anxiety, depression and morbid fascinations.

The suicide attempts, his constant feelings of dread and despair, the bombardment of dark images, Nat’s struggles feel intensely real, even though they are interpreted through the doctor/narrator. Perhaps Nat’s tortured mental state seems so authentic because it is based on Blinko’s own experiences. Blinko suffers from Schizoactive disorder and has been hospitalized just like Nat. The macabre and obsessive drawings that litter this book seem inexctricably related to Blinko’s own delusions. In order to draw or paint, Blinko sometimes stops taking his therapeutic medication, which allows him access to the deepest and darkest chasms of his mind. It also allows the reader a harrowing and unobstructed view of severe mental distress.

Nick Blinko has a chaotic but ingenious mind. The frontman, lyricist, guitarist and illustrator for the anarcho-punk group Rudimentary Peni, Blinko is no stranger to pushing the limits of artistic expression. I love the way Maximum Rock N Roll describes the author: “Nick Blinko is a madman. That’s not intended as a pejorative opinion but rather a statement of plain fact.” A veteran of what is sometimes called the “outsider art” scene, Blinko’s attacks his canvasses with blank ink pens, scrawling obsessive patterns, distorted faces, broken bodies and all sorts of demonic creatures. Shocking in their subject matter, Blinko’s drawings are also incredible in their exquisite detail. (Click here to view images of some of Blinko’s work from OutsiderArt.co.uk.) Dozens of Blinko’s sketches (including the scary-awesome cover) are scattered throughout this book. It’s worth buying Primal Screamer for the drawings alone, they’re that fucking good.

This novel is more than just creepy, spooky and punky, it’s deeply philosophical. Primal Screamer focuses on the desire to create art in spite of — or perhaps because of — traumatic and painful experiences. But Nat (and ultimately Blinko himself) don’t view art as some cheesy therapeutic endeavor. Rather, art is about combating nihilism. Even when dealing with disturbing and macabre subject matter, art exists only because of the active participation of the artist. And every act of creation is inherently optimistic. “Creativity,” writes Dr. Dweller, “however pessimistic it appears, is quintessentially optimistic, proven by the fact of its actual existence.”

The book is also an interesting case studying in the shortfalls of the fiction-nonfiction dichotomy. Nat’s band in the book follows Rudimentary Peni’s real-life story. Nat’s mental struggles are Blinko’s. But the end result is a work of “fiction.”

How do we make sense of this? The author of the introduction ponders, “whether, in their search for truth, human beings are capable of anything other than fiction. Doesn’t everything we express, no matter how ‘truthful’ we intend it to be, come out distorted by virtue of having passed through our individual and unique minds?” It’s a very good question, one Blinko spends 122 pages dissecting.

While much of this book is semi-autobiographical, there comes a point near the end when the connection with Blinko’s personal experience is severed. I’m not giving away the ending, but suffice it to say H.P. Lovecraft would be proud.

[Andrea Ta-wil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn’t heard of Nick Blinko or Rudimentary Peni before finding his novel in a used bookstore, so I feel like I didn’t receive it as warmly as if I were already a fan. I can say I’m definitely interested in exploring his music further, and the sketches in the book are brilliant. And I overall love the story. That said, I feel like some parts of it could have used tightening up. This is a novel that would have worked better as a novella. I appreciate that Nat and Dwellers’ twin descent into madness was gradual, but at some points in the middles, the slope was nearly flat. And without getting into spoilers, I had some of the same irritation with Dwellers’ Lovecraftian dreams as I have with Lovecraft himself: it’s more about painting a dark and disturbing picture in the reader’s head and less about having it matter to the plot. Like pouring water into a bowl and watching it swirl instead of pouring it down an incline to see where it flows. This bit just proved I’m as capable of self-indulgence as Blinko and Lovecraft, I guess. Anyway, It’s ultimately a decent read, and highly recommended for anyone more familiar early 80s crust punk than me.

[Juniper McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Primal Screamer was easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year (so far), delving into the disturbing mind of Nat Snoxell through the eyes of Dr. Rodney H. Dweller. Being fairly dense but only 122 pages, I managed to finish it in a week and was captivated for every second of it. While at times it was overly grotesque, sometimes making me squeamish, you get the idea that this was Blinko’s intention- and the novel is not at all just shock value, Nico Blinko earns the readers repulsion. Rather than standing up on a soap box and shoving gore down our throats he walks us through the twisted descent into madness, sporadically flashing us bits and pieces of horror to keep us uncomfortable. The drawings included within the book are all delightfully sickening, and impressively all genuine works from the man himself. If you are experiencing reading block or having trouble getting into something, I highly recommend this book.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, my best faith take is that this book utilizes the written word very well to create a similar effect of listening to music of a similarly macabre quality. It is distinctly artistic in the way it utilizes language to craft a mood. That said, I'm not a big fan of the story it tells. It is helped by both it's ending casting a sort of Eldritch horror over the whole work (if only a little) and by the author's own life elevating this book in its mystique. However, it is otherwise a story centered on the relationship between a therapist and patient just absolutely riddled with pseudoscience and misinformation that kept taking me out of the story. I think I would have liked it much more in my pretentious days in the punk scene when I struggled much more severely with mental illness and addiction. Good art, bleh story.

[AJRXII · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had a think about this overnight before I wrote a review. It is written so brilliantly, literature wise that is. The words are fantastic. It's written like a diary about someone seeing a psychiatrist or whatever from the Drs perspective. A journey from a nearly dead young adult to underground punk star as Peni are of course. The I dreamt parts from the narrator of the book nahh I don't do dreams so that ruined it for me the middle is very samey as well so I had to take a good weeks break from it. The ending wasn't for me either. Should you read it? Most definitely will I read it again No. But Nick Blinko is a master of the English language so for that I will try more of his books. I forgot I had this by the way put in a draw with no cover on it!

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be bias as a Rudimentary Peni fan, but I loved this book. I think it is a fantastic work of weird, psychological horror that I would have enjoyed regardless of my familiarity with the author's music. If you do have a familiarity with Blinko's music or the Anarcho Punk scene of the 80s, it makes it all the more enjoyable. This is a welcome contrast to the many books featuring subcultures written by authors who clearly have no experience with them. Blinko's narrative never seems forced or contrived. It's as organic and as honest as his music.

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alas, this was bad. I was looking forward to it — always excited for “asylum” horror that refuses ableist tropes and gives us something new and original instead. But this wasn’t really “asylum” and wasn’t really “horror” — it was the overly formal and unengaging ramblings of a psychoanalyst who has never heard of E.P.s or music gigs before. So, interesting setup — the analysis of a semi-autobiographic Mad vegan punk that critiques the society that birthed him — but poor execution.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freaky little book that took me deceptively long to read. I���m less familiar with RP/Nick Blinko’s music than what the therapist in Primal Screamer describes as the “music known as ‘hardcore’ in America” but I still enjoyed the fucked-up pseudo-memoir quality here. Also some interesting Freud commentary

[Andy Tithesis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really as much a one star as a five but since it's Blinko I'll just scream like a teenage doodle bug beetle fan and that's all I have to say about that. Respect forever. No wrong can be done. I will fight your grandmother.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of rudimentary peni and I feel that this helps understand more of the musical content as well. Not for the faint heart or for those who are closed minded

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a brief read, interesting as a slightly fictionalised look at the the time leading up to the recording of Rudimentary Peni’s Death Church album.

[Jamie! · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the lulls in the story were made up by final hallucinatory passage

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Lovecraftian vibes in this. Loved the semi-autobiographical aspects of it too. Long live Nick Blinko and Rudimentary Peni. ☠

[Melissa McElhose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most original narrators in literary/punk history!

[Eric Madery · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Nick Blinkos art, i LOVE Rudimentary Peni...it started off strong, it gave good history into the bamd (i assume) but it really went nowhere.

[onyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

to be honest it was a bit hard for me to get through but i definitely will be rereading , it was pretty well done :-)