Many apologies for our enforced outage on Thursday/Friday - this was due to some nasty piece of work who hacked this website, for no apparent reason other than to cause additional work and stress.

As you now know, the site is back, and is safe to visit. It has been safe to visit throughout, and as a precaution a special deep scan has been done on the many thousands of pages and items across the website.

Thank you to all of you for your patience during this trying time, and for those of you who offered to help either logistically, or even financially! Special thanks go to our friends 3B Digital who have gone above and beyond yet again!

We can now proceed with some of the updates we've wanted to do - not least, there's a competition on its way shortly!

Today (January 6th) would have seen Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett's 70th birthday, having been born in 1946, and we've been marking this notable day by having a wander through Syd's back catalogue of music.

We're sure that like us, many will have paid their own personal tributes to him, in remembrance of the impact he had on our lives - playing his music, enjoying some of his art work, and so on. We'd love to know how you are marking his huge contribution to our lives - email us, or join in the conversation over at our Facebook page.

On the official front, there's been quite a bit of work going on behind the scenes, as today saw the launch of a newly designed, official website for Syd [click the thumbnail to the left], replacing the one we've been enjoying over the last few years. The new one has a slick new look, with a wealth of never before seen material, including a large number of family photographs, and is well worth a visit - www.SydBarrett.com is the URL. The site did struggle when it went live earlier today, but seems to be speeding up now. If you find it still struggling when you visit (and Pink Floyd's official Facebook recently posted about it, which could send a lot of traffic to it) then give it a try tomorrow...

Our very best wishes go to Guy Pratt today (January 3rd), who is celebrating his birthday. Born in London in 1962, son of the actor Mike Pratt from Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Guy took to a career in music, which lead to his first world tour whilst still a teenager!

Working with the likes of Bryan Ferry and Robert Palmer lead to him being noticed by David Gilmour, who invited Guy to play for Pink Floyd in 1987. This lead to work with other major artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, but Guy has stayed loyal to David, performing alongside him up to the most recent tours. Having just got back from the South American leg of David's Rattle That Lock tour, Guy is no doubt taking a rest prior to the tour resuming in March, in North America, for a number of dates before the tour returns to Europe.

Life as a musician on the road, and in the studio, inspired Guy to write his hilarious "My Bass And Other Animals" book, an essential read for any Floyd fan. He has toured his memories in a tour of the same name, and has also developed adaptations of the show. Whatever your interests in music are, the book (as with his solo, stand-up shows) give a mind-boggling and hilarious look at life with various musicians. There's plenty of detail within the pages of his Floyd life, so well worth taking a look.

Many happy returns, Guy, from all of us at Brain Damage!

At the very end of November, Pink Floyd 1965 - Their First Recordings was quietly released to create a storm of shock and surprise amongst the Floyd community. The stealth release of 1050 copies, housed on two 7" singles, in a gatefold sleeve with a Po Powell design, brought the official release for the first time of six songs recorded during that year. It appeared in selected record stores with no fanfare or pre-notice. Rumour has it that record stores weren't even told who the single was by or what it was called, but just told they could order in a handful of copies of a rarity that would become clear on receipt.

The recordings were made when the band were still a five-piece, with Rado Klose on guitar, alongside Syd, Nick, Roger, and Richard. One of the tracks, Walk With Me Sydney, also includes Juliette Gale (later, Richard's first wife) on vocals. Andy Jackson did the mastering for vinyl of these tracks, and the sound quality is very good across all six tracks.

Naturally, these sold incredibly quickly and it is extremely unlikely (but not impossible) that any remain in record stores. However, for those who have missed out, an official digital release has just appeared on iTunes via http://fave.co/1NUyPiA, although possibly this is not yet in all country's iTunes as yet - but worth checking regularly if you want to purchase this and see just what set the Floyd community ablaze at the start of December...