Friday 3 May 2013

The "Band" Days

I started fiddling with guitars in my early teens - there was a old classical guitar knocking around the house that I would try to play David Bowie songs in, following a slowly disintegrating song book.  I never really got on with it.

Then a friend of mine decided that he would learn to play bass and bought a rather cheap and dreadful copy of a Gibson EB0.  I was hooked.  With hindsight, I can see that my dyspraxia made it really hard to deal with chords and lots of strings, while playing one note at a time on 4 strings was a lot easier.

I must have been 15 when I bought my first bass - a horrible copy of a Fender Precision, which I played through my tatty little hi-fi system.  I shredded my fingers on that thing ("Played until my fingers bled!" to steal from Brian Adams) but I was able to learn the basics and get hooked.

During this time I just messed about, playing with a couple of friends who had guitars, doing a few Who and Status Quo songs.  Easy stuff. 

After I left school I bought my next bass, which I still have.  It was rather nice to play, with a good tone but not much power behind it.  I used this for a couple of years while playing in several bands, sometimes being in 3 at a time.  Bass players were in short supply... 

One band played a lot of Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, etc.

Another was more Scorpions and Michael Schenker.

Another was all Prog Rock with a synth player in charge.  In a way this was the most interesting of the bands as I had a lot of opportunity to do my own thing.

Finally there were a couple of guys who wrote their own, very geeky songs but were only able to practice once in a blue moon.  My first gig was with these guys - 3 songs I had never played before in a church hall at a couple of hours notice after their previous bass player decided he wasn't going to do it.

When I was 18, I got The Baby (see photo in the last post).  This was a dream to play and finally gave me the power I wanted for playing good rock.  My other bands faded away so I joined up with a couple of guys who had previously been in a relatively successful skinhead/punk band and wanted to relaunch things.  It soon became clear, though, that only the singer wanted to stick with the punk style, so he left and we recruited another singer who also played some guitar.  This became the band that I gigged most with, often on a weekly basis.  We played a lot of gigs at a very rustic pub and built up a bit of a following.  Probably the best gig we ever did was one New Year's Eve.  The place was jammed solid and we played our hearts out.  By the end of the evening people were dancing on the tables.  It was a great evening.  Next day, when we went to collect our amps and stuff the landlord was busy nailing tables back together again - many of them had collapsed under the feet of the revellers.  We apologised for the damage, but he was happy enough - the bar had been more or less drunk dry, and the furniture was just make out of old planks so a few nails and all was good again.

The end of this band came when a guy wanted to be our manager and get us bigger gigs.  He organised one disasterous gig for us in London.  I lost interest and decided that as I was now a parent I should focus on being a bit more sensible.  I was never into chasing fame anyway, I just wanted to play some music and have a few beers....

11 comments:

ShadowRun300 said...

Well how cool is that! Based on my Hubby's experience, bands are fun for a while, but they can be difficult to keep together. As you mentioned earlier, sometimes egos get in the way. He's much happier now playing gigs by himself. And he likes the quieter venues like wineries and coffee shops.
I'm so glad you shared this side of you! And I loved the New Year's Eve story! Sounds like a successful night if the bar was drunk dry and the tables collapsed! Wish your 'career' would have ended with that night instead of the disastrous gig in London.

terri said...

I guess that's why they call things like this our "passions." You follow your heart and stick with it long enough and it becomes a part of you. I can imagine how that New Years Eve felt like a really big time in your life, but it's good that your music has stuck with you throughout.

I took piano lessons for 4 years, but I didn't love it. I wish I did, but it just wasn't in me.

Rock Chef said...

ShadowRun300 - I think it was better to end like it did really, stopped me wanting to be in a band for a long time.

Terri - 4 years is a long time! When was this?

wigsf3 said...

Once you got the woman, why keep playing in bands? Only reason to be in a band is to get laid.

Rock Chef said...

Wigsf - Didn't work like that for me! She didn't know I was in a band!

Rock Chef said...

Wigsf - Didn't work like that for me! She didn't know I was in a band!

Rock Chef said...

Wigsf - Didn't work like that for me! She didn't know I was in a band!

Riot Kitty said...

Mr. RK was in a band when I met him. WIGSF, I guess it worked, because right after we met, he quit ;)

CiCi said...

Reading your post I was enjoying the fact that you "just wanted to play some music and have a few beers". You kept your head on straight while you progressed in your guitar playing. For enjoyment only.

agg79 said...

Great way to break into the band. I never had the skill/talent for guitars (still on my bucket list) but I was more into percussion. Always wanted to be the drummer in the band. Even had my own set in high school but never found the right band/niche and it eventually faded away. Think it is great you have kept the passion after all of these years.

Abby said...

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane! I'm glad it wasn't about chasing fame, you're too nice a guy for that.