Right then. Had a few Gin & Tonics to get the juices flowing and I’m ready to talk. Many of you, those who for some reason listen to what I say and notice when I’m up or down, will have noted my status about being “devastated.com”. Some of you (thank you) have sent messages of help and encouragement. I’m upset because something I hold very dear to my heart has come to an end.
Austen, drummer and life-long friend has quit my band, Pearl Necklace.
So what? Get another drummer. They’re two-a-penny.
Are they?
Austen and I go back a very long way. We were mates at school. Way, way before either of us ever developed any passion for music, we were school buddies and living only a few streets away from each other, good mates. That has never changed. We remain, good mates. I’ll always love him. No matter what he does that upsets me, or, delights me. He is one of my life friends. Just as Pete is. Just as Boz is. Just as Deb is.
When I was in Sixth form, aged sixteen, or whatever, I learned to write songs.
I’d started learning to play guitar and already had a fundamental understanding of how to play a keyboard. I had what they call “Teenage Angst”. I wrote love songs for girlfriends that didn’t even exist and arty, political protest songs about my shit life.
Somewhere along the way, I started a band. I got two of the lads from Sixth Form, Simon Chadwick and Martin Wilkinson and convinced them we should start a band. Martin decided he wanted to play the guitar and Chad, the Bass. I still remember to this day, showing Chad the rudiments of a Bass Guitar. I called the band Justice Limited, which at the time, I thought was very cool.
Both Chad and Mart picked things up very well. They were both highly intelligent individuals and mastered their respective instruments very quickly. We needed a drummer. Austen was the obvious candidate as he was the only person we knew who had a set of drums. I soon found out that Austen was actually a very talented drummer. He had a natural ability.
We played a mixture of my own compositions and songs suggested or demanded by Austen. Our first ever Gig was at The Prince Of Wales pub, my local. We had just six songs. New Years Day (U2), Eaton Rifles (The Jam), Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones) and three of my own. We played our six songs and then had a break, before playing them all again. Then, guess what? We played them all again. Memory is a cruel thing and not particularly accurate, I suppose but, it was a great night. I was lead vocals and keyboard. A picture still exists somewhere of that night, where you can tell that my keyboard stand was my mother’s ironing board. Happy days.
I left Justice Limited. I got angry with Chad and Mart because they wouldn’t commit to practicing as much as I wanted us to practice. They were always needing to study for exams, furthering their blossoming careers. I had a dead-end job and saw music as being an escape, whereas, they saw the band as a hobby. I got myself a mobile disco set-up and started earning a few quid. I had decided that I could earn my living as a DJ and perhaps get myself a Karaoke set-up (which was very new, back then). “Fuck em”, I thought. I’ll go it alone. I was an Arty-Farty type who spent his free time drawing, painting, reading and writing. I didn’t need these uncommitted scientists in my arty-farty world. I had my own desires and all this angst. Feck me! I must’ve been a right prick.
I left them to their own thing and confidently expected it to dissolve within a week.
It didn’t dissolve. They bought in Mart’s girlfriend to sing. She was good. After a while Austen left them too, but they got another drummer and Austen got himself another band.
Justice Limited changed their name to “Waiting For Bonaparte”, which is taken from a line in a song from The Men They Couldn’t Hang. A group who’s music I had introduced them to.
Waiting for Bonaparte no longer exist. Eventually, growing up took precedence over the desire to play, but for a while, they were very good. I was very jealous, but always supportive of them. Going to some of their gigs and wishing I was on stage with them.
The world turns.
Austen stayed in the live music business. He has always been in a band. I reckon he’s been in over forty different bands, over the years. Mart moved away. Chad became The King of Sandwell Council’s engineers dept and I got on with life, marriage, family and career. I didn’t touch my guitar or play even one single note on a keyboard for over twenty years. I stopped writing. I stopped painting. I guess, I stopped living.
And then, one day, long divorced and moved on from my career, I met Jo. Something of my teenage angst came back to life. I started to paint again. It was good. It felt very good.
I felt the stirrings in my soul that was pushing me back into music.
One night, in the pub, Carl, Tony and Simon asked me if I wanted to be in a band with them. I jumped at it. Carl was playing Guitar, Tony was playing The Bass and Simon was singing. I picked up a guitar and joined in. I had forgotten how to play, almost. Things come back to you though. We started our little band and began to learn our stuff.
Thursdays were quiet in the pub, so I suggested that we use the stage to practice, to save paying for rehearsal rooms. The few people that were in the pub either didn’t care about us playing and making a noise, or they sat and listened. One of the regular listeners, Lee, asked if he could join us for a knock about. I bought a set of electric drums and we invited him to join us.
We practiced and got very slowly, better and better. When Wreckless Eric came to play at The Dolls House, I took advantage of the situation. We booked into rehearsal rooms and practiced four songs, again and again, until they were right. The night Wreckless Eric played here, We played too. Wreckless Eric took over the sound-controls. I was in ecstasy.
Lee left the band to go to University. Simon left the band because he was fed up of being told he wasn’t a good enough singer (Unfair, as he is a great singer. Still love ya Si!!).
I had a phone call from Austen, who must’ve heard I was back to playing in a band. His curiosity must’ve been tweaked because he ended up inviting me to go along to a practice with his current band, Most Wanted.
I took my guitar to that first rehearsal and tried to fit in as best I could.
The feedback I got from Austen was great. He’d loved it. The Bass player/lead vocalist, Andy, had liked me too. The guitarist, Dave, hated me. He said they didn’t need me. Why did they need another guitarist? Austen then phoned me and said “what about keyboards?”.
I hadn’t touched a keyboard for so long that I had really left it too long. Somehow, I got my metal together, and went along to the next rehearsal with a kiddies keyboard. Somehow, I got away with it. I didn’t know jack-shit what I was doing, but something clicked and the decision was made to invite me to join the band. I was now a member of both Monster Ate The Pilot (with Tony & Carl) and also a member of Most Wanted (with Austen, Andy & Dave). Great stuff.
Dave, the Guitarist, didn’t really like it, but accepted it for a while, eventually leaving the band just before a gig where both Monster Ate The Pilot and Most Wanted were to play a charity gig.
We somehow managed to combine the two bands so that the charity gig went ahead. It was tough, but we managed.
After the gig, we tried to pick up the pieces and make ourselves into a proper band. The big conflict was that Andy was not only a Bass player (we now had two) but he liked to be the front man, and that was now gonna be my job. After just a couple of rehearsals, Andy left.
We were now four.
Rehearsals were very good. We had a great sound coming together. I put down the Guitar and took up the Keyboard full time as this added more to the overall sound.
As a group, Pearl Necklace have been together only 12 or so months but they have been great months. We’ve gigged and learned and since Austen came along, he has had a catalysing effect, making us better than we were. We have made giant strides. Massive steps.
And now he has gone.
I don’t know what the future holds for Pearl Necklace.
We are advertising for a new drummer but at the same time, I’m gonna go and try out as singer with Austens’ new band.
I really don’t know what to expect from any of this. I love Tony and Carl. I love Austen. I have really, really loved Pearl Necklace.
What can a poor boy do? Except for sing for a Rock N Roll Band?
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