How Did The Band Get Started
A lesson in middle aged men having too much cash and too much time........
At around the end of 2004, three work colleagues and friends were out on the town, and late on in the evening were listening to a local band in a bar. In a moment of drink fuelled bravado one of them said that they could do better than the band - the others foolishly agreed. At that point Paul had said he could play guitar, Dave said he could play bass, and Pete said he could sing - although none of them had heard the others!!
Nothing happened for a while until early in 2005 when Dave and Paul finally decided to give it a go. Setting up in Dave's garage they eyed each other up wondering if the other could really play. Not one's for starting on easy stuff they set off to play Sweet Child Of Mine (later to become the favourite track of the bands fans). They played some more stuff and thought it might be fun to carry on, even if nothing developed.
After a few weeks they convinced Pete to turn up. The first session, in Dave's house was a hoot. Paul and Dave on practice amps and Pete with no mic! Dancin' in the Moonlight (when Pete lost his inhibition and gave it everything) convinced the threesome that it was worth pursuing. Shortly after, Paul asked Keith to join in. On his first night with the band they started with Southbound, Pete now buoyed with a small amp and mic, played it straight through and looked at each other in astonishment - this could really work!
After lots of work and an extraordinary amount of money on PA and other gear, the band finally set up their first public outing - to a select group of friends in Pete's house. After a nervous start the boys ran through about 100 mins of music to a super response - One friend was worried when he arrived how he'd tell them they were crap after all the effort. Needless to say he didn't need to.
Then came the testosterone filled race to get better and more expensive gear - radio mic, radio guitar links, new power amplifiers, new speaker cabs, new cymbals, and a Gibson Les Paul up to now - as the band refined their sound and their confidence grew.
The band learns new material really quickly and now have approaching 50 songs to choose from. The current set runs at about two and a half hours and if they carry on they'll soon be challenging Springsteen for length of set!
2006 promises to be an exciting year with more gigs and more songs to learn and write - yes they've written two songs and are working on more - and a trip to the studio in March should yield the first recordings of Weathered Rock.