memories...
Posted: 01 Nov 2014, 11:18I am currently reading The Dirt, the autobiography of the band Motley Crue. I think it’s fair to say that this is a band surrounded, in almost equal measure, by triumph and tragedy. When they weren’t busy wrecking bars or cars, they were busy wrecking themselves and the people around them. It’s a miracle that a) they were capable of writing and recording anything at all and b) that they aren’t all dead. Sometimes it seems that the only people making any money are the drug dealers and car dealers. Strangely enough, the recollections of the musical side of things is fairly sparse in comparison to the recollections of everything else.
For some reason, this got me thinking about my own memories of my time playing drums in various bands – albeit far less spectacularly so.
Between 1985 and 1996 I played drums in a variety of bands, mostly heavy rock but not exclusively so. As I try to recall those years now, it occurs to me that much of it is just a blur. I have flashbacks of certain things – crawling around on broken glass on a nightclub floor; falling (literally) out of a taxi; being slammed up against the wall by our sound man because I’d gone on stage drunk; picking up our bass player’s sister and running down the street with her in my arms. Occasionally a girl would ask me if I wanted a lift home; but, being the drummer, this happened far less frequently than it seemed to happen to the singer, lead guitarist or bass player. But, strangely enough, very little of what I can remember actually involves the music. The photo that can be seen to the right was taken during the sound check of a gig way back in 1986. Now, all I can really remember of the actual gig was that there was someone in the audience who hated me (probably more than one person come to think of it) and he spent most of the gig taking photos of every band member apart from me. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. Ironically, we later became good friends! Somewhere I’ve got a few old VHS tapes containing gigs from that period. A good thing too, as without these I’d have no recollection of these at all. Come to think of it, maybe not such a good thing after all…
I don’t think I’ll ever write a book about my experiences playing in bands as a) no one would buy it and b) I’d have to either make it all up or change a lot of what little I can remember, for a number of reasons. I know I enjoyed it, I must have to have played in the bands that I did for ten years, but I just can’t remember much about it. Maybe it’s old age setting in? Or maybe it’s just that I didn’t really enjoy it at all and my mind has helpfully deleted all the bits that it didn’t want to remember? I really have no idea which.
All I can say with any degree of certainty is that I made a lot less money than Motley Crue and currently live in a much smaller house than I bet they do. I’d like to think that some people got some pleasure out of it during those ten years, as that was the main reason for doing it. At least I think it was.
I hope that the Shadows enjoyed their time on stage and got as much pleasure out of it as we all did watching and listening to them. I still remember my first Shadows gig (Friday 17th October 1980 ) like it was yesterday. And for this I am thankful. I hope to have that pleasure again one day. Fingers crossed.
Now where’s that crazy book…
For some reason, this got me thinking about my own memories of my time playing drums in various bands – albeit far less spectacularly so.
Between 1985 and 1996 I played drums in a variety of bands, mostly heavy rock but not exclusively so. As I try to recall those years now, it occurs to me that much of it is just a blur. I have flashbacks of certain things – crawling around on broken glass on a nightclub floor; falling (literally) out of a taxi; being slammed up against the wall by our sound man because I’d gone on stage drunk; picking up our bass player’s sister and running down the street with her in my arms. Occasionally a girl would ask me if I wanted a lift home; but, being the drummer, this happened far less frequently than it seemed to happen to the singer, lead guitarist or bass player. But, strangely enough, very little of what I can remember actually involves the music. The photo that can be seen to the right was taken during the sound check of a gig way back in 1986. Now, all I can really remember of the actual gig was that there was someone in the audience who hated me (probably more than one person come to think of it) and he spent most of the gig taking photos of every band member apart from me. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. Ironically, we later became good friends! Somewhere I’ve got a few old VHS tapes containing gigs from that period. A good thing too, as without these I’d have no recollection of these at all. Come to think of it, maybe not such a good thing after all…
I don’t think I’ll ever write a book about my experiences playing in bands as a) no one would buy it and b) I’d have to either make it all up or change a lot of what little I can remember, for a number of reasons. I know I enjoyed it, I must have to have played in the bands that I did for ten years, but I just can’t remember much about it. Maybe it’s old age setting in? Or maybe it’s just that I didn’t really enjoy it at all and my mind has helpfully deleted all the bits that it didn’t want to remember? I really have no idea which.
All I can say with any degree of certainty is that I made a lot less money than Motley Crue and currently live in a much smaller house than I bet they do. I’d like to think that some people got some pleasure out of it during those ten years, as that was the main reason for doing it. At least I think it was.
I hope that the Shadows enjoyed their time on stage and got as much pleasure out of it as we all did watching and listening to them. I still remember my first Shadows gig (Friday 17th October 1980 ) like it was yesterday. And for this I am thankful. I hope to have that pleasure again one day. Fingers crossed.
Now where’s that crazy book…