From Boys to Gentlemen
by J. W.
The idea of a band was born in our heads long before we could even afford our own instruments. Myself and Allan were still at school and with way too much time on our hands, so we spent hours talking about having a band. We had some fights over the possible genre we could play, so we left that discussion open and instead focused on writing songs and thinking of melodies, which later got stuck in our heads for days. Of course, those songs have never been revealed to the public, which probably saved us a lot of embarrassment... As we grew older (not that much older, just old enough to make more or less reasonable decisions), Allan announced that he's cleaning up the garage, so that we could practice there. I had no idea what exactly he wanted to practice in there, since we had no musical education, no instruments and we only knew the songs we heard on the radio... But we were supposed to practice... |
It soon turned out that Allan had a piano already - from where, I'll probably never know - but he had a piano and was trying very hard to play it, or at least trying to find a combination of keys that wouldn't necessarily sound like a cat in heat. I was also surprised to find out, when I arrived for the "practice session" that Allan had already found another member for his not-yet-existing band. Leslie Courtman and her guitar soon became famous in Camden thanks to the unusual fact that in her case the guitar was bigger than the guitarist...
When all three of us met for the very first time just to talk music and possibly see what each of us can do, Allan informed us a friend of a friend would be joining us as well. He explained that the mysterious "friend of a friend" was an Italian lad who wanted to study in London... at least that was the official version he offered his overprotective mother.
For the first couple of weeks our trio attended daily meetings in Allan's garage, but also we all worked very hard on our own to grasp at least the basics of our musical skills.
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That, of course, was only the beginning.
We played several concerts in London, not really for the money... well, that too, but let's face it - four local kids trying to make a bunch of clear sounds... that does not sound very appealing and only few very bored people came to see us, but at least we could practice and enjoy ourselves, since we did what we loved. Yet, after a few weeks, as we gathered to jam again, one of us - probably Allan or myself - said "Why not go to Glasgow? It's not that far and they haven't heard us yet!"
And with that we were doomed...
We all booked tickets to fly to Glasgow with nothing but our instruments in hand, praying that the airport staff would treat them delicately, and as soon as we went off the stage a few hours later, we knew we wanted more and we were determined to get more. That's why Allan and I booked ten shows around Europe as soon as we could, simply because we couldn't sit calmly on our butts.
We played several concerts in London, not really for the money... well, that too, but let's face it - four local kids trying to make a bunch of clear sounds... that does not sound very appealing and only few very bored people came to see us, but at least we could practice and enjoy ourselves, since we did what we loved. Yet, after a few weeks, as we gathered to jam again, one of us - probably Allan or myself - said "Why not go to Glasgow? It's not that far and they haven't heard us yet!"
And with that we were doomed...
We all booked tickets to fly to Glasgow with nothing but our instruments in hand, praying that the airport staff would treat them delicately, and as soon as we went off the stage a few hours later, we knew we wanted more and we were determined to get more. That's why Allan and I booked ten shows around Europe as soon as we could, simply because we couldn't sit calmly on our butts.
We wanted to play and we wanted to play in new places, and that is how our first tour happened - suddenly.
And we got hooked. Since then, we've been on road all the time, with only a few short breaks forced upon us mostly by our families. We've made friends, got married, had children... everything on road... And we'd never want it any other way... |