Skeeter
After my brief encounter with The Ragged Edge the next band was from another call out of the blue as opposed to me actually getting off my arse and looking for a band to join. The call was from a chap called Alan Watson (guitar) who was a member of a country music band 'Skeeter'. They had a residency at The Viking pub in Solihull (near the ice rink) and asked if I wanted to busk with them (for £15 a time).
Now busking is something I'd never done and wasn't totally comfortable with the idea. 'Just turn up with your (M1) keyboard and I'll tell you the chords'. Hmm - not the sort of thing I was used to but for £15 a chuck why not (I was between day jobs at the time). I did turn up but on the first night I didn't play - I taped them, took the tape home and learned everything they did for next time. Or so I thought! When I turned up with my M1 confident I'd be able to play their stuff - they did a completely different set! Bastards!
It wasn't a great performance but it was a unique experience and I must say I did enjoy it after the first few 'is he playing the same song as us' laden nights. Also coming from rock bands I didn't think I'd enjoy playing country stuff but it was fun and the crowds were a lot more appreciative than I'd been used to.
Other member of Skeeter were Alan Cooper on vocals and bass and Chris the drummer. We did a demo tape but I can't find that one either. Probably with the Tempting Fate demo in a landfill site somewhere!
The Viking stopped having live bands when it became a steak house as was the trend at the time. Infact a lot of live venues became steak houses catering for a different kind of pub user who were getting their entertainment at home with Sky and VCRs, the pub was becoming a place just to eat and drink. Sad really.
A Band I Nearly Joined But Didn't
After Skeeter I nearly joined a band 'Karen Dache' who had heard about me from a friend of mine - I never found out who this friend was. Karen Dache - apparently named after a pen of all things - "yeah, we were all sitting round trying to think of a name for a band and somebody picked up a pen and it was written on the side (Caran D'Ache) and we all thought thats a good name". Course it was - If only The Beatles had thought of that one, they might have been called The Bics! - sent me a tape of their stuff (and me a tape of mine to them) and we all agreed we liked each other and an audition was set up. It was somewhere in Cradley Heath and when I got there they revealed that the tape had been done on a sequencer by A.N. Other in a posh studio and that they 'might not sound as good as on the tape' (it was a very good tape - standout song was an original of theirs called Cuts Like A Knife - they also did some Bon Jovi and Billy Idol covers, all very impressively well).
Well they sounded BUGGER ALL like that tape, the drummer was terrible, the bass player (though good) was a body builder and the guitarist I can't even remember. Their girlfriends all came (to perhaps check me out) and sat there like the New Faces panel all with faces like a bulldog licking piss of a thistle. But the worst I save till last. The singer. What a fucking TOSSER! He turned up an hour late, apparently he was a male model and had been on a photo shoot or some shit. He sang well - as good as the tape I'll even say but talk about a posing prancing poof! I wanted to smack him and the two painted tarts he'd dragged in on each arm.
I left thinking 'no way - no way - no way - no no no no no no - never no never ever' and had every intention of turning them down when they rang. But they never rang so I obviously didn't impress the panel. About a year later I noticed they submitted a tape to Home & Studio Recording but it got a slating.
I next joined social club band Jump The Gun.
This page was last edited 15/06/2007