So, were you ever in a band?

[saminblack]

I had just put a line at the bottom of a debate about heavy metal (repeated below) and it got me thinking.

Who else used to be in a local band?

I was in several but the one 'main' one was called The Classified Ads and we were together from 81-85 I think.

I sang (ha!) or rather shouted in a five piece band (with keyboards of course). I thought of us as being musically like The Stranglers and lyrically like The Clash (all very political don't you know). Strangley most other people didn't see us the way I did. They just thought we were crap.

Anyone else want to fess up their musical past?




A friend of mine used to sing for Iron Maiden. Not Bruce Dickinson but a guy named Blaze Bayley who took over briefly for them in the 1990s. He invited me to go and see them when he was in Maiden but they were, ahem, not exactly my cup of tea.

Blaze had previously sung in a band called Wolfsbane who I loved and who were all mates of mine (they even played at my wedding!) I used to be in a band myself (I bet we all did - hey that's a new thread!) andf Wolfsbane did their first ever gig supporting us. Happy days.

[mini mission]

bongo was in a band...but i dont think he wants to talk about it...especially not after i gave him the stewie griffin treatment over it!...."how you getting on with that band your in"hmmm?"youve been in that a long time now","made any hit records yet hmmm"?
"written any interesting songs,............some hard hitting lyrics,.........with a catchy tune"?......(my voice is getting higher now).....

[beebop]

Was in a band in circa 1980 called Dead fish we played various church halls in Devon with a band who went on to gain a bit of fame called The Band with no name who became the Amebix

[pigeon]

I went for an audition for a band once as a guitarist for a band called Dead glamour girl. It was a london studio and quite a lot of famous names have been there and even on the long list that was on their wall and I was looking down and it Said The Stranglers have played in this room in 1998 so i imagine that could of been writting demos for "Coup de grace"

Anyway we play their song "Boy sets fire" which is quite an easy 3 minute powerchord thing but then i tell them were there going wrong it also sounded very emo so i namechecked My chemical romance so i said "You dont want to sound like them" little did i realise they were big fans. They then said "yes we do we love them, why what should we sound like fucking Metallica or something?" I then talked myself out of a postiion in the band by saying "fuck yeah Metallica is what i base almost everything on the way i would do things"

So they said thanks for coming down we will get in touch if your sucsessful. They never did and they split up a year after serves em right i did try to tell em!. So no i've never been in a band.

[Jon the Impaler]

1979/80 - Parasites . A few friends of mine and myself . We would have done punk cover versions but it never really took off . We had 2 bass players . I was one of them . A guitarist who couldn't play . The idea was manily Stranglers/ Sex Pistols covers and a few Damned . Maybe some Clash but by this stage I was rapidly going off The Clash .
1987/88 - 2 goth bands I got involved with , can't remember the name of either , First one was mainly Cult covers . Second one was a few members from the first and a couple of others .
1989 - a rock/prog band . think I stayed 2 sessions and realised it wasn't for me - you know , "musical differences " and all that . I was into hardcore punk by now (and The Stranglers of course) , and this was far too tame ......... however , the singer went on to be in Rock Bitch , Julie I believe her name was , and the stories I heard after I just couldn't believe , she seemed so quiet

[APOLLO79]

bongo was in a band...but i dont think he wants to talk about it...especially not after i gave him the stewie griffin treatment over it!...."how you getting on with that band your in"hmmm?"youve been in that a long time now","made any hit records yet hmmm"?
"written any interesting songs,............some hard hitting lyrics,.........with a catchy tune"?......(my voice is getting higher now).....

SidJames.gif (76.94 KiB) Viewed 1583 times

[paul b]

i attempted to play bass in a very shortly lived band - all we could play was Joe 90

[mini mission]

Ok ! I told mini mission (wife) I would avoid this thread, but what the hell !!
I played in a band many moons ago. I have mentioned it before on other threads, like the xmas tree bulb caper etc.
There was a good little punk scene in Falkirk back in the day, and there were a few bands kicking about.
We started just as a bit of fun, basically learning to play as we went along, then got a couple of gigs locally.
I started learning electric guitar with my mate, and another guy was trying the Bass.
He got fed up playing Bass and left, so it was suggested I take it up ......Fair enough I thought, less strings to worry about etc...
Another mate decided he would play drums, so that was us....Bass, 6-string, drums and a singer. WHAT A RACKET !!!!
We would get together once a week in the community centre near by and thrash out the ideas we had come up with since last time, or in our bedrooms.
These "practise" sessions turned into mini gigs for us, as people would always come and watch, especially if there was something on that night,, like Bingo, football etc. It was always strange when football was on, as the guys got changed in the same room we rehearsed in . Not good,playing in front of hairy arsed footy players with their tackle out .Thats rock `n`roll tho` eh!
Our first proper gig if you like was in the Magpie pub in Falkirk (some bodies birthday I think), and another band was booked as well !!!!!
They were a very professional kind of band and technically brilliant with their instruments.................Boring though`.
Next on......US!!!

1...,2...,3...,4..................CHAOS !!!
The place went wild, everyone jumping about ,and our singers brother fighting with everyone in the crowd (and the other band )........This is fun I thought ...Mind goes blank after that.....

Our next venture took us to the rugby club where there was a CND rally going on, and the band that was booked, cancelled. A friend of ours invited us along to fill in........

Bit daunting looking out at the crowd and seeing a sea of hippy type chaps etc expecting god knows what..,coz I'm not sure what type of band the other lot were.
Well here goes I thought,,,,,and we opened with our all time classic HIROSHIMA !!!
I couldn't believe it when they all started dancing about like bank managers on acid.
The night went really well, and they PAID us !!!!!!!!
Our only other gigs were in the International hotel in grangemouth . We played there a few times with another local band called Avoided.
They were good nights, coz everyone new each other and we all just had a ball.
There was one person who was always first up on the floor dancing.......even to the feedback before we started ...........and that was, the one, the only. LIZ FRAZER from the Cocteau twins. Back then she would have danced to the frog chorus though `
Needless to say ,she went on to better things.
That's about all I can remember really, apart from the hard work humping gear around before we chipped in for a van.

I'm glad I wrote this nonsense though`, as it has brought back a few good memories......
Would I do it again ??????????????? Nah !!!! Rather watch a proper band !!!

ah yes the classic "HIROSHIMA"..i remember it well "goes a little something like this....."hiroshima,hiroshima,hiroshima,hiroshima"..damm i cant remember the lthe rest of the words!...oh yes..."hiroshima,hiroshima,hiroshima"

[themaninblack1963]

I have been in 2 bands when I was younger, the first was a rock band called Nightstalker we sounded like a crap version of Free/Bad Company I played bass and wrote most of the lyrics and put in the odd bit of musical ideas, then I formed a New Wave/Punk band called NPA (New Party Activists) I played bass and shared vocal duties with the guitarist, we did a demo tape and sent it out to various indie labels but no interest, we wrote all our own stuff, we started out trying to sound like The Ramones but sounded totally different!

I enjoyed playing in bands but we were shit if truth be told

[newyorkjohnny]

I fronted The Aerosols, Battery Brides and The Screaming Ab-Dabs back in the day all before I was 20 years old. Shit gear, shit gigs, shit bands really. I subsequently retired from the music industry.

Then when I hit my forties and my mid-life crisis I did THIS for a few years. Great bandmates, great gear, great gigs, great fun. It allowed me to sing live some of my favourite songs ever and also to share a stage with the likes of SLF, the UK Subs, Threats, The Beat and 999. Good times.

[mini mission]

I fronted The Aerosols, Battery Brides and The Screaming Ab-Dabs back in the day all before I was 20 years old. Shit gear, shit gigs, shit bands really. I subsequently retired from the music industry.

Then when I hit my forties and my mid-life crisis I did THIS for a few years. Great bandmates, great gear, great gigs, great fun. It allowed me to sing live some of my favourite songs ever and also to share a stage with the likes of SLF, the UK Subs, Threats, The Beat and 999. Good times.

i think screaming ab-dabs is a great name for a band!

[mini mission]

I fronted The Aerosols, Battery Brides and The Screaming Ab-Dabs back in the day all before I was 20 years old. Shit gear, shit gigs, shit bands really. I subsequently retired from the music industry.

Then when I hit my forties and my mid-life crisis I did THIS for a few years. Great bandmates, great gear, great gigs, great fun. It allowed me to sing live some of my favourite songs ever and also to share a stage with the likes of SLF, the UK Subs, Threats, The Beat and 999. Good times.

i think screaming ab-dabs is a great name for a band!

tee hee heee!!