I mean no disrespect to anyone I have ever played with or for in the past when I say this. This is just different. A different vibe, a different feeling. Right people, right time. But to tell the full story I have to go back to the beginning...
How far back should I go? The moment that I was handed a pair of sticks and a side snare at Boys Brigade aged 8? The first time I saw Ringo Starr play? My first Animal drum kit in 1979.
No. The first stop on this journey has to be the first time I heard 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden. From that moment my life was altered and hard rock and metal became the air that I breathe and the blood in my veins turned to mercury.
From there on in I was intent on finding new bands, all the time feeding the rebellious metal fire in my mind. For a working class kid with a chip on his shoulders these Gods of Rock, these androgynous, hirsute furies were all I needed.
My genre of choice then and now was Glam and 'hair' metal. For me the chorus and the hooks had to be big and the hair even bigger. Pants tight, hair long and a bad additude. This. This was what I wanted to be.
My love of this music gave me everything, the lyrics told stories of my life, he songs were about me. I was the 'Youth Gone Wild', I was 'Livin' On A Prayer' and there was all those 'Girls, Girls, Girls' to keep my youthful passion aflame.
Eventually this music gave me a close group of friends, bandmates and a crowd. This music helped me meet my musical idols who in turn inspired me to go further, to want more. This music gave me my wife and my kids.
Believe me when I tell you that single greatest defining moment of my life was the day I put on the Walkman and listened to that tape.
Then came the dark times. My music was cast aside, no-one wanted to hear it, viewpoints changed seemingly overnight and the leather-clad hirsute warriors left us alone with our memories and a feeling of betrayal. Bands grew beards, pierced every conceivable part of their bodies and each a and fate another tried to 'Out detune' the other.
I got lazy, I got fat and my playing was reduced to low volume gospel, jazz and pop. Was this what it I was destined to play for the rest of my playing days? The arrangements were nice, it was slick bu it did not feel the same. Time went on, my teenage fires dimmed and eventually became the glowing embers of my early 30's and the flame was almost extinguished. Then came the news...Jilly's had closed.
The one true bastion, the rallying point for the Mancunian metal scene was no more. This surely was the end...and it was, for a while at least.
In January 2010 the embers were fanned as a new rock night started in a small basement room at the Retro Bar in Manchester. A night dedicated to MY music, a night that would eventually grow to be THE monthly rock club night in Manchester. The night that gave me back my musical life, that gave me new hope. NYTE HEET.
Most month's at the club I'd see a girl, no, not a girl, we were not children anymore, a woman. A gorgeous, wild, force of nature, hair like gold, lips like Rubies and laugh so dirty you felt the need to shower. This was where I met the person who would come to change my musical life in so many ways. The awesome Claire Dawson.
Every month we'd stop a chat, well I would stop and chat, Claire would always be on a mission to the dance floor or for a cigarette and like every friendship or 'friendship' in this modern world we became swift Facebook friends and her updates kept me very entertained (they still do).
In early 2012 I started to notice, the day ate NYTE HEET that photos would appear on her Facebook from a rehearsal room and thought nothing of it until the day that I saw the following message...
"Any drummers in the Manchester area? Can you help us out for a couple of hours. PM me" I hesitated, was I what they wanted? I am, despite rumours, an incredibly shy person, eventually, my desire to help out got the better of me and I shot off a message confirming that if the didn't find anyone I'd be happy to come and hit some skins for them.
Arrangements were made and on Saturday 31st March 2012 the blue touch paper was lit on my internal musical firework. It didn't take long for the first explosion, it was about halfway through the chorus of 'Bathroom Wall' that my limbs remembered how truly playing the drums felt, they moved of their own accord. A song played a thousand times years before was now being played again. My heart soared as we played 'Love Gun' could I believe that this was really my musical rebirth?
The simple answer is yes. In that 2 hours magic happened and a band took shape.
Over the next few months we recruited a damn fine bass player, a nice guy (for a ginger ;p) and an old friend of mine the underpin the songs with me and after a lot of soul searching and hand wringing made the tough decision to let the original lead guitarist go.
After a brief period as a four piece we decided that we needed the freedom tha a second guitarist can bring and Chris came on aboard joining Claire, Frank, Matt and myself. The fist of rock was now complete. Spandex Rising were whole.
An intensive rehearsal schedule followed as songs were added and dropped, all of us none on producing the single greatest cover band show possible. The band motto "Go Big or Go Home" was adopted and all 5 of us worked our asses off. We had a deadline you see. The date of the first gig was set in stone. The 22nd September would be the day that one dream shared by 5 different souls would be realised.
Throughout the rehearsal process there were times when I faltered, could I really be arsed with this? My fears and paranoia about my own skills (or lack thereof) would resurface only not be blown away as soon as we started the next song.
These four other people were helping me revisit a place that I didn't dare to hope existed anymore and for that I will be forever in their debt.
Ten days ago. Just 10 days ago I remembered. I remembered that spark, tha feeling, when the lights go down, the crowd cheers and the. Amps hum. That bfeeling as the intro finished and the tempo is counted off, the wave of euphoria as you are lost in the music, as it moves through you, out t the audience and back. A symbiosis of sound and energy. It was a glorious moment. My musical spirit rose like a Phoenix from the ashes. I was reborn.
Perhaps inevitably the last 10 days have taken their toll, the comedown was marked for all of the band, a subdued rehearsal, self doubt, apathy took it's toll. I should have remembered, I should have warned not only them but myself. This was always going to happen. We had focused on the goal and grasped the golden ring. Yes we had other commitments booked but we had out those out of mind to keep our eye on our public debut.
No warm up for us, no 'jam night' appearance. We made our debut in the style that we wanted. We went big and we paid the price.
But 10 days later, as I type this the clouds have cleared, the band have reflected, relaxed, re-energised and the excitement is back, ready to take it to the next level. The secret is out of the box, the cat out of the bag and the horse has bolted. New songs to add to the set, new gigs to plan and rise of the Spandex continues...
The future's so bright we've got to wear our mirrored aviators.
