The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 4

The Noughties

12th July 2001 and I saw Living Colour again in London breaking the biggest drought of gigs I’ve had. For this I wore the t-shirt I had bought at the previous Living Colour gig and was walking around the area of London when one of the band members came in the opposite direction, spotted my t-shirt and gave me the thumbs up! My brain immediately went blank and refused to tell me which band member it was so I wasn’t able to stop him and chat!

November 2002 and the start (or re-starting) of something special! Fishbone were back in the UK and on the 17th they were in the Nottingham, on the 18th in Birmingham and finally on the 27th I flew out to Amsterdam to see them. For the full story of this trip see part Three!

30th May 2003 and once again I was at a Fishbone concert this time in London, before seeing Living Colour once more in September.

31st May 2006 and I had a chance to see one of my hero’s; Leslie West of Mountain. He was playing a converted church in Worcester and I just had to see him. I’m glad I did as he is a brilliant guitarist and influenced me greatly when I was playing myself. It was a bit of an odd one as he has played with the same drummer since 1960 but they seemed to argue a bit on stage!

June and once again it was down to London to see Fishbone who were supported by Wolfunkind – a French funk metal band who really impressed me. I got to see Fishbone/Wolfunkind on another two occasions on the 14th and 16th November in Birmingham and London.

Another blast from the past was Saxon who released a new CD in 2006 and toured the UK. So 24 years after I first saw them I was in Wolverhampton (20th May 2007) being deafened once again! The first part of their set was new stuff then they did a greatest hits part which really got the crowd going and showed that they were still a great band.

My next gig was Jan 26th 2008 at the Carling Academy in Birmingham - Seasick Steve! This was a sell out and not surprisingly. Steve is a brilliant blues guitarist and has a huge stage presence even if he looks like a hobo - which he was at one point in his life.

The next gigs I had intended on going to were Black Stone Cherry in December and The Inspector Clouzo - however I don't think i will be able to now due to possibly being made redundant as I write this! (15/10/08)

The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 3

Fishbone

Between 1991 and 1995 there was a weekly late night TV show for hard rock fans called firstly “Raw Power”, then “Noisy Mothers”. One week they did a feature on “Funk Metal” which was a new popular genre at the time and showed a video by a band by Fishbone called “Sunless Saturday”. I was impressed and bought the CD single which had a list of tour dates in the UK with one being in Birmingham shortly after. I managed to convince a friend with a car to come along (and take me!) and was blown away! I don’t recall much of that first gig apart from not knowing any of the songs bar the two on the single and that it was a total assault on the eyes and ears as the band threw themselves and their equipment around the stage while playing an amazing mix of rock, punk, funk and ska.

A few years passed and the home computer age arrived for me and I discovered a group of people on the internet who were fans of Fishbone and had an email list – the Nuttwork Neighbourhood - and so my musical education kicked off again thanks to this international family but mainly a lad up in Nottingham called Simon Smith and his recommendations of some excellent Latin rock/hip hop music – bands such as Ozomatli, Sergeant Garcia and Orishas.

Finally Fishbone returned to Europe in 2002 and I was determined in see them as much as possible so in November it was Sunday in Nottingham, Monday in Birmingham and then the following weekend in Amsterdam! The latter was supposed to be a meeting of as many Euro fans as possible, a chance to spend the day with the band and get backstage. The previous year they had done a similar thing in LA – but had a beach BBQ after the gig.

I was offered a bed for the night in Amsterdam from someone I had only communicated with via email (well dodgy!) but Arno turned out to be like all the other members of the “Fishbone Familyhood” and a great bloke. However when I arrived in Amsterdam I discovered that his phone had been cut off and I had no address for him! A helpful lady at Tourist Information managed to track him down and we finally met up by describing what coats we were wearing and standing at the meeting point of the rail station! We spent the rest of the day with some others and Norwood Fisher, the bassist, his partner and their daughter both of whom I had met at the UK gigs. The gig itself was recorded and released as a DVD/CD combo and I can be seen a few times dancing at the front!

Because of the mixture of influences on the members of Fishbone their music was a varied mixture of styles which meant that their fans came to the band from different musical directions. Some, like me, were into Rock, others Punk, Funk or Ska and so you would be recommended other bands to listen to; this led me to the funk of George Clinton’s Funkadelic, FFF (French Funk Federation) and Weapon of Choice, the ska of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Mad Caddies and made me listen with open ears to the punk bands my brother used to like and I always hated, mainly The Clash.

The mixture also makes it difficult for some to “get into” Fishbone as one minute they can be doing a gentle ska song, then a manic punk/thrash metal number and then a funky one. This also makes it difficult for record companies to pigeon hole them! However they are an amazing live band with huge amounts of energy and enthusiasm. Many people have commented that Fishbone on a poor night can still be leagues above many bigger bands and it’s just a pity that bands which were influenced by them (Red Hot Chilli Peppers & No Doubt to name two) have gone on to big things while for various reasons Fishbone have not really got the fame they deserve – but then would they still be the same band?

The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 2

The 90’s

June 1990 and after a long gig free period I was once again seeing Robert Plant. September 1991 and I saw Dire Straits which is easily the worst gig I’ve been to. They were about to release a new record (“On Every Corner”) which was very country music influenced and as no one knew the songs the gig didn’t flow from the slow country songs to the great songs that made them famous. It was also not helped by the fact we were as far from the stage as you can get and near the merchandise stand so during some of the quieter songs you could hear people buying t-shirts etc. Amazingly on the 27th October 1991 Saxon were playing in Worcester so I had to go and see them again and even though there were not all that popular they still played with the enthusiasm of when I first saw them at their height in 1982. The venue was the Northwick Theatre (now an antiques centre) which was built in 1938 and the original interior followed plans by Art Deco designer, John Alexander. This meant you had people in leather, denim and Lycra surrounded by wonderful Art Deco mouldings!

1992 was a good year in many ways. In July I saw Fishbone for the first time (see separate Fishbone section) and in October I saw Ugly Kid Joe. Then in November I met Jane and shortly afterwards we went to see Bon Jovi which I think rates as one of my top gigs for atmosphere. After three gigs in one year I managed the same in 1993 this time seeing Living Colour in April, Robert Plant in July and Aerosmith in October. The Robert Plant gig was poor which after the three previous ones being so good was a big let down especially as I had told Jane it would be very good! The one highlight was the support band was Texas who had a big hit in 1989 (“I don’t want a lover”) and a brilliant début album but hadn’t been successful in the charts since and so seemed to be largely unknown by the audience.

After six gigs in two years I hit another drought only seeing Raging Slab with Jane in 1994 at JB’s in Dudley. This was a small club venue and in fact Jane met the female member of the band in the toilet and got chatting with her! I also spoke to another band member afterwards and we could possibly have hung out with them but I didn’t push it. Idiot!

Again one gig in 1995 this time Terrorvision, and Jane and I were possibly the oldest people there – we certainly felt like we were. Still it was a great pop rock gig.

1996 and as a birthday present for our daughter Pippa we went to see Alanis Morrisette in April, then the following year in May we took her to see Aerosmith – as she had complained when we went to see them in 1993 without her! She still mentions us “sneaking out” to go!

Shockingly it was to be five years before I went to another concert!

The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 1

The 70’s & 80’s

As a child growing up in early 70’s Britain I listened to a mixture of music; my first vinyl singles were Mud, Brotherhood of Man, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rubettes & Darts and my first LP’s were various ABBA ones.

I didn’t have a favourite musical style and while at secondary school the gang/group I was in would follow the “leader” as to what music he decided we would like – we changed from punk, to rockabilly to rock at his whim, we were that sad and pathetic!

That all changed in 1979 when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) hit the country. This caused a split in our gang as Nicky, the “leader”, had seen Grease; decided his real name was Kenickie (!) and that we should now be into Rock and Roll. I refused and so we went our separate musical ways, to be fair he is still a teddy boy with the proper clothing, hair etc so it seemed we have all continued on the path set at that time.

1979 and the NWOBHM was the launching pad of some great British bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Samson (who’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson soon moved to Iron Maiden), Judas Priest, Scorpions, UFO, Def Leppard, Girlschool, Motorhead, Whitesnake, Gillan & Rainbow. The latter three bands were formed from ex members of the influential Deep Purple who had split a few years earlier. From other countries KISS, AC/DC & Aerosmith were also making an impact. Sadly it was also the year Led Zeppelin split after the death of John Bonham – strangely one of the bands that led to the rise of heavy metal and allegedly the band after which the term was first used, were not there to see the huge rise in popularity of the genre.

My first true rock LP was Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” – if you’re going to get into Heavy Metal you might as well start with a classic. At the same time I was given “Close to the Edge” by Yes. Both of these were birthday presents and both musically very different. The first rock LP I bought myself was a live Hawkwind one, which was so awful I took it back to the shop and exchanged it for Deep Purple “In Rock”., a much better choice and still a favourite.

Concert wise the main places to see bands were in Birmingham, about 30miles away, but to a teenage kid with no money and no transport it could have been the moon really. So when a friend invited me to go and see Saxon at the Birmingham Odeon (4th October 1982) I jumped at the chance. At the time “The Eagle Has Landed” tour was touted as the loudest and also the brightest in the world; this was a time when all the rock bands were vying for the title of loudest band in the world. It was the brightest as the highlight of the gig was the lead singer coming down on to the stage from above in an Eagle shaped framework holding aircraft landing lights that could be seen 5miles away or something. I came away impressed. And deaf!

It wasn’t till December 1983 that I went to another gig and that was to see Robert Plant on his first solo tour following his “Principle of Moments” record. He was supported by It Bites who had a hit with “Calling all the Hero’s”. Then almost another twelve months before my third gig which was Iron Maiden on their “World Slavery” tour in October 1984.

Following that it was Mama’s Boys (1985), ZZ Top on their 1986 afterburner tour, Robert Plant (1988) and then Jimmy Page (1988) on his first solo tour with Jason Bonham on drums and John Miles on vocals. This featured an instrumental version of “Stairway to Heaven” with Jason conducting the audience with the singing, and a great version of John Miles’ “Music (was my first love)”.

The bands I spent my meagre funds on were Saxon , Iron Maiden, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ten Years After, Mountain, Rush and Yes to name the main ones. Fortunately this was the time of the Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1 so even though I didn’t buy many LP’s (although I built up a good collection of about 200 before CD’s were affordable) I heard a lot of good bands and recorded a lot of classic concerts broadcast on those Friday nights which I’ve still got on tape and some I’ve transferred to CD. These include Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Twisted Sister, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, Climax Blue’s Band, Man and Dio.

In the early 80’s the Worcester Arts Workshop held “discos” in their cellar – these started off as a mix of stuff but the music became more rock orientated and so I heard a lot of new stuff that way. I also started to ruin my hearing by head banging right next to the speakers!

That concludes the first part of my musical journey!