Shadowplay, Part One

As promised, the continuation of Shadowplay, part one...

I got to know Jim Annison at the same course where I met Louise.  Jim went to school with my brother apparently and was the bassist with Bastille, a hard rock/metal band from the Mansfield area.  I liked Bastille, and there was always a great rock movement in that area.

At church there was a music group that included Paul McLaughlin, Stephen Clark and James Kemp, who were also at Boys Brigade there, with which I was an officer - me an officer!

I thought Paul, Ste & James were cool.  James played piano and occasionally guitar with the music group.  Paul and Ste both played violin, guitar and keyboards/piano.  Even now I think it's cool when people can play more than one instrument to a good standard, muststem from the Paul McCartney fan in me.

I introduced the three of them to Jim, who brought Phil Mollatt in on drums.  He was the drummer with Bastille.  Eric Bexon from church tagged along playing keyboard.  He doesn't remember it, but he did.

The band practised at the the Baptist Church in Mansfield, and we utilised the microphones and equipment, including recording the sessions.  I think I still have absolutely hours of tapes worth of rehearsals, probably in a box at my aunt's in Shirebrook.

I remember the band going through songs like Jim's Bastille song Loser, as well as Free's All Right Now, Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream, Closer To The Heart by Rush, and some others.  They did try Heaven Sent by Inxs, getting me to attempt to sing - something I absolutely couldn't sing back then.

I remember leaving everyone else to have a break while me and someone would go to the front part of the church and write songs.  I started writing Waiting For You from my first solo album A New World Order with Ste in there.  Me and Paul wrote Everyday and A Chill Wind there.  Paul was also teaching me to play guitar, which I somehow picked up quite quickly now.After Phil left rehearsals I would try to play drums, which is good because I got better at that aswell, even throwing in fills - wow.

Eventually I thought the band could do a set as a gig in the church as a sort of taster in a way.  I say eventually, but the band got together around the end of June and I'd organised the gig at the beginning of August.  Going from what's written down, there was something starting up at the church called Paradise Club, which was a sort of get together for older teens and early twenties I think.  I think this gig was the very first Paradise Club, or at least one towards the beginning of it.  Anyway, that's perspective on that.

If I could get to the tapes from back then, I would give exact dates, as I wrote details on each.  There's even recording of run through's of One Vision, Teen Spirit, Enter Sandman, We Will Rock You, and others with me playing drums and all sorts of stuff.  Last time I went through a tape from then, memories flooded back, and that was about eight years ago.

Oh I don't know why I remember these things right now.  Jim was using a lapel mic that was remote (no cable) and he either forgot to turn it on or thought it was funny, but we heard absolutely every part of his going for a penny, including the sound of relief - "ah".

Anyway, the band played a half hour or so set I think, which I thought they did well with.

Rehearsals carried on for a few weeks after, but church couldn't keep hold of Phil's drums and he had not been turning up for rehearsals because of work.  Lucky me, the drum kit ended up at mine.  I'd also bought a pretty cheap Les Paul copy electric guitar from Carlsbro, where I was working as part of a government training scheme.  That soon got exchanged at Doug's Cabin for an Encore Stratocaster, and I borrowed a lovely acoustic from Ste.

Anyway, Ste went to university afte that summer, and after trying to keep the rest of us together, it dropped to the core of me and Paul by the beginning of October I think.

There we go, Shadowplay part one.  Must say that the band was named by me and Jim after a song by Fish, who is the ex-lead singer of Marillion.  I'll get back to Shadowplay some time.

I'll finish off with a great tweet I left for Led Zeppelin fans the other day, and see if you understand it;

should've parked at misty mountain,but went through 4 sticks.looking forward to going to california,when the levvee breaks

Thank you for reading, I hope it wasn't too boring.

Marv - 8th February 2011 (40 years, 2 months, and 13 days old)