If you scoot back over the news section of the Mechkov website, you will see that (apart from news of a cracking new soundscape album)
there is a flurry of news regarding my new band, Custard Cream. From this
flurry, it is also (I hope) clear that the band has managed to cement itself
into the local gigging scene with some speed following its first gig on May 11th this year (2013).
I thought I ought to get down how this came about…
There is a rather spiffing little website here in the UK
called joinmyband, through which musicians and singers can find other musicians
and singers, and which I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to get people to hop
in on my projects.
Ah! We are a funny bunch, we musos. We seem, when we are
together, to have so much in common when together on a stage, but when a person
has his own plans and ideas, getting others involved is a tough ask. They are
all far too busy trying to find others to join them on their projects.
So, having had limited success on this, my wife suggested I
join in on someone else’s project – and maybe earn some money while I was at
it.
Unfortunately, the ad I followed up on the site is now long
gone, but it went something along the lines of: “Custard Cream is moving to
Berkshire and needs a drummer, bassist and a singer to join lifelong pals Nige
and George on guitars for a blues and rock band. We have a lot of experience
and our own Sharon Osborne.”
Can you tell what the clincher might have been for me here?
Yes, of course, as with any musician, the thought of having someone actually
taking on the responsibility of marketing, managing and promotion was too much
to ignore – let alone hope for. I answered the ad immediately and pretty soon
Nige and I were in correspondence. I’m guessing that he was attracted to me as
an option because I could both play bass and sing AND I had my own website with
original music. He wasn’t interested in this, but it does show I have some
capability without having to go through the pain of a crap rehearsal.
The email chain goes back to September 26th 2012
and it appears that Nige had said that the band would be able to meet during
weekdays – this really did sell the project to me. Nige was moving to the
area from Cornwall, so I figured it would be best to leave him and his family
to the horrors that are moving house before pushing for anything more.
By mid-October, Nige informed me that he thought he had
found a drummer – and, what is more, one that could rehearse on a weekday (one
day per week), but that, following the move, he would have to spend a few weeks
doing the house up before ‘Sharon’ would even let him think of going out to
rehearse. Fair enough, I thought.
By October 19th, we had shared set lists and
George had come through with a sort of hybrid list based on all of our
contributions of song titles and Nige was saying we would be in rehearsal by
December at the latest and gigging in January. ‘Bloody perfect’ was my thought
on the issue.
Come the end of November, I was champing at the bit to get
into rehearsal, but Nige still hadn’t finished his ‘house work’ and so we
agreed to postpone until after Christmas and meet up in the New Year. It also
turned out that George (the other guitarist) would NOT be able to rehearse on
weekdays… hmm…
In the meantime, the drummer, Neil, suggested that we meet
up for a drink. Yes, all of this planning and we hadn’t even met – yet,
for some reason, I felt sure this was going to be a good project…
Why? I have absolutely no idea. Normally when
I have a gut feeling for something, I end up being so wrong, I have to pretend
I was never really interested in the first place, but of course at the time it
all seems to make perfect sense. I really did not see this as being something
that was dragging on.
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