Saturday 28 February 2009

To form or not to form?

I've been in lots of bands, The Feud was the first one, formed with some school and ATC mates when I was about 14. When it folded I thought that was that because I didn't want to sing, and didn't consider myself good enough to make my way to other bands as just a guitar player. (I had just started to get good, which meant I knew how far away I was from being great, see what I mean?) I'd been writing songs with my best mate for the band though, so we formed the Bleak, and in the next year or so I became a much better guitar player,

The Bleak, which was basically me and my best mate writing songs together and performing with number of talented drummers, ending up with a very strong line for a couple of years from 2005-2007. When this band folded because we all ended up at different unis, I was quite upset by it. I thought maybe it'd go all the way.

Then there was the bands that lasted a few weeks for assessments at uni, in which I normally shyed away at the back because being a joint student I felt like a bit of a part timer. They were good bands though, even if I didn't always play at my best.

I also gigged a few times with a couple of other bands, all nice people and some good songs but in the end I decided to try on my own for a while. Why was this? Because I wanted the last say on song choice, because of my increasing confidence as a singer and because it was fun.

I really enjoy solo gigs, and when I was recently in the studio it was cool to share all the playing between me and the producer. Having said this though the recent jamming at the crossroads has reminded my how much fun it can be to be up on stage with other people.

What am I saying then? I don't know. I will always do solo gigs, but it'd be interesting to try something with some other people, maybe a drummer bass player, keys? Just some jamming, maybe the odd gig and some studio time and then who knows. But even thinking about looking for people is hard work. Perhaps I should leave it to fate and see who I might bump into down the line?

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