Welcome one and all, or most likely one, to the blog of my good self of The Sweet Ordeal; a newly formed indie folk band from the outer reaches of Brighton.
It may be a bit premature to start a blog when we have only just started proper rehearsals, but a man needs something to do during those times when he can't thrash around on a ukulele in the kitchen at night.
So, here's a brief history that will lead you nicely up to this point in time:
May 2012:
I play my uke at my oldest daughter's fifth birthday party, bashing out Folsom Prison Blues and such like to the assembled gathering of short people. Think Lord of the Flies, only with face paint and cheesy Wotsits. Amongst the adults is John, a professional photographer (and, as it turns out, music connoisseur), who is accompanying one of the mums and kindly documenting this important social occasion in the Portslade calendar.
May 2012:
A few days later John, speaks to my partner and asks her if she thinks I'd like to be in a band. She foolishly says yes, not realising the consequences could lead to the aforementioned kitchen scenario and even, dear reader, a blog.
June 2012:
After a few phone calls and attempts at arranging a get together (the Hollywood version will make it much more edge of your seat), John and I do finally get together round my house. Tentatively and a bit chaotically we show each other what we can do via the art form known as the cover version. John is quite a bit better. I may appear more enthusiastic. A template is set.
John also tells me about his other folky band, Ghostwood, indicating I could join their rehearsals. But due to the fact that they rehearse on Mondays, I say no and as they say: the rest is history. However, this meant we ended the evening abandoning the covers and attempting to write a song together.
We succeed in starting something that eventually becomes One Eye Shut, which you would have heard of if we were not exclusively in rehearsals. The other amazing thing about this evening is that John and I have our first falling out. No, it wasn't about whether to use a capo or not, it was about nuclear power versus wind power. John, imbibed on red wine and frustration accused me of not knowing the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. I didn't have the heart to tell him he was right.
July 2012:
By July John and I have worked on a number of original songs, which for me is amazing. John you see is an accomplished guitarist and singer songwriter. I on the other hand bought a uke for my 40th just to play in a Joe Royle sing-a-long type fashion at family gatherings. Over the subsequent years I'd just play covers on my own for a bit of fun. Never did I think I'd end up composing in the hope of tormenting the public in the future.
I'd been in numerous bands in the past, but usually only as the singer. However, I'd always been the lyricist, so with my Jennifer to John's, er, John, we were becoming the Hart to Hart of the indie folk world. And as Max once said: 'Together, they were murder!" Somehow, despite our energy generating differences John and I really clicked and that enabled me to discover a hidden talent: I could write a song!
Right at the beginning John and I always felt we wanted a female vocalist to help us create harmonies and provide a different quality to some of the lyrics. After a brief flirtation with one neighbour, we found another, Andrea, who was a backing singer to another folk singer songwriter called Jake.
August 2012:
During the summer the three of us only meet up sporadically, constantly defeated by the impact of work, child care and having a life on our ability to find a day in the week where we could all meet up. It is a frustrating time but John and I continue to write some songs and once or twice Andrea and I work on harmonising. When we are together in any combination (usually in my dining room) we try something, nod, smile wryly and utter the word 'potential', but the frustration to push forward is still there.
October 9th 2012:
We finally have a proper rehearsal in, of all places, my daughter's school's canteen. John on acoustic guitar, me on concert and soprano ukes, all on vocals. It's cold, the chairs are built for midgets, but it's ours! We decide to focus on originals One Eye Shut, Feet of Clay, Museum of You and Campbell and Lanegan's Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart. This is the formation of our first set. All systems go!
All we need is a band name, and, bugger, we can't meet the following week...
No comments:
Post a Comment