And here we are, finally I have a name for my “band” that I
am happy with. My “band” is currently
just me but I am hoping to persuade a couple of others to get involved. Watch this space.
Lord Crimson was my alias on a Cure-fan forum I used to
partake in. The name is a jocular
attempt at goffness. By that time in my
life I’d stopped trying to be a “goth”, indeed the actual “goth” subculture of
music has always been alien to me. Many of the bands I've liked and in some
cases still like have been labelled “goth”; The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy
Division, Bauhaus and so on but with the possible exception of Bauhaus I don’t
think any of them were. When you look at
all these thin white men pretending they are vampires… that’s my idea of “goth”
and I balk at it. I do however enjoy a
bit of “gothic” literature and the classic horror genre in film making… I just
don’t take myself too seriously. I
suppose the obvious parallel in music would be The Damned.
My early attempts at a band started when I was 18, obsessed
with The Cure and at college studying…erm… business studies. I had a red and white Squier Stratocaster and
along with my brother on bass, my friend Mark also on guitar (we were so
unrefined we barely knew the difference between lead and rhythm which in a way
made us the forerunners of shoe-gazing) and my other friend Harry on keys and
drum machine we recorded one song with the help of another friend and his
real-to-real tape recorder which could record several tracks on to tape. I
forget how many but we had keys/drums, bass, guitar, vocals, more guitar. We did a Cure song called A Strange Day. It was awful. There is, possibly somewhere, the original
tape of that recording. I hope not
though. It was so bad that even today
I’d probably feel nauseous to listen to it. Anyhow, this band was called
Crimson Pain and then my brother joined another band and we got a bassist
called Nick and “rehearsed” in his annex but I didn’t like it and left, then
Harry left and the others changed their name to something else then split up so
me and Harry became Crimson Paint (sic)… but never really got anything done. Despite our lack of musical ability, direction
and motivation we were convinced we’d be huge.
We wrote loads of lyrics, loads.
I can’t vouch for his but mine were all awful. Bit by bit our real lives took over and the
band idea was forgotten.
A typical "writing" session
Not even my guitar
Over the years I owned several guitars (a recent
conversation with Mark makes me believe it’s actually one more than I’d
supposed as I apparently bought one off him at some point), tried to teach
myself more than once and failed at least one more time than that. I’m not a natural musician. I admit that.
I love music and I hugely regret not getting any sort of musical tuition
when I was young but I know I’d never have picked up really quickly. I have a feel for songs I know and can pick
up phrasing very quickly if not too technical but that’s to do with a love of
listening more than anything else.
Cheapest, crappiest guitar I ever owned...
I even tried bass for a while, not a success
And so it was that at the age of 42 I started having guitar
lessons from a great bloke called Steve.
I’d seen his advert in a newsagent window in Emsworth then by chance
wandered in to a pub when (one of) his band(s) were playing in a pub in the
same town. I decided to take the plunge once the worst of my money issues
cleared and contacted him. I was a bit
worried about my age but he assured me one of his students is in his seventies
and it turns out I am about 6 months older than Steve. It also turns out that we do share a lot of
similar interests in music, not least a shared guitar hero in Billy Duffy of
The Cult. I've been having lessons for
just over 6 months now and I’m MUCH better than I've ever been before. I’m still not great, I’m very scrappy and
tend to get nervous when Steve is there and play much worse than the day before
(honest Steve!). What I like most about
the lessons I’m having is that bit by bit Steve is dragging a musician out of
me; I don’t just learn stuff parrot fashion but he mixes it up so that the
THEORY (if that is the right word) creeps up on me before I realise I've been
learning it. I’m far from being the kind
of guitarist who can improvise but I am moving towards a basic understanding of
chord structure and key…a minor miracle on his part.
I have in the past written some music. There was a particular chords only guitar
piece (that I have only recently discovered uses the same basic chord structure
as Ziggy Stardust) and a three track piece on keyboards. Both very basic and not very good but the
urge is there to create. And I do want
to write songs. Even if they are shit I
want to write songs and I will. So I’m
reforming the band. My brother went on
to learn bass to the extent he was able to play in a pretty good covers band
for a while has expressed an interest in jamming. I have a friend who plays guitar and but also
has a fondness for synths that I’d like to get involved in the , ahem, project. Heck, if Harry and Mark wanted in then they’d
be welcome.
You can't go wrong with a Tele...
The “band” is called Lord Crimson and anyone who can play a
bit, lives quite near me and has an interest in indie/alternative/rock/punk and
wants to be in it can.
Just message me.
