Band Bio …..
The last two years have been probably the
most hectic for me ever. Having gotten my little studio up to
scratch and having also made the decision to record an album of
my own material with no one telling me what to do and how to do
it (or how not to do it), I only went and bumped into Tony
Wright at the local watering hole!
This seems like light years ago now, with everything that has
occurred since, but the fact remains that what started off as
literally a one man band has evolved through frustration,
passion, dedication and sheer hard work into a living, breathing
and gigging band, though not without its ups and downs.
Our debut album “Half Way Home” was finished in February 2008
and finally landed on my doorstep, mastered, packaged and ready
to go just in the nick of time for the release and listening
party in May 2008, which was already pre booked! This party was
more than just a chance to publicly air the album for the first
time to a select few, it was a chance to have a bloody good
drink! It was also a very proud moment for Tony and I who had
lived and breathed this record for a whole year.
Rewinding a little to around summer 2008, we decided that
obviously, we would need to put a band together to gig the stuff
and obviously, it had better be a good band. First on the scene
was Leigh Crowther, a fabulous drummer who was working with “The
Distractions” whom I was sound engineering for at the time.
Having been pestered to “play some prog” for a little while,
Leigh finally succumbed and was first on the “band” roster. Next
up was a recommendation from a local Muso forum by the name of
Big Ginger Gits. Phil Sloane joined on that recommendation alone
and in turn recommended a certain Ian Raine for Job of Bassist.
Unbeknownst to Phil, Ian had just answered an advert in the
local press, was already on the shortlist and busy recommending
Phil. So there you go, DeeExpus the band was born on
recommendation alone. Well, more hiccupped really.
To cut a long story short, that version of the band lasted a
good few months playing the same 3 or 4 songs, sometimes
particularly well, other times not particularly well at all and
sadly The Band parted company with 2 great guys who went back to
not “playing some prog”.
Finding a replacement for Phil was particularly painless
actually. Within about 3 minutes of Phil going, Tony’s BIG
brother Stevie, who incidentally used to host 2 or 3 of the boys
from School (Andy being one of them) at his mothers house on a
school lunch time in 1985, and blare renditions of Molly
Hatchets Boogie no More on his White Hohner Strat, grabbed the
job. This solved one major problem, namely who the hell was
going to play his “Half way Home” solo, live!? (yes, Steve
played the first guitar solo in HWH as a guest musician. See?)
The drummers job was a different story.
After originally knocking Kev back in favour of some South
African Mike Portnoy who took great delight in messing us about,
we found ourselves at a Prognosis gig on our knees begging for
another chance. Kev, being Kev, loved every minute of this and
told us he would consider it, though doubted he would have the
time now we’d rejected him. I got a call the next day informing
me that Greed had won him over in the van on the way back from
his gig and he would therefore grace us with his presence.
To be honest the biggest struggle was finding a keys player. To
get the band rehearsing, we had all of the keys parts on my
macbook and were playing to a click, but we could hardly keep
this up for a live appearance so the hunt began in earnest.
After being rejected by every keyboard player I’d ever known,
John Lewis (Prognosis keys player) came to our rescue with a
list of 3 names, one of which was a Mr Steve Wilson!! Though I
prayed he would return my call, instead I eventually got a long
email from a certain Marc Jolliffe detailing everything that had
occurred in his life and why he should be considered for the
job. He was, the hunt was over.
Finally in October 2008, we had a band capable of playing Half
Way Home in its entirety, we decided to book our first gig.
Ironically we ended up with Aimless Mules at the Forum in
Darlington UK which is where I’d begged Kev to reconsider his
joining. It was a fabulous first show for the band and gave us a
great kick start.
After a small gig at the Office in South Shields UK, we headed
off to play our third ever live show; Progrock 2009 at the
Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland. The show was also recorded
for release as a live Album and DVD by Metal Mind Productions
later this year. We had an awesome time and once again the band
played exceptionally, loving every minute of it.
Writing and recording of Album II is underway. I could tell you
a little of what to expect, but then, it will probably all
change tomorrow.
To be continued …..
DISCOGRAPHY
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Half
Way Home
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