"Is it any wonder that I feel betrayed?"

Strangeworld was the name of the band that I used to front. I never liked the name but it wasn’t up to me. They were already called that when I joined, in fact they used to be called Strange World Society which I reckon was even worse.
It was January 1994 when I was scouring the jobs pages of the Wakefield Express. Then I saw it; Singer wanted for band.
I went over to the phone box & arranged an audition.
The next evening myself & Temper Tantrum were ushered into the living room of a tiny little house near Thornes Park.
I’d brought a folder full of lyrics with me, which was lucky as GirlyName, the lead guitarist & driving force of the band, suggested he would play something & I could just sing whatever I liked. So with the rest of the band & GirlyName’s wife sitting watching, I took a deep breath & let the guitar part go round a couple of times. Then I started singing.
I sang some lyrics that I’d recently written. It was as if the melody had come to me from some higher power. It just flowed out of me. 3 minutes later “Relentlessly” had been composed.
And it was beautiful.
And I was in.

That was on a Friday & we had our first proper rehearsal a couple of days later. That went well & by the end of it we had 3 songs written.

When we convened for the next rehearsal on Thursday, Giggler (Keyboards & backing vocals) had some news. “Remember that Battle of the bands competition we entered a while back?”
The others all nodded.
“Well they’ve had a band drop out & want to know if we want to fill in”
“When is it?”
“See that’s the thing…”
“When is it, Giggler?”
“Tuesday”
“TUESDAY??!!”

So we talked about it, decided that we needed at least 6 songs in our set & practiced like a band possessed. I remember writing “Monochrome baby” in that practice session.
I remember them all really being impressed with the melody that I came up with, especially Giggler.
The next night, we all went out in Wakefield. It was my birthday but it had also been deemed a band bonding night out. It worked a treat. I had a great time & really did feel much closer to these people who had been complete strangers just 2 weeks previously.

By the Tuesday we had managed to amass a set of 6 songs that we were reasonably confident with. Temper Tantrum & I travelled to York with GirlyName & GothBride (his wife) in her beloved Ford Capri (!). We arrived at the venue at about 6. The venue was Fibbers, which was the focal point of York’s music scene & often featured name bands. (Some weeks later we played Fibbers again & shared the bill with Shed Seven!)

As it was a Battle of the Bands thing, there were 3 bands on that night. The first were Eat The Peach who were a bit Inspiral Carpets. They didn’t really have us worried.
Then it was our turn…

I hadn’t performed on a stage in front of people for years & even then it was only at the school youth club. This was a jammed packed pub. So, yes I was nervous.
Still, I strode purposely onto the stage & took up my position front & centre.
I still remember what I wore that night; my purple DM shoes, new jeans, white T-shirt & my new leather jacket. I thought I looked every inch the fledgling rock star.
We opened with “Never more than now” which was a very instant song & we received a hearty round of applause. I’m not exactly sure what other songs we played. I think we did “Monochrome baby”, “The sleeping song” & “Tease”.
Anyway we did well & I adored it. My first proper gig, no backing tapes, no Depeche Mode covers. I very much felt like I belonged there in front of these four musicians, I was doing what I really wanted to do with my life & it was wondrous.

The next band on were Cherry Bomb. They were bloody awful, just a load of noise.
They won by a country mile.
Bloody York band, you see. They quite rightly had loads of there friends & supporters there, so when it came to the voting they pissed it.
We came joint 2nd. I wasn’t troubled by this though; I’d thought we’d done really well considering how quickly we had to put it all together.

A couple of days later Giggler had gotten hold of the Yorkshire Evening Press with a review of the night in it. (I was going to scan in the press cutting I have & show you all but my scanner is playing up). The review was very favourable. Giggler & I were particularly pleased as we’d been singled out; “good keyboard playing & a new singer with an excellent voice”. Yay!
It also said “comparisons to Simon Le Bon & Tears For Fears were noted”. Simon Le Bon!!!
I was extremely chuffed.

During my blog break I have been working on Album 2, I have been resurrecting an old StrangeWorld song; “The Clown Prince of Misery”. It’s about 75% finished &, so far, I’m pretty pleased with the results. It’s not the only StrangeWorld song that’s going to be given a new lease of life. The aforementioned “Relentlessly” is next up. It’s a very simple little song, just acoustic guitar & vocals. I think I’m going to change the guitar to a piano & see how that goes. In my head it sounds beautiful.

StrangeWorld died a few months later, which I was really sad about. I always thought we had a chance because we were good. The songs were really good.
More often than not though, it’s not about the music. StrangeWorld’s demise was purely about clashing personalities. The hardest part to swallow though was that neither of the clashing personalities were actually in the band. The main culprit? Step forward Temper Tantrum. (sigh)
***************************************

So, answers to questions then?
The best Easter egg I ever got?
The Yorkie one I got this year. Why? Well, it quite clearly stated on the packaging that it was not for girls, which allowed me to say, with no guilt at all, “Sorry Nice but no, you can’t have any. Look it says right there. Hey, I don’t make the rules”

What’s Knights of the Old Republic 2 like?
Well, I was very much enjoying it, as much as I did the first one. It’s quite consuming. However I have reached some sort of glitch. There’s this little battle thing goes on in a filmic stylee & then when it returns to the game play the screen is black. This is not good. I have tried several different things to try & result in something different happening but the outcome is always the same. I’m pretty pissed off about it actually.

Have I got the new Snow Patrol album yet?
Yes, I have. I’ve listened to it a few times now & I’m starting to really get into it. I’m particularly liking “Set the fire to the third bar” on which Martha Wainwright duets to mesmerising effect.

Best & worst childhood memories?
I truly don’t know if I can classify this as my BEST childhood memory but it is the first thing that sprang to mind. I was only 8 years of age when I first took up position centre stage.
I vividly remember my junior school’s production of Joseph & the technicolour dreamcoat. It was actually just a performance of the songs as a play type thing was beyond our means. I had landed the role of Joseph because, as I was only just discovering, I had a great singing voice.
I remember my first solo with “Close every door” went well but the moment that really sticks in my mind was the final song; “Any dream will do”. To represent the dreamcoat I had dozens of coloured crepe paper ribbons tied to a band around my neck. At the appropriate moment in the song all the chorus members lifted one of these ribbons aloft. Try and picture it, there’s little Flash singing joyously as thirty or so kids to my sides & behind me lift up this multicoloured plethora of paper ribbons, all stemming from my neck.
At the end of the song there was a standing ovation, I saw my Mum & Dad looking so proud of me & the headmaster had been moved to tears. I love that memory & that whole experience had a massive effect on the path my life would (try to) take.
As for the worst, well that’s tricky. I had a whole issue throughout my whole childhood that caused me many, many problems. However, I’m not ready to talk about that. I’m not sure I’ll ever want to. It may be something that’s best left in history’s dustbin. Other than that I’m struggling to remember anything particularly bad. Which has to be a good thing, right?

What do I currently imagine The Boy being when he grows up?
At the moment The Boy is steadfast that he wants to join the army when he grows up. I really, really wouldn’t like that at all. I’m afraid I have quite a dim view of the armed forces. I’m sure he will change his mind before then. He has always been a very good talker, long before he was expected to be he was chopsing away & his vocabulary has often surprised both me & his mum, so maybe he could be a writer or some sort of public speaker. I have always said though, that whatever path The Boy chooses to take he will get my whole-hearted support. I would try to dissuade him if I saw him heading for any of the pitfalls that I’ve experienced but essentially I just want him to be happy, whether that’s as a doctor, a lawyer, a dustbin man or a bus driver.

And what do I want to do when I grow up?
Right, potentially awkward blog moment approaching. One of the problems with the written word is that it can sometimes be very difficult to ascertain what sort of tone the writer is taking. I had noticed that the person who asked me this question had not commented here for some time. The last comment from them was also a question, quizzing me as to why I would do coke? A query that I answered with great honesty & detail. Now I’m asked what I want to do when I grow up. Do I detect a sense of disapproval here about how I conduct my life?
I really don’t know but I can’t dismiss the possibility.
To answer the question I can only say that I don’t actually plan on “growing up”. I tried it once & it wasn’t for me. I am the Peter Pan of blog.

New York in 8 days! Whooo!