Gareth 'Gaz' Hill, rehearsing, 1981

First Gig

How it all began…

Thursday 29th October 1981, it is early evening and I stand huddled in a small attic bathroom, together with six of my mid-teenage compadres. We are jocularly nervous as we prepare ourselves for the next 70 minutes in front of an already jeering, but friendly, invited audience. There is a drum solo at the end of the first song but unlike today, I have little or no fear about displaying my crude, raw talent. In fact, before the night is over, I will have shamelessly performed no less than three solo indulgences without a hint of reticence, or the restrictive self-awareness that will later come to plague me throughout adulthood. Later on that evening, I return home quietly ecstatic, telling my mum Continue reading “First Gig”

From Threshold To Liquorice Allstars

In an earlier posting I wrote about my old band ‘Threshold’, from 30 years ago, reuniting for a rehearsal and talking about playing together again. Well, that was in January 2012 so it’s only taken us another year to do the same thing – but this time for a purpose other than nostalgia. No, on this occasion we had Continue reading “From Threshold To Liquorice Allstars”

Where Did Those 30 Years Go?

It’s been a surreal evening – not in a bad way, but more in a, “well I wasn’t expecting THAT! kind of way.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I made contact with a guitarist I used to play in a band with back in 1982. You know the sort of thing; look someone up on Facebook, discuss about getting in touch and see if it can really happen before life gets in the way. Well this time, things really did go the extra mile, thanks to a catalyst in the form of another blast from my musical past, Mr Gary Stewart Smith. Via a strange twist of fate, meeting up with Gary for the first time since the mid 1980’s was another chance scenario… Continue reading “Where Did Those 30 Years Go?”