Part One, Spare Change
It's hard to believe that just over a year ago i wasn't in a band...... It all started when friend, local ska promoter and all round good guy Richie told me about a band called Sensi SoundHouse, he knew i was desperate to join a band, i had been playing Saxophone for a few years and felt ready. I looked them up on on Myspace and sent them a message, got a reply from the guitarist, Nick he discussed things with the band then got back to me inviting me to a jam night at The Full Moon pub in Neath, now the full moon was the kinda place that never acknowledged the smoking ban, the kinda place where you could smoke weed out back, the kinda place that had it's own dealer. I was a little nervous, i didn't know what these guys would be like, the only thing i did know was that the pub where they were jamming was a dangerous dive of a place.
I arrived at the pub Saxophone case in hand, the place was filled with the usual locals, the smell of wet dog and weed lingered in the air, i walked around the bar to the back where the raised pool room section was, there sitting on two tables on the right side of the room was Sensi SoundHouse. There were six of them, five guys and a girl, they were wearing skate shoes and baggy jeans and clocked me pretty quickly, Nick, the guitarist i had spoken to on facebook looked up at me and said Chris? I said yeah and he said to take a seat so i did, placing my Saxophone case on the floor i was introduced to the band. Nick looked like Russel Howard, he had the same kinda turn in his eye and a similar wry smile except that he had darker hair. The guy next to him introduced himself, his name was Ken and he played bass, he had the biggest smile i had ever seen and a big mop of black hair covering his eyes , he seemed like a nice guy. Next to him was girl, she introduced herself, her name was Kathy and she played keys, she was pretty tiny and seemed cold towards me, i shrugged it off (she turned out to be lovely, it's just first impressions). Next to her was a very cool looking dude with dyed blonde dreadlocks, a real ladies man if ever i saw one, his name was Jon and he was the drummer, right off the bat he seemed easy going and his smile was warm and comforting, he made eye contact and seemed genuinely interested in what i was saying as we made the usual small talk. The guy next to him furthest away was Josh, he was the singer/guitarist and he did everything but ignore me, out of all of them so far this was the guy i needed to impress. Sitting next to me was a happy looking dude with a mop of curly hair and glasses, his name was also Josh but he told me to call him by his second name, Whitton. He's the guy beside me in that picture up there. me and him got on from the start, he was easy to like, he was the trumpet player but was quick to point out that he wasn't that good at playing it yet, he really made me feel welcome and i chilled out a bit, i dug in my pockets and took out my tobacco, to my amazement everyone else did the same! we went out back for a cigarette and started chatting, they asked if i could read music i told them that i played by ear which was the truth, at that moment i got nervous i was ready for them to tell me they weren't interested in practicing but that didn't happen, "same as me then" said Whitton, i couldn't believe it awesome. We talked about music, we all liked Sublime and Mad Caddies but it was clear that they didn't have the same knowledge of ska that i had, mind that's hardly an insult, to call me a ska fanatic would be a huge understatement
We went back to the pool room and everybody else got busy moving the pool table and setting up the equipment, i felt like a third wheel everyone knew what they were doing and i just stood there feeling like i was getting in the way. I unclipped my Sax case and started putting it together, Whitton set up a mic and a stand and showed me how to adjust the level so the mic pointed to the bell of my sax, i was glad that someone was showing me the ropes and i wasn't surprised that it was Whitton. We discussed songs and then decided to play the Mad Caddies song Spare Change because they reckoned it was the easiest song for me to play. Whitton quickly taught me the parts it was just two notes so i learned it quickly. The band started playing and the time quickly arrived for me to play those notes, i remember shaking with nerves, it was now or never i nervously played the notes i had just learned into the mic, it sounded good, all of a sudden i was struck with this amazing feeling, i played along following Whitton's lead until the trumpet solo came in. Now remember Josh the singer, the guy i needed to impress well i knew two lousy notes wasn't going to cut it i looked at him and winked, after Whitton completed his solo i made one of my own up. This was a big risk and it could have very easily gone badly wrong, it was a foolish thing to do, i was taking a risk and i knew it but i also knew it was the only way i could convince Josh that i was a good Saxophonist. Luckily for me the solo sounded amazing, it was a lucky break, i finished the solo and stood back from the mic, at that moment all eyes were on me, ken was smiling his huge smile, Kathy looked surprised and Whitton looked at me shouted "yeah man" and shaked my hand mid song, we then went back to playing the same two notes for the last few bars until the song ended. I didn't know it at the time but that was the moment i became a member of Sensi SoundHouse
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Car Trouble and Cabin Fever
I am TheSkankin'Dragon and this be my first blog!
My car is a lemon! It is, just a few weeks ago the alternator went, it spent a few days in the garage that time. This time it has outdone itself, it all started two weeks ago when my car kept stalling on me on the way to band practice, i didn't really think much of it but that evening while parked in a supermarket car park it started smoking and i mean smoking! my friends and i stood around watching it, we aren't exactly boy racers and had no idea what to do plus we were more interested in going back to my mate Stu's place and smoking that twenty we just bought... anyway it drove ok, or seemed to at least, a friend of mine who knows a little about cars said it was the Coolant Fluid that was the problem, I had run out of it. The next day I drove down to my local Tesco petrol station and bought some of this coolant stuff, i filled up the bottle thingy and it seemed fine, for a while. One night my friend Kate gave me a call, she had some weed and was up for a mission, I was well up for a smoke so i drove down to pick her up, on the way I picked up my mate Stu. The three of us ended up walking through the woods for what seemed like forever until Kate led us to this chill spot next to a river, Kate being a total awesome firelighter went to work and soon we were sitting around a roaring fire passing spliff after spliff until we were happily stupid. After we smoked the weed we decided to make a move, being the kind gentleman that I am I gave my friends a lift back to there homes. Pulling out of Kate's street my car stalled twice, my heart sunk. I started driving home feeling very uneasy the weed in my system had completely left me, all that was left was nervousness, I entered the dual carriageway and headed for home, The car started to feel a bit funny, can't really explain it, the clutch and the gas didn't feel right somehow, i got to the big roundabout, the light on the junction was red and i waited, my car seemed to shake, went to drive off and my car really didn't want to, it was shaking and struggling but i managed to get it going, i drove it onto the motorway and pressed my foot down on the gas, i was doing about 70 but for some reason every time i reached an incline in the road it slowed down, i solved this problem by changing gears down to third, it would then pick back up speed. Ok so far so good right? wrong! I'm at the home stretch almost at my turn off and the smoke is back and this time it's pissed! I look behind me and I'm leaving a trail, like the vapour trails plains in the sky make on a clear day, only this is coming from my car. Oh shit, on one hand i could stop but see I don't have any money in my current account so paying for a tow would eat up my overdraft and anyway I'm nearly home, I pushed the thoughts of me exploding out of my head and decided to try and make it back to my house. I turned off the motorway and noticed that if i drove under 40mph my car really didn't like it so i was left with no choice but to speed the 2 miles or so home. Whenever i reached a corner that required me to slow down my steering wheel got heavy as if the battery had ran out and i had to drive in 2nd gear or the car would hop and lurch. I finally got close to my house, I'm two streets away which would have been great if the street i was on wasn't filled with speed bumps, ever done 40mph over a speed bump? It ain't very nice, then I got to the bit i had been dreading, the hill leading to my street, now to call this hill steep would be an understatement this hill is a bastard, the kinda hill you have to stop to catch your breath half way through, the kind of hill you have to walk your bike up, The kinda hill that would kill an elderly dog, anyway I'm rambling.... At this point I'm seriously thinking about parking the car and walking home but I decided to try and drive up it, now you'll remember me saying how my car didn't really like hills in the state it was in? Well this one was a monster, I changed down to first and pressed my foot on the gas, I'm nearly standing on the peddle and the car is crawling up, at this point I'm gripped with the fear that my car will die halfway up the hill, I'm shitting myself, but somehow it makes it to the top. I turn into my street and speed back up, thank god I'm going downhill, I slow down as I reach my house and my car dies directly in front of it in the middle of the road! I look out of my windscreen and notice that I can't actually see anything out of it because the smoke coming out of my engine is so thick, I jump out of my car and run to a safe distance, I turn around and I am confronted with the image of my car, the front is just smoke, it's coming out of the bonnet, its even coming out from under the wheel wells, I cup my hands to my mouth, My body shaking I look on expecting it to explode. I look at my house and my Mother is in the window staring at the car then staring at me with a shocked expression, A second later she's walking towards me in her pink fluffy slippers and polka dot dressing gown looking understandably concerned. We wait for the car to stop smoking, It doesn't stop smoking so we decide to go inside for a cigarette and a cup of very sweet tea. We come back outside about 20 minutes later, i get in the car and try to start it, It's safe to say that it doesn't start but it did make a sound similar to an old cement mixer, I dropped my handbrake and pushed it into a parking position running over my Mothers foot in the process, luckily she moved her foot out of her slipper just in time.
The next morning I called the garage to tell them the good news, they sent two mechanics. They took one look at my engine and started to laugh, the phrase "that's fucked" started getting used frequently, the mechanics were half impressed that I managed to get the car home. To cut a long story short, they towed my little car away, I received a call two hours later from the garage manager, A burly dude that always seems to be holding a glass bottle of milk with his greasy black sausage fingers.... anyway, the news wasn't good, I need a new engine and a new coolant bottle since the one on my car has a big hole in it, they also suggested that i pay for them to replace the clutch while they were at it because it was on its last legs and they might as well kill two birds with one stone, oh yeah I also needed something called A manifold, not sure what that is but it sounds important. So I had a hole in my coolant bottle thingy which caused my car to overheat. The damage in terms of money is frightening we are talking a grand! I could buy another car for that money but my car is very economical with petrol, 20 squid fills the tank! Plus my Mother wouldn't let me buy a banger, she figured it would be more trouble than it's worth.
So know I find myself stuck in the house, I haven't walked anywhere in four years and I'm pretty far out anyway. The first few days i chilled in my living room watching on demand, found a series called Sons Of Anarchy 13 episodes, winner! watched that and a few other things. Friday came around again, Friday is my Godbomber day, don't worry I'm not bombing things in the name of God, it's A band that I'm in, I play Saxophone for them, Its a Metal/Jazz/Experimental band and i love practicing with them, we practice on this secluded farm just outside Swansea and it's a great time, only this time I'm stuck in the house, usually on Friday i go to practice, then me and Stu the singer/guitarist/noise manipulator pick up some weed and go for a smoke... I know I'm over stating this but the Friday practice is the highlight of my week, It's fun, a chance to blow off steam and get creative. Being stuck in the house while my friends are having an awesome practice is bad enough but receiving a text inviting me to a BBQ at my friends Johnathon and Ellie's on Saturday is even worse, the weather this week has been sunny and hot and I'm stuck in my house. Saturday comes and i spend it on the couch, I watch the newest episode of True Blood on demand, I listen to some Ska cd's.... well not any ska cd's these ones are compilations, a series of compilations called Skarmageddon, volumes 1 2 3 and 4, they were released on the now defunct Moon Ska label years ago, very rare, out of print gems from the 90s the bands on the compilation are mostly all split up now but it's still an awesome series of compilations, I listened to every cd, there were 8 in all.... well i say listened I also played along on my tenor saxophone in between gulps of tea and crooked cigarettes. It was a fun day considering but it still sucked knowing i was missing a BBQ, I LOVE BBQ's especially on a hot sunshine filled day! Sunday was a little better, I had practice with my other band Miacca, we are a gritty ska/reggae/dub band and we practice at the same place as Godbomber. I was very lucky, my bandmate and friend Tia picked me up in her shiny new car, well she did eventually, after getting lost a few times thanks to her sat nav, lets just say she earned her petrol money.... Anyway, we had practice, wrote a new song and improved another with a dueling flute/sax solo, it sounded kickass fair play, i was pleased. After practice i got a lift home and i have not left since..... It's been 48 hours and I'm beginning to get cabin fever, the lovely weather wont go away, It's taunting me. I have a gig in Ska-diff on Thursday with Miacca supporting Broken Nose, Tia is once again picking me up.... Until then I'm stuck in the house. Hopefully the car will be ready by the end of the week, if it's not i think i might go insane, I'm not joking.... My boredom has reached new levels, why do you think I'm writing this blog? hahaha speaking of, I think it's about time i ended it now
I shall write a new one soon, i enjoyed the experience, it was cathartic...
Anyway, I'm off to roll a cigarette and brew a cup of tea, until next time, Stay Rude and remember to check your coolant bottle thingy!
My car is a lemon! It is, just a few weeks ago the alternator went, it spent a few days in the garage that time. This time it has outdone itself, it all started two weeks ago when my car kept stalling on me on the way to band practice, i didn't really think much of it but that evening while parked in a supermarket car park it started smoking and i mean smoking! my friends and i stood around watching it, we aren't exactly boy racers and had no idea what to do plus we were more interested in going back to my mate Stu's place and smoking that twenty we just bought... anyway it drove ok, or seemed to at least, a friend of mine who knows a little about cars said it was the Coolant Fluid that was the problem, I had run out of it. The next day I drove down to my local Tesco petrol station and bought some of this coolant stuff, i filled up the bottle thingy and it seemed fine, for a while. One night my friend Kate gave me a call, she had some weed and was up for a mission, I was well up for a smoke so i drove down to pick her up, on the way I picked up my mate Stu. The three of us ended up walking through the woods for what seemed like forever until Kate led us to this chill spot next to a river, Kate being a total awesome firelighter went to work and soon we were sitting around a roaring fire passing spliff after spliff until we were happily stupid. After we smoked the weed we decided to make a move, being the kind gentleman that I am I gave my friends a lift back to there homes. Pulling out of Kate's street my car stalled twice, my heart sunk. I started driving home feeling very uneasy the weed in my system had completely left me, all that was left was nervousness, I entered the dual carriageway and headed for home, The car started to feel a bit funny, can't really explain it, the clutch and the gas didn't feel right somehow, i got to the big roundabout, the light on the junction was red and i waited, my car seemed to shake, went to drive off and my car really didn't want to, it was shaking and struggling but i managed to get it going, i drove it onto the motorway and pressed my foot down on the gas, i was doing about 70 but for some reason every time i reached an incline in the road it slowed down, i solved this problem by changing gears down to third, it would then pick back up speed. Ok so far so good right? wrong! I'm at the home stretch almost at my turn off and the smoke is back and this time it's pissed! I look behind me and I'm leaving a trail, like the vapour trails plains in the sky make on a clear day, only this is coming from my car. Oh shit, on one hand i could stop but see I don't have any money in my current account so paying for a tow would eat up my overdraft and anyway I'm nearly home, I pushed the thoughts of me exploding out of my head and decided to try and make it back to my house. I turned off the motorway and noticed that if i drove under 40mph my car really didn't like it so i was left with no choice but to speed the 2 miles or so home. Whenever i reached a corner that required me to slow down my steering wheel got heavy as if the battery had ran out and i had to drive in 2nd gear or the car would hop and lurch. I finally got close to my house, I'm two streets away which would have been great if the street i was on wasn't filled with speed bumps, ever done 40mph over a speed bump? It ain't very nice, then I got to the bit i had been dreading, the hill leading to my street, now to call this hill steep would be an understatement this hill is a bastard, the kinda hill you have to stop to catch your breath half way through, the kind of hill you have to walk your bike up, The kinda hill that would kill an elderly dog, anyway I'm rambling.... At this point I'm seriously thinking about parking the car and walking home but I decided to try and drive up it, now you'll remember me saying how my car didn't really like hills in the state it was in? Well this one was a monster, I changed down to first and pressed my foot on the gas, I'm nearly standing on the peddle and the car is crawling up, at this point I'm gripped with the fear that my car will die halfway up the hill, I'm shitting myself, but somehow it makes it to the top. I turn into my street and speed back up, thank god I'm going downhill, I slow down as I reach my house and my car dies directly in front of it in the middle of the road! I look out of my windscreen and notice that I can't actually see anything out of it because the smoke coming out of my engine is so thick, I jump out of my car and run to a safe distance, I turn around and I am confronted with the image of my car, the front is just smoke, it's coming out of the bonnet, its even coming out from under the wheel wells, I cup my hands to my mouth, My body shaking I look on expecting it to explode. I look at my house and my Mother is in the window staring at the car then staring at me with a shocked expression, A second later she's walking towards me in her pink fluffy slippers and polka dot dressing gown looking understandably concerned. We wait for the car to stop smoking, It doesn't stop smoking so we decide to go inside for a cigarette and a cup of very sweet tea. We come back outside about 20 minutes later, i get in the car and try to start it, It's safe to say that it doesn't start but it did make a sound similar to an old cement mixer, I dropped my handbrake and pushed it into a parking position running over my Mothers foot in the process, luckily she moved her foot out of her slipper just in time.
The next morning I called the garage to tell them the good news, they sent two mechanics. They took one look at my engine and started to laugh, the phrase "that's fucked" started getting used frequently, the mechanics were half impressed that I managed to get the car home. To cut a long story short, they towed my little car away, I received a call two hours later from the garage manager, A burly dude that always seems to be holding a glass bottle of milk with his greasy black sausage fingers.... anyway, the news wasn't good, I need a new engine and a new coolant bottle since the one on my car has a big hole in it, they also suggested that i pay for them to replace the clutch while they were at it because it was on its last legs and they might as well kill two birds with one stone, oh yeah I also needed something called A manifold, not sure what that is but it sounds important. So I had a hole in my coolant bottle thingy which caused my car to overheat. The damage in terms of money is frightening we are talking a grand! I could buy another car for that money but my car is very economical with petrol, 20 squid fills the tank! Plus my Mother wouldn't let me buy a banger, she figured it would be more trouble than it's worth.
So know I find myself stuck in the house, I haven't walked anywhere in four years and I'm pretty far out anyway. The first few days i chilled in my living room watching on demand, found a series called Sons Of Anarchy 13 episodes, winner! watched that and a few other things. Friday came around again, Friday is my Godbomber day, don't worry I'm not bombing things in the name of God, it's A band that I'm in, I play Saxophone for them, Its a Metal/Jazz/Experimental band and i love practicing with them, we practice on this secluded farm just outside Swansea and it's a great time, only this time I'm stuck in the house, usually on Friday i go to practice, then me and Stu the singer/guitarist/noise manipulator pick up some weed and go for a smoke... I know I'm over stating this but the Friday practice is the highlight of my week, It's fun, a chance to blow off steam and get creative. Being stuck in the house while my friends are having an awesome practice is bad enough but receiving a text inviting me to a BBQ at my friends Johnathon and Ellie's on Saturday is even worse, the weather this week has been sunny and hot and I'm stuck in my house. Saturday comes and i spend it on the couch, I watch the newest episode of True Blood on demand, I listen to some Ska cd's.... well not any ska cd's these ones are compilations, a series of compilations called Skarmageddon, volumes 1 2 3 and 4, they were released on the now defunct Moon Ska label years ago, very rare, out of print gems from the 90s the bands on the compilation are mostly all split up now but it's still an awesome series of compilations, I listened to every cd, there were 8 in all.... well i say listened I also played along on my tenor saxophone in between gulps of tea and crooked cigarettes. It was a fun day considering but it still sucked knowing i was missing a BBQ, I LOVE BBQ's especially on a hot sunshine filled day! Sunday was a little better, I had practice with my other band Miacca, we are a gritty ska/reggae/dub band and we practice at the same place as Godbomber. I was very lucky, my bandmate and friend Tia picked me up in her shiny new car, well she did eventually, after getting lost a few times thanks to her sat nav, lets just say she earned her petrol money.... Anyway, we had practice, wrote a new song and improved another with a dueling flute/sax solo, it sounded kickass fair play, i was pleased. After practice i got a lift home and i have not left since..... It's been 48 hours and I'm beginning to get cabin fever, the lovely weather wont go away, It's taunting me. I have a gig in Ska-diff on Thursday with Miacca supporting Broken Nose, Tia is once again picking me up.... Until then I'm stuck in the house. Hopefully the car will be ready by the end of the week, if it's not i think i might go insane, I'm not joking.... My boredom has reached new levels, why do you think I'm writing this blog? hahaha speaking of, I think it's about time i ended it now
I shall write a new one soon, i enjoyed the experience, it was cathartic...
Anyway, I'm off to roll a cigarette and brew a cup of tea, until next time, Stay Rude and remember to check your coolant bottle thingy!
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