Welcome To The Blastrock !!

This is the fun area of the BLAST site and nothing here is to be taken too seriously. It’s a place to publish bits and pieces we hope you might find amusing and welcome.

Any suggestions or contributions you might like to make, just e-mail them to us through this site.  

New Bits Added 13/6/02

It’s A Long Way To The Top – If You Want To Rock ‘n’ Roll

What is it that first attracts you to the idea of being a musician, easy money, fame, glory, an abundance of woman. Funny how none of these are in evidence when you play to 3 old men and a dog in some dimly lit pub. You slog your way through the set, maybe stir the odd reaction if you’re lucky, then it’s pack up your gear and collect your pittance that’s grudgingly handed over to you and may go part way to covering your expenses. So do you rise above all this and walk away with your head held high, swearing to learn by your mistakes and never do it again. No you sulk for a day then get back on the phone to that dark dingy pub and plead for the chance to do it again. That’s the crux of the musicians problem, we’re not normal and there’s nothing we can do about it.

 Why would anyone want to get involved in something where hassles are far more frequent than the high points and most of the people you associate with are at least as unhinged as yourself. Is it an ego thing fuelled by the desire to show off in front of people, I would probably say no. Whilst there are an awful lot of people around the music scene who are to put it politely ‘legends in their own minds’, ego is more of a side effect than a root cause. What really drives us on is the buzz, those moments when everything is cooking and the band really connects with its audience. It can be particular songs where it all comes together, the sounds good and the movements all come off. It might be that split second after a great gig when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, you’ve done well, you all know it and the people watching know it. It’s something you get hooked on very quickly when you start playing and though different musicians may show it in different ways, we all feel it and crave it. The point is that no matter how bad the current gig is, there’s always the chance that the next time could be ‘the one’.

So that’s why we’re the way we are. It’s a curse but it’s a wonderful curse and long may we remain under its spell. It’s true that it’s a long way to the top but 99.9% of us are not going to get there anyway and to be honest we don’t really care, we’re having too much fun at the bottom.

13/6/02

• People that come to the gigs and not just the free ones

• People who buy our CD

• People who sign the guest book

It's as simple as that - if you want to be popular do the  3 above and encourage your friends to do the same.

13/6/02

Warning – Music Can Be Addictive

John was a quiet, polite and reliable lad until being led astray by a bad crowd of musicians. They introduced him to the concept of ‘the gig’ and before long he was experimenting with strange clothes, hair dye and uttering strange expressions such as  ‘man’ and  ‘dude’. What was first a casual interest quickly spiraled out of control and within a few months he had become a habitual bass player. 

Over the next few years several unsuccessful attempts at rehabilitation all ended with a quick jam with the boys and the deterioration became evident as the trousers got stranger and the ‘head banging’ more pronounced. The years of course have taken their toll and these days you see a man sometimes barely able to utter a coherent phrase at the end of a show before stumbling over the microphone stands. When asked to comment on his condition John could only utter the phrase ‘Party On Dude’. Parents everywhere take warning and don’t allow your kids to go down this path.

Back To The Roots

Have you noticed the trend over the past few years where once famous bands try to cover up falling audiences by doing ‘back to the clubs’ tours on the premise that they have just about enough fans left to fill a toilet somewhere. Not to be outdone we would like to do our own ‘back to’ tour the only problem is where to go. ‘Back to our own bedrooms’ doesn’t really have a ring to it and besides my mum wouldn’t be too impressed if a load of rock fans started knocking on her door every Saturday night in the middle of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’. So we decided to buck the trend and are going for a ‘back to the mega stadium tour’ where we won’t play any venue with a seating capacity below 65000. Does anyone know who we ring to hire the NEC.

Why Be In A Band?

To the average punter the idea of being in a rock band and getting to show off in front of people may seem to contain a perverse attraction. The idea or receiving plaudits for the kind of behaviour that might at best get you escorted from the premises in other situations could be construed as desirable. Getting paid for the above (occasionally) might be seen as the icing on the cake. In fact all of these are true – that’s why we do it so why aren’t you doing the same thing.

Anyone who was in a gigging band from the seventies through to the nineties must have owned one of these at one point. Usually ex builders vans by the time musicians got their hands on them they would be completely knackered and rotten as a pear. This of course was the major character of the transit the reassuring ticking of the engine not because it ran like clockwork but because the tappets were shot. Exhausts held on by wire coat hangers, windows wedged up with coke cans, a body with more holes than a deluxe love doll (whoops giving myself away there). Driving one was an unforgettable experience especially the twin wheeled variety which would change direction about 5 minutes after you turned the wheel and it was sometimes like trying to navigate a super tanker round inner city streets

But for all its traits the overriding factor was that the Tranny always got you to the gig (well usually). OK you often had to push it to get it going but once it was running they were pretty reliable especially for something that had traveled the distance to the moon and back 18 times. The payload was ideal for a band as well especially in a time when gear was enormous compared to modern compact stuff (8x10 Bass Rigs Excluded). You could get quite a good nights kip in the back with the amps and drums, unless it was winter when you would freeze your cods off. I think back to my experiences with the Mk1 Transit in pure affection, an unsung hero of rock history.

Special thanks to my good mate Tony Reeve for allowing us to use his cartoon on this page. 

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