I love music and always have; as a child we listened to the radio, and I’m old enough to remember Housewives Choice, Family Favourites, and Children’s Favourites, programmes with which we could listen to the music popular at the time… obviously in those days the programmes were dominated by the choice of middle-aged, middle class, white, mainly male people – I’m talking about what we heard on the BBC – there was a lot of very different music out there, just no platform in those days for ordinary people to hear it! … Except for Radio Luxembourg which broadcast ‘pop’ music over a very crackly and intermittent waveband!
Suddenly all changed, American music, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, ‘black’ music, and then Britain’s response with the musical flourishing of the 1960’s – such exciting times! I may have been listening, and once we had a record player, buying singles and LPs, but my husband to be, far away in Surrey, was actually making music, was in a band, was being screamed at by girls!
Bari, my husband started making music as soon as he was old enough to hold a spoon and bang it on his bowl – his dad was a musician, and it wasn’t long before Bari was creating a drum kit out on his mum’s pots and pans and banging it with whatever came to hand… this progressed to a proper kit, and soon, before he was out of short trousers, he was going with his dad to play at pubs, clubs and social events. Once he was in secondary school he soon found like-minded and gifted individuals and the first bands were formed. His love of music and his skill and talent meant he was involved in music throughout his life, first of all in ‘pop’ and ‘rock’ groups as they were then, and then into every sort of music you could imagine, brass bands, jazz trios, big bands, wind bands, pit bands, school bands, orchestras, military bands, comedy oompa-pa-pa bands… you name it, he was in it, he played it, he excelled at it!
In the twenty-six years we have been together he has continued to play as much and in as many varied groups and bands, but his great love, I think is rock… in Oldham he was in Driving Force… and they still reunite every five years or so! When we moved to the west country he was in a Celtic folk group called Celtic Shambles, Celtic because of the music they played, Shambles because of the way they played it (actually they were very good, it was just part of the act!) and then he joined another band, The Stealers.
The Stealers was a seven piece, but when as often happens in bands there was a change in line-up, some people leaving, new people joining, there were only four members… and so they became 7 to 4… They had a gig last night! It wasn’t in the best possible venue, a pub with lots of tables for diners, low ceilings, pillars, but wow they are good! if you live in Somerset and want a brilliant band which will really get you dancing…
Rather fuzzy photos… the lighting wasn’t good… but you get the idea!
If you want to know more, and if you want a little sample… go here:
Lois Elsden 