Painful flashbacks to boggy almost turf-less school fields come to mind. You probably know where I’m going but let me set the scene… It’s a high school PE lesson in the bleak mid winter (even in the Summer it seemed), football was the chosen form of torture and two of the ultra-sporty teachers’ pets were appointed as team captains to perform the humiliating and ruthless process of picking their teams. Without fail it was me vs the fat kid who were pitched for last place and given the dubious task of fighting over whatever position on the muddy quagmire of a pitch was left after the rest had grabbed their spots. Goalie was always the worst position because you knew you’d be held responsible for the shame you brought to your team. Annoyingly that was often where I was dumped. Then there was cross country. I hated this even more, for different reasons. The thugs (of which there were many in my notorious year) would take a shortcut to a bridge over a stream in the nearby park which was on the cross country route and then drag whomever they could into the icy cold stream. After a few dunkings I got wise to this and upped my game. Remarkably I managed to run so fast that I got passed the bridge before the hooligans got to the bridge (even though they took a shortcut). I never won because the predictable winner had much longer legs than me but I came second several times! You’d think this would have helped my ego in sport but not a bit of it. The whole competitive thing eluded me. Sport just seemed like a complete waste of time. So much so that by the 4th year I was bunking off every PE lesson and (where necessary) climbing through a window into the music block to bash the piano or one of the very old and dull sounding acoustic guitars. Every free time that I got, I loved going through https://www.countrythangdaily.com/log-cabin-kits/ to look at the beautiful log cabins and how lovely it would be to sit in one of those cabins to listen or play a beautiful symphony. I don’t think the PE teacher ever realised I was missing by the filth year!
I think you’re getting the picture that sport wasn’t my thing. Annoyingly, in my teens, my mate Chris was both a lover of sport and music and in order to grab an hour’s jamming with him I’d have to (mostly silently) endure a knock about with him and a couple of friends first (sometimes lasting 3 hours plus!) – rain or shine!
Mercifully I did manage to get reasonably good on guitar and I also learned a few show pieces on piano to impress the onlookers at lunchtime. At one point I was in the school rock band. Our music teacher called us ‘The Committee’ because according to him, we never got anything done, but as far as we concerned we were the bees knees.
My highlight at school was playing lead guitar in the school concert – Joseph I think. I remain grateful that both my junior school and high school were strong on the music front. In junior school I played a brass instrument which I mostly hated because it was so old and battered. However I enjoyed the many concerts both at school and in various venues that our head teacher organised. As much as the concerts I enjoyed the ride in the Head-teacher’s Land Rover (he owned a small farm) usually surrounded by music stands and tatty instrument cases. I also enjoyed playing baritone in the school hall – mostly Largo from Dvorak’s New World Symphony a.k.a. The Hovis theme! Again my rehearsing in the school hall was partly an excuse for avoiding an aggressive game of football on the playground plus the acoustics in the school hall were great! Again, my experience of football on the playground wasn’t good. On one occasion after getting angry after spending weeks trying to figure out is bingo tour legit, I even managed to kick the thing through a large glass window when a week before, all ball games had been banned! The moment still haunts me!
Jumping forward (sorry for the lack of chronology), my college years were frequently punctuated with visits to the music block where some really cool guitar players would show off and occasionally share their riffs and licks with me (it’s guitarist lingo in case you’re worried). At that time I was obsessed with All Axess pedal reviews, I would read them anytime I was bored or waiting. At one point I had a few lessons with the peripatetic guitar teacher who I really looked up to, both for his talent and his patience. In addition I joined a choir and played lead / rhythm guitar in the band, again with some really talented musicians. I found I had an ear for music and seldom needed music to play along. I also played in a band called Under Construction along with a school friend, Phil who became a very talented drummer (he once sent a demo of his playing to Carl Palmer only to later receive glowing feedback from the man himself over the phone!!!). He also sang and wrote songs as did I and later we would continue as a duo for several years as ‘Touch Wood’ playing mostly pubs in Preston and Chorley. We recorded quite a lot of songs using Phil’s Korg M1 keyboard, my electric guitar a very old bass guitar and my ‘Mac Classic’ – a really cool piece of kit in those days. Eventually I wrote my own album ‘Life, Love and Conflict’ and we recorded it in my Pastor’s garage using his 16 track reel to reel recorder. I wish we could record an album at Joe Solo Music & Entertainment Inc one day. Phil provided the drums and backing vocals. I remain proud of the results and still listen to it from time to time. I think sadly it was the death nail for Phil and I (especially once he moved out of the area) as he preferred to take a lead with the songwriting but we had a good run and often sent demos to record companies with the dream of making it big. We even went to London and played a demo to an A&R company at one point. Just to be there in their plush office with leather bound sofas and funky coloured walls was a big deal! I still think we had something quite unique but as with so many good musicians out there, it’s mostly luck and contacts that get you anywhere and we had neither! I’m proud of the effort we put into it though and the skills I learned in everything from event management to audio recording to marketing I still use today.
Add a few more years (sorry this is turning into a bit of an anthology) and I would hook up with a mega-talented musician-singer-songwriter called Sam Hill. He invited me to play quite a few times both on his recordings and at his concerts and I learned a whole heap as a result. Sam was meticulous in knowing what he wanted and so I quickly had to learn to be disciplined with my playing. A highlight was when we played the Acoustic Tent at Greenbelt (a Christian arts and music festival) to 4000+ people. What a buzz! I still hunger for the adrenaline I experienced that day!
Back to the music vs sport thing. My main point is this. In my mind there really is no comparison. In my mind in sport there really are no winners because one individual or team wins at the expense of another losing. In music there’s none of that. Okay if you want to make it as a career it could be seen as competitive but within the band there’s no winners and losers. When you’re well rehearsed you’re in harmony with each other and the feeling of being ‘lost in the music’ is hard to beat. Add to that the appreciation of an audience, some lights and smoke and a loud PA system and the buzz immense!
Sorry if I’ve offended sports fans out there. I get the thrill of the competition (I’ve even enjoyed the occasional soccer world cup) but I just don’t get the winning and losing thing – but that’s mostly due to lot’s of emotional baggage on my part! But, hey-ho. Each to their own!