This is me, you'll know me as Brett.

The in's & out's of a Conga player... Part 3

2009-08-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Ahh-ha!... So!... ear-we go again!

You know... the funny thing about life is, you never can tell whats round the corner?... Life can be going really great, then out of no where comes the shit that makes it all worth while!... NOT... But after a heart attack that that nearlly killed me in 2003, when the shit arrives, I just smile and say to myself "at least I'm here to experience it!" and I always say, "out of something bad, comes something good!"... well, most of the time, lol...

In the late 80's I played in a band called "Blood Money" a speed metal band from Manchester, we had a record deal with a company called "Ebony Records" not a great lable, but it was a deal and we pumped out two albums in 6 months and it was great to go and pull your album to the front of the pile in every record shop that had it in stock, HMV, Virgin and the like... On the release of the second album I was well on the way to anoing Radio 1, (The Tommy Vance Friday Night Rock Show), by sending in albums each week and ringing three times a week to see if we could get a sesion on Tommy Vance's program!... The relentlesness of my onslught paid off! they booked us in to record at the BBC Maida Vale recording studios in London, it was great to be walking through the building that so many of the worlds TOP artists had walked through, the band that recorded in the studio the week before us was Simply Red... Small world, cos the week before I saw Mick Hucknall on the Picadilly Train Station platform in Manchester as I was heading home to see me Mum and Dad! he could have been on his way to the BBC recording studios!? lol... anyway... My Mum told that Terry Wogan always said that the tea in the BBC was discusing! so... I had to try it! and yes... it was bloody DISCUSTING!!!! it was dark brown and I was the only one to have some... I still got the paper cup it came in! lol... They played our session on Tommy's program the week after, 4 songs... he liked us so much he played the session again 3 weeks later! and we got paid for doing it! lol, that sort of thing don't happen much when you not that well known, but hey... the experiance was worth much more than the money... good days...

I remember once when recording the second album I was nearly ripped apart by three Doberman dogs with spit and dribble lashing around their chops... Let me set the scean... The recording studio of Eborny Records was set in an old hall near Selby Yorkshire, the owner Darryl Johnston loved Knights in Armor, he had several suits of armor around his house, the studio was across the huge hall entrance as you walked through the front door, the large staircase loomed up to the right with a Knight in armor on a horse standing at the bottom of the stairs, then another Knight standing on the first level of the stairs as they went round and up again, to the left as you walked in was a long corridor that lead to the kitchin, in the kitchin from time to time was his Dobermans, they were fine if Darryl or his wife were there, and me, well I'm not scared of dogs in the slightest way! so I was ok with them... But this one time I went to make a coffee and a sarny as I was dry and hungry, to get out of the studio there was a really thick door to protect the recordings from any outside noises, then 12 inches of space then another glass door, the glass door was small 9x6 inch pains of glass... Anyway, I made my way to the kitchin totaly forgetting the dogs and just thinking of my belly... suddenly I heard mannic scrapping of claws on the tiled floor and a forosiuos growl and I though "Bugger!" as soon as I had thought Bugger, I saw the first Doberman enter the corridor... man I was backing up so quick you could smell the rubber from my trainers!... I was off, but where to go!? as I headed at great speed towards the studio, I noticed the recording light was on, and that meant I couldent get back into the studio? So... as I was panicking to get away from the mut's aproching my buttocks, I opened the glass door and sqeased into the 12 inch gap between the studio door and the glass door, then for around 5 minutes was nose to nose with the three Dobermans from the gates of hell, raging at the glass snapping and looking like they wanted to rip me apart... finally the light went off and I fell into the studio, saying... if anyone wants a coffee! get the bugger yourself!!!

good days....

hope this Bolg finds you all well...

take care, all the best and lots 'a' love... Brett... xXx.

"The skin slapping Conga thumping Nuttster"

The in’s & out’s of a Conga player... Part 2

2009-08-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Me Agin!

I have played the Drums for many years, from the age of 15 right through to 1995 when I decided to put my sticks down and turn to song writing... I played in allsorts of Rock/Heavy Metal Bands over the years, one of which was called, “Desolation Angels” from the Eastend of London, I joined this band in the early 80's and stayed with them for two years... throughout my blogs I may come back to this band from time to time as some of the stories are so funny, and really Rock ‘n’ Roll... and sometimes a little Bad News lol, remember them!?... Anyway... The first gig I did with this band was in the Eastend of London, in a well know Rock pub called, “The Ruskin Arms”, some of you may have been there! It is where Iron Maiden gigged before they became what we all know now, A huge Mega Band... But at the time they were still a small band like the DA’s, the night of the gig came and as we set up there was a poster across the top of the stage saying IRON MAIDEN here next week! Cool I thought, everyone was saying I should go see them! I din't, as I lived up in Bury St Edmunds and getting down was a problem at the time, car trouble or something? All the pubs where we played in London were monitored by “The All England Hells Angels”. Coming from a small country town like I did this was a little bit of a shock to me!... but I soon found out they were ok and just looked out for trouble, but until the trouble, you didn’t really know they were there!? And I weren’t, and still ain’t the type to cause trouble to find out where they were lol... Our singer decided to send a DA sticker to the biker magazine “Back Street Heros”, good idea we thought, till the sticker ended up on the back page with all the other Hells Angel Chapters from around the world... We soon found out our fans were getting a bit of a bad time, as the Hells Angels thought we were a biker gang? We had to let them know we were a band and please stop the DA fan bashing!

Soon after that we got a gig playing for them at “The Mitre” just the south side of the river through the Blackwall tunnel where around 300 bikers came to party from 11am on the Saturday to 11am on the Sunday! Long day for most, but these guys partied right through lol... When we got there, we unloaded the van and I got back into it to reverse it out the way being seen back by one of our Roadies, he kept saying, back... back... back... WOOOOOOO!... I stepped on the breaks and heard a voice beside me say, as this giant Hells Angel held his forefinger and thumb half an inch apart... “You were this close to death”... I nearly hit one of the Chopper Bikes with the Van!? At this time my testicales retreated into my abdomen with great haste, and my mouth dried up to taste like the bottom of a dirty budgie cage... and I think I pushed a conca out to boot! He walked off not knowing what he had put this little country fella through lol,

Anyway, we got on the stage, we played for 45 minutes with not one single clap cheer or anything? We were getting a bit worried to say the least... As I started to take my Cymbals off my kit hearing every painful squeak the stand screw made, a huge biker came up to us and asked “What you doing?” we said, moving on out ready for the next band! With a sheepish smile on our faces, the large Biker said, they want you to go on again! For an hour! They liked you!... We said, but there were no applause or cheers? He replied, You didn’t get any bottles thrown at you did yah!?... We went on and they went mad! A great night followed... But I must say, it was the scariest moment in my life, apart from my heart attack, but that’s another story...

The Desolation Angels have just released a 4 CD Box Set covering all the years they were together, it was great to receive one and see all the old photos of when I was in the band... good days...

Take care, all the best and lot's 'a' love... Brett...
"The skin slapping Conga thumping Nuttster"

The in's & out's of a Conga player... Part 1

2009-08-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hey! waz-up!

hmm... well what can I tell yah, I have had a very varied life to say the least! I was born at a very young age and still have memories of being in the cot? aged 1.5 years! I ain't gonna bore you with my whole life story, but elements of it will come through at times, cos what happened to us in the past can often affect how we are today! I have lived through some really bad moments that have affected the way I think, and feel about life, I remember one thing that really made me think about my own mortality at the age of 15, I held my dads dad in my arms as he died in 1975, I was telling him it's ok, it's ok granddad. I felt quite piecful about holding him, kind of knowing he was leaving us, my friend Nevil went back to my mum and dads house to get them cos me and my granddad were just up the road! the thing that really hit me was when my dad came running up the road towards us, he stopped a bit back from us and I saw him go all limp as if he realized what was going on, that really shook me... From that moment I have lived each day to the full and a lot of the time on the edge... Life is for living, I was brought up in my early teens by my granddad as my mum and dad worked, one of the things he always said to me was... If you think you can do it, then try... I ain't stopped trying since that day in 1975! lol...

Muzic has been a huge part of my life, I started to have a go at playing the guitar in 1970, just after buying an album by Black Sabbath... But after finding out a guitar is right handed and I am left handed I gave that idea up! So I took up the Drums at the age of 15, it's funny but I used to sit with my mum playing records when I was 5 years old, we used to play Jack Jones, Jonny Mathis, Vince Hill, oh yeh and my fav! NOT... Morio Lanza!!! bloody racket, but me mum loved him lol... well, as I was saying, we used to play all sorts of songs on the old mono record player we had, we used to put about seven 45 singles on at once (remember them!?), flick the arm over them, turn the play nob made from plastic that felt like it was made of china! good quality stuff in them days! and sing away like a couple of hyenas, lol... Even then I new I wanted to do something on the stage, I even said to my mum at the age of 5, when I make it famous, I'll buy you a sparkly dress! she is still waiting lol, but I am still trying!!! Me old Granddad would be pleased...

As most of you know, well, thats if you know me! I play in a band called, "The Lullabys" now... this is a funny old story, and a bit spooky!.. The first band I played in was one me and my old mate David Roberts started... We called ourselves "Sheep Shagger & the Vagabonds" our first song we wrote was called "Borneo Bat Crap" you can tell we were going places even at the age of 16! lol... well... I played in bands all my life from 16 to 36, a good load of bands came and went, and after a long break of 13 years I met a bloke in Neros, (my office).. we spoke on and off over the space of a year before finding out we were both song writers! He had just finished writing an album called "The Long Goodbye", I invited him round to my recording studio to hear his songs and I was so impressed when he asked me to join him and form a band I jumed at the idea! the funny/spooky thing is, his name is Gav Roberts, and his cousin is David Roberts, my old mate in my very first band... it's a small world ain't it lol...

Anyway... thats it for now! I have some great stories from my rock 'n' roll days, and from time to time I will share them with you... but I just want to take this moment to remember my Granddad, he used to whisle, and I used to ask him... What you whisling Granddad? he used to say... "not sure Son!? just making it up as I go along!" maybe thats where I started to write my own songs....

Take care, all the best and lot's 'a' love... Brett...
"The skin slapping Conga thumping Nuttster"