The Nostalgia

One of the fun things about moving house (and not working) is that you get to go through all those boxes you'd left with your parents 10 years ago when you went on your OE. And all those boxes you'd left with your parents 5 years ago when you came back from your OE.

You find those books you thought you had and couldn't find - but not those ones you thought you had and still can't find. And all those LPs and tapes you'd forgotten you had - and some you wished you still didn't. And you find that crap you wrote years ago on random bits of paper, in note books, and on the computer when you thought you were a poet/wit/short story writer. Plus letters, and exam papers, and photos and all sorts of rubbish you really could live without but can't quite bring yourself to throw out (though I have done a lot of that, and there's still more to be done).

At the moment I'm listening to music I made back in the day when I had visions of being a big rock star - back in the day when that wasn't really possible in NZ. Some of it's fun. Some of it sucks. One thing is certain. The 'real' band I had was not nearly as much fun as the other stuff I did with mates. Fortunately (for you guys anyway) I can't transfer stuff from the tapes to my computer so you'll just have to imagine the noise, the stupidity, and my way out of tune (even for a Kiwi) vocals. But one day - long after I'm dead - the recordings will be 'discovered' and my dream will come true - albeit for 15 seconds (give or take).

Anyway the photo (okay so it's a digital snap of a laser copy of a 6x4 print cos I don't have a scanner and couldn't be arsed finding the neg even if i did) is one I took of my band who shall go nameless cos the name sucked big time - truly a random word blindly picked from the dictionary - during a practise session, though of course I'm not there cos I was taking the photo and seeing as I was the front person (see that's how sad we were) it is kinda lacking as far as a record of the band goes but tough, there's nothing you can do about it now. (Did that sentence make as much sense to yous guys a it did to me?) The back in the front is Julian. He was the lead guitarist/secondary song writer. We never did vocal harmonies, but if we did he would've been doing them. The guy crouched behind the drum kit is Noel. Just to draw more connections, he was Phoenix Foundation's first drummer, and I think they started about this time - probably mid-1995. The other guy was Michael Bass Player, he was there somewhere, probably behind the door. And just to give you a fuller history, we got together in mid-94, practised regularly, and had our one and only public performance at the old Bodega opening for The Bats on 5 December 1995 (from memory). [Actually it was 2 December 1995 - ed.] No recording of that performance exists. We never played again.

Ahhh .... the nostalgia.