Formed a Music Group

I formed my first band with a friend I worked with at the music shop. At that time my role was sales and demonstrator. The shop sold hi-tech music equipment, keyboards and some guitars. My main instrument at the time was bass and my friend played keyboards. We had similar tastes in music and now needed a drummer, guitarist and singer. We advertised in the way people did at that time by putting an add in a magazine called Melody Maker. Over the next months we auditioned a number of characters and eventually found like-minded people that made up our 5 piece band. We called ourselves Pastiche and wrote original material. We later recruited a backing singer and played many venues around the North London and surrounding area such as The Mean Fiddler and the Rock Garden. We had lots of fun learning how to start, write songs and develop as a live band before we all moved onto new bands and projects. For me that was BigLiberty.

Big Liberty

I started another band called Big Liberty with new members. We again wrote our own songs and played many gigs. With the help of a manager we even showcased in front of major record labels and came close to signing a publishing deal. So we were definitely on the radars of being ready to be signed but at that time BritPop, Grunge, dance music and BoyBands were popular and we were none of those. Sometimes in life, the timing of life events can be key, but we wanted to make music that we liked and enjoyed playing. We were also known as Elliot and Hubbub in a later versions of the band. 

Check out some of our most popular tracks HERE. There are also a few photos too!

This link will take you to some info about the first band I was in called Pastiche.

I put many hours of time and energy into each project. It was fun and exciting and didn't feel like hard work. Writing new material, evolving and playing new venues kept it fresh. 

These are some of the venues that I played at:

• Marquee – Central London

• Border Line – Central London

• The Mean Fiddler - Harlesden

• Bloomsbury Theatre – Central London

• The Orange/West One - Kensington

• Old Bull Arts Theatre - Barnet

• The Tabernacle - London 

• The Bull & Gate – Kentish Town

• The Fox – Palmers Green

• The Square - Harlow

• The Swan - Fulham

• The Torrington - Finchley

• Dingwells – Camden Town

This Whirly badge I feel I have earned a few times!