Being in a band when I was young seemed like the right thing to do at the time, being into music it seemed inevitable. I decided that I had something to say and wanted to give it a go, so I got together with some school friends and we all decided to form our very own band. Thus was born The Racket. I thought, in my youthful idealism and impetuousness, that I would be able to write decent song lyrics and therefore reckoned it made sense for me to be the singer (I felt that I could carry a tune). Keith had an electric guitar and could play it in a semi proficient way, His mate Kevin was a drummer and my mate Gary’s older brother had a bass so bob was our uncle. Looking back I can reflect that having, or knowing people that had instruments was quite common in those days, unlike today when all that’s needed is a microphone and technology.
Keith also had access to Halligan Heape rehearsal studios on Holloway Road
and so it was that after a fair bit of dawdling we booked our first rehearsal session which was a freebie from the Studios owner Tony Halligan; bless him.
and so it was that after a fair bit of dawdling we booked our first rehearsal session which was a freebie from the Studios owner Tony Halligan; bless him.
That first rehearsal was in a studio that had a piano that had been used by the pop group Sailor on a recent episode of ITV's answer to Top of the pops; Supersonic. Evidenced by it being full of confetti from the elaborate stage performances that were a feature of the show.
A band called Gentry, who went on to become Spandau Ballet, were regular users of the studio also.
That first rehearsal was somewhat shambolic but we managed to bang out a couple of songs and amazingly we never did a cover version, which on reflection might have made life easier if we had. Never the less we managed to conjure up a set of songs over the weeks of rehearsals, that we gave up our time attending at all hours; generally late at night when the studio time was cheaper. Even though these rehearsals usually involved beer and Chinese take aways, we managed to use about 50% of our time productively.
So we eventually had the confidence to do our first gig at the studio. A private view if you will, for friends and our set list included (as far as I remember), the following self penned songs;
Get a face
Trapped
Love product
Not an MC
Cracked
Shatter
As you will see we had a penchant for one word titles (basically we were a bit clever clogs in those days).
We were not bad and the ‘gig’ went down well which led us to book our first proper performance. This was at the Black Boy Pub in Black Boy Lane, where we were supporting a generic white suited pub rock outfit called Chance. It was at this point we decided to change our name; The Action was now our nom de plume.
TO BE CONTINUED...