Being in a band

"Being in a band turns you into a child and keeps you there." – Thom Yorke

Why did I pick up a guitar at the age of 13?

To show off? No.

To give me something to do in my dull and unfulfilling life? No.

To impress girls? Never on the agenda…

No, in all seriousness, I picked up a guitar so that I could attempt to emulate my idols, because for some reason in my head I thought I would eventually get somewhere with it. My idols at the time being Billie Joe Armstrong and Dave Grohl, it gave me a stepping-stone on which to begin my journey into basic guitar playing. Eventually I stumbled upon a buddy of mine who was also pursuing his own musical endeavour behind a drumkit. A quick chat followed and wouldn’t you know we decided to start a band, even on the basis of knowing fuck all about my instrument; all I knew was that I had to hit the strings hard.

Some dodgy name suggestions followed and in the end, we settled on the questionable choice of Hail To The Hostage. Not sure why, but there you go. A guitarist and a drummer just makes me think of The White Stripes or The Black Keys, which makes me wonder why we never called ourselves The Grey Keeps. Nevertheless, we were too young to play any serious gigs but we were always up to jam. With the addition of a bassist not long after and a second guitarist to lead us down some sort of dreaded Avenged Sevenfold pathway, progress was being made… well that depends on what you mean by progress. Some instrumental songs were written but that’s as far as it went. Hail To The Hostage split on the basis that nobody in Wolverhampton could sing, and other projects were undertaken.

Time passed, and then I found a lifeline. The conversation went something like this:
“Picko, you wanna start a band?”

“Sure. What’s our band name?”

“Kids Held Captive”

“Fuck sake, ok then”

KHC were underway: singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer.

Playing my first gig at the age of 15 was a fantastic feeling. I may have looked nervous onstage as the video evidence would testify, but I thrived on the environment. Playing riffs I’d made myself that sounded like they came out of a teenage Kurt Cobain’s scrapbook, I was enjoying the feeling. The genre of the music was generally indie rock, with me trying my best to steer the band towards alternative rock, because as far as I’m concerned, you can’t nail an indie sound with an Ibanez. Anyway, the gig went well, plenty of people from our school turned up to show their support and see how many mosh pits they could get away with, and the other bands on the bill went down a storm. It was my best high in a while.

Open mic nights and family parties followed, but with a member of the band sodding off to boarding school, practice became an impossible task, and KHC has since been put on ‘indefinite hiatus’. The only memories left of us now are a few dodgy recordings, and the memory of our first gig with the fellow bands from Adams’ Grammar.

I want it back though. I want a band in Wolverhampton with my mates and I want to jump around onstage, but it’ll have to wait due to University. Give it two or three more years sadly. It pains me that I can’t since a lot of my instrumentally sound friends like the same bands as me, and have a genuine passion for music. I'm not content with going alone since my singing voice ain't exactly Noel Gallagher, let alone Jeff Buckley. For now I guess the only way I can cope with it is knee-sliding in my room with my Fender. Might write some songs on the piano too, we’ll see. I’ll just need to make a call and get my autotune back from One Direction.

Watch this space.