U2 and Me

[Ferryman_1957]

While I was doing some scanning (see the Time Machine thread), I thought I would scan something that makes me think "how different life could have been.....". So here are some scans from "Sounds" dated July 14th, 1979. Sounds used to be one of the two big UK weekly music mags (along with NME), it folded (newspaper pun there) in the 1980s IIRC. The scans are from an article by a young journalist, Gary Bushell (who is now a "name" in the UK press and on minor TV shows), which reviewed cassettes (remember them?) of unsigned bands that had been sent in to the paper. He picked a few bands out of several hundred cassettes to review.

(click to view full size)

Now why am I telling you all this? Well, this article is remarkable because it is the first ever review of a band called U2 in the UK music press - Bushell has for years presented himself as the guy that first identified U2 as a "big thing". But apart form that, there is a personal connection for me as well. Look on the second page of the scan:

(click to view full size)

You can see the U2 review in the middle of the page at the bottom. Notice that one of the reviews on the right hand side is of a band called "Decoys", about who Bushell says "Yet more powerful pop promise". Well, The Decoys was the band I was in at the time, playing bass. So there I was in 1979, starting from the same point as U2. And just look at me now  

Apologies if this comes across as boasting, but I just find it weird to think that I was really there back with U2, and look at the different paths our lives took. Just think, Bonio could have had a proper job in IT instead of wasting his life as a rocker!!!

Anyone got any similar stories?

Cheers,

Nigel

[SE]

Never got so close, but on Hogmanay was at a party with a friend of mine, Brian who played it a band called Side Way Look who made a few recordings at that time, by the way he took my old Tanglewood and blew me out of the water, just magic to watch someone with some talent, loved it!!

[Facemask93]

Went on a stag night , where the best man was a certain Robin Campbell , who told me he was on the dole and was thinking of starting a band UB40 , short for , unemployment benifit counter 40 , the groom told him i played guitar , so he asked me if i wanted to join , stupid me said sorry mate it wont pay the mortgage
Rob

ps , i saw him several times in concert and at least got to go backstage and meet the band

[Ferryman_1957]

Went on a stag night , where the best man was a certain Robin Campbell , who told me he was on the dole and was thinking of starting a band UB40 , short for , unemployment benifit counter 40 , the groom told him i played guitar , so he asked me if i wanted to join , stupid me said sorry mate it wont pay the mortgage

Brilliant Rob! Hindsight is a wonderful thing, mind you i might have had to kill you if you were anything to do with "Red Red Wine" . I used to work with a guy who was a great drummer and was part of the music scene in Scotland. He knew a certain Marty Pellow and was asked to join his band to replace their drummer at the time. My mate's manager (yes, a drummer with a manager) said no, don't do it, they won't get anywhere. The band was of course Wet Wet Wet. Like me, he also ended up in IT!

Cheers,

Nigel

[Oldrottenhead]

great thread nigel, i am curious as to who this drummer is now lol. i thought tommy cunningham was always their drummer, as they all went to school together,my old school and from clydebank where i have lived all my life.back in the day i saw them perform as "dante's lobster" im sure that was what they where called at the time. donny my late mate of the bunkbeds, gave them a cassette of early bunkbeds stuff, and forevermore claimed that they ripped us off with their first hit "wishing i was lucky", as we had a song on the cassette called i wish i was lucky. i doubt very much it inspired them as all our stuff then was absolutely dire.

but funnily enough the pub i do my quizmaster at is owned by a certain mr cunningham, an all round good guy and great drummer.

[Ferryman_1957]

great thread nigel, i am curious as to who this drummer is now lol. i thought tommy cunningham was always their drummer

I can't remember the guy's name, but he used to work in the music shop where they all hung out and was a session drummer. According to him (I have no way of knowing this), they were planning a tour (well before they were famous) and for a number of reasons were contemplating replacing their drummer. They asked the guy I knew, he refused and I think they stuck with their original drummer.

No way of knowing if it's true, but it's a great "if only I'd known then what I know now" story....

Cheers,

Nigel

[OsCKilO]

I kinda got a story like that...


I know this Guy called Nigel that featured in a Music mag next to U2...




He Brought me back my weight in Jerky after he went to the States!

Awesome guy!

[Ferryman_1957]

LOL! That guy appears to have more double chins than Bonio however.......

[Geir]

I kinda got a story like that too  ...

I have played with this Guy sitting next to this guy called Nigel that featured in a Music mag next to U2...

Awesome guy!
 

[OsCKilO]