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"Basically, when I met Stedman for the first time, it was in The Racehorse. I met him and a bloke called Dave Marriage and another bloke called Gareth Hart and another bloke called Matt Sharpe and this chick who Sted was going out with who was very bovine. That was Sted's grandad's opinion of her, anyway.
When I met them, I blagged my way into their band. They were looking for a guitar player and I claimed I'd been playing for about four years and that I had my own Fender Stratocaster and amplifier. In actuality, I'd been playing guitar for about 4 or 5 weeks and I had a Marlin Slammer and a very crap amplifier. I thought if I could get my foot through the door, I could get to be the front man, 'cause obviously it was the job God chose for me. |
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We had our first rehearsal in Towcester and Stedman drove me out there. He picked me up from my Mum's house with all my equipment and that, my guitar. I was very hopeful at that point.
Obviously, they heard me play and I was shit. Stedman and Dave said "You're shit". So I said "C'mon, I'll be your lead singer", and that was our first band".
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Skinflower's Only Gig
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"It was Ro Cutler's 18th birthday party and this chick's 18th birthday party. The only person we knew there was Ro. We'd been to The Racehorse and The Billy and then to this place. We went in, and there were about a dozen kids and this rock band and then all the parents, sitting in dark at the back of this big hall, looking at their watches and stuff. We climbed into the rafters and sat up there drinking cider and arsed about for the whole gig. Bottles of cider and really cheap lager and shit.
The band finished and we decided we'd have a go on stage. Stedman had a bass for some reason. Gareth was playing the guitar. I was on the mic, swearing at everyone. Dave Marriage was playing the guitar. It was a song I didn't know. That's why I swore. I don't remember the song at all, 'cause I just swore. I went "You filthy motherfuckers, I'll kick your fuckin' arses", all that kind of stuff. I was just off on one, y'know ? And that was that, until……..the stage was made of school tables and they're really shiny-topped things. Not the best of surfaces. Someone pulled one out, half way down the stage and Dave Marriage disappeared. Through the fuckin' stage. He was playing this other old boy's guitar and he just dropped straight through the stage - wuh-DANNNGG !!!!! Snapped the guitar !
All the kids were stage diving and I remember doing a bit of a stage dive and everyone got out of the way. And then we proceeded to go to someone else's house and cook a frog in Fairy Liquid."
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