Epiphany III

The school had given me a fair amount of experience. I could litterally use it for any area of expertise. Engineering; Production; Live Sound; Live Light; Instrumentalist and so on. As with the music, over the year, I became involved in more than just rock. I joined NK's Jazz Band for a bit of fun; to see what it was like. But as the weeks rolled on, I found that the Jazz Band was more than that. I had never played as an ensemble before ever. This was a big band. We played old songs. I had never played a song in that was older than me before in front of an audience. Any songs that I played were either songs I had written or songs that Rowan had written. These songs were Glen Miller hits from the 40's. I loved that Jazz band and wish I had joined earlier. Apparantly, Matt Jackson, a friend of mine who played the bass for the band, asked me to join in year 11. I can't remember any of that...But it showed that I could do something like this. It was a long way from alternative rock band to Big Jazz band. We played at a competition and won and then we did a concert at in the schools Theatre; the Terry O'Toole; the first time I had played to an entirely different audience. The one thing I got from this was that I still wanted to play an instrument. I'm waffling, this isn't where I'm wanting to go with this, but it's still important...

In May, as part of work experience, I got the chance to help out at a prolific recording studio in Lincoln. I was aiding in recording a metal band called Kallous. They were pretty tallented and some of the nicest guys to ever meet; you wouldn't believe they were these hardcore growly metalheads. I did litterally get the chance to record them. Soundcheck and press record and all that. It was brilliant but like I said before, I wanted to also play an instrument which isn't always possible with working in a studio. If you want to play an instrument, you join a band. Hmmm, kinda difficult now...I wanted to work in a studio. But then I had another epiphany. I didn't really want to involved with rock anymore. I love rock music, don't get me wrong. But as a creative element, there's only so far you can go. I realised this whilst recording drums for Kallous. Because there was so many patterns, we had to find where a mistake was and go back to that point and do it all again. I hadn't lost interest in rock, I just couldn't see myself working with it. Rock is about not caring about the rules. Or at the very least, bending them, not being told what to do. It was after this I thought that rock would be a lot happier confined to those who know how to do it and do it well. Delayed Finality could do it well but Lincoln's rock scene is massive. Trying to get noticed in a big pool of rock (Rock pool?) is a lot harder. Yes, there's different styles of rock that were out there but under an umbrella term, they are all rock. Alternative, Heavy, Metal and Indie are all rock. As for everything else, there's nothing. Not saying that rock gets boring after a while but these Lincoln bands are all the same styles. 3/4/5 pieces with vocals, distorted guitars, bass, drums and occasionally keyboards. Rock is big and a lot of people like it but it isn't the only choice. Maybe there was another way? Maybe a breakaway was needed?