When I was a kid, I was in a band as we all like to think we were, even if we couldn't really play anything. With two classmates in tow, we played about once a week at my friend'place and made quite a lot of rather strange noises we thought was amazingmusic!! But we were enthusiastic and loved the idea of being “rock stars.”

We never really thought about concerts or anything serious, we just plodded along rehearsing in with our 10 watt amps when his went away and we were skipping class. We had no idea how tone deaf we were and I thought I could play anything, anytime, anywhere. I didn't understand that I had to play some sort of scale or key!! I just played anything!!!

Eventually, we went to the year 10 leaver's social at the local memorial hall. In those days, entertainment was always live. DJs didn't really exist (yes, it was that long ago!) and so bands were hired.

The group that was performing was rather lame, playingtunes not really suited for a bunch of hormonally challenged 14 – 15 year old youths. In fact, they reminded me of the scene in the “American Pie” movie where the band is doing an awful version of “don't you forget about me” and all the kids are bored.

Some friends at school knew my friends and I had a band and suggested we play. All of a sudden our ego disappeared and we got shy. We're not ready we said. We just play for fun. Fright entered all of us and none of us wanted to go.

However, next thing we know, the “tough boys” who played football and were athletic heroes came over and told us we should play. We didn't want too but they insisted. We said no. Then they say “get on stage or we are gonna punched ya heads in.” It appeared we didn't have a choice.

So with the prospect of our heads being smashed heads and loss of any degree of cool we ever thought we had, we trundled toward the stage. Playing others people guitars, amps, and drums is akin to wearing some body else's underwear- it just doesn't fit right!!! But we got up there any way, ready to be booed off the stage and into the dark recesses of the hall. We played and the place went wild and with everybody dancing and yelling and smiling. We thought “hey this ain't so bad” so we kept paying whatever we knew. Nobody, especially us, seemed to care. Everybody loved it. We kept going and going. The tough boys applauded and the girls smiled. My guitar solos still not in any scale or key but hey, there we were a real band on a real stage!! We were suddenly too cool for school and the “it” thing at school.

What we thought was torture turned out to be great and we ended up getting a gig with the other band. It was the start of a long musical career that still continues to this day.