| The History Of Reverb |
| A brief history of time......Nah, not quite. This is the beginning of a tale that will (hopefully) regale music lovers in years to come. So, whether you're sitting comfortably or not, i'll begin. Once upon a time.... Reverb was first formed in late '98, when Steven Smith (Goon) approached Ricky Westall (Rooney) about singing a few of his songs. Rooney was happy to do so, and so the two started making preperations in vain, to begin gigging around the local area. Their first gig was in mid '99, at the Drinker Moth pub in Harlow, where the two performed a set comprising of Oasis covers, and original material. The gig was a success, and the lads were asked back. Following the gig, they began to think about starting a proper band. After brief trials with another guitarist, they decided to look 'closer to home'. They asked their friend, Darren Larter (Larter) to take up guitar and play rythm for them. A college friend of Goons, Damien Judge (Judge) was interested in playing with the group, and so, after purchasing a bass, the band was ready - almost. One key element was missing, and drummers are not as easy to find as guitarists. Eventually, a friend of Judges, Peeky, was asked to play. The band rehearsed once as a full group, before the drummer split. only weeks until their first proper gig, and things looked in doubt. the group, minus drummer, entered intensive rehearsals, and the drummer decided to come back. Well, days before the gig, the drummer decided to split, again, leaving the band drumless. But the fab four were not detered. They decided to go ahead and play the gig acoustically. The night of the gig came, and they played to a full house. They blew the crowd away. The band left the gig feeling proud of themselves, and rightly so. A few weeks later, the Square contacted the band, and asked them to play again. The lads readily accepted. And so, still minus a drummer, they began rehearsing again. Once again the lads had an acoustic set prepared, but a more varied one this time. They arrived at the square, quietly confident of the night ahead. They were even given their own dressing room, which amazed everyone. "The Square must really like 'em to do that" was remarked by a friend of the group. The time came to take to the stage. Halfway through, things seemed to the lads to be going pear-shaped. The bass was up too high, and the guitarists couldn't hear each other!! As far as they were concerned, the gig was a failiure. They all returned home feeling thoroughly pissed off. They ignored the praises of friends and family, brushing them off as mere pleasantries. It was not until the following morning, when Rooney listened to the tape of the gig, that it was revealed that the praises were deserved. Despite what the band heard on stage, the audience heard music, (despite various cockups). Months passed, and the band spent its time rehearsing, following a plan laid out by Goon. This involved long periods of rehearsals, 6 months or more, before doing any gigs. However, the rest of the band began to grow restless, as the band seemed to be going nowhere. Every week they would meet for rehearsals, then go home, and nothing seemed to be coming of it. They were impatient, and longed to take to the stage again. Salvation came in the form of a long-term friend of the bands. Dan Moriarty had organised the ‘Mothstock’ gigs which had set Goon and Rooney on the path of performing. He contacted Rooney one evening from The Square (where he was working at the time), saying that a band had pulled out on them, and they needed someone to fill in. Rooney leapt at the chance, on the condition that Dan would fill in on drums for them. The only problem was that the gig was less than a month away…. After contacting, and persuading the rest of the group about the gig, the band began rehearsing with renewed purpose. Electric guitars were the order of the day for this gig, as all were tired of performing with acoustics. Again, a more varied setlist was produced, and the band felt confident that they could do it, with drums backing them up. As it turned out, the band that they were replacing had been headlining that night, so the boys were over the moon that the other groups would be supporting them for once. The name of the band was not passed along to the advertising department at the Square in time, so the band were advertised as the Dan Moriarty All-stars!! (The Square knew that Dan was playing with the group, and thought it would be funny!). The gig was good, and enjoyable. The band seemed the most relaxed so far, all except for judge who was nervous, as ever. After the gig, Goon described it as the worst one yet, and said he would be glad to get out of the Square. The rest of the band disagreed, despite the fact that Dan was pissed out of his face, and laughing like a madman! Now that the band had been on stage with electric guitars, they were reluctant to go back to using acoustics. Unfortunately, due to an incident involving Dan, Larter, Rooney, a few bottles of Guinness and a forklift truck, the group had lost their rehearsal space, and Rooneys parents were not agreeable to having electric guitars shattering the peace in their house. The search was on for a new rehearsal space, one where the groups’ guitar amps could be used properly again. Enter Larters dad. A friend of Larters Dad worked at the Harlow Sporting Club, and was willing to let he band rehearse there for free, in exchange for three gigs a year. The band felt things were finally coming together for them, and so rehearsals began for the first of their Sporting Club gigs. "Would now be a bad time to tell you I’ve quit?" With those few words, Goon altered the course of Reverb history. The founding member, the guiding light, and the cracking whip in Reverb was abandoning his creation. Despite the bands protests, Goon explained that the evening performance had brought home to him the fact that everyone else in the band had progressed and improved, whilst he remained at the same level. He had been considering this for some time it seemed, and he announced that he was not going to play in another band until he had improved, and was up to standard. This sparked a minor panic in the remaining three members. A gig looming on the horizon, and their ‘fearless leader’ deserting them. Rooney made it very clear that if they did not have a replacement guitarist and a drummer within the month, then he would pull out of the gig, and leave them to it. He was tired of playing half-cocked gigs. Judge assured him that they would be ready, and prooved himself admirably. That evening when Judge returned home, he was on the phone within minutes. He contacted Gary Yardley (Yardley) to replace Goon. Yardley had been pestering the band since they began to allow him to play with them, but they had had no opening for him. Now was his chance, and he leapt at it. Next Judge was on the phone to Adam Rose (Rosie). Rosie had offered his drumming services to the band before, but due to a mutual dislike between him and Goon, he had always been politely put off. He had been searching for a decent band to play with, and also seized the chance to play with them. And so, with their new additions, Reverb set about composing a new set. For the first time in their history, there were distinct influences on the songs that were selected for the setlist. The songs were not chosen by one member, nor were they chosen simply because they were easy to play. They were chosen by all five members of the band, and so represented a wide range of music, stretching from ‘Rock and Roll Star’ by Oasis, to ‘Sunny Afternoon’, by the Kinks. A musical direction was chosen for the gig. All out rock’n’roll. Songs that were regarded as not ‘rocking’ enough, were either dropped from the set, or spiced up a bit. Two songs which benefited from this treatment were ‘Sunny Afternoon’, and the Jam hit ‘That’s Entertainment’. These were two of the most popular songs of the evening, and ‘That’s Entertainment’ is rumoured to have been Rooneys favourite song of the evening. Only three songs differed from this ideal. The two originals within the set, ‘Lucky Star’ by Yardley, and ‘Rivers’ by Rooney, and ‘Lucky Man’ by the Verve. These three songs were kept the same, as the band decided changing them would just not work. And so, after two months of rehearsals, the gig was drawing in. And so were the problems. The entertainment manager of the Sporting Club, a fellow named Micky, had been liasing with the band, and was organising everything as far as the lads were concerned. However, with mere weeks left until the gig, Bernie received a phone call from Tony, the clubs owner. Apparently, Micky had been sacked two weeks previous, but had told no-one about the bands impending performance. Only the chance discovery of the bands posters tucked under the bar had alerted him to the arrangement. It appeared Micky had been less than forthcoming with info towards his boss. After frantic emergency meetings between Larter, Bernie and Tony, things were battled out, and the gig was saved. However, Tony was unhappy with the band using his spare hall for free, then doing gigs for free. He wanted to take half of the bands takings at the gig. Reluctantly, and after much swearing and arguing, the band agreed. "We’ll do it for this gig, then afterwards, we can sort this shit out" stated Rooney. The day of the gig rolled around, and the band arrived to set up there equipment. Half way through setting up (They also had to clear their own performance space, move tables and chairs and do it all themselves), Bernie came, grim faced. "Right, afraid I’ve got some more bad news lads" The band had been promised a DJ to set up in the other corner of the room. However, Tony had booked a DJ for the main bar, and was not prepared to pay out for another one. He also refused to move the DJ into the hall because "The regulars won’t want to listen to you". Not a very wise thing to say to anyone, especially Reverb. After sound checking, with Goon assuming the role of sound tech (he just can’t keep away!), the band headed off for dinner/washing/alcohol, preparing themselves for their biggest gig yet. To see how it went reads Goons review on the Gig Reviews page. The night before the now infamous Sporting Club gig, Yardley had gotten very drunk, and launched a vicious verbal assault on Creaky, who at the time was transporting Rosey’s drums to and from. He was also a friend of the band, and refrained from retaliating against Yardley, because of the impending gig. However, Creaky said as long as Yardley was a part of Reverb, he would not help them. This created friction in the other members, and made things rather awkward. It was shortly after the gig that news began spreading about Yardley. News about him slagging off his band mates, and talking of leaving. And so, the faithful few convened, and agreed to put an ultimatum to Yardley. Either he left on his own, or he would be thrown out. However, before the band could inform him of this, Yardley heard rumours of what was to come from his former colleagues, and left the band. No-one was sorry to see the back of him. Although the band were happy to see the back of Yardley, it did mean that they were now reduced to three, with only one guitarist, and the loss of Rosey had been a major blow. The lads decided that rather than try to find a suitable replacement for Yardley, Rooney would step up his practice on the guitar, and fill in, doing Vocals and Rhythm. Rooney was uncertain, but with an ego his size, he was prepared to try. About this time, Goon, the founder of Reverb, was talking with Creaky (now aiding the band again) about taking up an instrument, and making some music with him. It was clear to Goon that sitting in his room playing guitar on his own was not much fun. He wanted the buzz of being a part of something. When he heard Reverb were down a guitarist……After careful deliberations (and arguing with Judge), the band accepted Goon back into their hearts (!!), but in a different way. Before, he had been the leader, and had been slightly totalitarian in his approach to band affairs. Now Rooney, Larter, and Judge were running the show, and although glad to have Goon back, they would not follow blindly any more. Goon accepted the bands terms (although he still seems to be running things!!), and then followed up his arrival by having a very nice idea. The band needed a drummer. Creaky wanted in to the band. Problem solved! Creaky was welcomed aboard. Although he’d never drummed before in his life, he had the drive and ambition that had driven Goon and Rooney to their first gigs in the early days. The band saw this, and agreed to wait until Creaky felt ready to face the world from behind his toms. With the band now back at its full compliment of five, Reverb turned their attention to the problem of a rehearsal space. A band meeting was called, and various venues discussed. Everyone left from that meeting with something to follow up on. It was Creaky who hit the mark with his enquiries, after contacting the Norman Booth centre. He contacted Rooney within the hour, and asked him to go check it out. Before the day was out, Rooney had booked the band in for their first rehearsal in their new formation, and set about informing the other members. A faint air of urgency was forming for Rooney, as he had agreed a date on the bands first gig. His sisters 18th birthday party. Rooneys mum ('ello mum!) had said that the band could play a short set at the party if they wanted to, and Rooney had agreed. He knew the band worked best under pressure, when they had a target to work towards. The 22nd of June was fixed in their heads. The opening rehearsal showed promise, and the band strove harder the next time, even managing to compose a song between them in their second rehearsal. Over the course of the following weeks, they pieced together a short (5 songs) setlist, comprising of four covers, and one original, penned by Judge. Unfortunately, Rooney and Larter had booked their 3-week holiday to Florida mid way through the bands rehearsal schedule, leaving the others to fend for themselves…. Upon their return, rehearsals became intense and driven, everyone knowing that there was no time for pissing about. Despite various small arguments and debates, a final setlist was decided on. And another decision was reached. This would be a turning point for the band, and end of an era almost. After this gig, there would be no more covers. This had been bugging several members of the band for a while now, but they'd never really had the time to do anything about it. Their gigs had always been organised too soon, or they'd put off rehearsals until the last minute, meaning that they had no choice but to cover other songs as they had no time to write songs of their own. But now, with their line up finally sorted, they had time. After the 22nd, they would invest the time in their music. The day of the gig rolled around, and (eventually) the band set up and sound checked. Back at the Sporting Club once again. The party they were playing at was in the smaller of the Sporting Clubs two halls. The band opened a little unsteadily, but seemed to take control of themselves after that. All except for Goon. His well-used guitar strap had an irritating tendency to slip from its holder, resulting in the guitar falling off. And as Goon was so complacent in buying a replacement, the guitar slipped from his hands no less than five times! After the third song, he gave in, and desperately asked if anyone had a spare strap. Larter had, and so Goon used that, and they concluded the set. Apart from some of the older members of the audience complaining about volume and 'too much feedback', the gig was well received, if a little different from expected. Or this gig, the band had selected songs that they'd like to play, rather than worrying about what the audience would prefer to hear (the joys of a captive audience). Then the band went to get drunk, and celebrate their first gig as the new and improved Reverb. (The setlist should be available soon on a setlist page…). After this world first for the lads (being asked to play at a private function), a long period of relative quiet settled in. Although rehearsals were as loud as always. Gigs seemed few and far between. This suited the band just fine. All their efforts were concentrated on creating their own music. Songs rolled in, and for a few weeks things seemed to be rolling along. Then Rooney brought in a song called 'Shangri'La' And the (long) thrilling story of Reverb will continue as soon as I can remember what happened next, and I can be bothered!! |
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