It's not clear whether we are Parachute or Parachutes. Either way it's quite a rude term and I'm not telling you why. After four years of slog we've actually managed to get it together to have a gig.
The band is made up of five people. It started with me and Piet and a totally psychotic drummer from Eastern Europe. Piet and I ditched him and found another drummer called Pieter. Pieter couldn't commit much, his life was in a lot of turmoil (part of this is expressed in the 3/4 song that we weren't allowed to perform at the gig). Then we found a drummer called Navs - he couldn't stay with us either. In the interim we played with a phenomenal vocalist called Mina. He is such an intense musician but again couldn't commit. Other vocalists who came and went were Dan, who I had played with in the past - best vocalist I have ever played with, and Paul. Paul was in the music business and was out most nights of the week. He was staying away from his family so he disappeared.
Most of the time it was just me and Piet. I had moved from playing guitar to bass. One night I didn't want to rehearse but Bevan, the guy who owns our rehearsal studio insisted he'd found us another drummer. Enter Dave. A powerhouse is Dave and very keen - which is what Piet and I needed at the time. Piet then brought his friend Johann around to check us out. He never left and we had a second guitarist and a vocalist. My friend Jeff is a marvelous musician. He and I had dabbled in music for years but our musical tastes were too far apart - simply put I like chords and he doesn't. Jeff's current band was on a hiatus and so I asked him to come and experience a large number of chords. He stayed too. Unfortunately he is in the process of emigrating and so I will be back on bass in a few months. It's a totally different band when Jeff plays with us - there's a funkiness to him, even though he tends to play Paul McCartney-type basslines (without ever listening to McCartney I must stress). We have a few months with Jeff and couple of upcoming gigs. When Jeff goes we will revert back to more of a rock 'n roll band, courtesy of my bass playing. I'll let you know when and where the next gig is - it'll be our first proper gig.
Here are the Badly Packed Parachutes, first gig. We were called off the stage after four songs - there are still two more to play.
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