Ten Days To Go

Well, it’s down to ten days to go.

Back in January a gang of us decided we’d go on a sun holiday together. I remember it well, it was in this really nice Italian restaurant in Belfast. We were all out for Ulla’s birthday.

Cyprus seemed to be the first choice for most of the crew, so it was decided. I’ve never been, which makes it all the more exciting for me.

Years and years ago (back in 1986 actually) I went on a family holiday to Greece. To be honest my six year old’s impression of the place wasn’t all that positive, but we were based in both Athens and in a quaint little town in the countryside called Lamia. Athens is hardly a holiday destination hot-spot; well it certainly wasn’t back in 86.

Anyhoo, Cyprus it is for this year’s sun holiday. There are eight of us going, Fred, Sam, Baldy, Suzie, Windy, Mandy, Ulla and me.

The place we’re going to is called Protaras, which is supposed to be a really nice spot. There was a lot of research done before we finally booked… seems like ages ago!

Ulla has been to Cyprus before and she really loved it. That’s a good enough recommendation for me! We both enjoy the same sort of things while on holiday. As long as there are plenty of bars, nice places to eat and good music to be heard… we’re happy.

Baldy reckons the trip is going to be “heavy” and I have a feeling he is right. Most of us have been away skiing together in the past, and if the rip-roaring sessions we had there are anything to go by… well… God help our livers. The difference with this trip is, there will be no cause to ease off at a certain time during the night. On skiing holidays, the very odd time I get a pang of sense and decide not to have a double last round, or to call it a night at some point to allow me to get at least a couple of hours kip… There will be nothing like that in Cyprus. You stop when you fall, and that’s it!

Of course, I am dreading the flight. It’s a long one, and I absolutely hate flying! While growing up the thoughts of going on an aeroplane excited me, and I had no problem with it. For some reason about seven or eight years ago, I developed this really intense fear of the whole experience though. The sense of relief I feel once we’ve landed is unbelievable.

In addition to all this, there is my constant struggle for leg room on planes. I think they design aircraft these days to comfortably accommodate people who are less than five and a half feet tall. Anyone over that height is going to be in trouble. So, coupled with my fear, I’m expecting the whole flying experience to be pretty nasty. Maybe I’ll just get hammered.

Ulla has no problems with flying. It doesn’t frighten her, she isn’t tall enough to have an issue with the seating… She usually just nods off. Sleep is something that I just can’t do on planes.

Ah well, once we get the whole travelling bit out of the way, I’m going to love every second of the holiday. Like I said, I’ve been away with the gang before… It’s going to be savage. I doubt the crappy local beer in Cyprus will put us off, although we did get a little spoiled in Germany last time. We’ll be hard pushed to find a decent Weizen in Cyprus I dare say!

At the moment I’m trying to decide which books to bring… I’m in the middle of a Shaun Hutson at the moment, and loving it! Wish I’d saved it for the holidays. Got a couple of biographies in the queue though, Michael Jackson, Meatloaf etc… Maybe one of those… Long live Trash Literature. I love it!

Saturation – ROCK!

So I play in this band called Saturation. We’re a five piece, and I absolutely love it.

Ulla is the lead singer, there’s Jacek and myself on guitar, John on bass and Frank on drums.

We’re only together a few months, but we try and work hard. There is a practice session at least once a week at Frank’s studio just off Abbey Street.

Our rehearsals are very ‘ROCK’. We meet up at around 7:30, when we’ve all had the bit of Michael Winner. We plug in, turn everything up as loud as we can without annoying the neighbours, and lash through the songs we took away the previous week to learn; homework you understand.

After an hour or so, we have a short break. Someone throws the kettle on; the cups of tea come out. We lounge around talking about things like pickups, double kick pedals, Yngwie Malmsteen’s weight fluctuations, Dream Theatre, how amazing Yngwie is, how amazing Vai is, cowbells, German beer and much much more.

After a while we get back to it, have a jam, play a few more songs and break up at around 10:00 to go home… “Feckin’ work tomorrow, have to get the bit of kip”.

The band initially got together because I was offered an opportunity to go and do some gigs in Germany. It came about after a drunken jam session while we were skiing back in March. I committed to the gigs, even though I wasn’t actually in a band at the time. All I knew was that Ulla would sing and that I’d play guitar… and that the beer in Germany is savage stuff.

Got home, and coincidently Frank called me to see if I was interested in setting something up. I jumped at the chance, let’s be honest… I had to jump. With that, I contacted John who I’ve been jamming with one way or another since our college days (ten years ago!), and Saturation was formed. After the first or second jam together, Jacek joined. He was a friend of Frank’s, and they’d jammed together previously.

Anyway, we got a set list together, consisting of mostly classic rock covers with our own unique twist. Germany happened; I couldn’t believe it actually came off. We played some gigs out there, it was an absolute blast.

We were based in Hindelang, a small Bavarian town in the Allgau area. Our mates over there treated the band to a lot of drinking, rock climbing, canoeing, etc. I took part in the drinking and nothing else, but the rest of the group took full advantage. It was an absolutely amazing trip.

Before Germany, we had a gig in Kildare. It was a party in a house. It was our only true gig pre-Germany that the band played. Nevertheless, I was brimming with confidence about the trip.

Anyway, we got back in August, and our next venture is this Saturday night. We’re doing a gig in a place in Dublin City Centre called Zagloba. Should be a blast. I can’t wait!

The band still excites me, because I truly believe we are unique in more than one way. Granted, we cover rock songs that everyone knows. What makes it interesting and different is the fact that Ulla is the lead vocalist, and Jacek and I both play lead guitar in two totally different styles. John and Frank are unbelievably solid, and I really enjoy both of their styles. Frank’s kit takes up most of the small studio we use. He uses every piece of his drum kit though, and I admire his playing greatly.

I was in contact with the crew in Germany today. They want us back to play at the local Biker Club’s Winter party in January. The club is called ‘Easy Living’, and I know a few of the members from my trips out there to ski and recently to play music. Great, great people. We’ll book a few gigs around the party too, to cover our expenses and to make the trip worthwhile; I can’t wait!

So that’s the band. You’ll probably read a lot more about it if you check in here again.

Best wishes,

Tony

Introduction

Welcome to my personal blog.

I’m a late starter in the world of blogging, but I finally got my act together and set this up.

So, here goes.

I’m interested in music, I am the Chairperson of The Visually Impaired Computer Society (www.vicsireland.org), I am obsessive about owning beautiful guitars, I work in the IT Development section of AIB Bank, I’m twenty seven, I’m engaged to Ulla…. I’m running out of things to say, and I’m tired of starting every sentence with ‘I’.

Writing is fun to me, so I’ll try and keep this thing going in some shape or form. Great intentions!

All the best,

Tony
Ps: Ever put ‘blogging’ in to the spell checker in MS Word? It’s first suggestion is ‘bogging’! Ha Ha!