Music
Blah Blah Live
The three songs here were recorded in March 2005 in front of a specially selected audience at Panoramix Studio in Biot (the same studio used to record Tellitlikeitis). It was truly a magic night. Here is Alan Roberts’ diary entry from that week:
Thursday 10th March 2005
Well blow me if another week hasn’t passed already,,,,, and what a week and a half!!!
Tuesday night and its down to Panoramix Studio to record our live album. After many hours of careful, and precise preparation (well someone had to stock-up the bar!) 9:30 arrived and our carefully selected audience were escorted blindfold into the arena and plied with strong liquor and vibes!
The turnout was better than expected and the atmosphere was electric from the start. Before long it was time to fire up so we launched into our first number like it was our last and the roar at the end was pure majick!!!
Geezer (yes that is his real name) kept more than our customary tally of shots flowing and Seb was setting the desk and the dance-floor on fire! After an hour of old and new we took a break and a chance to thank everyone there for what had already been one of the best nights of our lives!!
A second hour saw us slightly worse for wear, must’ve been the emotion!, but still on fire, and I don’t think anyone who witnessed Hit Me will ever forget it!!!! It was a fucking great night, in the true spirit of Blah, and made special by you guys as always for giving us as good as you get!
So thanks to (in no particular order ):
Guy and…., Geezer ( you ARE a star ), Martin, Suzy,
Gaz and Isa, Xavier, Romain et Guillame, Boris,
Kathy and Lisa(x), Stephane, Didier, Francois et
Saiid , Carly and Vicky,
Ben and Kevin (are we ready?),Welsh Chris and
mates, Pepsi and Diane, Virginie, Emilie et Jenny,
Sven(all yours man!!) Mike and Charlie, Miri and Elodie,
and all those who I can’t name but won’t forget!!!!
Special thanks to the fifth Blah Seb Gastaldi for letting
us all into his world!! Last but not least a big bone
for le copain Vox!!! Wouff!!!
So back into the studio for me to see if anyone remembered to press record, and I’ll see you at La Gaffe at the weekend !!! Once more unto the breach...
In actual fact someone did forget to press record, and the first barn-storming six songs were un-captured! This selection comes from the second half of the show and includes a truly mind-blowing ‘All Day and All of the Night”, a jazzy ‘Sit Down’ and the double-drumming masterwork that is “Hit Me (With Your Rhythm Stick)”. The Blahs at their best!
Tellitlikeitis
The true ‘first album’ of the band Blah Blah has a momentous
history. The actual recording started in October 2002
when the band was a five-piece. With long term members
François Calais and Gary Leedham, the band entered the
studio with only one song they had played live, and a
bunch of cassettes of Alan’s songs.
They had ten days to lay down the basic tracks and encountered many problems. Throughout them all three people stuck with the album; Alan Roberts (the catalyst of the whole project), Sebastien Gastaldi (studio owner, engineer and eventual guitarist on every track!) and Joe King (producer and old friend of the Alans). Without the dedication of the latter two, all would have been useless, and the album stands as a testimony to their blood sweat and tears. The sleeve notes of the Japanese album tells the tale from the horses mouth:
“It
is every young musician’s dream to record an album
and to release it. It is almost always a pre-requisite
to a life of excess proportional to its success.
I remember writing track listings and sleeve notes
to countless unrealized albums that I have dreamt
of over the years. In October of 2002 , at the age
of 40 years old, I finally got my chance to make that
dream a reality by recording this album with my band
Blah Blah.
As one of the hardest working bar bands in the world we had, for the previous 5 years, been playing the bars and clubs of the south of France to ecstatic audiences, and had built a reputation as the best, and wildest, rock n’ roll band in the region. As the core of the band was English, and both guitarists French, we had a unique sound, and, as we were all (in the eyes of the music business) too old to be successful , it was with both confidence and trepidation that we entered the studio.
Everything bad that could happen to a band happened over the next four months. Problems with the loss of our rehearsal time, the recording process, the choice of songs , the structure and arrangement of songs, and the individual performances led to bitter and acrimonious battles between the members , which continued long after the album and resulted in the sacking of one, and the departure of another.
I personally, after all those years of waiting for the opportunity, was intent on finishing the album at all costs, and I paid heavily for it. I started to spiral down under the influence of drink and drugs and my family life was ripped apart. I felt alone and abandoned and used those feelings to justify my condition and to finish this devil of an album before it finished me. The result, on the surface, betrays none of this. But read between the lines... there are haunting moments and naked emotion that only suffering can inspire.
So here we are now, 3 years on, preparing to give to you the fruit of our painful labour, and I can appreciate at last the worth of our toil. I won’t say that if I had the chance I’d do it all again in the same way, because that would be untrue. But I will say once more that we can only truly learn by suffering, and we have learned a lot. This album speaks for itself, as music is intended to, so listen to our story, expressed through these 11 songs and maybe you will hear something of yourself in one of them…… and it will have all been worthwhile”.
Alan Roberts, February 2006.
It is true that the band have changed since recording it, but the spirit remains, and time will tell if it leads to more albums and a continuation of the Blah Blah story.
No Drive
Pegasus is the only known recording of Alan Roberts’ first band No Drive. Featuring Alan on drums, Gary Leedham and Mark Lester on Lead guitars, Ady Leedham on bass, and Clint Watts on vocals, the band was the template for cult movie “Spinal Tap”.
Their first gig was at a National Boys Club competition
in London, and the funny stories from that alone could
fill a tome!! Their music was a cross between Black Sabbath
and the Arctic Monkeys, and their cacophonous wall of
feedback sound is frightening to say the least! Six months
later, the band split up onstage at their only other gig,
and the legend of No Drive was born.
The song featured here was the first song Alan ever wrote
(the opening riff is taken from the sound that Alan heard
coming from a bus radio system!!!) Pegasus’ preposterous
lyric tells of the winged horse’s exploits in Ancient
Greece without a hint of irony, and the sheer madness
that is Mark Lester’s guitar sound will reduce all music
lovers to tears.
I challenge anyone to listen to this and not break down into
tears of laughter by the chorus!
It is the musical equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard and a testament to the Big Muff II. Listen loud for best effect. Good luck!!
P.S. Anyone who can work out the chords to this song please contact Glenn Williams at TKO Records Japan!
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Tellitlikeitis Album Music © TKO Records, Japan | DVD exerpts & Live Music Recordings © Alan Roberts
Photographs & Images © Various, used by permission | Text © Alan Roberts
All Rights Reserved
Website by Mpjdesign Ltd
