I am the piano player

Hello there, it’s me… the piano player. I do apologise for taking so long to write in, but then again, I’ve never been that punctual. So at least I am being true to my nature in being consistently unpunctual, in fact I actually won a disposable camera for holding the record of late attendance for class to which I was honestly late to collect. Right, let’s move on, shall we? So we have established that I am in fact the piano player and that I’m usually late. The rest of the blanks have been filled in by my fellow bandmate the odd blog king himself, Morgan Val Baker, and I am slightly embarrassed to admit that mostly all of what he says about me is indeed true.

Me, forgetful, well I guess… I suppose... what were we talking about again? Ok, yes, it’s all true. I’ve lost lyrics, forgotten melodies, lost my voice, my clothes, my shoes, and of course, my piano leads! Actually, I wrote a song about that, not to mention leaving Morgan’s chainsaw on a train, yes, yes, yes, it’s all true I confess! It’s amazing I haven’t been fired yet. Or maybe I was, and just forgot! It’s at this point that I would just like to thank my band for putting up with me and my chaotic snail trail of lost belongings. But I’d just like to point out that I have actually remembered to turn up to nearly 200 gigs now.

I guess my life with music all started by banging a bongo from the age of two, then I worked my way up to school tables until eventually I got a real life big boy’s drum kit. After a few lessons from my aunty Demelza I decided to embark on a passionate affair

with music. It wasn’t long before I fell in love with the guitar, after years of watching my Dad I finally plucked up the courage to do so myself. Then came the piano and one day even a little voice sprouted from the depths of me; my inner musician took hold and demanded that I fed it. I even started jamming with others and in amongst them were future odd folker Oscar Bloomfield-Crowe, aka The Bass Player. We formed a band called Universal Groove and even played at Laforwda Day, something The Odd Folk still haven’t managed to do! I actually didn’t play any instruments in the band, I was too shy, it was just me, myself and my little voice which turned out to be quite big when I closed my eyes. This was my first experience playing in front of a crowd. It was terrifying but fun. After a few years and a few different lineups we got bored and drifted apart. My musical life didn’t really start again until I got a call that would change my life forever… 

"Hey Shell, me and Sam Brookes are starting a band, and we need a piano player, you keen?"

"Sure" I said, a little too excitedly.
"Now, remember” said Morgan - backtracking slightly - "this is just a try out, do you understand?" So we met up and made some music and I guess I passed the test. Or if I didn't I forgot and stayed anyway. I was in. Into what I wasn’t sure. We didn’t have a name or any particularly style. But I knew I liked to be a part of it. Eventually we settled on a name, being a three piece, we felt it made perfect sense to go by the name The Sam Brookes Quartet, a

The Sam Brookes Quartet

natural fit, I’m sure you’d agree. The Sailing Song was the first to jump out of the bag, then quickly followed by a slightly awkward Franz Kafka, and of course Whisky Drunk. “Four more tunes and we will be gig worthy!”, Morg said - and so it was. He was on a roll hurtling us down the hill towards our first gig at The Acorn Theatre in Penzance. A baptism of fire if ever there was one. After a nervous start, eventually I found my feet, then followed by my legs, head, and the words to the songs. Slowly but surely we were sounding like a real band. It was ramshackle but with the raw passion that seemed to tickle audiences in the right way. Before we knew it, the gigs came rolling in, and with that, new songs came – up stepped Strangled Cat - my first lead vocal; a cross between medieval folk and a cat being strangled. Unfortunately he didn’t last long, rumour has it he lost his voice trying to hit those high notes. Kayleigh Jane soon followed, came stomping into the scene in her Celtic boots, violin in hand demanding everybody dance. And they did in those wild old days. Finally I found my own song, it came Tumbling Down the mountainside, landing just in time to make the cut on our first album, The Sweet Release.

Anyway, I could end up going through every song at this rate; I must conclude my blog before I run out of words. And where better to conclude than where we are right now, having returned from our favourite festival called Fire in the Mountain. This stunning location in the heart of the hills trembled in anticipation of the imminent onslaught of 2000 hillbilly hippies all playing violin at once, or so it sounded at times. It’s predominantly a bluegrass festival but it also has strong folk roots and a sweet world music smell to the air. As we seemed to harbour all three styles I guess we were the perfect fit. It was our third year in a row, and it certainly wasn’t without its hiccups. First of all we had to assemble a makeshift band, out of spare parts that we achieved with the return of Mr. multi instrumentalist and music connoisseur Pat Moran on the bass and Mr. Brookes was back. That’s right, Brookes, not Sam, alas he is somewhere in Bristol drowning in a pile of babies. Instead he kindly lent us his equally charming cousin Aaron to try and find those sweet notes. We met Morgan in Bristol to the tale of a broken down van and lost wonderings in the dark. Not to mention his team had lost 4-1 in their only chance of silverware. He was grumpy and it was a bumpy start. We set sail to Wales, only for our sail to catch in a buckle of a blundering mechanic, giving us the chance to relive Morgan’s previous night of endless calls to the RAC as we sat on the sidewalk and twiddled our thumbs. "What do you mean you can’t get us a van? We have a gig in 5 hours!" I heard Morgan politely shout from across the street. Basically, a long story short, we ended up being lent two cars by a kind garage man who took pity on us putting the RAC well and truly to shame. We arrived safely alongside our fellow hillbilly brothers and sisters to the sound of violins, so many violins, until I was sure there was a tiny Welshman playing violin on my head. On the day of our gig we assembled at the stage, me arriving conveniently late to the realisation that all our instruments had been set up as if by magic! "Nice one guys, and sorry I’m late and how about an energy ball to make up for it!?" They all accepted and united through the balls, energy flowing through our veins, we bounded onto the stage to the result of a couple of people shuffling about nervously. Not to be undone we ploughed on as passionately as ever, and with each song we seduced more and more until we had a handsome crowd to be proud of. We sang, we sweated, we danced, the crowd danced, fuelled on by the music and the festival dreams, and at the end of many laughs and miles walked and stories talked, we left in our fleet of borrowed cars. And here we are now, back to the world outside the band, back to market stalls and theatre work and I can’t really remember what my bandmates actually do!?

Anyway I’ve run out of words and not for the first time ;)

cheeeeeeeers n Gone !!! (as they say in Cornwall) Xx