Four Becomes Three Then Two (again)

After Emma Wilkinson’s departure there’s another hiatus.  As far as lead vocalists are concerned Emma was a hard act to follow and we struggle to find a replacement.  We spend 2010 on hold as Emma never actually resigned from the band: her personal difficulties just meant that she never contacted us and for some months we entertained the hope that she would return.

Then, in 2011 with the band inactive again, Jim Mercer decides to leave.  This is a big blow as we’ve played together in all the various lineups since 1989. Although the departure was amicable (and we still pursued our shooting activities together) Jim never really gave an explanation for his departure, apart from citing work commitments, which had always left me thinking the worst, i.e. maybe he was just fed up with me or Laurie or both of us!  For a long time afterwards I tried to winkle an explanation from him but to no avail.  Maybe it was just a question of being weary after seventeen years’ service to the cause.  Jim never really enjoyed live playing as much as the rest of us - he liked the technical side of things and the fettling and so on that goes with owning guitars and amplifiers, etc.  Head of IT in a manufacturing company, Jim is very intelligent, perceptive and humorous. He's naturally placid and I can honestly say I've never seen him in a bad mood or angry (sorry Jim, maybe I miss the signals!). His easy going demeanour was a good balance to my frequent over-earnestness.  He was so easy going I never saw a bead of sweat on his face at a live gig, even though the atmosphere was hot and I'd long since melted into a salty puddle next to my pedal board.  Laurie often exhorted Jim to 'move about a bit' during performances to at least let the audience know he was enjoying it, but to no avail!

I still get a thrill from playing live in a well-rehearsed band, and pursuit of that thrill has driven me over the decades to put up with all manner of setbacks.

Laurie and I were left to look for not only a very good lead vocalist but also another second guitarist.  I got the impression that this time even Laurie was weary of the struggle and not enthusiastic about building things all over again.  In fact at one point he said as much, I think in hope that I would agree and release him from the bond. Nevertheless we set about the task, and in truth I find a lot of satisfaction in the process of actually putting a band together because whilst it can be tedious and frustrating at times it also provides a great deal of satisfaction when it comes together and an audience enjoys what you’ve worked on and are now entertaining them with.  Laurie and I spend 2011 searching for and trying out vocalists with no success.

On The Up Again

2012:  After seeing some guitarists we offer the role to Anthony Collins who has experience playing in bands and lives near to me.  Anthony proves solid, reliable, punctual and affable (what more can you ask!) and we get on well.  He also proves to be treacherous and duplicitous, see below.  We then find a lead vocalist in Helen Durkin who is an experienced singer, mainly solo and has only been a member of one band before.   We practice hard for a number of months as I’m determined we need plenty of songs that are tightly rehearsed.

2013:  We debut at a private function in June and it’s a good first gig - spoiled a little by poor room acoustics, but we acquitted ourselves well. Two months later, after a period of health problems, Laurie decides to leave the band. This is a blow as we’d played together and been friends for 48 years! As mentioned above, I think his enthusiasm had been waning for some time, but his health issue (happily now resolved) was taking the edge off his being able to enjoy playing.  So in Autumn we change the name from ‘The Skyline Band’ to ‘Skyline’ and continue as a trio.

2014:  After a number of successful and enjoyable gigs the latest lineup of Skyline completes its life cycle and dissolves in April.  Unfortunately the fun of playing live is often offset by (i) inconsiderate venue operators who don’t provide space to set up in - leaving the band to try and politely cajole their customers to move aside, (ii) landlords who short pay, welching on a contract, and (iii) the problem of drunken revelers who barge into your equipment, sometimes damaging it.  When the scales tip and a gig becomes a chore it’s time to take a break.  Also, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth when I discover some months later that Helen and Anthony, had been secretly rehearsing with another band for over two months before Skyline dissolved.  The reason for the secrecy being to trouser the money form the last few gigs we had in the book.  This sort of behaviour goes on with bands however, but it’s still disappointing when someone you regarded as a friend does something so shitty.  The terrific musician and gifted vovalist Paul Carrack (Ace, Squeeze, Mike & The Mechanics, Roger Waters band, countless sessions) wrote a song about these situations called "How Long" which was a big hit for Ace in 1977.  I think a lot of those who bought the record and made it such a big hit thought it was a about a couple breaking up, but if you listen to the lyrics with band politics in mind it's clear what he was writing about. 

For a few years now, Laurie and I have been spending time together writing songs and recording them in my home studio, so we focus back on that  musical outlet.  But the itch to play live took hold again soon…  We just needed to be ultra-sure next time that we hooked up with competent musicians in future rather than stopgap mediocrity, and straight forward people rather than duplicitous, untrustworthy ones.