Searching for Ted??
Have you ever searched for something
and then found it, right under your nose? Well,
that’s the gist of the story so far about me and Ted
Can’t Hear Ya.
Since Shave the Monkey did its
last gig three years ago I had been looking for a
new band to play in. I was still playing in barn
dance bands, had been involved in a couple of
acoustic and recording projects with some of my
mates from Shave, but nothing blossomed into a
longer term project.
I wanted to be out there playing
and make some noise. Also, having spent many hours
on the motorway travelling to rehearsals in East
Anglia and all over the country with occasional
forays across the channel for gigs with Shave, I
wanted to do something LOCAL.
Then I was browsing the web and
found a very old posting from Paul saying that Ted
was looking for a new fiddle player. I’d never seen
them play but had heard of them and knew they are
based in Medway. Rats I thought, sounds promising
but it’s too late. But I e-mailed them anyway in
case they were interested in meeting up.
It turned out that Paul had done
radio interviews with Shave before I joined and knew
the band well. Ted Can’t Hear Ya had even recorded a
tune – Shaven Monkey – which they claim was
‘inspired’ by the band. When I listened to it I
thought it would work brilliantly as a tune for
local morris dancing side Wolfshead and Vixen’s new
ladies’ garland dance. The Vixens agreed and the
tune was officially nicked and is becoming part of
Medway’s folk heritage in another context.
Meanwhile I was planning to go and
meet Paul, Lucy and Andy and hear them play at the
Rochester Queen gig in November and was chuffed when
they invited me to play as a guest on Shaven Monkey.
It would have been great if we hadn’t had a problem
with the sound which meant I split everyone’s ear
drums. Ah well. At least I was making some noise at
last.
Since then we’ve met a few times,
we’ve written a new song and everything has just
seemed to click.
Paul asked me to lie and tell you
all what lovely people the band are and what great
songwriters. I’m relieved to say I don’t need to
lie. These are some of the warmest, most welcoming
people I have met in a long time. Every practice is
full of laughter and energy and the songs Paul and
Lucy have written are, in my humble opinion, one of
the best aspects of the band.
We’ve got loads of ideas to expand
the Ted repertoire, we’re having a great time, come
along to a gig and join in the fun!!
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