Splendid Gentlemen

At the end of 2019 we’d put a lot of miles under the wheels of Dudley Orville Deathtrap, our trusty van. Our hands were hurting, our voices were knackered and we were pretty tired out. We had another busy year lined up for 2020 and as the year came to a close, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice, to just have a month or so with no gigs, just to recover a bit.” 

 
This isn’t exactly what I had in mind! 

 
Now, if we casually brush aside the fact that I may have tempted Fate there, and the Global Pandemic, which has brought the entire world to it’s knees, might be my fault, for making what seemed at the time an off the cuff wish. This might actually have turned out to be a really good thing for us. 

 
Yes, our entire diary form March to September and counting has been wiped out, and there is no assurance that the remainder of the year won’t go the same way. Yes, we’re skint. Yes, I have also put on a stone in weight. But a funny thing happened which I have noticed we’ve been exempt from. 

 
June 2020 actually marked the 10th Anniversary of the forming of this band. We decided to skip it and we’ll call February 2021 our Anniversary, because February 2011 was when we played our first gig. A Mid Lockdown Anniversary Facebook post seemed like it would be shit way to mark such a milestone. But in the 10 years we’ve been doing this, we have never had what you would call, “A Bridezilla!” We’ve heard plenty of horror stories over the years about insane demands some bands have had, and the wrath they’ve received if they haven’t met them. But so far, we’ve only ever come across really cool, laid back people, who just want to have a good time, and trust us to do what we do. 

The start of the Covid-19 outbreak, at least from what I could see on social media and from talking to our peers in the industry seemed to bring out a really ugly side in a lot of people. In the panic people were losing their temper, sending irate emails, raging down the phone and lashing out wherever they could. We saw people attacked by a deluge of negative reviews, letters threatening legal action, forum threads becoming a pitchfork mob, a lot of businesses really hurting and a lot of weddings in ruins.

 
We, however are happy to say that we have had almost none of this. So, from the bottom of my heart, I just wanted to write this blog to say Thank You to all of our lovely Splendudes and Splendettes, for being so understanding, so accommodating and just plain decent through all of this. 

 
Our philosophy, right from day one, was just to be as fair and decent as we could be with people. Move where we could, give what we could and take only what we needed to survive. We understand you’ve lost money, lost suppliers and lost a lot of sleep over this, so we’ve not wanted to be an extra burden to worry about. And we’ve found that almost everyone has returned this sense of fairness and decency. So honestly, thank you so much. In what has been a nightmare for everyone, you all have made it a lot easier to deal with.

 
After 10 years in this business, we’ve been through the rough and the smooth of it and it looks like we’re going to survive just fine, so we’ll be there next year and onwards to play your weddings. 

 
The upside to this is, we’ve had some time. We’ve had some space. We’ve all used the time away from each other to put in to projects that we just didn’t have time to do when the band was running full steam and I think we’ll come back stronger for it. 

 
After being able to properly rest my voice for the first time in years, I’m now working through some exercises to improve it. I’ve got plenty more time to practice guitar, so I’ll come back stronger and I’ve taken the time to really do a deep dive in to the music that I love, finding all these cool bands I’d never heard before. My passion for music is back to levels it was when I was a 15 year old kid, learning guitar and wanting to discover the magic behind all these artists I was finding. I’m writing again for my original project, King of Crows. I’ve written more songs since March than I have in the last 6 years. Having it back in my life again has made me feel like a whole person again. 

 
Having had the time and the space away from it, I’m missing the excitement of playing live again and can’t wait to get back in to the rehearsal studio to work through all the new songs I’ve learned with the guys. When the time comes when live music is given the go ahead again, we’ll be ready for it. 

 
So, what I’m trying to say is, it might be a global disaster, but even good things can come from disaster. 

 
Stay safe, dear friends and we’ll see you soon.