About Me
The beginnings of Bad Name came about in 2002 when Gav (Guitars/talk-box/vocals) placed an advert on a University notice board advertising for, well… the rest of a Jovi tribute band really. News of the ad soon spread to Wayne, (Keyboards/backing vocals) a fan who had been attempting to set up a Jovi tribute act since 1998 without success. It prompted him to make perhaps the only sojourn out of the Student Union café in all his time at University. Taking down the contact details and rushing home, Wayne gave Gav a bell, who was delighted to tell him to go outside and play hide-and-go-****-himself as they already had a keyboard player.
Two weeks and a suspicious looking accident later had things back on track as Gav reconsidered, calling Wayne to set-up the first meeting along with Andrew, a Ceilidh drummer, who was never seen again afterwards. This set the precedent for the standard of reliability in a drummer the band have come to expect… Oh how we laugh, let me tell you.
Phil joined shortly afterwards on the bass and a young Rob, complete with authentic Jon tattoos took the mic. Sadly there followed a succession of comedy drummers, the likes of which will surely pass into folklore, immortalised in some twisted band-related urban myth.
Sadly, commitments elsewhere meant that Phil and Rob had to go their own way and the band started to take on current form with the arrival of Stephen, the self-proclaimed second best bassist in his county, although, coming from a tiny place 10 miles outside Thurso he occasionally adds in a rare moment of modesty; “There are three of us … and one is in jail.â€
Gav then used underhand tactics to recruit his brother Nick, an exceptionally talented drummer who was on the run from a sniper and seeking refuge (no, I’m not joking, there’s a story). Things were going well for a while but the demands of regular long-haul trips from Hull in his last uni year soon took their toll on Nick and we sadly had to start looking closer to home for a mighty stick-monkey.
We owe the arrival of Ross behind the mic to a mystery music journalist, who obviously having nothing salient to write about took pity on our plethora of internet ads and included the details of them in his column. We were most spooked out when Ross produced the ad at our first meeting, but rallied well, nodding sagely and pretending we had the forethought to place details in the paper.
Anyway, whoever the mystery X-files style informant was then we owe him much thanks and many drinks.
Ross, also a massive fan of Bon Jovi's music, brought with him a wealth of vocal talent the likes of which the band had never encountered. His vocal range stood him head and shoulders above the many that had already auditioned, nailing song after song that had previously proven insurmountable.
But still we were without a permanent drummer.
Things were starting to look bleak, with yet more comedic auditions; people turning up without learning stuff...people just plain not turning up.... certain people turning up in bright pink shirts and sandals demanding that we change to a Rush tribute, all that kind of bag. Apparently these are fairly common traits in drummers - hey, you learn something new every day!
After a long spell without a consistent stickman, we finally hit the jackpot when talented music student David Simpson, who kindly stood in for us at the last minute for two consecutive gig nights, agreed to join us permanently- giving the band the long-awaited reliability and flair we had been looking for.
Since graduating Uni, Steve's job has made it impossible for him to continue; the master of bass has handed over the flaming 4 string of fate to our own sound tech, Grant Dilworth, guitarist of local band 'Entertained?'
A full band once more, the gigs and tours have started... and we are finally ready to put on a show!
See you out there!
visit our page at
www.bandmeup.co.uk
