Cubic Jinx

The foundations of this lovable noisemaking entity lie cobwebbed but not forgotten in the green tinted hideaways of the Cubic Jinx collective memory bank. They are of little consequence to anybody else, but our roots are very important to us. Cubic Jinx was a name I (Jai) came up with in 1993 while Mark, Bryan and I were in a band with my childhood best friend, Jason. We were called Nothink at the time, but it wasn’t really a very fitting title. Before too long, we parted company with Jason, who went on to create and write some fine songs with and without myself on various projects over the years. By this time we realised we weren’t even crap yet. We hammered away at song writing and jamming for months on end. We were only teenagers, so the whole responsibility thing was a far off land to us free spirited youths. With this outlook, all of our spare time was devoted to the band. Practising, writing, jamming all the time led to us gradually getting better and better. What we needed was an earth. Someone to stop us disappearing up our own bums. In 1994, my friend E’s older brother Peter put me in touch with a renowned bass player called Pat. Pat was a bit older than us, but sounded like a nice enough chap, so we asked him to come down for a jam with us. He turned up at our practice room and liked what he heard. We loved what we heard! He was a great musician. Also, he had a lot of knowledge. I certainly learned a lot from Pat and I’m grateful for the time he spent with us. In August 1995, Pat unfortunately decided he couldn’t work in our environment any longer and he left. We’d managed to get a few fantastic gigs under our belt by this time though. Our search for a new bass player began in earnest after the warm and friendly summer ended. We booked a couple of jams with two friends of ours, Fen and Blesso. Blesso and I had had worked together before in a band called Captain Trips. He was a keyboard player/ computer whizz. He worked in mysterious ways, but what a guy. Some of the stuff he came up with is legendary. Fen was an utterly sick guitarist who had swapped instruments to bass. He was equally amazing on bass. The two new guys weren’t really feeling it and things seemed to fizzle out a little. Mark, Bry and I were getting a bit down. In the February of the following year, Bry’s then girlfriend, Kim knew of a guy who played bass. His name was Alex. The years had begun to form a callous over my mind and I was somewhat cynical of what this new chap would turn out like. He turned up for an audition at Crash Studios and the one thing I remember about him was how his fingers were shaking. He reminded me of the cartoon, Dr Katz. Seeing this made my heart go out to the poor lad and I realised how nervous he must have been feeling. He was actually quite good we thought. After dropping him off in Mark’s car, we discussed the future. Alex, we decided, was to be the fourth member of Cubic Jinx. From that moment on, we progressed at an alarming rate. The calibre of songs improved a hundred fold. We were flying, even if we were only ones who felt it. There some very dark times ahead for all of us, but within this period were moments of glory where the darkness disappeared, be it only for a while. Without going into too much detail, relationships and the ends of relationships took their toll and the brotherhood we had created and nurtured over a period of six long years of toil and struggle stopped dead. Almost as though as was frozen in time.One night in 2004, I noticed Bryan at one of my gigs. I was in Strip Jack Naked at the time and I hadn’t had a proper conversation with him for about five years. The gig was at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool City Centre. It was the launch of our debut cd, which was absolute plums. The songs were great, but the recording was a half assed effort by a guy we thought would do a great job. Never mind. That’s another story. That night, Bry and I stood at the bar and after a very formal set of small talk, we got chatting. We talked through all the bands that were .. Strip Jack. We talked and talked. I felt sorry for Andrea, who had been waiting around for me, but she understood that losing Bryan as a friend had been utterly heartbreaking for me and I needed to get things back to where they had once stood. By the end of the night, Bry and I had made friends again. God blessed me very much that day. Not too long after this event, Strip Jack split and I was effectively a free agent in musical terms. I got in touch with the other three and we decided to get together for a jam. We went into Crash in 2004 and had a great laugh. Then we went in in 2005 and had another laugh. Then there was a little gap called 2006 and by the time 2007 came around, we were like rabid dogs trying to get into a pracky room for a jam. All of last Summer and Autumn we jammed most weeks with the view of playing some gigs before Christmas. This didn’t happen due to logistical problems, but recently, we’ve got together again and are currently writing, jamming and rehearsing. We are aiming to get back onstage within six weeks. Watch this space my friends.Alex Pantlin - Although Alex was the latest to join the Cubic ranks, his appointment was seamless in that he fitted straight into the topsy-turvy nonsensical world. His mastery of bass guitar never fails to stun, yet our friend plays himself down on a regular basis preferring to be known more for the silliness he exudes than as a great musician. Alex joined the band in February 1996 after having spent several years with a Bootle-based hip hop/ metal crossover band called NCM. On joining Cubic Jinx, Mr Pantlin proved to be that missing link for which the band had been looking for a long, long time. Alex has helped to write some memorable Cubic Jinx songs and one of his most valuable contributions to date is the classic MB’s Games, considered by many to be Jinx’s finest tune. Alex lives with his girlfriend Helen in the leafy south Liverpool suburb of Aigburth. He has lived in the southern stretches of our great city for over ten years now, but originally hails from the even leafier setting of Lydiate, a small village nestled in the grassy knolls of northern Merseyside. Alex is a phenomenal bass guitarist and within Cubic Jinx he is so much more. A great musician, composer and a wonderful friend. A true brother who is willing to stick his neck out for his fellow man. Underneath the Desperate Dan/ Buzz Lightyear gruff exterior is a warm and compassionate man with great big muscles and a heart full of love! Be bove bou Blex!Mark Doran - Mark was the first person offered a place in the grand scheme of things to become known as Cubic Jinx. At the tender age of 15, he had cut his musical teeth as a drummer in a covers band where he played his, now legendary, red Olympic kit. Always the first name on any budding Nethertonian musicians looking for an awesome drummer’s lips, we got him! I had heard of Mark, but had never met him until Jason took me around to his house one day. The meeting was one of bad timing as Mark and his band were in the middle of a practice session in his Dad’s garage, (a place we came very familiar with later on). As events rolled themselves out in front of us all, Mark found his way out of that band and into ours – and it made me very happy. Our Mr Doran is a native of Old Roan, having always lived within a 20-minute radius of the centre of the known universe, the Marian Square. He is currently looking forward to marrying his long-term girlfriend and fiancée, Sarah this August. Mark Doran is probably the best drummer I have ever had the privilege to work with and he is also one of the funniest people on Earth. His wonderful drummery and the interesting word usements he structures are an inspiration to us all.Bryan Coulton - The elder statesman of the band, though only by a year or so, Bryan is the most straight talking and matter of fact Cuboid. It was a wonderful surprise the day Jason approached me and told me he had a surprise. The surprise was of course that he had asked Bryan to join our band and he’d accepted! A guitarist of immense courage and skill, some of his lines begin like a Rolf Harris painting, where one can definitely not see what it is yet, but by the end, one is experiencing a masterpiece. Take, for example his solo on ‘Smother Nature’. Out of context, the listener could perhaps compare it to the final agonizing screams of a lobster dying, but within the song, Bry shines like a lightsaber, whirling and squirling through the melee with the ease of a seasoned Jedi. Bryan is a son of Netherton, but for the best part of this millennium he has opted for the more cosmopolitan southern side of Liverpool. Currently residing in Old Swan, Bryan is also the frontman of the utterly hoofing pop punk heroes One Man Orgy. A wonderful man and a fantastic friend, like the other Cuboids, Bryan is a real trooper and a brother in arms.Jai Edward - Jai was a co founder of Nothink, which mutated in an anti clockwise fashion into Cubic Jinx. From an early age he has been a prolific songwriter, although of late, his preference leans towards quality rather than quantity. At least, that is the excuse he uses nowadays. Having always dreamed of being a superhero, Jai bases a lot of his songs on larger than life characters and unusual goings on. Jai is an indigenous Nethertonian, and is very proud to come from such a wonderful place. A committed Christian, Jai is married to Andrea and they now live in Waterloo, where they are active members of Kingsway Christian Fellowship. Mr Edward feels exceedingly privileged to be a member of Cubic Jinx and to play music with such esteemed colleagues as Mark, Bryan and Alex. What better than to make a joyful noise with one’s friends?