I'm ashamed to say I was a little older when my one and only band was formed in the living room of my friend Matt's flat in Bridport... perhaps 22. We were called Roi (pronounced Roy) and we made a demo tape of our one and only song one afternoon. The line up was me on vocals and guitar, Matt on two stringed gypsy guitar and his brother Simon was lyricist. Lyrics were somewhat in the Eno-mould, as in random words written down on scraps of paper then held in front of me.

We had a slight problem from the word go, in that I couldn't sing and Matt couldn't really play guitar. Our song didn't have a name... it was better that way.

But we did have several album titles...

Roi
Roi II
Roi III
Untitled
Houses Of The Roi
Physical Roi...

See what we did there?

God, it was shocking... I hope that tape's worn out, I would hate it if it resurfaced.

that reminds me of my first electric guitar, which I painstakingly decorated with the legend 'Fire and Ice' in enamel paints. One half was covered in flames, the other ice. Clever stuff.

...Age Of Consent

New Order soundalikes in 1989!

Tape is long lost, I would love to find it now!

Thomas is Different (post-school band - 10 "albums" worth of mainly unlistenable sub-Loop horsecack with about ten half decent songs over the course of a decade including 'Brian', a song in praise of Brian Blessed and 'To Dream Perchance of Sleep' (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendI...))

Exercise Gives You Cancer (same band as above, rebranded for a week or two in the late 80s)

Razorblade Cunnilingus (college indie punk band, sole gig cancelled when bassist fell on pint glass the night before and nearly bled to death, logo: Rolling Stones tongue coming through a Wilkinson Sword style razor blade. Can't remember any of the song titles whatsoever.)

Sonic Prolapse (post-college punk band including 'theme' song 'The Sonic Oscillating Love Prolapse Man'.)

Goodbye Pluto (current ambient/spacerock band, songs include 'Crushed to Dust', 'The Hum', 'Particles of Paint Migrating' and '(My Head Feels Like) Carmen Miranda'.(http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendI...))

with logos scrawled and song titles and things.

First one I can't remember the name of the group, but I was 15, owned an acoustic guitar and the first Alarm album, so rough folky sounding things were the order of the day.

Second one though was me and my best mate, two electric guitars and a couple of bad amplifiers that made everything sound like the Jesus And Mary Chain. We were listening to The Stooges at this point and Hendrix and The Clash, so, fast three chord rock n roll was the thing.

We were called The Green Vampires after some strange bit of graffiti I'd scrawled on my bedroom wall. We had three songs, a fast punky thing called Angel, a moodier piece about deserts and vultures and a Stepping Stone rip off called Green Vampires Rule Ok.

We did actually attempt to take it out of the bedroom and into rehearsal rooms - some place off Holloway Road - and got a drummer and bass player, but it never really took off. Both of us ended up in various bands and music related jobs, my mate's band even ended up on The Word back in the early 90s, but the rock n roll stardom we dreamt of... you know the score... ;)

Head was my mate Simon and I with a Casio keyboard and a knackered, cheap Spanish guitar..Neither of us could play anything, but we wanted to cover Neds Atomic dustbin songs...Lord above knows why.

The name was not a tribute to the Monkees. It was purely so our compere (We aimed high) could introduce us by saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you HEAD"..>Subtle, no?

Birmingham Six was Simon on Bass (he had learned to play a bit by then) and a group of mates, I was the manager. Covers of Wild Thing, and a few originals. We played one gig outside our local pub, and cleared the place. The landlady offered us beer to stop.

Then the old artistic differences settled in and the guitarist left. A new guitarist was found, and "we" changed into Mad Apple. We recorded two albums on a clock radio - Non Salty Oyster and Irrational behaviour. We played a few gigs around Norwich, we even won a heat of a Battle of the bands competition at The Waterfront (I realise this is all heading into HMHB territory).

We sounded like the sum of our influences. The bass player was heavily in to the Happy mondays and Rave. The drummer like Metallica, the guitarists (we ended up with two) liked "cock Rock) and the singer didn't really care for music, do ya.

I have nearly all of it on tape somewhere apart from Head, as we never put down any tracks...some say they were already stillborn.

I converted the tapes to MP3 a while back, and listen every now and then if I am in need of a laugh.

We keep plotting a reunion...it's what the world wants.

Primary school playground band. Peak of career was playing our air guitars and drums, singing beatles (one s!!) songs, to the Headmistress in her study.
"Unamed project": A possibly inebriated tape session of "original songs", based, entirely plagiaristically on the Morris On version of The Cuckoos Nest and Commander Cody's Mama Hated Diesels. I specialised in the talky bits. Age perhaps 15 or 16. I'd love to hear it now. I'll bet James C-W still has it.
The Clap: Uni punk band. My role was backing vocals on a version of Capital Radio (by the Clash). Actually played to an audience, albeit non-fee paying.

...a covers band at the minute. We're called "Boozy Quattro", but for the Dunfanaghy Jazz & Blues Festival, we renamed ourselves "Bluesy Quattro". Simple, really.

We did have arguments about how crap the name was, but it won through in the end, despite somebody suggesting "Replay". That was a bad night.

We're doing Dunfanaghy (it's in Co Donegal) again this year. Come along, we're great.

You gotta have faith....etc....etc....

http://www.bandnamemaker.com/

A wealth of great band names are available. We liked the Quattro idea, and it came up with "Quattro Stepfather & The Blended", but we didn't have the balls to use it!

There was a band at my school called 'Pictures of Aachen' who were so awfully and criminally bad that on their first gig (at the school mind!) one schoolboy spod actually went onstage during the second song - we thought to stage dive rather coolly - and pulled the plug on them!!! The silence afterwards ensured that they got the message - AND we'd paid 50p to get in, suckers we were!

Made me realise that i didnt want to be in a band after all, and would rather let those who are musically gifted pleasure my ears!

It's 1972. Britain is all decimal now, Nixon is bombing Laos and Taurus Cramp are setting the Paradox youth club ablaze. Two guitars, bass, drums, pandemic acne and - here comes our USP - a ring modulator that nobody knew how to work, so one of us would twiddle it from time to time, creating an effect that was uncannily reminiscent of trying to get Radio Hilversum tuned in.

Our bold, eclectic, leave-'em-screaming-for-more (well, screaming anyway) setlist:

1. Silver Machine
2. Bad Moon Rising*
3. Gudbye To Jane
4. R&R Medley: (Johnny B. Goode/Rock Around The Clock/Twist and Shout)
5. Paranoid

*None of us had heard the original. We found a soggy, Vimto-stained copy of the sheet music stuffed behind a bench, so we cribbed the guitar tabs and made up a melody that fitted, sort of. When I finally heard the record many years later I was stunned - we'd absolutely nailed it. In fact, we'd gone way beyond nailing it, since the Creedence version turned out to be so basic, it didn't even have a ring-modulator solo. Amateurs.

... for a band he was in called Castro To Deodar.

This would have been in about 1985, and I think it was a Human Leauge style. He would have been about 17/18 and I was about 10, I think.

I may still have the tape at home...

I often wondered about what I'd call my band, should I ever be in one - and plumped for Velo in the end.

Did create about 7 or 8 songs when I had my Playstation Music game - and they were of an ambient bent (remember the title of the first song dearly - but as I use that as a password, I'll keep it to myself).

Must pimp my PC and get some music software - then Velo might see the light of day.

Me on Voice, Mike Hurst on Guitar, Dave Williams (I think) on Bass and Paddy McGinley on Drums.

Not an instrument between us.

First album title: Shadows Reminiscent of Fear.

We were 14.

The best band I was in was called Ronnie who were so called due to us practicing in a snooker hall Ronnie O'Sullivan had once been in and us forming during the Snooker World Championships. The other option had been Virgo.

Our best song was called 'I Love The Sun' - a lost Brit Pop anthem.

I was also in an imaginary band called The Self.

Pronounced Ol Ma'ey. The name predates the rave generation usage and actually comes from the name my Dad always used for whoever was boxing against Mohamed Ali.

It wasn't really a band, it was just a college bedroom sing-along whilst Ian played my unplugged electric guitar (which I couldn't play).

It was injudiciously recorded, given that the songs consisted of various Beatles songs with made-up-on-the-spot lyrics making slanderous and nasty comments about various people we knew. I still have the tape somewhere and will use it should any of those present rise to a position of power.

Hector & the Dronbahs (aged 15) - blues four piece much influenced by Leadbelly and the first couple of Bob Dylan albums. Two acoustic guitars, two harmonicas, four unharmonised voices. Utter bilge. Have fought shy of Dylan ever since. Sample song: "Goodnight Irene" (No gigs)

Horned Godz (aged 17) - ungodly meld of thrash and Dinosaur Jr, with a bassist who thought he was Mark King. Being the keyboard player, I also got to set the drum patterns off at the start of each number. The only lyrics I remember dealt with the then-new sensations of experiencing a hangover. Sample song: "Sick" (No gigz)

2-piece 4-track band. Influenced by Nick Lowe/The Kinks/Bonzos, started in 1983, finished in 1988 after we finished our first cassette album "Transatlantic". Never played a gig. I couldn't really play any instruments when we first started but learned as we went along. It helped coming from a musical family with a lot of instruments in the house.

Tracks: Rev It Up, Waiting for the Watch, Up and Down, Wrong Woman Boogie, Yoyo, Louise, Paradise Place (Bo Grumpus), Man About Campus, Get Down, Five Years of Hard Work, Superman

Wrong Woman Boogie was a really a song called My Woman Done Me Wrong, which we recorded in many different styles (the Human League one was better than the standard boogie version we went with in the end).

As daft as it all was, making music became my lifetime passion, and it started here. Most of my teenage years spent making one cassette that only about 10 people ever heard. Worth it? Definitely.

Brinnington, Stockport band "Dandruff Pie" circa 1970

Moss Daniels-Lead guitar, 12 String Acoustic, Piano,combat jacket,paisley shirt, flares and roll ups,

Wal-Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, octaganol granny glasses, afro, long firemans coat, red chiffon scarf,

Lancs-Stratocaster,after shave bottle slide thingy, denims,

Uggy-Melodica,red hair, plaid scarf and shirt, red vinyl jacket,

Bucka-percussion, Bowl Of Water (for ocean effects),Mum's Dressing Gown,ciggy rolling machine and Vocals

Songs
"St Ives, Blackpool, St Ives" (22 minute "suite")
"Little Old Wine Drinker Me"
"Frankie and Johnny" and
Ralph McTell's "Barges"

In some landfill a tape exists

Those were the days

Our concept was to be a bit like The Cramps so we need a "the" name.

We also needed cool stage names so;

1) The Meat Man - singer (dig that direct article!)
2) Funkasaurus Rex - Bassist
3) Cosmic Stew - Guitar
4) Maniac - drums (after animal from the muppets)

Cosmic managed to write and record a tune called "Disco Pirate." We all liked tunes that had "disco" somewhere in the title and we figured pirates were cool. This was way before Pirates Of The Caribbean by the way.

Other recorded material were basically epic two note "jams" which were only two notes because I didn't know how to play any instrument and could only be trusted one chord change every few minutes.

I maintain there are worse bands than that now.

(named after a Mott The Hoople number) was Russell Kilmister and I, just older than teenagers but it felt like we were. We played the odd accoustic gig not least at Reading University Rowing Club when I vividly remember leaving the hapless Russell "jamming" on his own when a call of nature precluded me from adding my diabolical rhythm guitar. Our set list included a smattering of Gallagher & Lyle and the vocals were mostly mine although Russ did like to perform Stealers Wheel's Can I Have My Money back, an apposite title given the quality of our performances if ever there was one.

He went on to act occasionnally in TV shows and is something of a male model now I believe. I progressed to a lifetime of Webb-following.

Prog band natch. I have a group photo in my archives - that's 4 members and two roadies (two!). Never played a note if I recall right through the years, although I owned a bass guitar briefly.

Two of us started to write a song named after a wonderful-looking jukebox in a pub in Stirling - Rockola Stereophonic. I also had an idea for a piece similar to Supper's Ready called Floodlit Featherbed *. The premise was that in the future there would be televised sex. How little the foolish teenager knew...

*(c)Beany. It could still see the light of day.

Named after a Biblical pig possessed by the devil. We were at a catholic school you see.
Several tapes were made with cover photos even. Subsequent spin offs/solo projects included Smart Parts, The White Professors and Stale Meat.
I banged things, two others "sang" but two could more or less play guitar and bass.
This was the mid 70s so we were essentially a studio band [well garage/living room]. Key songs included Glenda, Shank Rag and Hit Me [which we reckoned Donovan stole for a track on Cosmic Wheels, though what he was doing listening at my parents garage door I never could understand].
We played one gig at a youth club in New Malden. Some years later I discovered that we had a stylophone player with us that night. People paid to see us. If you were there, I'm sorry and I owe you 40p.
We had a drummer that night [we gave him our fee as his mum drove him and his kit there] and he is now the drummer in The Counterfeit Stones.