5.12 /// Setting 'Lasers 2 Stun'...

Picture this: Just before turning 40, a chance meeting at the Heritage Centre in Crewe led me to an unexpected musical adventure with two fantastic bands. Join me as I share the exhilarating and sometimes nerve-wracking journey with 'Dad's' Band and 'Lasers 2 Stun'. From alternating guitar and singing duties with Steve, to navigating the complexities and joys of working with talented musicians like Rhys, Tom, and Adrian, this is a story of passion and camaraderie. Together, we discovered the magic of spontaneous jam sessions and the thrill of preparing for our first gig, balancing rock covers with our original creations.

As we hone our setlist and anticipate stepping into the spotlight, the compelling challenge of tackling songs like "Purple Rain" and "War Pigs" is only rivaled by the excitement of planning gigs. Listen in as we explore the creative process of designing our band logo and integrate our energetic new drummer, George. We’re on a mission to share our sound with live audiences before the year's end, driven by the dedication and sheer joy of making music together. Through all the rehearsals, setlist planning, and logo designing, this episode captures the essence of band life, complete with all its ups, downs, and unforgettable moments.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Band Update
• 6:25 Band Development and Gig Preparation
• 15:40 Set List Planning and Band Updates

Transcript

Stephen : 0:01

Hello and welcome to Infinite Prattle. In today's episode I'm going to be talking about the band I'm in and a bit of an update on that, because nobody had discussed that since I mentioned it in an early episode last year, I think it was. So stay tuned for that. Hello and welcome to Infinite Prattle. Unscrubbed, unedited prattle on everything Hosted by me, stephen, listen, like, share, subscribe and enjoy the show. Hello, welcome, welcome, welcome you lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely people. Yeah, so this week's episode I'm just gonna be talking about, um, you know, the band I'm involved in. Uh, I mean, I'm in two bands. Uh, if you may remember, uh, I did an episode last year about, you know, turning 40 and um and then basically rocking out at 40. Uh, so, on the bucket list, like I'd have had a bucket list, it would have been like I'd love to have been in a band and I didn't think I was going to achieve that by the time I was 40, and, if I'm honest, there's probably loads of things on my bucket list. Probably being a millionaire by the time I'm 40 would have been pretty high up there. And just before I turned 40, I did a thing at the Heritage Centre in Crewe, met a guy called Dave Shout out to Dave and we just got talking and he wanted to know about podcasting and we went for a coffee and he basically said he was looking at starting this band up again. They used to be in. They were looking at just going for practices, probably not getting gigs, but would I be interested if I could play the guitar and sing, which I was like, oh yeah, that's cool, love to do that. So we went for a practice and the bass player in the band basically mentioned to me after we called practices that he was looking at sound of band up as well, probably playing some maybe more modern stuff.

Stephen : 1:59

Because the other band that we've nicknamed Dad's Band in the WhatsApp chat, which was originally made up of our initials because there was two daves um and uh, steve and an adrian and then we had a guy called john join us playing guitar and his son steven join. So adrian mentioned about making another band up. So that band has been called Dad's Band for a while. We haven't really got a name. Whether we come up with a name, I'm not sure. So Adrian suggested that me, that he asked me if I would be the singer in the other band and he invited Steve across as well. So us three from Dad's Band joined another drummer, rhys, and a guitarist, a lead guitarist, Tom, and formed a band which were working titles Lasers to Stun. We've kind of kept that title and I think we probably will roll with that for now. And yeah, it's just been brilliant. We've been doing Daz Band for about a year and then Lasers to Stun, I think had our first practice in February this year. We've tried to be consistent as much as we in Dazban for about a year and then Lazerstone, I think, had our first practice in like February this year and we've tried to be consistent as much as we can like. Maybe every two weeks I'm gonna practice. We've missed a few. Sometimes the place is booked up, but it's been going well, it's been enjoyable.

Stephen : 3:17

I am the lead singer. Steve also sings a couple of songs as well. It was one of the songs I just couldn't get my head around, which is, hate to Say, I Told you so by the Hives. I just couldn't. I could sing it, but I just couldn't get the timing right and I think it was maybe because I wasn't playing it while Steve plays and sings it. And I think I now play the guitar, which is actually good, because he's taken over some of the songs and it means that I can play guitar as well now. So I, when he's singing, I play guitar and it gives a bit of a dynamic move to the, to the band as well, and he does backing for me and I do backing for him. So it's it's actually turned out really well.

Stephen : 3:54

And I think I think at first I missed one of the. I missed one of the get. We missed one of the practices and he sang the songs and he enjoyed himself and I said, well, if you want to do some of the songs, I said I'm shit at it. He said I told you, so I just can't get the timing right, I miss me cue every time. And we did a couple of Oasis ones and I said I'm not into the Oasis ones, so much I sing them, but I'm not, I don't get into them, kind of thing. So he took on the Oasis songs and they're a great bunch of guys. So Rhys, an excellent drummer, excellent guy, will take on anything you throw at him. There's not been a song yet that we've just mentioned. He just plays it. He's a very accomplished drummer and, yeah, it's quite impressive the talent that we have really.

Stephen : 4:42

I actually feel like the least talented in regards to musical accomplishment, which irks me a little bit, considering I had kind of like I don't want to say classical training, but I had music lessons for years and it was kind of like the top of my game. At 18, 19, musical wise taught myself guitar and when I moved out and moved into my own house, like I was pretty pretty shit hard and I'm like amazing, I was never, I've never been like a lead guitarist or anything like that, but I could, I could, you know, find my way around the guitar kind of organically. I hate when people say that organically, but you know what I mean, you know what I mean. I was, I mean I was and I was quite accomplished on the piano still, and, uh, over the years, due to work and home life and I don't know, probably just realizing that that wasn't gonna be the life I was gonna lead, I wasn't gonna be a rock star and stuff and I just like do it for my pleasure. But obviously skill fade etc. Like you join a band with talented people and damn, you see how much skill fade you've had. Because in general if I go and play the piano in front of someone that can't play the piano, they're like oh my god, you're amazing. I'm like, I'm not, really not. I'm really not. I joined this band and I was like shit, like I really need to practice and I, I need to still more add more practice into my day. This is where the endless tidying of my house comes in. Um, that's not for this episode, oh god, don't remind me. Oh, anyway, uh, yeah.

Stephen : 6:25

So our set list line kind of grew kind of out of suggestions, things that we kind of knew how to play, songs that we knew, and quite quickly there were some songs that we were like well, me, steve and Adrian play that in the other band. That's quite a good song that people would know, that's quite a good song that people would know. Um, and we kind of had a set list of like probably like nearly 30 songs at first that we were just like randomly going through, um, but we weren't really honing our skills. Uh, so much um. But we have quite a good relationship where we all kind of, you know, pick the songs and we'll have a bash at anything really.

Stephen : 7:08

But probably about three months ago we decided, you know, we want a gig. We do want a gig. Let's hone the list down to like a smaller amount and then really really get out, because there's a few songs that we can kind of play like, oh, we'll do that, but let's hone that list and get a set going. You know a list of about 10 songs, um, which you know isn't a long set. You know 10 songs plus maybe a couple of couple of encores, is probably still less than an hour. So, but we just wanted to get them songs down and really, really bash at them. So then we have basically have a a list to practice every time we go to band and then, if there's any time left, then we might have a bit of a, you know, shuffle of some of the other stuff. And that's what we've been doing for the last couple months. We've really honed them songs down and we we played a couple of surprise ones you might not expect us to play. You know we are like a rock cover band, um, but yeah, the the song list is, I think, pretty good. I think pretty good. And now we're now we're like trying to get a gig, like we're we're, we're actually then trying, trying to actually think about booking somewhere. It's a crazy step, though it's a crazy step, but we're all, we're all keen for it, maybe a little bit nervous, but we're still keen for it and we know we can do it. Um, and then you've got steven.

Stephen : 8:30

He plays guitar, rhythm and and solos as well a bit of lead um. And he sings as well. Very, very talented guy. He writes his own stuff as well. Um, I feel like he, he where he he's, he's where he where I, where I was, probably when I was in my early 20s when I moved into my own house. He's probably still beyond me, but I feel like he's kind of got that vigour and skill set that I had, like, oh God, 15 years ago. That's more than 15 years ago. It's depressing. I kind of see me in him a little bit. He's very talented. He's far talented than I am Playing-wise.

Stephen : 9:16

He's written some brilliant songs. Some of the songs he's played me so far. I'm blown away by that. So we may actually do some of his songs, write our own and maybe even do some of my songs. I've got a list of songs that I've never really done anything with. So if there's some of my songs that might fit, I've got to go through them and hone them a little bit. I said to Steve about maybe going around his house and doing that with him. But that'd be cool if we could play some of Steve's songs as maybe some of our songs, or even just jointly write a song together and that'd be sweet.

Stephen : 9:47

Um tom lead guitarist, uh, face, my felt face melting guitarist he is. Uh, some of the sounds he produces, uh, just the talent of that guy, you know he. We were playing a song one night and he never even heard of it. He went on his phone, got the tablet for it, had a quick scan of it, listened to the song and pretty, pretty, pretty much played it. It was just like fuck, like that's, that's skill, that is skill. And they've all been in bands before. Like Reece has been in bands and been on tours and Tom's been in bands and Steve's been in a band he was in a band like when he was younger. And then Adrian the bass player he's the oldest out of us all, sorry, I shouldn't really say that and he's fantastic and he can play guitar and bass and he can play the drums a bit, and so can Tom. We always swap over.

Stephen : 10:40

Sometimes one of us was missing, so one night Rhys couldn't come, so he couldn't play the drums, obviously because he wasn't there, and we all took a bit of a turn playing different things. I'm not really I can play the drums, but I didn't really want to risk playing a song to it. So because I'm the singer, I was like I don't think I can play and sing, so, um, but we all took a little bit of a turn doing other things, so I took on a bit of guitar in that one of the other guys would do not solos, though. Um and a played the drums for a bit and he was very, very good left handed, so we had to shuffle all the drums over and Steve played the drums as well and Tom went on bass for a bit. It was just brilliant and we just played random songs. We even did a boy band in Britain called Five and they had a song called Keep On Moving. We played that and it was just a good laugh.

Stephen : 11:25

Really, it's good energy when you, when you and you can just like throw a song name out there, quickly get the tab on your phone, have a quick look at it, go. Yeah, alright, let's have a bash and then play it and this, and if anyone that like doesn't play an instrument. I'm sure you can relate to this, but like it's an amazing thing that when you're trying to play, trying to play an instrument or learning an instrument, it can be very frustrating that you can't play a song or you're trying to learn a song and it's just too difficult. And it's really amazing that the first time you actually manage to play the song and replicate the thing you hear on the radio or the thing you hear on the CD or MP3, as it would be today streaming service it's a really exciting feeling to go. Oh, my god, I've just played that song, I could tell what it was and other people would be able to tell what it was, and I feel a bit like a rock god and it is a satisfying feeling.

Stephen : 12:18

But when you're with other accomplished musicians one, it pushes you further. I've felt the need to like concentrate. Let's say I do need to practice more, but you see the talent in that band and when we literally just start playing something and and it sounds good, and it sounds good. I don't want to big ourselves up too much, but you know, I think if you came to see us you'd be impressed. I do, I do, and then there's me singing and playing a bit of guitar and sometimes piano, and, yeah, definitely need to practice piano a lot.

Stephen : 12:59

Guitar, I think I can get by Singing. I don't think I'm too bad. I'm always going to underestimate myself. I'm not one to boast about stuff. I think I can go alright. I don't always concentrate as much as I need to, so I have to really think about pushing that air out, breathing properly and not starting too high.

Stephen : 13:24

I'm really considering getting a bit of vocal coaching. I don't know how much that would be, though, um, I think it would benefit me, um, just in the sense of, you know, maybe, breathing techniques, warm-up techniques and sometimes, um, how to gauge your levels. Really, it's how to. I think that's what it is. It's how to gauge your level, because I have quite a strong voice, uh, but I think sometimes I start off too strong and then, obviously, as the song crescendos, I don't have anywhere to go and I end up like scree, like it goes more into, like a shouty thing which can sound good during a rock song, but it can also go very, very badly, and I don't want to be the one that's screaming um. So, yeah, um, if you, um, we have to do that on some of the songs we play anyway. So, um, yeah, it's going really well. I'm really enjoying it.

Stephen : 14:13

I just, I kind of just want to get a gig now, and just yesterday. Well, I'm recording this on the 20th, so this is like I'm I'm trying to be organised and pre-record a couple, um, spoiler, uh secrets out now. I'm trying to be organised and pre-record a couple Spoiler secret's out now. So, yeah, so yesterday, on the 19th of October, I went with the band and Steve works in a pub and the landlady's base said we could practice there on a Saturday morning. So we took the gear down. We've recently acquired a PA amp. Thanks to Dave for that. Give us a PA to use.

Stephen : 14:46

So we went down and tested that out, plugged in, and in the back room of the pub we did like two and a half hours of rock and roll and it sounded good and it was a bit of a different experience being in the normal practice room when we normally are, because we were in a pub and even more in the public eye, I suppose. Suppose people could hear us, you know, they were walking past. Yeah, it felt good, it just felt good to be in like a public space, felt a bit more of a risk and it also sparked my imagination that while we were playing it was like this pub could be full of people. It kind of got my adrenaline going and got me excited for what that would mean and uh, yeah, yeah, it's just good. So I'll tell you some of the songs we play. Actually, I'll tell you some of the songs.

Stephen : 15:40

So we a little set list we practice, kind of weekly or every every two weeks, is uh, it's come together. Um, but the one that was used I can't really think of the guy I always forget his name something clark jr, gary clark jr is it his version of it, which is like quite a heavy rock. It was used in the justice, justice league film. Um learned to fly by the food fighters. Supersonic by oasis, hate assault. Hate said told you so.

Stephen : 16:07

So by the Vines, the Hives Standing in the Way of Control. Purple Rain was on the list, but we've removed that for now because it's quite a complex song, it's more difficult than it sounds, so we've taken that out for now, but it will be going in. That's going to be like a bit of a kind of spotlight on me for a bit and then the rest of the band is going to come in. So that'll be. That'll be, I think, impactful once we, once we get it down. Uh, moon age daydream, david bowie, let's dance, david bowie, getting that popular in there. Uh, wise men by, uh, james blum, which is a surprising one. People might not expect, but it's a cracking song. Um, are you gonna be my girl? Uh, open my eyes. And war pigs. But we kind of taken War Pigs off for now as well, because, again, that's quite a complex song, but it sounds amazing when we play it. It sounds amazing.

Stephen : 16:58

And the songs that Steve sings he sings Supersonic Hate To Say, I Told you so and Wiseman and I sing the rest and he does backing on it and he does backing on it. But we've got some other songs as well. We've got a list of like 24 songs. We've got Cigarettes and Alcohol by Oasis, my Hero, by the Foo Fighters, which we do a really good job on, and I really enjoy singing that. I'd really like to put that back in the set, guys, if you listen.

Stephen : 17:23

Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix, closing Time by Sem-sonic, is it? That's kind of on the back burner at the moment because it's weirdly complex. There's like a little bit of a dithy in it that we keep buggering up on um, when we get it. It sounds good though, but we're a bit inconsistent with it. Um, motorcycle emptiness by um, manic street preachers. Uh, on the Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers bit on the back burner as well, but we had another go at it. We hadn't played it in a while and it was really really good.

Stephen : 17:56

Buddy Holly by Weezer Paralyzer I believe in a thing called love. We had a crack at it and it sounded good. Keep On Moving by Five, as I've said. Wicked Game, chris Isaac. We had a crack at it and it sounded good. Keep on moving by five.

Stephen : 18:13

As I've said, wicked Game by Chris Isaac is something that we can play. It's quite a simple song and it's quite easy to play, and it's one of the songs that I think I do really really well. To be honest, I wouldn't really normally say that, but I do feel like I sing that and belt it out. Pretty cool that, but I do feel like I sing that and belt it out pretty cool. Um, pretty, pretty cool. Um, what's that mean? Um, I hate my brain sometimes. And then superstition by stevie wonder, which is, you know, everyone knows that and then every so often we'll just throw one in, sometimes if we're there, and we'll just have a crack at something.

Stephen : 18:44

So we've got a list of songs that I think, um, the other band does band might have a gig as well next year because Dave, who's not in the band anymore he used to be the drummer, he's the one that helped me get into the band. He's kind of given up drumming and we've got a young guy called George. He now plays. He's only 16 and he's taking to it really really well having drum lessons, and Dave basically wants us to play at his birthday party next year. So that'll be the first gig that dad's band do. But again, we only have like a short set list that we play and run through.

Stephen : 19:17

So I missed the practice last week because I wasn't very well. I had a migraine all day, although everything's been going on recently, I think it just got on top of me and I had a bit of a migraine and while they were, while they decided to have, like basically had a load of songs to list and um, basically, so we can have like two 45 minute sets, um, which is which is which is exciting, I'm looking forward to it and uh, load more songs to learn. But you know, brilliant, brilliant stuff. Like I can't, I can't, uh, I can't, um, I can't complain, you know it's. Uh, I'm in, I'm in a band, two bands technically, um, yeah.

Stephen : 19:56

So the next thing for lasers to stun is I've designed like a little logo, like a little temporary little logo, um, good enough just to get you know, put out on a poster for you know, for a pub advertised on facebook or something. Um, so I'm just gonna I going to probably have to fiddle with that today just get it finalised a little bit, maybe put a little bit of a tagline in it, and then we can maybe search for gigs. I think we could potentially have a couple before Christmas. I'm hoping so. I'd like to get at least one in before Christmas. But where we practised Saturday is they've actually basically want us to book in for a gig, but they only had like next week free, um, which is like too soon and I can't attend anyway. So probably gonna be after christmas for that.

Stephen : 20:41

But, um, there's another couple of places on the table we could potentially go and have a gig at, um, so, yeah, so it's, it's looking good, uh, and I'm not here for the money, I'm not even asked about being paid, like I'm, I'm, just, I'm not doing it for a business and, to be fair, I don't think the lads lads aren't either. Really, I think if they get a bit of money out of it, like if they get, like I'm willing if they, if someone pays us a couple hundred quid, I'm willing to say, like, split that between you, I really not bothered as long as I get a couple of couple of drinks during the gig from the bar. I'm, I'm, I'm gold and I'm doing it for the joy of it. I'm, I'm doing it because it gives me pleasure. I've always wanted to like entertain people, really, um, and it's kind of given me a bit of vigour to and I don't think I've told Sarah this but just kind of give me a bit of a good time.

Stephen : 21:26

Looking to the acting side of things again, because I always love being on stage and there's a couple of amateur dramatic societies around that hold plays every year and I'm really considering going along and saying like, can I join? I like the opportunity to tread the boards. Who knows, at 41 I may get a big break into Hollywood. Yeah, you know, you laugh, I laugh, but you don't know, do you? You don't know. You, you know it's always been a want of mine. It's the only other thing I've ever thought about other than joining the army. So who knows, who knows?

Stephen : 22:06

Uh, who knows where this podcast may take? Take me, and that's why you've got to like, share and comment and subscribe. Haha, got it in there. Uh, right, I'll leave it there. Let me know what you guys think. You know, do you think it's a good time to go and get a gig? Um, I think it will drive us to practice a bit harder. And what do you think of the set list? What songs would you add if you could? Any requests, let me me know, share your thoughts. You can text me now directly and you can also, obviously, comment on posts etc. And direct PM me. So just let me know what you think. And what's more is thank you very much for listening and remember, keep prattling. You've been listening to Infinite Drattle. Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, go back and listen to some others and please continue to listen. Your support is much appreciated. Please like, share, comment and subscribe, and I'll speak to you all again soon. Take care.