M3 (Original)
M3
I have had to add the suffix "Original" as the name registered by myself and my friend Mick Jessett in 1982 has been used here on Soundclick by some other musicians. Never mind it won't be used by us again!
What is the story behind this? Well it is a tribute to my old mate really. I played in several bands with Mick over the years but this was the last one. M3 evolved from another band named Speed Limits (it certainly does!).
Speed Limits was a "normal" four piece. Drums, bass and two guitars. The bass player was the main vocalist and I sang backing vocals. We played a mix of my songs and covers with an occasional gem thrown into the melting pot by Mick. Mick and I shared guitar duties and we did use up several drummers until finally settling down with one. In those days most drummers were f.....g hard work and I suppose that is why someone invented the drum machine! We played for a long time with this line up until the bass player left the band. This was only to be expected really I suppose as he was prone to doing so. He had left a previous band that I had formed at an awkward time and was replaced in that one by my best mate at the time, Chris Payne.
Faced with the prospect of finding a bass player and possibly a lead vocalist I packed away my trusty old strat and "temporarily" took over both of those roles! This enabled us to continue gigging and so M3 was born! So named by me because we spent most of our time driving up and down the M3 motorway to gigs and there were 3 of us, all blokes!
The plan was to replace the bass player and revert back to our original line up, as I wanted to get back to playing the guitar, but it never happened! Our main priority then became to get another instrumentalist in to fill out the sound, either keyboards or guitar. Again it never happened except for a brief sojourn with a lead vocalist called Bob who was a friend of Mick's. He did not come up to scratch. Needless to say we were yet again to replace the drummer for a newer model named Mark and then the line up remained the same until the demise of the band when Mick decide to go back into education at university and moved to London.
Anyway I struggled both playing the bass and singing so the main downside was that my, already, poor vocals suffered at the expense of the bass playing. Mick eventually bought and used a very early Roland guitar synth. I never liked the sound of it and thought that it detracted from our sound. These tracks feature the synth.
So there we are. Up to date in the bands history. Mark had only been with us for a short while when we got the opportunity to play our first gig with the new line up at a charity event in a place called Frimley Green. I cannot remember if it was a 12 or 24 hour event but either way we were on second or third at just after midday! The hall was completely empty except for a few of our mates at the bar and some other bands bringing in their gear.
We played our set, had a few beers and set off home thinking nothing more of it. A few weeks later however Mick called me to say that the guy doing the PA had recorded every band as well! We were presented with a cassette tape of the set. The music that is available from this page is from that tape and some other home recordings of us.
I only ever played with Mick two more times after he moved to London. One was at my 40th birthday and then later at a rehearsal that he arranged with a view to starting up another band with me. He could no longer play very well by the time of the rehearsal, in my opinion, as he was far down the road of alcohol abuse. He died a couple of years later. I think that his body could no longer tolerate the abuse.
Mick was a great person to have in a band. He was not only a good player but was very easy to work with. He never tired of trying the same part over and over just to get it a little bit better.
These recordings are far from great but are here as a tribute to an old mate. I promised several people at his funeral that I would do my best to make some of his music available to them and so here it is.Have you performed in front of an audience?Yes we played live, loads of special times.
Your musical influences
Mick was into Hendrix and Cream early on then Santana and later his taste was really jazz.Anything else?
As I have said these recordings do not show M3 in the best light. We played better on occasion but they are the only recordings that I have to offer. Mick would have said that on our day we were a "shit hot little three piece" and I think he was right. Please listen to them through rose tinted ears.Yoo Gary !
A while ago you told me you liked that I uploaded a track which I recorded with deceased youth friend ! At that time I was setting up this SC with a personal historical journey, a kind of soundtrack from me life ! Unfortunally I ran into some board trouble....Got pissed off & deleted all I had on SC ! Now I regret I did it...Again...starterspoint !
Having said this you can imagine I realy dig that you've opened your personal audio archive ! Listening to you Then & Now.....Somehow I hence a connection !
Water into Wine:
It sounds like very early Police. Strumming reggea feel guitar, dancin bass & agressive and dominant drumming.
Suicide:
As I said...Í share the experience of loosing an old youth friend...a buddy.....
Again....early police ! But with a definate personal twist, and a bit jazz/rock like guitarsolo !
Good initiative my friend ! I will follow....
Wim
_____________________________________
I like the lyrics for "Water into Wine". The melody sounds like a cross between early Stones and Bachman Turner Overdrive in part because of the strummed guitar and hard beat. It's really very cool sounding. There are points where your voice sounds like young Mick Jagger.
It's a cool sounding tune.
"Suicide" deals with a serious subject from a critical viewpoint. It's almost like it should bedepressing but the critical overtone makes it almost like an analytical discussion.
The melody with the hard beat gives it a surreal feeling. There is some very impressive axe work in the instrument breaks.
I'll be interested to hear more of your work if you post it.How very true. Thanks Neil."My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light. "
Edna St. Vincent Millay
One thing about not burning out ourselves, is we're left to say goodbye to our friends that have. I'm reminded of the many wonderful people and musicians in my past that are no longer among us, and even more sadly, of a few that are currently receding ...
Thanks for sharing.All comments (7)
Admin
Gary
@g4zza
Gary - I thought I had already left a message, but it must have been in the SCseniors forum. Anyway, the two new tunes illustrate the depth of talent in your 3 piece! group - really top quality. As I said before, if I would have known your band then, I would have been one of your most dedicated fans. RApples