In 1998 at the tender age of 18-20 odd we took part in the local event of the year, Windsor Rock Week. Sponsored by Windsor recording studio Running Frog Music, it was an original band competition held at Windsor Arts Centre in the sweaty dungeon room, but it was an awesome experience and I remember it fondly. Back in those days !daft! was an original band featuring me (Graeme) on bass guitar, Esroy Simpson on vocals (and primary songwriter), Scott Davies and Geoff Portwain on guitars and Matt Siddall on drums. We were all from the Slough area and mainly knew each other through school, although I had known Matt since first school. Esroy wrote great songs, very chirpy and upbeat, quirky in places and we had a sound quite relevant to the time, that twangy, brit-pop kinda thing. The main requirements were good catchy choruses and bright sounding guitars.

Having enjoyed all the stories in the new Facebook group Windsor Past and Present for all I thought I would share this old Windsor Rock Week album, it’s not a live recording, but features the main tracks performed by each of the 15 bands that took part in the event that year. If you are 30 something and from Windsor/Slough area this may be quite interesting to you, there are actually some quite good songs on this little collection of demos.

Tracks

1. Rubout by Vacant Stare – A spacey electrothrash track, reminded me of Senser at the time.
2. Freak Daddy by Buffalo Power – I remember thinking they looked exactly like Toploader. Funky grooves in a catch pop song here. Think they came second??
3. I Need to Unwind by Parachute – A nice track, kind of Suede like vocals, lots of high octave harmony.
4. Now I Know by Jamaflip – Singer sounds like Damon Albarn, another of the era sounding track, nice work.
5. Introdestruction by Tongue – A fierce sounding song, riff led, sounds very Therapy?
6. Funky Monkey Man by Confuzin Jack – Probably the finest crafted track on the album. Infectiously catchy and very funky! Written and fronted by my mate Melo who is now a professional Johnny Depp lookalike!
7. Mr. Sunshine by !daft! – Well obviously my favourite track on the album I have to say I do love this song, very bright and easy to listen to. Despite it being full of little schoolboy errors I wouldn’t change a thing on it. A small secret – we weren’t feeling this take (it’s a live recording) and by the end had decided via various looks at each other that we wouldn’t keep it so we ended up doing a bit of a wet ending on it. After we ran out of time or something so ended up using it complete with it’s ropey ending.
8. Got To Get Ya by Ricochet – Another great performance band if I remember right, music to get you bouncing.
9. Twilight Hours by Belisha B – I remember thinking at the time that they were a professional band. A nice catchy brit pop feel female led track. Nice use of phaser on the guitar! Wow.
10. Going Down by Cobweb Strange – I may be wrong but I think these guys won WRW 1996? A very nice track, beautiful tempo, warm sound and a very nice production. Check it out!
11. I Don’t Actually Think, I Have by Oil – Very punky-pop Green Day sounding track. I would be surprised if there was any more influence than Dookie on this track! But a nice effort on a catchy punk pop track.
12. What Nobody Will Know by Substatic – Funky  kind of rock, hard to define, but a nice overall rock track with some nice bass work.
13. Science Fiction by Roadrunner – A typical, fairly messy, rock track.
14. Parasite by Tono Tono – These lads I remember well, very young Japanese boys from the Teikyo School in Slough. I think their English was limited but their rock was perfectly fluent! Very thrash, they love that thing out in the far East!
15. Life Jim by Pimblico – If my memory serves me correctly this was sung by Natalie who’s voice I loved, was the purest of them all at the time. A cool and calm interesting Trek inspired track.

Whilst this trip down nostalgia lane might not be applicable to many, to those music lovers in the Windsor area this album may bring about some fond memories so it’s for you I post it.

If you are one of the bands mentioned here please get in touch and let us know how you’re doing!

Hope you enjoy the tracks and thanks to Phil Ray, John Mills and co for putting this event and CD together all those years ago.

Graeme.

Friday 23rd March 2012 saw us play a debut date with The Crown Hotel in Chertsey and without doubt, it was a great night. Loads of face we knew came along, way too many to list, plus I always end up inadvertently forgetting to mention someone! So I shan’t list. But it was a great night and we hope that we will be able to return there in 2013 if not before. Thanks to Tony and Sian for having us and to those who came and supported! Oh, and also Gareth, one of the young bar staff who came and sang with the band. Great work!! Here’s the pics for you.

The Crown Hotel, Chertsey, 23rd March 2012

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This was a debut gig at the Falkners Arms for us and it turned out to be a really great night! The venue management are fantastic, very hospitable and friendly. We would love to play there again in 2012 but we fear there will not be enough space in the diary, however we are currently looking at this! The gig was eventful. A surprise appearance from an Elvis impersonator in the pub who joined us for Suspicious Minds, a very cool guy called Rick who we liked very much. Lee Aaron of the Lee Aaron Band also joined us on drums and we jammed Led Zepplin’s Rock N’ Roll. We were also delighted to have Smokey Joes Roadhouse owner Lee Page in the house with us on a rare social visit! All in all a great night, a pleasant, clean and tidy pub with great clientele. Thanks for having us!

The Falkners Arms, Fleet, 10th March 2012

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A really great night at Smokeys for this gig. There were 4 birthdays in and lots of ladies! For Friday it was very busy and felt like a Saturday more than a Friday. A good rock night as well, which works well in support of Smokey’s new Rock On Friday theme. Some GnR, ACDC, Kings of Leon all in the set last night. Thanks to Smokey’s and the great crowd that’s always there!

Smokey Joes Roadhouse, Maidenhead, 2nd March 2012

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There are some songs that rightly or wrongly have stood the test of time and feature heavily today in most cover band’s kit bag of tunes. They may not see the lights of the stage at every gig but secretly we know ‘em. And you know we know ‘em. In fact it’s almost a dead cert that they’ll make an appearance at a handful of gigs each year, in some cases almost every gig. They are great for weddings and parties and generally aiding the vocal get together of a large audience. Are they the coolest songs in the world? Probably not. Are they the most technically challenging and engaging to play? Not really. But here is the !daft! take on 10 songs every rock/pop party cover band should know and expect to play, if not for their own, then at least for the audience’s enjoyment. Which after all is slightly more important.

10. Hey Jude – Beatles

An end of the night sing-a-long classic, no one wants the verse bit, they just want the end “naa-naa” bit, however many times round you feel like, some loud, some quiet, some with the audience singing on their own. This song also has a very easy lyric formula, click the flow chart for a close up view.

9. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

This song is amazing at brining non-rockers off their chairs and onto the dancefloor and it’s always hilarious watching both crowd and band vocalist trying to reach the high notes in the chorus. Bon Jovi have a few high quality tracks yet this one still remains the most recognisable.

8. Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett/The Committments

If you don’t know how to play this song, you probably aren’t a musician. These days playing this song is a bit like popping your soul into an envelope, writing “The Devil” on the front and popping it into the afterlife postbox. Many people like this song and it’s a joy to see all the girls up on stage at a wedding singing “Ride Sally ride” at the top of their voices. For that reason alone it’s worth playing, if you’re in a cover band, at some point you will be asked for this song.

7. Alright Now – Free

My introduction to this song was c1989 when I was about 12 years old. Remember this TV advert?

Nowadays it’s a total classic that likely every band knows. I don’t think anyone put’s it in the set in advance of the gig but at almost every wedding a kind slightly more mature gentleman will usually ask for this song, and you know us, we don’t like to let you down.

6. Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams

If you do this song you will never sing the chorus hook line alone, at least 99% of the room will sing “those were the best days of my life” with you and on that basis it’s a good tune to have in the set. It also has one of the best middle 8′s ever, lovely little key change to some rocky stabs perfect for getting fists in the air as the drums roll the track back into the chirpy last verse. Overplayed but a perfect rock/pop formula guaranteed to win, even today 28 years after it was released. Yes, 28 years.

5. I’m A Believer – The Monkees

This Neil Diamond track from 1966 is one of the fewer than thirty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide. For a fictional TV show band, that’s quite something. When a song is this popular and this well known, and frankly so simple to play, you might as well know it. Perfect for weddings and parties where the clients whisper “oh, and a bit of cheese in the set would be great”, I’m A Believer is your track. 1,2,3 OI!

4. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ask the average middle of the road music fan to name another Lynrd Skynrd song and £1o says they can’t! Yet Sweet Home Alabama remains a theme tune for most live party music fans. The second the opening guitar riff begins people know exactly what the track is and what they need to do in the chorus, it’s another song where it would seem logical to bypass the verses just to get to the chrous as quickly as possible. Old school track, easy to play, good to know. Win.

3. Teenage Kicks – The Undertones

Famously the late John Peel’s favourite song of all time, another simple track to play, highly recognisable and great fodder for most weddings and parties. Undertones guitarist John O’Neill said in Q Magazine ”In 1978 we didn’t think Teenage Kicks was the best song” … “To be honest, I still don’t think the song’s that good – it’s the band’s performance on record that gives it the special quality.” It’s that special quality that make this a great song to know and an all time crowd pleaser.

2. Sex On Fire – Kings of Leon

This is the most recent addition to the “must know” list for cover bands, released in 2008 this song is now beginning to reach immortal status. It’s not the easiest song to nail, flicky guitar riffs, deceptively pacey and if the drummer missed the tiny gap of entry at the start of the song, you’re frankly, f*****. However, it’s a killer track that every band is likely to be asked for in most private and public gigs. The first person ever to mention this song to me was long time friend Rachel Siddall, I remember querying her and wondering whether the track would be worth it. It’s now been requested at almost every gig since 2008, so fair play to her! I tend to find that women like this song more than men, I can’t explain why, but it’s true. Watch the ladies on the dancefloor whenever this song is played. Following is by far my favourite version of the track EVER!

1. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

And lo, 27 years after it’s release and whether you’re a rock fan or not Sweet Child is STILL the most played song on the party cover band circuit. Whilst I have no official statistics to prove this I am constantly amazed at how generically appealing this song is. Weddings, parties, pubs, nightclubs – all vastly different moods and environments, age groups and themes, yet Sweet Child will be requested by someone at any of these events. Fortunately for me it remains one of my personal all time favourites too, I will grow old singing this song. The guitar riff is iconic and enough to send audiences wild, the sound of 1980′s California just oozes from the track and the vocal, whilst challenging, is clean, melodic and dynamic. A true classic that every party cover band should know. And play well enough to do it justice!

Do you agree with our list? What songs would you consider a “must have” from a live band at a wedding or party?

Graeme Nash