Endless Bob Brown...music was my first love...

It's not at all the raison d'être of this little soap-box to self-aggrandise (just that one little link to my music over there on the right isn't much is it!!). But something slightly funny has happened, which I guess is a function of the fact that the great worldwide-blogosphere-webby-sponge eventually leaves no stone whatsoever unturned. And so it comes to pass that a band I was in as a thin gaunt youth in the 80s seems to be stirring some interest, more than two decades after the event. PleaseRainFall, the main blog in question, has even released an online EP. That band was Endless Bob Brown, so named after a chant a stage-invader repeated and repeated - religiously, loudly - at a very early Birthday Party gig. It left an impression on me and might explain to this chap, a fan of the music, that the name is not "mince" (used as an un-flattering adjective). On reflection I can sort of see what he means about the name, but yes - Endless Bob Brown was my band - along with my friends Bryn, Guy and Tim. We were from the provinces; the West Midlands; mainly Kidderminster but with a foot in the Black Country. We were pretty good. But we were (on reflection) perennial under-achievers - not Biz-ready - not street-wise - and certainly not confident (at least outside the garage where we rehearsed). I think this is the story of so many other bands like us. We were the children of our influences for sure, but not just musically. Successful, no-compromise bands like the Smiths and Joy Division fed our sense of pride in being "outsiders" who would not "play the game" and who would abide faithfully - come what may - to a pure idea of artistic endeavour. This approach was, to be truthful, an iron-clad guarantee of ZERO SUCCESS, but despite that I must admit, I still kind of believe in it. To this day I remain puritanical and obsessed about music; often to a perspective-distorting extent. I can't really take it lightly. I mean, should a 40-something father, who works for a leading current affairs magazine, feel that the financial-crisis pales as a news story besides the debate over the rights and wrongs of a Specials reunion (wrong by the way)?

But in truth we did have our chances; the offer of a tour with the Chills (a band of the moment), patronage and support from UB40's producer, to name just a couple, but a combination of laziness and distraction (we were all heading off to different worlds - university, jobs etc) foiled even these "open goals". We all continued to do music and we all do today. Bryn and I kept at it as a band on-and-off, well into the acid-fueled l'eighteis (with Elation). Then Super 8 was our Pulp-inspired Brit-pop affair right up until I left Birmingham for London in 1996 (where funnily enough I eventually found a modicum of "real" success with actual releases on a record label). I think all the bands were at least "pretty good" - but we always had that self-imposed ceiling on real-world ambition. It doesn't matter, because being in Endless Bob Brown and subsequent bands was great fun - sort of - but it is still gratifying to find that all these years later some people are discovering and loving the music. So I modestly suggest that if you are reading this (stupid comment eh) you have a little click here and on those earlier links to see some nice things that people have said about us. It's undoubtedly good for my ego, but really and truthfully I actually think the writings and enthusiasm of these folks deserves an audience too.