It
was about 1967 when three friends, with a serious mental illness, decided
to try to play in a band. That was the beginning of my history as a player, but
maybe others began like this, without money, without the know-how, without
parents' or neighbours' approval. My stuff was just cheap Italian cigarettes,
Beatles-alike boots and a flowered shirt.We had a unique strong will, against
parents, teachers, narrow-minded friends, barbers, right-minded people, bitches.....We
were ourselves ! The only person who used to believe in us (maybe was
just love), was my MUM who took a painting from the wall and made it become a
bass guitar , (my DAD didn't knew that), This page is dedicated to her, a
" Beat mum")! My bass was a three-chords EKO, I didn't have any money to
buy the fourth one. We used to play almost every kind of music, but especially
the songs of the newborn bands of then, (1.000 new ones a day). Three years
passed by, with school and music failures, gay clubs, the birth of R & B and
the goodbye to some sadly famous Italian singers. Three years made of
experiences, changes in the band, new drafts to pay, (very similar to the old
ones), new musical and social movements, hippies, the West coast, the songs
of protest, beat, Kennedy and Martin Luther King. We were grown up!
The seventies ! The score of the last 30 years of music. The youth was
united, not by treaties or Euro, but thanks to an universal language : ROCK !
Following
our creed, we all felt like true brits. Leds, (the creator of Hard Rock,
mixing the poverty of blues and the rage of that period), Deep Purple, (
the Heavy Rock engineers), King Crimson, ( the refinement of Rock), Jimi
Hendrix, the Guitar....( He "gave birth" to Ricthie Blackmore,
Jimmy Page and the others), Uriah Heep, (my favourite. A kind of Rock
that goes throught blues, metal and acoustic melodies)!
. There are many others, but I think these ones were the milestones of
Hard Rock !
What
about us ? The other guys and me used to live such changes like photocopies....So
we updated our instruments, ( that deserved to be called like this): Gibson
Les Paul, Vox AC 100, Fender Precision, Binson. A 4 members band with
keyboard. The "repertoire" ?.... Child in time, Speed king,
Hearthbreaker, Gipsy, Look at yourself , and a little bit of Italian with
"Without hour, without flag", (poetries put in music by Luis Bacalov
and played by the Italian band "New trolls" !!!
To be continued.....................