![]() On returning, I met up with Sean Godfrey and Lorenzo who were still writing and playing together, so I joined them as the drummer/guitarist/singer of Airbridge: hurrah! That was late 2009, and I’m still here with Lorenzo creating our music, really enjoying co-writing and collaborating, and finding talented others, like Jason and Maddalena, to add their sounds to our own.Not sitting at the top of 80's Prog bands, but Airbridge deserve a mention among the acts trying to keep the prog flame alive in the Islands during the 80's.They came from Norwich and were formed in 1980 by Lorenzo Bedini (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Edward Percival (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Sean Godfrey (bass, vocals) and David Beckett (drums).They were a monster live act, visiting London quite often and performing numerous times at the legendary Marquee Club, while they served as a supporting act to Marillion and Pallas among others.In 1982 they released their debut ''Paradise moves'' on the tiny Carve-Up Records label. That taught me that the most important piece of kit for a drummer is a carpet.įrom C31 two of us formed Dead Man’s Porn, but we didn’t get around to gigging because I returned to Norwich. That was a highlight, especially as I had to chase my borrowed drum kit across the stage. We gigged on campus in the bars, and in the Yorkshire House venue, and at a Graduation extravaganza to 400 people. I played litter bins until I could borrow, then buy, a kit. My office mates at Lancaster University happened to write songs, played guitars, bass, and sing, so we formed a band named after the door of our office, C31. However, I didn’t gig again until the late 1990s. My gigging experience began as a drummer with The Logarhythms and we played a few parties in 1983, and I loved it. I became the main roadie, and the live sound engineer for Airbridge, and those two years were a roller coaster of delights. That was such a great opportunity to both stick close to my musical passions, and piss my father off at the same time, as 19 year-olds are sometimes wont to do. In February 1982 I had nothing to do other than seriously avoid gaining any possible “respectable” employment, so Sean Godfrey asked if I would be willing to hump band gear about. I used to sit in on rehearsals for the band No Parallax, and became friends with what was to become Airbridge. I continued to abuse pillows, mattresses, sofas, and other surfaces but instead of knitting needles I now had drum sticks. The talented but shy musician JW encouraged me to learn to play parts of Tony Banks’ piano and keyboard parts, and so my musical self was being molded. Oh, and Carlos Santana inspired me, along with Ted Nugent, to replace the nylon strings on my classical guitar with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys, and I’d play along with everything I heard (Ted had told me to practice until it hurt (on a radio show)). Moving on to my teenage years, I was smitten by, among others, Tubular Bells, Fleetwood Mac, The Stranglers, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Queen, Caravan, the Dickies’ version of the Banana Split Song. I loved the feel of the movements of drumming, and thought it to be exceptionally cool. I think it was The Glitter Band, and Cozy Powell who got me borrowing mum’s knitting needles to hit the cushions and sofa with. Quality motivation! And then there was the knitting needles, the bigger the better. I had guitar lessons aged 9 and was told by my teacher that I would never be able to play the guitar. I’m also really crap at the music questions in pub quizzes. To this day I can honestly say that I’m the worst possible guitarist to have around a campfire, or at a busk because I can’t play a single song written by anyone else. I had lessons but rarely got a buzz from them: I always preferred to improvise. My first musical creations were upon a boingy upright piano from the age of 3. Here is some information about me, Dave-of-the-long-name-variety. ![]()
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