This is some session drumming that I did way back in 1996' not long after I'd moved to Watford from Southall in 1994. My squatting days were behind me from this point on. I came to Watford with the band I was in at that time, Slack Mammoth, which at that point consisted of my friend and brother, Steve 'Besty' Best, singer and guitarist. And Norman 'Sparks' Glansford, the lead / rhythm guitarist. Both of these guys have sadly passed away since those hazy days. They both live on through their music. RIP.
Steve's old secondary school friend from Hayes, Todd 'the goth' had the say so of who could stay in a shared grotty bohemian house down Stanley Rd Watford. I'd lived in better squats! My need to escape Southall AKA 'South of Hell was greater than the grotty house in Watford. Incidentally, that's the same Stanley Rd where DC Lee lived, who Paul Weller was married to for a while. So, Todd the goth kindly let me rent the front room in the house. Drummer / minder for number 9. Slack Mammoth took over the basement and turned it into a jamming and recording studio. We also turned well over half of the goths in Watford into hippies, such was the power of the mighty Mammoth! We even turned some of them away from meat and onto a vegetarian diet!
It was here in Stanley Rd that I met Bogo Rimmer and his boyfriend Joey Harpo. Rimmer had a room in the house, and he had these bunch of songs that he wanted drums added to. I agreed to do it, and we went to West Star studios in Southall where I overdubbed the drums to the already completed tracks. West Star had better facilities than the Mammoth mobile, and was my studio of choice around that time. Rimmer was a fantastic songwriter and lyricist. I have to give credit where credit is due. Everyone took the mick out of him because he was 4 feet two inches but he had size 13 feet! I kid you not. You'd have to of seen it to believe it! I'm not being horrible here, it was just how he was. I have to admit, he did look a bit strange to say the least. His boyfriend Joey sadly had the mental age of an 11-year-old but somehow was an amazing guitarist. I think the extra digit on each hand helped with his playing. Again, I kid you not. Poor sod, but they made for an entertaining couple to say the least! I had known Huggy the bass player from way back from my days in West London. He had jammed with Mammoth at a festival one time. We didn't actually have a bass player at that time so we invited him up to play with us and he blew us away with his playing. To my knowledge he's still playing bass. Top man!
Rimmer disappeared in India in 1999 after being robbed at knife point just one street away from Delhi airport. No-one has seen him since, and only the shell suit that he was wearing at the time was found. Rumour has it that he started his own yoga school for incessant talking, but none really knows.
Joey became a goat farmer where he kept his herd in his back garden. He trained his Staffordshire terrier to chase them around in circles for three hours on and three hours off for twelve hours each day, seven days a week. Really weird, and that's coming from my books! The last I herd, pun intended, he lives on a diet of Goats milk produce and beetroot that he grows in his garden. Goats CHEESE huh ? Truth is stranger than fiction folks!
I really liked the music of Cheese, but I have to be honest, I'm not so keen on the vocal style and definitely a band that I could never of joined, hence the session work only...ahem. Anyway, this is part of my musical history on the drums and it ain't arf bad if I say so myself! Or, at least it has it's moments.
God bless my dear old dad and his dad who were both drummers. They passed on their gift to me so all credit goes to them.
So, grab yourself a few crackers and enjoy the music of Cheese!
Peace, love, light and larfs.
Matty.
Негізгі бет Cheese - Come Taste Me - 1996
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