My Warriors Experience... Part 1

By Trevor Housley


First some background....

"Lee Rivers and the Rapids" with Trevor on the right (1959)

In 1959, I formed a group with three or four friends and we played a variety of gigs for two or three years. "Lee Rivers and the Rapids" played at the Bradfield Park migrant camp on Friday nights, at youth clubs and private parties and we also organised and promoted our own dances in Masonic Halls at places such as Northbridge and Hornsby. After a year or so, Lee Rivers died suddenly and our piano player, Roland, became our front man. He needed to come up with a watery name to go with "Rapids" so we settled on "Roland Storm." The "Roland Storm and the Rapids" line-up was Roland on piano and vocals, Paul (Tadpole) Reay on rhythm, Ray (Fred) Truman on drums, a sax player whose name escapes me and myself on lead guitar. We played the rock music of the day and a little other stuff. Our sax man could do a good rendition of "Lady Be Good" and we could play a little of that kind of music for the non-rock-n-rollers.

We were a "Third Tier" group if one considered Johnny O'Keefe and Col Joye as first tier, Dig Richards and the R-Jays as second tier and then there was the likes of us. With the exception of Roland, we were amateurs - reasonably good but not brilliant. Roland, on the other hand, had great talent and he is still in the business today. He plays in pubs and clubs and has done a lot of international work throughout his career.

I was better at computing than at playing a guitar and I went to work on the NASA Manned Space Flight Project and subsequently spent my working life in the IT and Telecomms industries. For 40 years, I rarely played the guitar except when my children were young I played children's songs for them.
Rekindling the fire....

A year or so ago Roland's wife threw a surprise party and a lot of old rockers were there. Little Pattie, Lucky Starr, Adam, Brian Davies, Frank Ifield, and others along with lots of musicians. They started jamming and the ad-hoc performance went on for an hour or two and it got me fired up again and I decided to buy a guitar. Not just any guitar but the guitar I wished I had had when I was young and could not afford it.

Next time I was in America, I bought a Stratocaster American DeLuxe and a bunch of "Fake Books" and started playing the tunes from them. I can read music and I thought I'd kill two birds with the one stone and enhance my sight-reading skills and also develop the mechanical dexterity of my fingers with the aim of regaining my old skills within a year or so.

Weekend Warriors....

Along the way, my wife, Jocelyn, drew my attention to an article about Weekend Warriors. The article said WW was aimed at guys like me. People who used to play in a group and had forgotten most of what they knew. WW was to put them together into groups, provide some coaching and help each group to learn a few songs so they could do a gig in front of a real audience. Sounded great! The only problem was that the article said WW was in Melbourne and I lived in Sydney.

A few months later I came across another reference to WW and this time it was in Sydney. I signed up and waited for something to happen. The first round took place when I was overseas so I had to wait another six months before I could get into it. In the meantime, I was on the email list and received emails from time to time and I got involved with a group of WW graduates who wanted to set up an association for people who fit the WW mould. This enabled me to meet a few people as a "Warrior in Waiting."

The next round finally happened. Run by MusicWorkshop at West Ryde, the idea was to get together for a jam one evening, form into groups, practice for two hours each Saturday for four weeks and then do a gig in a pub on a Sunday afternoon.

On the jam night, around 24 guys and one girl rolled up along with a few observers. The MusicWorkshop people had set up an electronic drum kit, a few guitars, a bass and some amplifiers and they encouraged people to get up and show what they could do.

Trevor (right) listens in and looks on....

This is where it started to become stressful for me! I had expected most people to be like me - with some innate ability but few demonstrable skills at the time. The reality was that most people were pretty skilful with their guitar and bass playing, not to mention their singing and it was obvious to me that I was not going to be able to give much of a performance that night. After all, I'd spent my time reading music from fake books and not practicing any rock-n-roll! I could play something like "Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick..." for my grandchildren but could not play a single rock-n- roll riff!

Group after group got up and did their stuff. I became more and more stressed out and it got to the point where nearly everybody had had a go except me. I knew that I had to get up. If I didn't I would not be able to face myself. So, I did and I played a few chords in the background while a couple of the skilful guitarists did some tunes. I have no idea what we played, I only know that I was totally stressed out. When Jocelyn and I left and I had a headache and she told me that a couple of people did not get up at all and I suppose that made me feel a tiny bit better.

The MusicWorkshop chap was to call to tell us which group we were in and I was expecting a call to say I was not up to par and that I'd be left out! However, I received a call saying I was in "Band One" out of four or five bands and that we were all to get together on Saturday to meet other group members and to start working out a song list for a 30-minute set.


To be continued....

Trevor's story continues in the next issue of The Metro Gnome.... In the meantime, if any of you are interested in getting together with some other people to jam - just do it - GET OUT THERE! Weekend Warriors is one way to do it, but there are opportunities everywhere. Find some other musicians and simply do a group practice once a week. Or ask your music teacher if s/he will run a lesson with 3-4 of you so you can learn parts of a song (and, of course, practice together). Or you could even form a band and set a goal to play at a party in the next few months. Whatever! Just GET OUT THERE! If Trevor can summon the nerve to do it after a 46 year break - you can, too!

Gnome Links:

Weekend Warriors is a great program - if you have a day job, are over 30, and you used to play or sing in your childhood or young adult life, and if you need an excuse and a nudge to get back in it - Weekend Warriors is the place to go.

Music. Play for LifeMusic. Play for Life is a national campaign that thrives on getting children and adults out there playing more music. If you're looking for information on this campaign or want to see how you can get involved - click on the logo to go to their website.