I met Steve & Paul at a rehearsal with James, their cousin in about 1987. I don't know to this day if he asked them to come over to the rehearsal, or if they asked him, but suddenly they were there, not just watching but waiting expectantly with saxophones.
This rehearsal is where one of our biggest mistakes occurred. Andy Philips, keyboard player pre RTF, was given the task of translating what we were playing to notes on the saxophones… he got it wrong. It meant we had to tune differently, incorrectly for the next five or six years, not an inconvenience we let spoil our fun. Something clicked that night, I said, you should join this band one day. Andy was clearly pissed off that I'd said this but less than a year later, they were in and Andy was gone.
We all spent a great deal of time together, how I loved those endless summers pontificating over the merits of Barry the House vs Roger's trout Farm. On arrival at Steve and Paul's house we'd get a cup of tea and some band related list. New band names, possible venues, new song names, clothes ideas, posters, hairstyles. Steve is a great organizer, songwriter and a born entertainer. I remember seeing, The Scaramanga six, at The Square in Harlow. I was transfixed, he had us in the palm of his hand, teasing us, extending gaps in songs, creating and maintaining an intensity and then making us laugh with his foot operated illuminated "applause" and "shut it" signs. Genius!
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