1997 Contd

The beginning of June arrived, and there was no sign of my Roland 8 track returning from repair, so in despair Liam and I headed to Mikes, to lay down some of his guitar parts before he left, that could then hopefully be transferred from Mike's machine to my Roland when it was repaired. We spent a long evening on it, having endured the taxi driver from hell, who played awful synthesizer music the whole journey (Liam: "Now I know why Noreiga gave up!"). Anyway, the whole process wasn't very satisfactory, and we had to decide against using them in the end. The next week Liam flew out to Japan, for at least a year and the future of the Shorties looked tenuous. Being the organisational focus of the band, I talked optimistically of replacing Liam straight away, and of how we had survived Saul leaving in 92 etc etc, but inside I was worried. The Shorties are a unique band, and need a certain type of person, an easy-going type who's prepared to compromise and accept that we play all kinds of music, and do films etc as well. Finding the right person wasn't going to be easy. I had registered with the Musicians Network and they sent suitable matches. We met some of the most promising, some even while Liam was still in the UK, and one, Ed, turned out to be ideal.He was in another band, but as the Shorties was very much of a part time concern, that didn't appear a problem. He became a Shorty at the beginning of August and lasted one week, before his other band told him he had to choose, them or us. And so it was back to square one. Meanwhile the rehearsals were quite disheartening, with only 3 of us, and a very limited rang of tunes we could do. however, we did take the opportunity to work up some new material, and it was in the June-October period that we began work on 'Be Still', Dan's 'You'd Better Stick With Me Baby' (scheduled for the second album), and Saul's 'All's Well that's Never Begun'. Meanwhile thankfully, August brought another bizarre diversion that helped keep spirits up.

Top: Dan, relaxing after the grand opening.
Right: Aiden, Dan and Shane cut the ribbon.

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Opening Oxfam

In Mid-August I got a call from the Oxfam shop we had played a benefit concert in Dec 96, asking if we would come and cut the ribbon on their new retro-clothes dept, dressed as The Monkees. Because it was a) a good cause and b) good publicity, we agreed. The only problem was that Saul couldn't make it, and they needed at least 3 'Monkees'. Time was marching on, and I had rung several friends who couldn't make it. In desperation I rang Shane, who had directed our video 'The Magic Formula', and he said he'd be happy to do it. Hence in the photo above we have myself, Dan and Shane as the Shorties! Nonetheless, the article did get into the local paperand I did get to do a radio interview, plugging both Oxfam and the Shorties on the local BBC radio station. We were actually offered a full band session on that radio station, but with only two Shorties available we had to again decline a significant opportunity. It was, however, great fun cutting the ribbon, and being given champagne and just doing the star bit for a while. Afterwards we retired to the pub and had a pint or two, and wrapped up a very unusual but highly enjoyable day.

Right: Shane relaxing after the grand opening.

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The next month, September, saw the return of the Roland. We immediately booked for a weekend at Mike's in early October, not knowing how many of us there would be. Then, at the beginning of October, I made a guest appearance at the Monkees convention. We had hoped to make a full band appearance, but we couldn't afford to make a loss again, and the organisers wouldn't meet the amount we needed. As it turned out, with no lead guitarist it would have been impossible anyway. Instead I sang 3 duets with Nicko Vaughn, a wonderful singer/guitarist. We only met that morning, and rehearsed on some stairs outside the convention hall (!) but the performance went down really well. We did Listen to The Band, Different Drum and one other which escapes me.
Right: Aiden and Nicko perform at the 1997 Monkee Fanclub Convention.
Things moved fast after that. I saw an ad in Loot, which Mal had placed. Dan and I met and liked him, and he was in.
The next weekend Dan, Saul and I headed to Mike's house to record. Thankfully the 8 track was now working perfectly, and we managed to record 'The Fish And The Tambourine' and 'The Is Not the Gook', with Dan playing Liam's lead guitar parts as well as doing bass. , The Shorties were on the move once more.

Above: New member Mal Tanner

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With Mal on board, spirits rose, and we began making plans for an 8th anniversary concert to take place in February 1998. The only problem hanging over us concerned keyboards. Kath had helped us a great deal, but we were dependent on her being available when we wanted to gig. In addition, we were dependent on Mike when we wanted to record for exactly the same reason. As neither of them were full-time members, we couldn't expect them to be there everytime we decided we wanted to gig/record and so, as December rolled around we decided to look for a permanent keyboard player. And that concludes 1997, I'll leave you with a photo from the disastrous session of March 97.

Mike: Don't panic, it's still here somewhere, we did it right I'm sure.

Liam: It's gone, I don't believe it! (sadly Liam was right).