The Free Radical

Part 1 was very egocentric… it’s all me, me, me. But Then, being a teenager is mostly about discovering and defining who you are, so no apologies.

Here, in Part 2, I will share the beginnings of my musical circle growing wider. I would like to begin with a tune which although written and performed by just myself is more outwardly focused than the previous introverted wallowing. It is genuinely centred in gratitude.

You Make The Stars Shine

Now that’s one you can play for your mom! It was written for an “older” couple who were always very generous to us young folk.

Next we move into the territory where I bring aboard other “musicians” who were keen on crafting some original grooves. This song is a small excerpt from another epic which actually never got finished. The project was called Twenty Minutes, referring to the final twenty minutes of life on Earth before we blow the whole planet to smithereens. I guess why I never finished it is because I always knew that it wouldn’t actually come to that. But here’s a nice little bit which survived with additional vocals by my high school buddy Chris.

Goodbye to Friends

The little telephone bit at the beginning of that one was just me trying to be all “Pink Floyd” or something…

Now we move on to The Burning Katz. The name of the group came about when we were listening back to one of our first efforts and Gerald said something like “Geez, that sounds like a cat that’s been lit on fire!” We all had a good laugh and the name kinda stuck.

One Day

Now those are some inspired lyrics! We certainly didn’t want to get too pretentious and get all “deep” and shit.

What The Burning Katz were doing was definitely centred around humour and copious amounts of alcohol. The only real instruments we ever used were guitars. Tupperware and beer boxes made up the percussion section. Sometimes for lyrics we would grab an old Dr. Seuss book and just use that. Check it.

Hop on Pop

Okay, 25 years later and that one still makes me laugh! And here’s another that is very, very difficult to take at all seriously.

Bad Blues Improv

It doesn’t get any drunker than that!

So admittedly, this section has contained very few redeeming qualities. It is presented here precisely to be laughed at, for we were definitely laughing at ourselves the whole time. The laughter was healthy… the rampant alcoholism… not so much!

Click here for A Biographical Journey Through My Music Part 3.