Full Confession and Shiver

I have played Bass Guitar in a few bands from the age of about 18. After a break of about 15 Years I have started again, it is good fun but our first gig is still proving elusive.  There is still great fondness for the old days.

Looking back on it the first couple of groups were nothing more than us messing around, it was when I joined Full Confession that things really started to take off.

I had met Ian though a mutual friend and he had become our Drummer.  The other members of the band were named Ian as well and we had played a few little support slots around the midlands but ultimately we collapsed when the guitarist went elsewhere.

Ian had then joined up with Full Confession and told me that they were looking for a Bass Player as well but I was a bit unsure, simply because they had a keyboard player and I have never liked the overbearing sound of keyboards.  Ian kept telling me to just come over and have a look so I agreed and I am so glad I did.  The keyboards were very subtle and just added depth to the sound, the vocals were excellent and there were 2 guitarists, Ant was a real rock guitar player who played some blistering solo’s and really added pace to the songs while Scott was more of a Blues player favouring the reverb and long sustained notes.  All in all it worked really well and when I was asked if I was interested I jumped at the chance.  I soon learned that the subject matter of the songs added a new depth; the lyrics all meant something rather than just being the disposable 3 minute pop song.

During the time we were together we only went through a couple of line up changes Craig (keyboards) left to go travelling and he was replaced by John but this was only a temporary measure as it was never his kind of thing.  He wanted something more keyboard driven rather than supporting a guitar based sound so he left after the run of gigs and recording sessions had finished.  The recording was for a compilation album in aid of Parkinson’s disease and we recorded a song called “Another night” that had both Andrew and Scott singing.

Next to go was Scott, we were down from a six piece to 4 in just a year but we carried on gigging and recorded a couple of demo tapes but it was never followed up with anything.  I often wonder how we would have faired if we’d had a driving force in the band but we were all content to play the odd show and throw in a mix of covers and our own material.  I am sure I still have the tapes somewhere.

Full Confession split up in 1993 when Ian and I went travelling.

Shiver was formed in the early 2000s, I had started hanging around with a guy named Dave and he told me he had always wanted to be a singer.  He knew a Drummer and I got in touch with Ant from Full Confession and we arranged a rehearsal.  Things went well.  The drummers name was Nina and I think she was the first female drummer I’d ever met.  Dave was a salesman and turned out to be the driving force that had been lacking in the previous bands.  He was a good door knocker and was not afraid to approach people that we would not normally approach.  We ended up playing some good shows and became regulars at the Varsity in Wolverhampton; we played in London and played a few times at “The Outta Limit”, a live music venue in Wolverhampton.  Our proudest moment other than the “5 Live” festival at the varsity was appearing on the Ollie Hayes show on Wolf FM where they played “All over the world” from our Demo tape.

After one of our shows at the Varsity we lost Nina. Things had been fraught for a while for one reason or another but a bad gig was the excuse for her to go.  We were drummer less for a while then someone suggested we contact Nigel Halford.  We were aware of Nige, he had been the Drummer for Voodoo Sioux and was a local celebrity.  I was a little nervous about contacting him so one of the others spoke to him and arranged for him to come to see us in the studio after he had listened to our demo tape.  Having Nigel on the drums made a huge difference to the sound, we were instantly punchier and the sound was bigger.   As with a lot of bands though we struggled to keep the harmony as there were now 2 big personalities and Dave decided it was time to go.  Rather than totally split we decided to focus on cover versions and advertised for another singer.  Kelvin joined and we quickly got a set list together comprised of covers we were playing already and a few new ones that suited his voice.  We played a few decent shows, the biggest was support for an Abba Tribute act at “The Robin 2 “ in front of 300+ people but things were not moving quickly enough and Nigel decided to move on.  After that we struggled to keep a drummer for anywhere near long enough and decided to call it a day.

Nige is now back with Voodoo Sioux, Ant is a registered guitar tutor and plays with a couple of bands doing 80’s and 90’s covers.  Every so often Kelvin will get in touch and suggest doing something but his dream is to front a U2 Tribute act, he has the voice and the look to carry this off and I wish him all the luck in finding this.