These Infinite Spaces

Sometime in late 1987 Andrew's Dad told us he had organised a gig in the Forest Inn. We were a proper pub band at last! I was 15 years old. Andrew was 14.

The night finally arrived. We drove there in several cars, entered via the back door, and nervously set up our equipment. The Forest Inn at the time had a reputation as a hang for bikies and other rough characters. Police drug raids were, supposedly, frequent.

About 20 or so rough looking men watched us set up and prepare for our first song. They wore old jeans and torn shorts. We all wore tight jeans, big blousy shirts, and had our hair gelled up. I can barely imagine what we looked like to them.

We were actually separated from the crowd by a sunken concrete dance floor, about 3 feet deep. I was glad of the barrier as we started our first song. We were only a few chords in when I saw a brown beer bottle sailing toward the band, lazily turning end over end. I was astonished and frightened.

The bottle landed with a crash in the concrete pit. And so it continued for the rest of the night, with beer bottles pelted through the air and into the pit. You remember that scene from the Blues Brothers, when they are behind the chicken wire? It was very similar to that, honestly.

As we packed up later, we assumed they had hated us. But actually, a couple of rough guys came up afterwards and told us how much they enjoyed the band, so we felt a bit better. Our fee for the night was 6% of the bar, which amounted to the princely sum of $28.

But it didn't matter - I was playing in a pub band! The dream of my 12 year old self had been fulfilled, and it was only 3 years since I had picked up the bass for the first time. I felt like a threshold had been crossed, and I imagined many pub gigs would follow.

I was wrong. We struggled on for another year, but gigs only came every couple of months. We did play in a few more pubs - back at the Forest Inn, one night at Bizzos, and another night at SW 10. But these were mid-week gigs with no-one present, and we were paid a pittance. We weren't discouraged really - even those few gigs were more than any other garage band was getting.

Then I turned 17, and everything changed.