SoothMusic.co.uk has now expired and there is now no trace of my old band on the Internet. I thought I’d be OK with it. It’s been 3 years since we split up and we have all moved on. When the website went down I was annoyed that I didn’t save it all before hand, something to read over in later years and show to the next generations. I know loads of people have been in bands and played a gig or two, but I do feel that Sooth were different to that. For 5 years we really did put our all into it.  Five studio recorded EP’s, a few hundred live shows all around the country, multiple websites, at least 20 songs, rehearsing for 6 hours a week all while we were going through university/college and setting ourselves up for adult life. Lots of people ask why Sooth stopped playing live and writing. Our last gig was mobbed and people were really enjoying the music we were producing, why stop now? If I think about it honestly I guess real life had over taken the band. Most of the band had found full-time jobs that they were happy with, and half the band even had mortgages. We were no longer in the position to drop everything, load all the gear into the van and go touring the country. No matter how good that sounds. We now had other priorities, paying the rent/mortgage, turning up for work at an early hour and working hard when we were there. Living an adult life along with being in a serious rock band was just not working. Not saying it isn’t possible. There are plenty of great bands that also work a 9-5 and have found a successful work/music model to go by. Unfortunately Sooth did not find this model and we disbanded (pun not intended) in April 2009.

I miss creating music. Even though I have recording equipment and guitars in my flat, it’s just not the same doing it on your own. The banter at rehearsals, the ideas from other musicians, the shared inspiration and excitement of writing new songs, and the buzz of seeing people enjoy it at shows. It’s a feeling that I may never have again and I’ll just need to get used to that.

I played with most of the guys in Sooth since I was 16. There are really the only people I know how to make music with. I don’t know how comfortable I would be walking into a room of random unknown musicians with the plan to create music. Part of the excitement was that I was doing it all with my best friends. Not only that but how would a bunch of unknown musicians feel if I told them that my 9-5 was more important than making music with them. In my experience there aren’t many musicians around with that opinion.

So when the website went down I became a bit nostalgic and decided to look through some of the old files, posters, music and pictures. I have tones of stuff to look through. In the process of doing this I decided to create a permanent space on the Internet to host the memory of Sooth. A facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/SoothMusic Almost everyone uses facebook these days and I realised that it would be a great place to allow old fans to reminisce and to make sure they have our full back catalogue. Not only did I think that facebook would be a good place to host this data, but I also thought this blog would be an ideal location to also host many of the song’s and pictures. I’ll be making this post sticky for a while as I post some of the Sooth recourses below.

While looking through all the old stuff I happened to come across our last ever recorded song “No More Secrets“. This was recorded in the last few months of Sooth’s existence. The song was fixed, mixed and mastered after the band had split so it has never had the release or the audience that it deserved. I am hoping to release the song to the general public  once the Sooth facebook page reaches 100 fans (At the time of writing it is sitting at 59) So if you haven’t “liked” the Sooth facebook page please do so here. Listening to this song with fresh ears really got me excited and I am proud of the standard of music that we managed to produce over the years and I think “No More Secrets” is no exception to that.

I believe that the members of Sooth are all still involved in music although I am unsure if they have the same aspirations of “making it” as we had in Sooth. Malcolm is the only one I know of that is now officially in a new band which I am looking forward to hearing. Dave has been appearing on various recordings with our good friends Derek Bates and Steven McGilivery.

Bottle of Steven (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bottle-of-Steven/197605206929460),
Evil Hand (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evil-Hand/152047761474412) and
Bottle of Evil (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bottle-Of-Evil/452684800157)

Myself, Brian and Dave met up a few times after the demise of Sooth to test out a few songs I have been writing. It was great fun but again the responsibilities of real life got in the way. If our time cleared then it would be something I would be more than happy to pick up again. Brian and myself often meet up with a few bottles of wine and some guitars so we can, at least for the night, stay involved with music.

I don’t think I said a proper goodbye to everyone who helped Sooth when we ended. I think I left that to Brian who was operating the website at the time. So hopefully this post is a suitable goodbye and thank you to everyone who helped us, supported us, liked us, talked about us, shared our music and encouraged us along the way. I will always hold my memories of Sooth close to my heart. They have shaped me and helped me become the man who I am now. Sooth expanded my horizons as a youngster and I met so many amazing and awesome people who I would not have had the privilege of meeting if I was not in Sooth. I thank everyone who made the experience what it was, especially Brian Eley, Malcolm Frew, David Frew and Ian McDermaind. You are all legends! I am now one of those guys who starts his stories with “when I used to be in a band…..” and in a weird way I am both grateful and sad about that.