Badgers
Part 1

I was approached by Tony Burns who had an interesting offer: Would like to join a band casually to help out with the work load. I replied "Sure, tell me more." Their keyboard player has landed a 'real' job that requires him to be away every other weekend. Would I be interested to help out with Brian's duties the weekend he his away? I have a commitment every second Friday and by chance the two cycles work, while Brian is away, then it's a 'free' weekend for me. The deal was done.

I decided to do a background search of the name Badger, maybe it describes the bands attitude?

• (n) A Wombat. They eat roots and leaves don't they?
• (n) A swablike device for cleaning excess mortar from the interiors of newly laid tile drains.
• (v) To harass or urge persistently; pester; nag: (I had to badger him into coming with us.)

Very interesting. I wasn't exactly badgered into helping them out, but what about their habits?

We had two rehearsals before the first gig and that was interesting. Since Brian plays keyboards there would be songs with a keyboard signature, I would need to provide an equivalent sound.
After the first rehearsal we worked through the repertoire and clearly a keyboard was needed for some songs.
I dragged out my Roland A-30 master keyboard and plugged it into a Roland SD-35 Sound Canvas and was greeted with sound, which was pleasant surprise as I hadn't used either for ten years. The hardest part would be for me to play it, I'm pretty rusty and not a soloist, chords would be fine.
I dragged along the keyboard and the guitar second rehearsal and tried to work out what to do.

Their drummer, Alan kindly made up a few CD's with their material, but as it worked out I only managed one night of listening before the second rehearsal. I would clearly have to do more homework.

The first gig was at Moe R.S.L. on a Friday night. By the time I arrived the other guys had already set up and that had it all: Banner, light show, foldback and a surprisingly happy demeanor who were out to have a good, fun time. Lovely.

I ended up swapping between guitar and keyboard all night, whatever was required. A few songs were performed in a less then perfect state by me because either I hadn't learnt the required parts yet or I simply didn't know the material. More home rehearsal time for me.

The first gig went well and we had the patrons up and dancing which the management were sure to recognise.

After not having played in a band for a rather long time, I had a good time and look forward to the next gig whenever that may appear. Much easier than playing a solo gig and louder as well.