The Winter Tyres

Once upon a time, a talented young man based in the North West of England wrote a handful of beautiful songs, set to work with his acoustic guitar and recorded them on a C90 cassette, scribbling 'Songs for a Girl to Sing' on the spine. Slipping the tape into a padded envelope, he popped to the post office and asked the kindly assistant for international stamps: desination: Belgium. Across the English channel a budding songstress waited eagerly, checking her letterbox every day....and waited....and waited.......

Skip 10 years. MP3s fly across the internet faster than you can say "dropbox" and cassettes are practically prehistoric. During a Facebook conversation with friend and songwriter Brian Bordello a couple of months back, we pondered the disappearance of said cassette and mourned the loss of interpretations that were never to be. Or were they?

All was not lost. Brian found a second copy of the cassette somewhere gathering dust in the bottom of a cardboard box and this time, the Belgian post did us proud (we were possibly a little naive to attempt the same scheme again, but hey ho). After handing it over to somebody with more advanced equipment than mine, the cassette went through a conversion process and was reborn as an MP3 file which was waiting in my inbox in next to no time at all (thanks Benjamin).

The big question for me was how to bring these magical songs to life; my guitar playing is extremely limited (I must be the only person who claims to play guitar who can't throw out a rendition of  'House of the Rising Sun') and my honest feeling was, that to do these melodies justice, I would have to devote myself exclusively to the vocals, or at least for the time being, until I gained the necessary experience and confidence to branch out.

There was only one solution and, luckily for me, friends Maria and Remy were completely on board when I made the suggestion that we form a band and, The Winter Tyres were born! Remy is an accomplished guitarist and a joy to watch on stage with his other bands The Hype and Blue Velvet. But the project I had in mind was a far cry away from the heavy grungy riffs of these other ensembles and I wasn't sure whether bitter sweet acoustic pop would be his bag. Coincidentally, he had listened to a few Bordellos' numbers on my Facebook page and was filled with the same admiration as me. Maria has never performed in a musical capacity before, but her enthusiasm and diligence has led her to master the glockenspiel in no time and some imaginative touches with maracas and cabasa are a positive addition to our music.

Sunday afternoons have now taken on a new dimension for me. Instead of lounging around in a semi-melancholy haze, channel hopping between Columbo and the Eastenders omnibus, now I have band rehearsals. Venues alternate between our respective apartments, but there is one constant: every week somebody provides sweet treats. Muffins, scones, pancakes, cupcakes, loaves - you name it - baking is the new rock 'n' roll! I've been contemplating renaming the band The Spare Winter Tyres, or even The Fat Winter Tyres, but it doesn't quite have the same ring.

I have made half-hearted attempts at pop groups before but, more often than not, it's been little more than a singsong over a few cans and nothing has ever made it out of the comfort of somebody's living room. This time, I feel like an essential part of a winning formula of creativity, productivity and good old fashioned fun. And that's what making music should be: damn good fun. Coldplay may be racking up the award nominations, but since when did it all get so serious? Don't get me wrong; music should be approached with the love and attention it deserves, but the kind of over-sincerity that seems to be in vogue these days makes my skin crawl. Massive Attack's 3D allegedly crosses the road if he spots Daddy G coming his way and, while this may well work for our miserable Bristolian friends, I would genuinely find it impossible to be at my most creative without the kind of camaraderie that I have with Maria and Remy.

Friday was our first ever gig. We played a selection of Brian Bordello's songs and added one of my tunes plus an uptempo number that Maria and Remy wrote together. We know we have a long way to go, but the reception was very positive (we were amongst friends, of course) and we enjoyed every minute and are all looking forward to the next gig, writing more songs and finding out what's in the oven next Sunday afternoon.