Keys Please (1)

For someone who can't actually play the piano, I seem to be using keyboards more and more.

The story of me with keyboards started a good few years ago now when I wanted to add greater texture to recordings. I went to the forerunner of PMT while I was on a course in London and they introduced me to the Novation KS5. The salesman probably saw me coming and indicated that it was the sort of thing Massive Attack used (it was around the time of 'Mezzanine', so he had a sale. Loved using that keyboard and it set me off along a more dance-oriented path.

A little while later I went to a gig at the Cheese and Grain, Frome at which the band Sweet Machine were performing. They certainly made an impression and I wanted to know what keyboards, their apparent main keyboardist, Richard Churchyard was playing. Funny how the world turns. By that time I was after one which had a stage piano, synth programming and was a controller keyboard. So anyway, he had a Roland Juno Stage, and one of those duly came home too.

By that time I'd started using Logic for recording and so sadly, as I was no expert on what is apparently called 'external MIDI' I went for a simple M-Audio controller keyboard. That broke pretty quickly and so I then moved onto an Akai MPK 249,as apparently used by Joff Oddie of Wolf Alice and many others. I also went for a Roland A800, which has a much more responsive touch than the Akai (and is beloved of Depeche Mode so what could possibly go wrong). Anyway, it's an impressively professional piece of kit, but isn't as user friendly as the Akai (indeed it took me ages to download the correct software for it) and so it remains something which I still have to fully get to grips with.

Finally we have an upright proper piano at home, bought second hand from All Instruments in Westbury, although we now have to put the lid down at night, otherwise the cat walks over it and gives people nightmares.

On that point, I have only ever played the piano once in public and that was at an Open Mic at The Bell In Bath (a truly legendary venue), playing and singing 'Dance Like The First Time'. The story of that song and the latest video which accompanies it will be the subject of the next blog, so watch out for it.

Anyway, as I write this we're just a couple of short weeks away from the next stage in our eventual release from captivity. Stay well, be careful, but not too careful - and don't forget to really live.