radio ancient

"the best band you never heard"

The name "radio ancient" was coined by myself sometime in 1989 when I was looking for a name for my music projects. It was also going to be the name of the band that I always dreamed of forming. A four piece with guitar, bass, drums and vocals, the classic line up in my eyes and the lucky number 4 being the key for influences such as Queen, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. Why radio ancient? Well then why Aztec Camera, which was another obscure name that seemed to suggest a modern device like a camera being used by an ancient civilisation like the Aztecs. Impossible? Maybe, maybe not. So radio ancient conjured images of radio, which is a modern transmission technology, combined with the ancients. In others words energy coming through the ages to make something new. I was dreaming but I was 20 years old and dreams can come true. I did form that band. We did write songs. We did perform live, albeit briefly in the grand scheme of things looking back now from over the fence at 51. It was a dream come true and then I woke up unfortunately.

The Early Years that lead to Radio Ancient

When I saw Queen perform on Live Aid in July 1985, luckily on a tea break at the bicycle repair shop I worked in on Saturday, I knew I had to play guitar. Queen were my favourite band and Brian May was the rock master with his homemade Red Special, a guitar that rocked the world over and over with it's totally original sound and now I had to get a guitar and learn to play. I had a guitar at home but it was a beat up nylon string, glorified firewood really and hardly going to rock anything especially as I couldn't play a note!