The
History of PARADOX
Martin also new a mate called Richard, one night down at the pub Martin just happened to mention that he and another mate Carl were thinking about starting a band but needed a drummer. It amerced that Richard had played drums whilst at college.
Martin introduced Carl and Richard, the three omegos were now ready to start jamming. Martin booked a couple of hours at Robannas for the next Saturday afternoon. The room was equipped with drums and a couple of amps. Carl still had a guitar and played at home in his bedroom, Martins bass guitar had been stolen in a burglary a few years earlier, because he wasn’t in a band at the time he never replaced it.
The three guys got together on the following Saturday. On the way to there first rehearsal they had to make a detour to the nearest musical shop so Martin could buy a bass guitar. Fair Deal Music was the shop in the Bull Ring area of Birmingham. He bought a cheap Yamaha for about £280.
The first rehearsal was by no means music to anyone’s ears, trying to bash out a couple of old covers including ‘Born to be wild’ and ‘Jumping Jack Flash’, but it was fun! We booked the same room for the following week and went to pub to celebrate the fact that we’d actually got it together and done it. The three were now great mates and out together all the time.
After a few weeks it was pretty obvious that Richard was not going to make the grade as the drummer. We had a band discussion and decided to look for a new drummer. Richard would buy a guitar, learn a few cords and take over the vocals.
Carl new a friend who new a friend who new a chap called Den who could play the drums. A rehearsal was arranged. With no further ado the mighty Den joined the ranks. Den and Carl getting along really well as they had both been into body building in the past.
The band was still nameless at this stage, although they had now started to put a few songs of there own together and were playing tighter as a band with Den keeping the beat. Musical differences, however, started to pull the band in different directions. Richard was into pop music the likes of ‘Simple Minds’ etc. whereas Martin, Carl and Den liked the sounds of 70’s and 80’s rock and heavy metal. It wasn’t going to work. After days of bickering who was going to do it, Carl told Richard that the others in the band were not happy playing pop rock music and that if he didn’t want to play heavier vibes he was out. Richard was all right with this as he was moving to London for a year to do with his business.
Four now became three, again, but a different three. All with influences in the metal genera. Work now began on new material, songs with heavy rifts and biting guitar solos. All three members taking a chance to have a crack at the singing, with Den eventually undertaking the majority. His ability the bash out a well timed beat and concentrate on reading the lyrics off a song sheet stand were good.
For one or more reasons, rehearsals moved from Robannas to Rich Bitch in Sellyoak, around August 1996, where the guys religiously rehearsed twice a week. Martin came up with a name for the band, ‘Corrosive’, the other two agreed, the name was set.
On one occasion in mid 1997, a relative of Den’s came to a rehearsal with a mate of his called Chris. The friends were heavy into Oasis and while messing around on the microphone pretending to be Liam, the guys agreed that Chris had a fairly good voice. After a few more trials, the guys asked Chris if he would like to take over the singing, he agreed. The band then took another turn musically, introducing a few Oasis covers into the set. Also composing a raping rock song called ‘Up Yours’. The guys were breaking new ground musically and very happy with the sounds they had composed.
Unfortunately after about 8 months Chris started to miss rehearsals to the degree that the other guys said enough was enough and Chris was no longer in the band. Yet again they were back to three, but that wasn’t going to stop them, they decided to start advertising for a singer. Months and months went by with out even bite. Martin and Carl, by this stage were getting a bit bored of just rehearsing, they thought that the band should be out gigging by this stage.
Eventually they had a couple of responses to there advert for a singer, but very few and far in-between, with none fitting the bill or guys they thought were OK, not wanting to join. Things were finally to change, a guy called Andy arranged to come for trial, he came in with his 12 sting acoustic guitar and played and sang a song by Thunder. He said that he had a few of his own songs he could bring to the band. They arranged to meet for a full rehearsal together, agreeing to alternate learning songs of each party. Whoever at that rehearsal the whole session was taken up learning one of the singers song. As the rehearsal progressed Den grew more and more annoyed, firstly as Andy was telling him how to play the drums and the second we weren’t playing Corrosive song’s. Hence to said Den and Andy did not hit it off.
Discussions were had between the three members of Corrosive and it was decided that they would carry on as a three piece.
However, Martin and Carl, still despondent with the way Corrosive was maturing as a outfit, especially with not being in the right style musically to gig in pubs, which was a major ambition at this stage. They stayed in contact with Andy and started to rehearse with him as well as playing with Corrosive. This went on for about three months, more and more Martin and Carl switching they musical preferences to the new outfit. Progress needed to be made in the new outfit and a drummer was advertised for.
Within a few weeks they had a response from a guy called Sean. We arranged to trial him between 6 pm and 9pm on Saturday, right after we had finished rehearsing with Den and Corrosive. Not very tactful, as you can imagine. Den was packing up to leave and before he had time to ask why the other two weren’t doing the same, in walked Andy and some other guy with a drum kit. Understandable Den wasn’t very amused. That was the last time Corrosive rehearsed.
Sean’s drumming fitted the bill, the line-up was now ready to move forward with a more 80’s AOR style. However, this was not to last, on his return from holiday in October 1997, Martin arrived back to the news that Andy had dismissed Sean for not having sufficient finances to support his position in the band.
The search was on again for a drummer and after trying several potential hopefuls, the guys agreed on Wayne to take over the sticks. It was now November 1997 and the guys were hard at work practicing so that they could start gigging early the following year.
A name was required and after many, many discussions on the matter, the name PARADOX was accepted by all members of the band.
Things progressed quickly and it was decided that a demo CD should be done. In February 1998 the guys spent a weekend in a private studio in Bromsgrove and came out with a 6 track demo CD, entitled ‘Hearts at War’, the title track taken from a song written by Carl. This song also got some air play on a Warwickshire radio station.
The first live performance that Paradox performed was on nnth March 1998 at The Tyler's Lock pub on the outskirts of Bromsgrove. Over the next few months the guys played several gigs a month. But things were not running smoothly in the Paradox camp, by October 1998 it was clear that Andy was trying to take control of the band. This came to a head on Saturday nnth November, the band had set up the stage for a gig at The Ben Johnson pub. Andy tried to get the guys to sign a contract, which outlined that he was the founder member of the band and he could dismiss members as and when. Martin, Carl and Wayne refused to sign. The gig went ahead, but was to be the last one that Andy would play. The following morning he resigned from the band. The other members of the band were not distraught by this news as they had not been happy at the way things had developed over the past couple of months.
Yet again the band was reduced to three and a meeting was held to discuss the future. Do they call it a day or find another singer and carry on. All three members agreed without a doubt to carry on and turn something that was good into something great.
Wayne was in touch with a guitarist called Steve, his band had supported Paradox at a gig earlier in the year. Steve’s band were no longer together and he jumped at the chance to join the outfit. Steve was an excellent guitarist and soloist, who new all the cords and licks to make a song sound great. The next hurdle was to find a singer, not just someone who could sing in key, a front man to take the band forward. Several singers were auditioned but most wanted to play guitar as well, which was thought to be overkill with the line-up. Wayne brought along a mate called Alex who he had meat at the gym. Alex was eager to join a band, but the guys were not to sure as he had not had any experience singing or being in a band, although he seemed a likeable chap. After seeing a few more hopefuls the guys decided on Alex.
It was now Christmas 1998, only one or two rehearsals were done before the end of the year. January and February were very unproductive months due to Martin on holiday and Wayne having kidney problems, which saw him hospitalized for a while. It wasn’t until March 1999 that the guys got fully into the swing of rehearsing. The songs gelled together really well and it wasn’t long before they had sufficient songs in the set to do there first gig with the new members. This was at the Duck Pond in Redditch on the nnth month 1999, there was a good crowd to support this first gig and it went off like clockwork.
However things were still not 100% in the Paradox camp, as Steve and Alex seemed to clash on several points. On the nnth month 1999, after playing at the Golden Lion in Redditch, Steve informed the rest of the guys, that was his last gig and he was leaving Paradox. This came as a bit of a shock to the others.
Over the next couple of months the guys auditioned for a replacement guitarist, but no one came close. After many discussions they decided to try and give it a go as a four piece, with Alex taking on the roll of rhythm guitar and Carl all guitar solos. Things went pretty slow to start with, but Alex soon manage to play and sing at the same time.
Alex bought his dads semi-acoustic guitar and started playing this rather than his electric guitar. This gave the band a new feel, a new sound, especially there own material. The guys were getting back into a feel good situation.
The next stage was to play the new sounding material to a live ordinance. Earlier in the year they had entered a battle of the bands competition in Wolverhampton and gone through to the next round, which was held on nnth month 1999. It was a bit nerving, but the guys got though the 30 minute set, although they didn’t get through to the next round. They were not disappointed by this as the competition depended more on ticket sales rather than talent or playing ability.