Ricks Tenure and Departure

When Ricky first joined the band he was a "Carer" for his grandparents, in his words he went the shop once a week for them and was free 24/7, but in July he got a payout for both of I think just over 3 grand and he went on holidays for 6 weeks and bought lots of new clothes, he paid for none of the album and still none of the rehearsals despite at the time having more money then everyone else.  Once he stopped being carer and got a real job things went drastically downwards, given he wasn't contributing any songwriting or money, his availability and the fact he use to bring mates to the gigs were his two pluses, every gig he was there he would have a fair few friends at it, however when the pandemic hit his friend dean moved to Spain and that stopped, I asked him about it his mates not coming to gigs anymore and he said "They were all Dean's mates"  so he was now less available, paying nothing and brining nobody.

I will say at the album launch he brought about 20 people, I had about 30 and Rennick brought.......himself.

His live performance was an issue, he blew hot and cold, I remember him doing sabotage live at our button factory gig, it was a closer. He was already off stage in his head and did it so half arsed it killed me, last song give it everything, leave nothing in the tank, and he phoned it in, that bothered me high end, we also could't release the live version of "Never did it for the money" cause he was so out of key or "Spaceman" because he was playing the chorus when the verse kicked back in for far too long.

He didn't like the heavier direction we were going in, didn't like I was doing more shouting and not giving him lines, and didn't like that since we found Pirate rehearsal rooms, we were taking turns paying and he had to pay every 3rd go, by the end of his tenure he owed me over a grand I will never see again. When we went into studio he would panic and say we don't know the song, me and Rennick will have been playing it for months with Ricky just not joining in, i'd send him video of me playing the riffs and a tab done out and he still wouldn't learn. I always suspected he learned bass via computer game because hammer ons and pull offs, sliding into notes, any type of feel was completely absent it was just landing on the note big and with a thud, he confirmed the rennick this was how he learnt, a gammer till the end.

When we got invited to UK to play the Festival Standon Calling, I also blame him for fucking up on us making an impression, and he also poured all his drink into my pint glass all the time so I was fucked, but his general demeanour and all when we were trying to win this booker over.....all went to shit.

Last gig was in Fibbers, I was sloshed, m2m we started of well, but there was one point where my pedal cut off and ricky went mad said it was amateurish and he was sick of it, now he pulled this out of his arse, my wireless cut out once before when were playing that UK festival but like when I turned around, figured it out after first song and never again did it happen, 8 months latter pedal disconnects for a second and ricky blames the wireless, loses it says i'm unprofessional, I say says he roars it at me when i'm beside my girlfriend, I say "You've been looking for anything to have a go at me" because i'm always trying not to give him shit but he did so little I would have to so he jumped at having a chance to give me shit, he flipped and said he didn't want to be in a band where he wasn't respected I said "Sorry you feel that way" but closed the door on him asap, fuck him he brought nothing and cost me a fortune, seeya.

Was some good times, he is an alright skin, but in the context of a band, he's awful.

Strangers With Guns "Degenerate Art" 4

 The album cost me and only me 3350. I had recorded 8 of the tracks previously with a session drummer, when we finally went in as a 3 piece i booked 4 days for 4 songs just because I didn't know what standard the lads were at, ricky had told me previously rennick was a disaster in studio and the majority of the kma recording time was spent on drums and the engineer fixing the drums. The 4 days cost me 1k, and getting Mik Pyro in was 300, it was interesting getting him in, he was due in Thur, and messaged me on Sunday asking if we were still on. I couldn't get a hold of him before that. I had to jump in the car and race out to get him and bring him back and we were down to the last 3 or 4hrs and already at the mixing and mastering stage, I do like mick richards, but I'm a cowboy like, and I recognise other cowboys, he knows how to manage the clock. I think he is worried if you finish early he wont get fully paid off you or something so draws it out, but I can never get out of their fast enough or spend enough time on the mix really, so has nada to worry about as i'm sure he is aware of now 3 yrs later.

Side note, Rennick was fine on the drums, he played "Now Wait For Last Year" way quicker then how it was intended but it came out sounding better, that has happened on a few tracks, sometimes its better sometimes it not. I think "Never Thought About The Money" was a bit faster too, the 4 the lads played on where

Now Wait For Last Year

Too Tired To Sleep, Ok To Drive

Never Thought About The Money 

Bert Sugar

Some of the bass was Dave Grohld on

To give ricks some credit, brining him in on vocals clearly helped massively, I think our voices played off against each other well.

I will say there was no tracking drums or bass first, ricks was 4hrs late and I had done scratch guitar and bass, he was infrequent throughout on all recordings, especially when he was asked for money.

Also when I first went in there I had no idea what to expect and had to do "Spaceman" to a click, it was incredibly daunting, I was not prepped, couldn't remember the amount of times and never played with a click before, I thought we would be live tracking. 

When "Degenerate Art" was done I felt content, like I was proud of it and if that was the only thing I ever recorded I would be happy.......I was wrong.

Side Notes

 The 2 lads were in Kiss My Acid before they joined our band. I never got that history, but I do remember when we got offered a gig by Eddie Nil, which was the first gig we were actually offered, if I'm even remembering that right, but ricky said to "I knew we weren't blacklisted" I was like "Why the fuck would we be blacklisted" he said he had been told that their ex singer in KMA had said so much shit about them to people in the scene that nobody would book or do business with our band, I was shocked and fairly pissed that he hadn't of told me any of this, he told me that band effectively broke up because him and Rennick wouldn't have a threesome with her.

One note which I use to think of often was they said one practice she just went crazy and shouted "Yous do fucking nothing" which I came to relate too.

By the end of 2019 my tab for what ricky owed me was over 1k, I stopped counting.

Lots of arguments over what to wear on stage, I hated ricky with his bulging wallet with a phone sticking out, he would never experiement or try, just say "I'll do my own thing" which Watchy now does.                                        

Strangers With Guns Getting Off The Ground 3

 Once we got off the ground we went pretty flat out with gigs. I was initially delighted to just be in a band, it had taken years and this one I could actually get together with. I could send Rennick recordings and he would have drums together in now time, someone actually listening to what I sent them was a complete foreign experience for me, he learned songs fast, showed up on time and dug the tunes, this was all amazing to me. Early on in practices Ricky blasted out "Sabotage" I realised that "A" it sounded killer, and "B" I had options vocally, so I think the next 4 songs I came up with all had him on the chorus or somewhere on em. I was still completely paying for practices at this stage which was 50quid a pop before I moved us to Pats place "Badlands" which is 40....I think, this trend only happened cause I wanted them to stay, Rennick broke this cycle a few months in by saying here we are a band we can pay like, this was great, so it was 12 quid from Rennick and 28 from me, it took another 2yrs for ricky to follow suit and was a large part of his exit.

We played multiple Fibbers Thursday gigs, felt like "paying our dues" sort of gigs and also free practices, we didn't really put to much thought into them, I could walk to fibbers after work with my guitar and we just play a set like, was great but probably not for Rennick who was driving from Newbridge and working the next day. Booked the Thomas house, was a weird gig, just cost me 150, didn't try to do any tickets, was just trying to find new people to hear us without much of a plan, think that is when I started with the hula skirt. Played in the milk market with Steiner and Dirty Casuals, that was fun, drank a bit to much pre gig though.

At one stage we played a gig, I cant remember the first nights gig, it might have been the Limerick gig, but I don't think so, and the next night we were playing a little music and video festival in Wexford, was the first time I ever really felt down about the band, I covered the accommodation for rickys for both and did all the driving,  I was treating the whole thing like a stags, bit of energy, lets drink and have fun, both lads just lay down, ricky had about 4 shits, they had no weed, they we're no craic. I thought fuck, is this what a tour would be like.

Strangers With Guns Beginning 2

 After trying a myriad of things like being a professional gambler, boxer, stenographer etc. I got the itch, was playing guitar and song we're just hitting me. I have been in enough bands to knows others do try bastardise your songs, so I wanted to record music before I had any other band members so the songs we're locked down, start to finish how I had intended them, the might sound off, and it's probably just a sign of who I have jammed with and being in bands with but the people who have found it hard to find any musician I trust basically, a lot of "is this person taking the piss" when I hear what they have added our tried to change in my song, hence every Strangers With Guns songs, every lyrics, bass line, it is all me. I trust Rennick as much as I trust anyone musically, and normally what he comes up with is perfect, but I still have the call on it, especially the come in here, drop out there sort of thing and have come up with drum parts, like the "BIMM/Art School Council Grant Whores" song.

Anyways, after maybe 3yrs of awkward jams that came to nothing I met Rennick, he responded to an add I had up looking for a drummer. I genuinely knew instantly he was the guy, few texts in I was like this is him, when he told me he was driving from Kildare to practice I was worried about him leaving and was picking up the tab on practices, initially my friend Diarm was on bass, but he was purely doing it as a favour, I think he was over being in bands, initally I had bought a drum kit for my brother to play drums which he told me he would do if I bought a kit and diarm on bass. I spent 400 on the kit and my brother was having none of it, he never expects anything he agrees to ever come to fruition so when it does he goes "what? not doing that" we had 1 jam as a band.

I was always worried about Rennick leaving over the commute so I floated the idea of him getting his mate from his old band "Kiss My Acid" to join, he was real into that idea, he said the worst part of the band stopping was them not really having a reason to hang out anymore so he messaged ricky, and ricky came along. I had 3 or 4 jams with rennick, then ricky had 4 days notice before our first gig in fibbers, it was a disaster, I was nervous for the first and only time, we sucked. But at least we we're off the ground

Strangers With Guns History (Origins) Chapter 1

 Chapter 1 (Backstory)

Have been in bands over the years, most of the time as the driving force, my experience pre SWG was so bad it actually put me off bands for some years. I'd book jams and pay for them and be the only one who showed up, or they would show and we'd get one run through, actually booking jam rooms in itself was just a response to when we planned practice out my dads back in the shed, people would plain no show after I walked from my mams house to his, lugging gear and then I'd set up and the texts about not coming would roll in, it bothered my da cause I was putting a lot in and asking if we could jam and then nobody would show, booking jams puts more an owness on showing up I felt. I'd be booking these 40/50 quid jam rooms with maybe 100 quid in my bank account. The band ended after maybe 7 gigs, one lively headline gig where the band before us blew out my amp and i played the gig clean because only thing that worked, always under rehearsed gigs, amateurs like to see things like "Well I wont mess up my part" this is something I do somewhat believe myself though, but having been in a band with ricky I do know that some people dont practice unless everyone is there and practicing, we did mostly covers because our singer insisted on writing the melody and lyrics but never would, he wrote lyrics to 3 and we had to keep playing them and had 4 on the shelf. But anyways, that experience soured me and burnt me out for a few years. Some trivia, last song I wrote for that band was "Lies Of Omission" I remember feeling like my song writing had gone up a notch and like I was really onto something, but then that was that.

We recorded these songs, 3 of em anyway at some farmhouse, I organised it and picked up the tab....becomes a reoccurring theme, we had one gig in August and there was a bit of a lull but then in September, our drummer and good friend of mine drowned. The whole band experience was so bad, so relentlessly bad and topped of with this that I had no interest in doing it again.