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Max
Pepe
d.o.b
- 5/5/83
It was at the tender age of six that my parents persuaded me to start taking piano lessons. Having previously only had musical experience in the form of table cutlery drumming, rythmic thigh slapping, and advanced levels of twinkle twinkle little star rounds, the prospect excited me! When the day of my first lesson arrived my mum and I pulled up on the drive of an old dingy mansion that looked like it had recently been imported from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. To add insult to injury we were greeted by an abnormally tall, wacky haired ageing woman who practically grabbed my mum and I by the scruff of the neck, dragged us into the house and force fed us lumpy mugs of "have you got a light boy, Ovelteen Light"!
However, once I had conquered this sheepish fear of my first ever piano tutor I fell in love with the instrument and also with music. So it began >
...
I joined my first band at the age of about thirteen on keyboards, but as everyone
seemed to be only interested in playing Oasis tunes (why God, why?!) the need
for keyboards was slightly limited. Therein I was appointed 'lead vocalist',
a label to which I was very fond of!
You may be thinking that I stayed at the front to this day, but no! In the
second band I was in I decided I really couldn't sing and moved onto the drums!
And here I was to stay for almost two years. It was great fun. But unfortunately
the band had two lead singers, within itself not a problem, but when the two
lead singers are brothers, you're riding on a disaster waiting to happen.
Eventually the incredibly over sized egos of the two incredibly over sized
brothers got in the way. Coupled with the fact that their dad had nothing
better to do than come to EVERY practice the situation was far from idyllic
and I decided to leave them to it!
The
next band was 'The Haize'. This band saw me back as vocalist, but now also
armed with a guitar! I would say it was during my time with the Haize that
I realized I didn't want to do anything else with my life! In the two and
a half of being together we acheived a lot. We won a competition held by a
local record company for 'best young band', and consequently were offered
a contract by them. Played loads of gigs local and a few smallish London venues.
We also got to the final of the South of England 'battle of the bands' held
at the highly prestigious Margate Winter Gardens and were runners up.
Towards
the very end of the Haize days a girl at my school told me her boyfriend's
band were looking for a singer and she had suggested me. I initially said
no as I was happy with the band I was in. However I was persuaded to help
them out and reluctantly agreed to stand in for a couple of gigs until they
got someone permanent.
All I can say now is 'thank the holy mother of all that is good and pure I did!! It was undoubtedly the best decision I've ever made and wouldn't wish to be in any different band! Not only do I love what we do and how we work together as musicians, but I also I love my brothers!
(click on the links above to go to the other band member pages)