I'm with the band...sort of!

I've just had one of those mornings where I looked for 1 music video on You Tube & ended up reliving my teens. I was always a huge music fan (not always good music granted) but after my brother Stephen saved me from my bad taste (I think the day I asked my Mam to take me to a Chesney Hawkes concert in City Hall he felt something needed to be done) and introduced me to 'The Clash' my taste improved (somewhat) & it was out with the pop & in with 'The Cure', 'The Lemonheads' and many other bands that started with 'The'. One band I got into was Irish band 'The Pale', I used to wander around incessantly listening to their album 'Here's one we made earlier' on my yellow Sony walkman (I know, cool, right?)

I also blame The Pale for my short lived shoplifting stint, well them & Eva (last name witheld cause she'd mangle me if I said it) who peer pressured me into robbing something. Of course I had to have The Hot Press magazine with 'The Pale' on the front cover, pity it was the old Hot Press which was about the length of The Irish Examiner & as thick as Vogue, I still remember folding it in three shoving it down the front of my pants & trying to walk nonchalantly out of the little corner shop- I'm not saying I should be commended for my criminal behaviour but anyone who remembers the size of that magazine will be maybe a little impressed! Anyway just to clarify I never stole anything again & threw an extra pround (of my own money) in the basket at mass that Sunday!!

Where was I? Oh yes The Pale! So my new found love of The Pale brought me to The Lark by The Lee circa 1993- for those of you not old enough to remember The Lark by the Lee (fuck you!) it was a free outdoor gig held in the Lee Fields (before they discovered it was a big bog that actually wasn't suitable to hold gigs, well that & the questionable characters that would inevitably show up to a free outdoor gig, you should of seen "Beat on the Street", scobe heaven). Anyway off us group of 13 year olds trotted making the yearly pilgrimage from Ballincollig into the straight road (it's a longer walk than you'd ever expect) to see The Pale & whoever else was playing (probably Big Bag of Sticks & The Soul Masters), when we happened upon a camper van full of Hare Krishna's giving out free stuff- (prayer cards to be precise but what the hell we were 13 & they were free). Of course we got chatting to them (again we were 13 with raging hormones & a serious thing for men with shaved heads) when somewhere the rumour started that they were 'The Pale'. Now I knew what The Pale looked like (or so I thought) & 2 of them had shaved heads so they must have been them! Happily we hung out in the camper van chatting with "The Pale" when my older brother happened to be passing with his friends, I stuck my head out of the van & shouted "Hey, we're hanging out with The Pale", my brother came over to investigate & consequently dragged me out of the van informing me of how much of an idiot I was (ahh bless). I must stress The Hare's were perfectly friendly & were probably just amused at our stupidity but I tell ya what after that day I always made sure they really were "The Band" before I got into another strange van!