The Birth of THE NATION (Our first gig and the story so far)

On Friday 2nd May 2008 (a Friday!) The Alex Maws Nation played our first official gig. For the 40 or 50 people in attendance at the Bull & Gate – each of whom we thank immensely for their kindness and charity – this may have been their first engagement with the AMN, but for the six (six!) of us in the band, the beginning was a much longer time ago.

How long? Well, that’s hard to answer. How do you pinpoint a date when six people’s individual frustrations from rock ‘n’ roll abstinence reached their breaking points? I can only speak for myself: that would be 24^th September 2007 – the eve of my 36^th birthday. That was when I placed an ad on Gumtree entitled “Aging Indie Nerds Unite!” (Yes, I debated long and hard whether to go with the American or British spelling of aging/ageing…)

And unite we did. First came Lee – with a wife, two kids, suburban home, a keyboard, and a love of Grant Lee Buffalo. “Yup. He’s in,” I thought. Then Mike on guitar. At 28, a bit too young, I feared. But he assured me he didn’t mind hanging around more mature gentlemen, and besides he helped me move a wardrobe into the flat the first time he met me, and learned four songs on the spot. Then came Pete and Reuben – not from the Gumtree ad, just because, well, what was I going to do – start a band and NOT invite Pete and Reuben to join? Impossible. Pete was an easy sell, to say the least. His new Fender needed some serious attention. Reuben took some mild coaxing and occasional bullying – at one point he even tried to claim that he “didn’t really play the bass very well” – but I knew he’d break. Ciaran also liked the ad, but I had to keep him at bay for a while – no use in having a drummer if you don’t yet have anything for them to drum along to. In December we all first managed to be in the same room at the same time. No easy feat, considering our sheer numbers, not to mention the number of band members’ kids (five), day jobs, weddings, etc. to work around.

I had forgotten the amazing feeling when a band plays a song for the first time and it just works. In all honesty, we were probably ready to play a gig in January, but there was the small hurdle of finding a venue that would have us. As a result, we have been playing the same seven songs relentlessly at Sunday afternoon rehearsals since then. And of course drinking a fair amount of beer. And talking about what to call ourselves. But these mundane bits are all part of the whole experience. Beer and band names. They are a significant part of the early development of a rock band. I think it was Freud who said that.

But of course, all of this would have been for nought if it weren’t for all of the lovely people who turned out for our first gig. For the time being, we don’t have any “fans” just “friends” – so your support means everything to us. Thanks for making us feel like we belonged up there. The story continues at the Dublin Castle on 11^th June. We hope to see you there…