....Previously on Dark Energy....

Where do I start? Our first gig? Our first practice? The previous band, or the band before that, or the day I first acquired a guitar, back when I was 16?

Dark Energy came about because there was talk in 2008 of a reunion of Ockham's Razor. Jon and I had been the two guitarists in this band, back in the early 1990s. The reunion was not to be, but I had many new songs, so I suggested to Jon that we start a new project, to get some of these played live. In the years since Ockham's Razor, Jon had swapped over to playing bass, so it seemed a good idea to try out the power trio format. We had our first get together in Jon's home studio in January 2009, with Joe joining us on drums in February.

Our first gig came in August that year, supporting two other bands at Bristol's Reckless Engineer pub. We only played 5 songs, but it was a start. It was particularly scary for me, because this was the first band in which I'd been lead singer. I'd barely done backing vocals in previous bands, though a few years ago I did start singing at open mic nights. We followed this up with a small charity gig in September (the "secret" gig - we only got offered it a day or two before, so I had no time for publicity). In October we played a joint gig with our friends from Mephisto's Island at one of my local bars, the Blue Lagoon on Bristol's "famous" Gloucester Road.

This year, we went on to have a run of gigs around Bristol through the spring and early summer, playing a support at the Fleece in March, and main act at the Hotwells Spring Gardens, the Bunch of Grapes, and the Blue Lagoon again (twice!). We also did a couple of semi acoustic turns at the Prom on Gloucester Road, on the open mic and showcase nights. Currently we are on our summer gig break: Our next shows will be in October.

We're looking now to play new and more prestigious venues, and would be happy to play out of town as well. Getting these gigs is the tricky bit though! It's not easy for any new band, particularly a bunch of old lags like us.

What I have in mind for this blog is that it is, yes, partly about publicising the band online, but I shall likely also have a bit of a moan about our progress, or lack thereof. And maybe talk about songwriting issues, playing, bands I've been in before, stuff that happens at gigs, or whatever takes my fancy. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Justin