I used to drum in a band in Derby when I was in my teens.
I had a few lessons. I was OK.
I played live a few times and liked being in a band.
That’s why I started to play the drums, by the way. Because I wanted to be in a band.
My confidence wouldn’t let me play any other instrument at that time though.
I had to be at the back.
Newcastle.
I came to Newcastle to study and I still wanted to be in a band. And like everyone else arriving at the same time, I had the opportunity to reinvent myself. So I could have done it in any way I liked.
But there was a lot going on. New people, new city, new influences. So much to experience and do.
I wanted to get back into music but it didn’t happen until I left Polytechnic three years later.
If I am honest, it was because I integrated at Polytechnic quite well (I tried hard to fit in; I wanted to belong) and being in a band would have been too risky.
I’d have been judged.
Work.
But in a world of work, after I’d left studying, everything shifted.
Work was steady. A bit dull. So I was ready to go again. I had room to create.
This time as a singer.
Frontman.
Oddly, I didn’t want to be a frontman. I just wanted to see what it was like to be a frontman. I wanted to see what it felt like.
I could sing. A bit. And as history has proven that that’s enough for Chris Martin, I was right to have a go.
And I was OK!
Much better than a lot of the kids around at the time.
I enjoyed it. For a bit.
I didn’t push things.
But I enjoyed the view.
Business.
I had jobs through my twenties.
At thirty I started my first proper business.
I was now the frontman in business. And that’s never changed since.
2019.
I am writing this because in 2019 I am going to explore more what being a frontman in business really means.
I personify Always Wear Red. In the same way that a singer personifies their band.
But am I enigmatic enough?
Cool enough?
Memorable enough?
Brave enough?
Am I playing the role properly for this creative thing that I have built?
Not as well as I should, is the answer.
Frontmen and women have ‘something about them’.
Next year I am going to explore what my ‘something’ is.
I just hope I am more Paul Hewson than Darius Campbell.
