Banded Together

Before University, I had an extremely brief stint as the vocalist of a band in Comprehensive School which lasted for one practice before we all realised we couldn't be bothered.

First Year

On arrival to University, I was somewhat shunted by BandSoc as during Freshers' Fair I was given a rather frosty reception after disclosing that I fancied myself as a vocalist. Somewhat fortuitously, the two people who became my best friends on my Law course turned out to be musicians. Rachel played guitar and Chris was a bassist. I also knew my friend Jack from Swansea, also in Nottingham, was a drummer in what was then known as Spirit Level. I then attempted to put us 4 together in a room and see if we could hash out something...
I have never been very good at writing songs from scratch, having no prior musical training. If I'm writing a song, I concentrate on the story involved in the lyrics and a melody which I can sing in my, admittedly rather limited, vocal range. The problem with this method of course is that when trying to inform my fellow bandmates of what I've written then I can't use the language of music; I just sing the melody I've constructed and arrogantly expect the other musicians to attempt to work around it.
In what might be described as a magnificent defiance of the above sentence, I started to form the idea that I could write an entire concept album around the story of an opportunistic murderer who descended in to insanity (taking some inspiration from Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare, Welcome 2 My Nightmare and Along Came A Spider)...

Nothing ever really came of my attempts in first year, though that was to change...

Second Year

Second year marked my first involvements in BandSoc. Rachel, Chris and myself realised that if we wanted to get anything done then we would probably need a practice room. We all joined BandSoc, and I'm sure Simon (Cass) would happily describe me as an arrogant and cocky prick. I would soon after run, successfully, to be the Society's General Secretary, at which point Simon explicitly told me exactly what he thought of me. I mean, a bit harsh, sure, but to be fair I can't say he wasn't wrong.
So having a vocalist, guitarist and bassist, we needed a drummer. Jack had one practice with us but soon realised we weren't complicated enough for him, and so I turned to my long suffering neighbour and housemate Olly who was also a drummer. We dabbled with the name 'Funktus Officio' before settling on 'Denning' after the famous rebellious Court of Appeal Law Lord.

The year unfolded in a mix of practice and song-writing. I would write songs without any idea how the rest would play it and they would attempt to work around it (a la Matt's Texting). Chris or Rachel would come up with a riff and I would choose already penned lyrics from my above concept album to fit (a la That Bitch, Blood On My Chin, Feeling Down). Or Chris/Olly would come to practice with an already written song and we would try and learn it (a la Now Open Your Eyes).
As a quick side-note, Matt's Texting was written by my old friend Biggins whilst we were on a train back from Cardiff as my, then, girlfriend wasn't replying to my texts. We were both tipsy from wine from plastic cups. That Bitch, on the other hand, was a combination of my feelings towards an ex-girlfriend, some input from Simon (Davies, though he likely doesn't remember), and me trying to fit a song in to my overall concept album structure.
In the end we decided to change our name to 'Same But Different' on the basis that our songs ultimately revolved around similar chord structures and yet ended up sounding rather different. We also couldn't pin down a genre which we might be described as, as each of our songs seemed to appeal to a different genre.

Our nail in the coffin came from yours truly. During my first two years at University, I had developed a taste for prog-rock. I had always been a Jethro Tull fan, but in my first two years I accumulated a number of their more experimental albums, as well as developing a taste for Blue Öyster Cult and their experimental brand of 70s rock. Supported by a somewhat similarly minded Chris, I decided to embark on my magnum opus: Through The Steel.
Through The Steel was to be a seven-part epic where each part rehearsed a phase of human history where the alloy 'steel' was used to commit murders. I wrote the introduction using rather heavy borrowing from the melody of 'Golden Age of Leather' by BÖC, and the following three verses under the impression that separate melodies and rhythms would be used for each. The final four verses were lyrically written in a rather haphazard fashion as I tried to imagine the uses of steel in the middle and modern ages without research. Following a number of protracted and intense band practices we ended up with melodies and riffs for all verses which more-or-less fit each time period covered. Unfortunately, when it came to recording the song for the BandSoc CD we were rather unprepared, having finished the song only the week before. It also didn't help that we hadn't properly written segues between sections. What ended up on the CD was something that all four of us are both proud and embarrassed of in equal measure. There are some moments of great music where everything simply gelled, but others where were clearly a complete mess. We ended up with a ~12minute song which really needed longer, but Rachel and Olly were never really in to the whole prog thing.
However, I would like it noted that I believe that the full lyrics to Through The Steel are some of my best and ultimately form a pretty decent epic poem which uses a number of literary techniques which I naively think someone might one day notice.

Our Battle of the Bands entry was a much more standard affair of (what we thought were) our best <4 minute songs, but we didn't get through the heats. We blame it on the fact that we played two ballads when we should have been more upbeat, but it's years ago and I don't really remember.

Third Year

Ok, so technically Toast started at the end of second year but bear with me. In Same But Different, I think there was something of an understanding that we would disband at the end of the year (music differences and all that crap). At the same time, my BandSoc committee contemporary, Ed, was losing all members of his band to graduation. Our mutual friend, Mike, had suggested to both of us that we should get together as we both had an interest in somewhat non-mainstream rock. This topic was sprung on my 20th Birthday where I was absolutely smashed and subsequently invited Ed to both form a band and come with me on holiday to Berlin (which did indeed occur with Ed, Mike and my Swansea friend, John, and we had lots of fun). Chris, Ed and I decided to call ourselves 'Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl' after the question asked in each Pokémon game, for some reason.
Chris was somehow still willing to work with me and we formed a band. We had 2/3 practices at the end of second year where we jammed and together assembled the songs which would subsequently be known as Addicted To Sleep and Of Kings. Chris and myself alternated on drums as we were both competent at hitting things, but we wanted a dedicated drummer.
At the same time, I had wormed my way up in to Room Sec in BandSoc, leaving me in charge of the practice room. This year was to be a big year in BandSoc history as every member of the committee was competent and eager. We got a lot done. Chris was even Social Sec.

Enter Gina. Our magnificently technically proficient drummer, who I presume was looking for someone doing something fun and complicated and therefore ended up with us. To be fair, Levi Civita already had Max. After some courting Gina ended up joining us.
During one of our practices we had a 15 minute break in Mooch (the campus bar), and decided to come up with a proper name. After lots of to and fro-ing, I noticed 'Toast' on the menu and suggested it but in the 'cheers' sense. We liked the pun, it stuck.

After what was somewhat a lyrical dictatorship in Same But Different I was taken aback by what was initially a 50/50 split between Ed and myself as lyricists. I had always been under the impression that you write your own parts. But then, AC/DC's Brian Johnson no longer writes any lyrics so it isn't that weird. I quickly adjusted and was suddenly having the time of my life. To confuse me further, Ed took lead vocals on a few sections of songs. I mean, fortunately I always had synth or harmonica to play, but it confused me nonetheless as resident lead vocalist.
We wrote songs with some odd beats, there were big tempo changes, three of us had to have access to keyboards due to the varying use of synth and keys. I got to showcase my harmonica and Ed brought in his Melodica. Chris wrote a song, but on the whole the music was pretty unilaterally 'Toast'.
Our lyrics were psychedelical, non-sensical, historical, economic, satire, political, provocative. I even wrote a bloody rap verse for god's sake.

For the BandSoc CD we recorded our *ahem* most popular song; Addicted To Sleep. I mean, I'm still a reasonably limited vocalist, but I believe that what I can sing I can sing rather well. I would also like to think I'm quite a good lyricist. In all, I think Jonesin' On The Dreamscapes Of A Yesteryear: Sleep Is The Fallacy The Pushes Me To The Brink Of Mastering The Art Of Impressionist Painting (Addicted To Sleep), to give it it's stupidly long full title, is my best overall contribution. Though perhaps my vocals on A Knight For Pretty Lights on our album (see below) were slightly better.
We had a few gigs, even some outside of BandSoc, and entered Battle of the Bands where after some (fortunate?) drop outs ended up in the final. Apparently we achieved the highest scores for originality, and yet came last. In all honesty, I take that as a win. We set out to be a bit weird, and we did exactly that.

Over the summer, we even recorded an album: Raise Your Glass To A Burning Bridge.

https://toastuon.bandcamp.com/releases

It contains every song we ever wrote except for 'My dog died and my girlfriend left me and she took the fridge so there's no food so I had to eat my dog and then I found some food so I didn't have to eat the dog and now I feel sad so I drank my tears as a drink alone: He's never coming back' (never performed and Ed had to remind me of its full and proper title). All of the drums had to be recorded in one afternoon in Ed's living room. We even recorded Ed's shower for added effect.
Despite this, and the fact that we recorded EVERYTHING ELSE in one single week in Ed's bedroom: I am proud of this album. It documents a progress. An achievement. I have released an album. Not only that, but I've released an album with a group of friends. We had huge musical differences, and yet ended up with something which I think we're all at least somewhat happy with.

With the end of 3rd year came the end of Toast. Ed took off for Bath to do his PhD, taking the synths with him. Gina, on the other hand, stayed but looked for more complicated and mathematical (I think it's fair to say?) ventures.

Fourth Year

Fourth year was shit. I had no band. No people to form a band with. I had about 10 songs worth of lyrics, and continued to write more.
I missed it.
Even practice once a week was a chance to let go, scream out the demons. That was gone. The chance to shout out the words I'd written. That was gone. There was only the Masters.
I regret my lack of band in fourth year. So much.

Fifth Year

If I have to explain to you why I have a fifth year: I had three years undergrad law, then a postgrad in Criminal Justice Law, I am now doing a second Masters in Socio-Legal and Criminological Research Methods as a precursor to my PhD in Law which I will be starting next year subject to me passing this. Don't worry, this year and my PhD are funded. 

Basically: I need a band. I don't just want a band, I need one to keep me sane. To stop me going off the rails. The frustration and emotion involved in studying 24/7 is too much to bear. I need an outlet where I can just let my hair down and scream out some lyrics. Whether they're mine or we're doing a cover. Singing is just what I need to do. If there's harmonica and changes in time-signature then all the better but I really don't care.
I know I'm not the best vocalist. But I'm good at what I do. And I need to do it.

So far this year, Chris is (god knows why) still willing to stick with me as either a bassist or (preferably) a rhythm guitarist. Jedd, my old BandSoc mucca, is considering lead guitar. Leaving us drums and, most likely, bass to fill. The prog has probably fallen by the wayside. I just want an outlet. But if we can produce something good, then all the better.