Being in a band together is just another arc of life, from its naive birth, innocent beginnings, learning, understanding and to finally growing up, and if it’s of any value then ultimately it will remain standing.
Just as in any relationship, Billy and I can meet and talk today with the shared experience and fondness for those times. We understand why we did what we did. We created something truly special and ultimately we’ve all been rewarded for that. We understand now what life did to us and how we all dealt with it differently. We understand the pressures of fame and how we deal with it. We understand now the pressures of having a talent which expresses itself through creativity and how that talent can be an exceptional God given gift but also a curse. That the light that burns so brightly can also bring such an extreme sensitivity to the realities of everyday living that it can also be sometimes impossible to live with. We all deal with that in different ways.
When we met for lunch recently he was the same enthusiastic, sensitive, intelligent and talented boy I saw on that first day back in Bromley. We had come full circle.
I also recently sat down with Andrew Eldritch and talked about this journey of ours. Again, we had a positive and insightful conversation. Again he is still that smart, grounded and talented individual that I met all those years ago. He was happy. Experience had taught us well. And he still had that glint in the eye....
There was always inevitably, going to be a difference between my experience and the other players I was to place in my Sputnik movie. For them it was the first time through these uncharted waters, the first time up the mountain. The first wondrous time where you come from nowhere world to fame world. Was I able to help them deal with what was to come? Probably not. The same way there was no one who could help me the first time around. The reality is you have to experience it to learn.
