Accountancy Age

The following piece appeared in Accountancy Age last week.

"E&Y goes for a song"

Shedheads show accountants the way

When will firms stop having silly singing contests to keep the staff happy, TS wonders?

Ernst & Young are the latest culprits, having hosted a fame academy contest for staff last week for Red Nose Day (there's always some lame excuse). The winners were a band called the Shed Heads.

Alan Wallis, the guitarist, is an E&Y corporate financier and the group, we are happy to say raised £3,000. Now TS appreciates that it is all jolly entertaining, to laugh at, as well as to laugh with. And it's worth mentioning that the event did succeed in raising a substantial sum, £3,000 in fact. [Correction - the Fame event raised £16,000 - Shed Head Ed]. Open-minded and pleasant types will suggest TS is just a grumpy old fart. But surely there must be better team building exercises than this?
Makes us wonder whether or not we should host our own singing contest. If we get enough interest, we might even organise it.

We think the appropriate response is a dignified silence - don't you?

Red Nose Day 2007 and Fame

Shed Heads were crowned winners of E&Y's Fame Academy and raised over £3,400 for Comic Relief. Here they are performing live at the Unicorn Theatre in front of a paying and enthusiastic crowd of E&Y folk and members of our families, including Elsie, who had made the treacherous journey from E6 to see her son play.

Set list: How Come? and Rock 'n' Roll Star

Rock and Roll Star (the song certainly not the singer)

The River Bar

All in all a great success - the crowd screaming for more and over £1,000 raised for Richard House.

Set list: Daydream, Annie; Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out; Stuck In The Middle With You; House In Order; Sweet Virginia; Ooh La La; How Come; Camel In A Yashmak; Rock & Roll Star; Waltzing Matilda (to celebrate it was Australia Day); and Honky Tonk Women (encore).

Shed Heads share a joke before the show

Ill Bill

In late August 2006, G asks A to play bass in a pick up band to showcase the vocal talents of Uncle Bill. The rest of the band are James Martin on guitar (Bill's grandson) and G's neighbour Colin Stratford on drums. The day before the gig, G calls A to say Bill is in hospital and won't be able to play. The decision is taken to carry on. G will take some of the vocals and K gamely agrees to sing a couple of the tunes.

Set list: Big Boss Man, Little Red Rooster, Born Under A Bad Sign, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, People Get Ready, Singing The Blues, Hi Heel Sneekers, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Blue Suede Shoes, and Mess of Blues.

Here are some pictures taken by Sue.

Roy joins in on tea chest bass

It was fun really!

Our kids are alright

Lucy on stage with her Dad at The Unicorn- keeping the beat.

Note the woolly chinchila perched on K's head.

Harry on the kit at K's 50th - happy birthday Dad.

We are very lucky. Our kids have grown up great. They are turning us on to new bands, which ,of course, we then claim we discovered first. And unlike our generation, don't feel they have to rebel against the music their parents like. To top that George is in a band - Kickin' Pigeons and Harry and Lucy play with Shed Heads.

Banjo player & son with a horn

We don't do "Live"

The thought of playing in front of an audience never occurs to the old guys as they are recording the songs that appear on "Back In The Shed". When asked to play live for Ernst & Young they surprise themselves and say yes and will use the event to raise some money for Richard House. Now the search is on to find a drummer.

Kickin' Pigeons

K and A go to see K's son George and his band Kickin' Pigeons play a gig at BBs in Forest Gate. The set includes a cover of Shed Heads' "Camel In A Yashmak".

In November 2005, The Zimmer Twins take the studio mobile and record backing tracks for four Kickin' Pigeon originals in a really productive session in K's garage. Vocals and overdubs are added over the next few weeks in A's studio and the tracks are mixed on Logic Pro 7. On 23 April 2006 the songs are uploaded on to the band's My Space and You Tube sites.

Back In The Shed

On 11 February 2005, Shed Heads release their debut CD "Back In The Shed" on their own label, Girdle Records. All the songs are Shed Head originals: Camel In A Yashmak, Crazy, Fallen Not Famous, Heads Are Turning, Reverend James, Jamie Oliver, Consultant's Tan, Your Fault Not Mine, That Old Thing Back, House In Order, Monica's Lips and Stalking Song. The guest horn players -" Fones & Bones" appear on House In Order. K designs the sleeve. The insert includes a photograph of the original shed in Tilbury Road.

The album is over four years in the making and recorded in sporadic bursts of activity. The recording itself was a great deal of fun and the old guys especially enjoyed overdubbing backing vocals. The sessions involved only two (and very occasionally three) members of the band at any one time. G also did some of the work on his tracks on a second AW 16G work station in his shed in Central Avenue. The tracks are mixed by The Zimmer Twins during January. This proved to be the most difficult and frustrating aspect of the whole process.

Fifteen copies of the CD are auctioned on-line by Ernst & Young. A total of £420 is raised for Comic Relief and Red Nose Day 2005.

2000: The Recording Bug

The old guys and their respective families spend the February half-term together in a big house on the Devon/Cornwall border and bring their guitars. G also has with him a 4 track Tascam Portastudio he bought second hand from his daughter's (soon to be) ex-boyfriend. There is no serious attempt by the old guys to record anything for posterity; but the seed is sown.

A decides it would be a lot of fun to convert the back bedroom at home into a recording studio. In March he takes delivery of an 8 track Tascam Portastudio 424 Mk2. The next few months are spent learning how to use the gear and bounce tracks.

In December for the first and [to date] the last time all four Shed Heads are in the same room at a recording session. They put down a backing track of a K original, provisionally titled "A Fool and His Money". The tracks have never seen the light of day and the tape remains in a drawer somewhere.

Backing tracks for various Shed Head songs are recorded on the Tascam by A and the respective writers during the course of 2001 and 2002. A decides to go digital and in December, Santa Claus leaves him a Yamaha AW 16G Work Station under the Christmas tree.

This equipment ( see pic) is used to record all twelve songs that eventually appear as Shed Heads' debut album "Back In The Shed". This gear also goes mobile when in November 2005 it is used to record a demo EP for Kickin' Pigeons in K's garage.

In February 2006, A upgrades the studio one more time and buys an Apple Mac with Pro-Logic 7 software. www.apple.com/logicpro

1999: No Fear, No Shame...

At their traditional festive beer and curry night in 1999, the old guys reminisce about the times they spent playing music in sheds and assorted front rooms as teenagers. They recall the songs they tried to cover and are amazed at their own audacity and nerve. As one of them put it "no fear, no shame... and no talent!" Over the Christmas holiday they spend a day in a shed (not the original Shed mind) playing some old and new favourites. A bit of a moment; but there is no suggestion that the old guys will repeat the experience any time soon and guitars go back into their cases.