Sometimes there are moments in your life when you can honestly say, "that was one of the best nights of my life." Well, I recall three of those here, and they all include two key components - Rock and Roll.

The Burning Hearts Brighton Bash was an idea I'd conceived in 2008 to bring a group of connected rock bands together for an all-day fundraiser. The project, however, had its roots in the year previous. In 2007 a great friend of mine, Bruce Cunnington, had created a burden for his poor-self by presenting the idea of a Dogs D'amour tribute album, which was partly to celebrate the music of a great band but was more so a money-raising campaign for Cancer Research UK. The reason for this was to honour the memory of a woman named Trace Warnaby, who was a life-long rock 'n' roller and was well known on the rock scene, but who had unfortunately passed away. I had only met her once, and very briefly, but she had many friends who appeared on the album, and has since received dedications from artists such as Tyla himself and The Wildhearts, amongst others.

The project was called 'Their Hearts Caught Fire' and the album consisted of 16 songs by different bands and, after a lot of hard work by Bruce, it was a great success. One of the songs, 'How Do You Fall In Love Again?' had loads of us playing and singing on it and was produced by Jason Knight. Both he and his wife Trudi had kindly put us up that night and after many beers and the odd bit of Thunderbird Wine we had ourselves a wonderful keepsake for our efforts. It is still available - http://heartscaughtfire.com/ - and more information on the project is available on MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/heartscaughtfire - along with the promotional video of 'How Do You Fall In Love Again?' recorded by Darren Stockford.

So in 2008 I began work on the Burning Hearts Brighton Bash, which would be an all-day event in support of the work that Bruce and the bands/musicians had done. The money we raised would go to Cancer Research UK. On the 23rd of August the Burning Hearts Brighton Bash exploded in to life at the Hobgoblin, Brighton. People had come from all over the UK to help bring an amazing reality to a humble idea. Bruce (a proper workhorse!) had organised a raffle with some great prizes, and had also organised some excellent merchandise for the event. Whilst my mate (and our drummer) Mark Game, aka Rum Scoundrel, manned the BBQ, our friends helped with the merch stand and I organised the equipment and bands. Aside from the odd band cancellation everything went swimmingly.

We began the day with acoustic sets from myself and Easters of Trashtown Thrillers, Medicine Stu and Wordy, Alastair Reilly, and a superb piano set by Jason Knight, before the full bands tore up some ass-kicking rock 'n' roll. The line-up consisted of Gasoline Queens (who had recently been playing as Tyla's backing band), The Medicine Bow, Trashtown Thrillers, and Chaos Revisited. It often unfurled into a delightful mess of everybody joining everybody on stage for whatever songs people believed they could play. This was also caught on a post-event video recoded by Stewart Game, and available to watch on www.myspace.com/brightonbash.

The night ended with everyone on a high, and all I remember is Alastair and I playing and singing half The Almighty back catalogue to a pub now empty of revellers, but still full of the spirit of rock 'n' roll. And we raised a crackin' £213.11 for Cancer Research UK.
So after the stress of that encounter it was time, in 2009, for... Oh no - more Bash! The sequel was held at the Latest Music Bar, once again in Brighton, this time on August 15th. Bizarrely, I was told on the day that the venue had been double-booked! The horror and anger rushed through me but it was explained that it would be ok, as in the evening the after party of some weird disco shit would be held on the ground floor and our night of rock hell would be downstairs. That's fine for me, I thought, we'll go down and kick back with the devil while these moneyed tossers can suck on their margaritas. More of the same chaos and debauchery ensued, this time with a line-up of Jason Knight, Ultraxine, Killer Carrado, Trashtown Thrillers, and Shush. Luckily for me, this show was just as popular as the previous year and the atmosphere was terrific. Once again the day was photographically documented by Trudi Knight, a true wizard with a camera (http://www.bandsonstage.co.uk/). Even Bruce conquered his nerves and played an acoustic set during the day. We made around £250 that year.

I don't know if there will be another Bash. I certainly hope so. But as I think back on these shows I realise that this is what it's all about - this is why I love rock 'n' roll. To be surrounded by great people and great music, in an atmosphere where people could act as they pleased and get proper shit-faced in the process, is truly a precious occasion. Really rock 'n' roll has nothing to do with scenes and having your photo taken with rockstars, but it has everything to do with living life as you see fit, with the accompaniment of excellent music. The Brighton Bash was a rock 'n' roll event of true honesty and we had a hell of a lot of fun. And if we made money for charity in the process, then that can't be too bad can it?

Here are some links for the bands that played:

Ultraxine: www.myspace.com/ultraxine

The Medicine Bow: www.myspace.com/shambolicmajesties

Trashtown Thrillers: www.myspace.com/trashtownthrillers

Killer Carrado (formerly the Leftovers): www.myspace.com/theleftoversmusic

The Gasoline Queens: www.myspace.com/thegasolinequeens

Jason Knight: www.myspace.com/longhairmusic

Shush: www.myspace.com/shushsound