George Asplet – A Brief Musical History
There is no question that music is one of my happy places in life. I would like to be able to say that music was my career, that I gave it all my energy, trained at the London School of Music, have played all over the world on some of the most prestigious stages and was an acclaimed musician. The reality however is far from that.
There were no musicians in our family when I was growing up. However the radio was always on and our grandmother, whom we lived with, had a classic old radiogram complete with turntable. She had a collection of 78 rpm records and there were a handful of LPs from a bygone era (e.g. Bing Crosby comes to mind) that we listened to on a regular basis. From a very early age I would drum with my fingers to the beat of all these songs and sing along where I could. I realised at some point that I wanted to be part of making this music and that just listening to it was not enough for me. As the years rolled by into the 1960s I was exposed to some of the greatest music ever made. (I still hold that belief because it was the beginning of an electronic sound; a movement away from traditional jazz, brass and the big-band sound to the era of rock ‘n’ roll, pop and heavy rock – the electric guitar was king).
My brother, who was five years older than me, was an avid listener of the emerging music and acquired a small record player (that didn’t need the needle changing constantly!) and started purchasing 45 rpm records. We listened avidly to 2ZM in Wellington, the station that brought us all the latest music and played the Top 10 every Thursday night. The Beatles emerged on the scene and we talked our parents into buying us plastic Beatle wigs and a ukulele. I made a makeshift drum set out of a box and one of Mum’s old saucepan lids on a length of dowelling was my cymbal. There was barely a song that was released that I didn’t know the words for and love with all my musical heart.
At primary school there was an option for joining the music elective, which I grabbed with both hands. Once again my parents came to the party and bought me my first guitar, a full-size nylon string acoustic, which was way too big for me to handle and an action so high I couldn’t fret the chords anyway. I remember my first time on stage with the others from the music elective, strumming my guitar feverishly to some tune that our incredibly accomplished classroom colleague was playing on the piano. He was well-trained and knew exactly what he was playing; the rest of us had no clue, but the experience was exhilarating anyway.
For years thereafter I attempted to form bands, with very little success. I hadn’t learned to play an instrument at all, but this didn’t deter me. I had some success at college: with three mates we put together a band for a brief period. One mate played the bass, another had an electric guitar and amplifier, a third fancied himself as a singer and I realised that I would need to play the drums. Somehow once again, although they were by no means wealthy, my parents bought me a drum set from the local electronic shop. There was very little to choose from but I loved the iridescent blue glow of the set and it was so wonderful to have the real thing and be part of a real band. I had no idea how to set up or play the drums, but after years of banging on tables and any other handy object while I was listening to music I could at least hear and keep a pretty strict rhythm. We learnt our first song. It was Venus by Shocking Blue. Our college had just initiated video making content in the English curriculum and having seen some basic music videos on the television we set about making our own, using this song. We also entered a talent contest at the school (bearing in mind that music proficiency was nothing like what it is today at college level, with then any student of musical talent playing in the school orchestra). We were the only ‘pop’ band in the talent quest and played the one song that we knew. The kids loved us and screamed for more. From memory we played the half of Proud Mary that we knew and they seemed happy about that. We didn’t win the talent quest, the video we produced was awful in hindsight and that was our one and only gig.
To this day I have never had a drum lesson from a tutor and that’s something I would definitely not recommend. I formed what I describe as bad drumming habits, switching between left and right hand snare styles depending on the rhythm. It is true to say that non-musical audiences would not pick up such strange technique, but it is limiting and going through the formal process of practicing ‘paradiddles’ and learning to read drum music will make you a much more proficient drummer. To be truthful this is one of my greatest failures in life – I have a complete aversion to the theory of things. My guitar playing has followed a very similar thread (although I do not play it left-handed sometimes!). I have periodically taken guitar lessons I must admit, but have never gone to any great extended length with them or in fact practiced what I was supposed to.
Having said all that I have performed in bands over the years, both playing drums and guitar (at separate times of course!). It is a wonderful feeling to play to a live audience and when the band you’re in comes together tightly and the audience is dancing and singing it is extremely rewarding. I’ve been fortunate to play with some very fine musicians and some great vocalists and feel the shivers go down my spine when you hit that musical nirvana.
The reason I have told the above is to inspire those who perhaps have never performed to a live audience, because they feel that they are not good enough. I cannot read music at all whether it be for instrument or vocals. I have learnt chords and some basic theory of scales on the guitar. This bit of theory also enables me to play simple bass lines. The outcome of all of that is that I can write my own songs, put some chords to them, add the drum track (using an electronic drum kit), lay down a simple bass track and put some melodic lead guitar riffs and fills into the song to add interest. Vocally I can hold a tune (just), although my vocal range has certainly shrunk over the years and once again I have not had vocal training, nor do I practice all the necessary vocal exercises.
I write predominantly folk songs, which in the end are simply rhythmic poems set to music. I record everything in our garage using the free recording software program ‘Audacity’. I’m not a trained sound mixer, although do use a sound desk left over from the days in my last band. For the musical purists I use a Maton Acoustic Guitar, a Mexican Made (USA) Fender Stratocaster and a PRS Custom 22 Electric Guitar, a Sterling Sub Series (by Musicman) Bass Guitar and a Roland V25 Electronic Drum Kit. For effects I use a Line 6 Pod X3 Live floor box. My desk is an Allen & Heath ZED24. All this acquired over the last 25 years and is what I use for recording in various combinations.
Being on the road has provided me with the inspiration to create music about the people we meet and the places we visit. Alongside that I have learnt to create simple videos to accompany these songs for the enjoyment of anyone. I don’t own sophisticated video recording or photographic equipment and a lot of the video footage you will see has been shot from my mobile phone. Having said that Debbie does have some excellent photographic equipment and talent in using it. Some of the higher quality videos, especially those involving macro photography have been shot by her. All the photos and videos have been taken by ourselves. I refer you to the ‘ART’ section of our website, which highlights some of Debbie’s photographic talents.
To me there is no great magic in all of this. My songs will not be on the charts because I am very self-conscious about not trying to seek some universal approval of what I do. There is such great diversity in musical preferences that I work on the basis of just pleasing myself when I create something. I would encourage others with an interest in music or any creative pastime to continue to pursue it. For as long as possible I will endeavour to improve my musical skills, to write songs, to record and to share my music. My view is that my creations are aimed at an ‘Audience of One’.
Below is a series of songs with video. Click on the links to our YouTube site to view.
RV Kiwis theme song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOlMeOzyU5I
’10 Years On’ aka ‘The River Flows On’ ( Christchurch 10 years after the Earthquake of 2011) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2jXq_Ne30
‘Smash Palace’ – Horopito – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs5MJ-SH99I
‘Waiake’ (Torbay – North Shore, Auckland) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7aBK1GX2WU
‘Going with the Flow’ (Instrumental) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRMcUta1a3A
Mangaweka – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY6UW7QYUec