Saturday 19th July 1986

The day I hopped in the Ford Escortron and headed to Kingfisher Music in Fleet to buy my first Casio CZ230S synthesizer, £249.00, I still have the receipt! I still have that keyboard as well, along with another just like it, both of which have really earned their keep over the years, from the first recording I made with one 2½ weeks later, to today's theme from Mick Magic's Radioshow To The Stars. The picture on the right there is that first keyboard sat on Teddy's lap, clipped from the first band promo picture we ever had taken, but it'll be next April before that falls 40 years in the past. Sad tale about Teddy, who dramatically quit the band merely days after. He cited musical differences, but we knew his issues ran deeper. From that point onwards, it was just a long and slow decline into the gutter, spiralling through drink, drugs, and then selling sexual favours to lonely soldiers in nearby Aldershot on weekends. I'd see him from the taxi some evenings, he'd look the other way. He was found dead in a crack den in the summer of 1988.

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