Tim Filor

The year was 1976 my first band was called Osmosis while i was still at school in Oadby Leicester.We played covers at local youth clubs and also provided original music for a youth drama production.It was the other guitarist John who wrote the songs for that.I called it a day in 79 due to my exams and after a few failed attempts to form/get in a band i was about at the point of selling my gear in late 1982.

I then saw an advert in the Leicester Mercury asking for members to form a New Wave/Jam/Costello type band.After a bit of uming and arrhing i replied and ended up with three other Jam fanatics.Rob the founder member and guitarist was at Leicester Uni and it was great as it had Halls of Residences dotted around Oadby and each had a social sec who put shows on.We ended up doing a bit of a tour round them and it paid quite well.I suddenly found my muse and original songs started to flow out of me.This particular line up never really ventured out of Leicester,i think the furthest we went was Hinckley but at that time we had loads of venues to choose from,Tommy Cook(now a housing estate),International Bar(just an hotel now)The Magazine( Now a block of flats),the Charlotte had just reopened as a venue,Jokers etc etc.

We sadly had a difference of opinion late 84 and split 50/50 Mick the bass player stayed with me.We enlisted another Tim(Godwin) from my old school as a drummer and carried on as a 3 piece.We did some demos then Tim decided to leave early 85.I then enlisted the help of Simon from my old band Osmosis and we appeared in a battle of the band competition at the Leicester Phoenix,"Keep the jive alive in 85" though we didnt come anywhere.Mick then decided to leave as he was a student at the Poly(now De-Montfort Uni)and wanted to concentrate on his studies.A gig had already been booked at one of the Uni halls so we enlisted Steve on bass ,again from Osmosis, and after some extensive rehearsal managed to pull it off.I cant honestly remember why we didnt carry on in that line up but Steve eventually ended up in a very good band called "Beat the Retreat".

As we were now a duo another advert placed in the Leicester Mercury yielded Andy Palmer on bass and keyboard player Matt " Midge" Hassell.We had built up a bit of a Mod following with local Leicesterites and also for a strange reason Long Eaton in Nottingham.One of these,Craig,is still a very good friend.Nick Morley was our man in Leicester and helped run the 501 club where we played on a regular basis.He later moved up a gear and put on bigger gigs at the International Bar.We supported The Purple Hearts and Making Time(with a future member of the Charlatans in it) .We ventured a bit out of Leicester playing Birmingham and Northampton.The biggest thing we achieved was a track on unicorn records "Modern Times " compilation.The track was called "Point me in the right direction".They sold all 2000 copies and i got my one and only royalty cheque.I wish i hadnt cashed it now and put it in a frame,It was about £18.00 if i remember rightly.We lasted till 1987 then after a particularly uninspiring gig at the Royal Mail Midge decided to call it a day saying "it had lost its zing".I then decided not to carry on and broke the news to the other two .I didnt really know what to do next but i was missing playing in a band.Midge then rang me a few months later and obviously felt the same way and we decided to give it another shot.As before we put an advert in the Mercury and first got the mighty Des Hunt on drums.A bass player proved more elusive but Des had seen a advert in the legendary Carlsboro music centre and had made a phone call.The funny thing was i had seen the same advert but had dismissed it due to the influences quoted.We auditioned a very talented Andy Askey and after hearing another bassist play decided he was the one and the Career Girls was born.As Andy was from the north and Des from the south we supplemented the usual Leicester gigs by venturing a bit further affield.We played alot of student venues from Bury down to London.When we showed our face in Leicester we usually had a a reasonable turn out.We appeared in the local rag a few times and did an interview on the local radio.Lots of good venues,particularly OJays, The Magazine and the Royal Mail, sadly none of these with us anymore and a few good gigs at the Charlotte.Inbetween two recording sessions we added Maria on backing vocals and we used to have a good laugh on stage with our (what we thought was)witty banter.The highlight for this particular lineup was doing the Abbey Park Festival when Diesel Park West and Crazy Head were the special guests.Lot's of other good bands played as well like the Scum Pups,Elyesian Fields and HBM.There was a bit of a buzz at the time and Leicester seemed to be about to break through and become a big player on the music scene.We had had some very positive interest from Island records ourselves but sadly nothing happened in the end.Midge left the band not long after Abbey Park.We carried on without replacing him as we had a studio session booked.I had to do a bit of over dubbing to compensate for this.After alot of discussion it was decided the live sound wasnt full enough so we brought in Dave Hamilton on guitar.We carried on as before playing various student venues around the country.Locally we seemd to play the Pump and Tap(a partial outdoor venue,usually when it was freezing cold).Once it was snowing and it was blowing through a gap in the roof.We put down probably some of our best demos at a studio in Stoke but in Feb 97 i decided to call it a day after a gig at the Pump and Tap.My first child was on the way and id had a great run of 14 years doing mainly my own stuff with a great bunch of people.

In the last 10 years i have gained another child ,been to some great gigs and follow my old bass players band Echolocation(in my friends,check em out).I really enjoy myspace and have some great online friends.I couldn't play in a band again as i cant give it the commitment required but have been putting my toe in the water and showed my face at some open mic nights.It went quite well and i have done a couple of acoustic supports since.i will continue doing open mics(when i can get out) and any gigs that i'm offered.It's good going out and supporting my friends when they play. More Videos



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