DOWNLOADED©
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Bish Bash
Bosh:
A story
of everyday failure
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Music
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Downloaded were
four piece punk/rock band from the Mecca of northeast England that is,
Sunderland.
The nucleus of the
band was formed in 1993, or there-abouts with Carl
Stevenson on guitar/vox,
Tom Booth on bass and Erland
Rump (I shit you not) on
drums. Tom and Erl had played in a band together called Fear of
Heights,
and were old partners in crime. 
Carl and and
his mate Dean Robson
(that's me) had been in The Evil Mothers, and the Christ, together. Dean
had recently left the Sunderland cartoon punks The Toy Dolls who were infamous for
the top 5 hit 'Nellie the Elephant (Oh! my God). Dean played
bass with The Toy Dolls but after 3 years of constant tours decided it was time
for no more
.
Carl had just moved over to Sunderland from Germany. After repeated
requests and much pressure from Carl, Dean joined the band on lead guitar,
and songs started slowly and unsurely taking form. A couple of months on
and Carl left for Scotland, the remainder of the band thinking this was a
good move as he had become something of a tosspot and a pain in the arse ...bye
bye Carl.
What to do next ?...
Tony Duffy, an old mukker of
Dean's and former guitarist with local miserable-ist self deprecating purveyors
of melodic downtrodden pop outfit The Entropy Guild
was brought in on rhythm guitar. The band decided although, not really
knowing each other very well at all, to carried on.
Next to go on the immortal
journey was drummer Big Erl lost in a drunken stupor along the way.
Erl was
later to be found rattling the skins for anacho-ska outfit AOS3.
After some vast
lengths of auditioning with no luck what-so-ever, a stand-in drummer was
recruited in the form of 
Marty Toy
Doll. Dean
new Marty from his Toy Dolls days, the two of them had been in the band together
and played all over the world. Marty was a fine and experienced drummer, who had
also been a member of cafe-jazz influenced band The
Daintees, so things worked
pretty well. Demo tapes were quickly recorded and Marty went on his
merry way when we eventually found the enthusiastic young pizza loving student
and drummer Ali Cocayne.
We decided, with a name like that he was definitely in the band.
Onward we went, not
far mind you, but we were enjoying it all the same...
Things went well
for a while, gigs were good (ahem), demo's were great, reviews were changeable...well
what do reviewers know?...and, the odd interview also came about.
The bands name
constantly changed: e.g. Chane, Soda, Jonah etc...
but never feeling comfortable with these mediocre names
the band finally setting on the
inspired DOWNLOADED. Ali being a
young rebellious student was of course totally and completely dedicated 100% to
music and the success of the band he loved...until his final week at Uni when he
decided to leave for Scotland (yet again the highlands beckon) his girl and a
steady job in corporate heaven.
By
this time however the band had already found the drummer of their dreams, Ian
Syborn, 
formerly
skinsman for Sunderland hardcore band Ran. Now with Ian behind the bang
bang boom boom, the band really started to hear themselves as they wanted others
to hear them, things were looking up. Gigs got better, festivals came up,
videos were shot and due to his outstanding talent other bands demanded the
skills of drummer Ian for their very selves. Ian couldn't resist the lure
of money and tours as a stand-in drummer for other (much lesser of course) bands
than DOWNLOADED. Eventually we had had enough and took the heartbreaking
decision to kidnap Ian's rabbit and leave him with an empty hutch to sell.
Ian was out.
What to do next ?...
Erl...that was it, the big old original drummer Erland Rump...with a name like that we decided he was
definitely back in the band...unfortunately the writing was already on th wall, there was a reason
Erl left first time round (apart from the beer that is), and I just couldn't remember what it was until he came
back...me and he, just didn't really see eye to eye he's 6.4" I'm above average
height at about 5.7". After just four gigs things went back down that
hill and that was that, the band quietly imploded.
We may have been
just another local band suffering all the set backs, disappointments and shear
pisser's that all small time bands go through, but looking back I just loved the
group more than any other I'd ever given my blood, sweat, and mostly tears for. I didn't realise
it at the time and I wish we hadn't given
up the ghost quite so easily. Awww.Fuck.
Anyhow I designed
this site as an indulgence to myself...but you can also indulge if you so wish.
Sadly Ian
Syborn one of the best drummers I ever heard and had the privilege to play
alongside died in a tragic accident at his home in London 2002. He is
sadly missed.
DOWNLOADED©
Contact: 
mailto:jackketch15@yahoo.co.uk
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This
site was created by Dean Robson, hope yawl like it!
