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Kirkby, where
is that?
A town like any
other, so small that most people could pass each other in the local shopping centre and probably raise an eyebrow.
A town
in Merseyside, connected to Liverpool not only geographically by the suburbs, but by the 2nd
and 3rd generation of Scouse families from the Scotland Road area, who relocated to Kirkby from the heart of the city in the 1950's.
A town, whose
biggest claim to fame is world champion boxer John Conteh, and Ex-Liverpool player & assistant manager Phil Thompson.
Oh, and don't
forget The Shores of course.
The story
of The Shores officially began in September 2003, but you could say that in actual fact, ever since all the members first
existed, everything that they have ever done since has made them what they are today, and what they are today is a member
of The Shores. A case of a group of talented lads unknowingly on the same parallel paths for so long,
that it soon becomes noticeable and unavoidable. It also becomes inevitable that these paths that have crossed so many times
before, would sooner or later meet.
The first of
these parallel paths came in 2001 when guitarist Adam Ruddock, then already jamming with drummer Craig Greer, went along to
a local seminar which was there to inform people who were thinking of taking the music business route on how the music business
works. This was in order to give these people an insight into what they should expect, should they succeed in it. In the same
room Kenny Stuart. Although in the same school, they had never met and had no idea as to what was going to happen two years
down the line. During the interval, Kenny got talking to Adam mentioning he was playing guitar that he was looking to form
a band, but told of how drummers were hard to come by. Adam, who was at the time gigging on the drums, also said he was trying
to form a band, but so that he could play guitar instead and told him he'd already begun writing and jamming in a band with
a group of mates. After learning that Kenny was in the same school as him, Adam told him that he'd look out for him.
As Kenny was looking for a drummer, he acknowledged more that Adam was a drummer rather than a guitarist, whereas Adam was
under the impression that Kenny was a guitarist and had no idea that he had a voice. Still, nothing became of this, and they
both carried on their paths as normal.
Now that they
had both met, they started to recognise each other out and about around the town, which then started to become a regular occurance
and led to them getting to know each other. Then roughly a year later, the local studio announced another seminar and yet
again
both Adam and Kenny turned up. Another talk about how each others bands/ideas were going and about what
music they liked and influences etc prompted them both to exchange numbers and see about jamming in the near future.
Although they said they'd keep in touch with the view to starting something, it wasn't until about 6 months later when they
bumped in to each other at Adam's supermarket work place, which is were they arranged to ring each other and meet at that
very supermarket. This is exactly what happened as Kenny along with guitarist Tony Joyce met up for the first jam together.
Within the years these events took to unfold, another of these parallel paths was on going, but this time between Tony
Joyce, and bassist Graham Harley. Both a touch older, experienced and like Adam playing in bands around the North West. Tony playing with Liverpool
hopefuls 'Marine' and Graham being in a number bands such as the signed to London Records 'South Parade' and having various
stints with other bands, most noticeably close friends Liverpool legends 'The La's'. Graham and Tony had never met until Graham
joined the band, clicking instantly having learning that they had a lot in common on the grounds of music. Tony having left
his current successful band wasn't about to leave his music career there and unknowingly being on a parallel path with Kenny,
set his sights on forming a new band. This parallel path was not only Liverpool Football Club, but the fact that they both
hung around with the same group of lads who they watched the team with. After watching the derby game between Liverpool and Everton, Tony got talking to Kenny mentioning he was looking
to start another band since the demise of 'Marine' which led to Kenny telling him that he was also looking to form a
band mentioning he could sing, play guitar and had recently penned a few songs.
This led to Tony
going back to Kenny's house so he could hear these songs and see if he was ideal to start a band with. After playing and singing
the self written 'Open the Door' to Tony, he didn't need to hear anything more and asked how they would go about forming a
band. Kenny mentioned the possibility of a drummer, who he'd also heard was a good guitarist that he'd met at the local studios
and that they should give him a ring. This is when Kenny and Adam finally got in touch about forming a band, arranging to
be picked up by Tony for a jam. After running through various songs, including 'Open The Door' they decided after hearing
the lead guitar part he put to it from the top of his head (which has stayed the same ever since) that he was the one
for the lead guitarist role. All that the band needed now was a drummer and bassist, Kenny bringing up the
band that Adam was in when they met at the studio. Adam mentioned the drummer was a possibility but said that the bassist
had stopped playing, quashing the idea of bringing his former band members and his new band members together as one.
After jamming
with various other bassists, the last of our parallel paths came together, that being the call centre of what would be three
members of the band's work place. Craig Greer was after all installed on drums only to join a band that unknown to him included
work college Kenny who he had never before met. It was through this work place where they recruited Graham on bass guitar.
Graham was paired with Kenny as a work partner and as Graham puts it, he'd see Kenny walking around without a care in
the world, chatting girls up, singing out loud at the top of his voice and whilst supposed to be taking customers
calls, see him on the phones talking to girls and people who weren't customers. Graham found this funny and got on well
with Kenny, but noticed something about him in regards to him walking around singing all the time. The thing was, Graham
instantly thought that although Kenny was messing around and having a laugh whilst doing this, that he seriously had a voice
and enquired further when Kenny who was singing along to his CD player one day, asked him to listen to what was on his walkman
which at the time had The Rolling Stones on it. He told Graham that had just started a band, but they were currently looking
for a bassist. This obviously alerted Graham, being a bassist and was interested to see what the band was like which inevitably
led to him attending the next practise. To cut a long story short, by the end of the night he was more or less a member
of the band after pounding out the bass line to then the bands favourite cover, The Corals 'Dreaming of You'.
Months and weeks
went by, with the occasional pub gig or two. But the spirit of the band was decreasing, rapidly. The band members drifted
apart, and The Shores nearly became extinct.
The only members
who kept in touch, were Adam, Tony and Kenny, but it was safe to say the band was at a standstill.
Meanwhile, Adam
was involved in Ormskirk Music Live - a collective of musicians and fans that arrange gigs and band nights for local unsigned
bands in the Ormskirk area. A band that featured in the OML was a Maghull-based band called the 'Frozen Flames'. Adam occasionlly
spoke to the bass player of this band, Ste Penn, through the OML. When Adam heard that the Frozen Flames decided to split,
he approached Ste and invited him to a jam at his home in Kirkby.
After a few jammin
sessions, and after Ste had learnt all the original tracks composed by The Shores, he was welcomed into the band, since they
had practically lost touch with the other two distant members. Ste gradually got to know Joycey, Kenny and Adam, which led
to more regular jams or band nights.
After a few weeks
of practicing without a drummer, the band booked a practice in a local studio. Adam had invited a 'friend of a friend'
who was a drummer to come along for a jam. Unfortunately, Joycey was unable to attend the practice, due to personal reasons.
After a few jams, the band felt possitive that Lee could fill the empty space in the band, even if it as temporary.
After Joycey managed to get the band a
gig at the Yorkshire Imperial Metals Social Club in Kirkby, The band began regular practies with Lee at Vulcan Studios
just outside Liverpool city centre.
As time went by, Kenny, Adam, Joycey and
Ste got to know Lee better, musically and personally. The band were more than happy to accept Lee as our full time drummer,
although he has some outside comitments.
The band knuckled down and prepared a set for
the yorkshire imperials gig, which was in aid of cancer so the band were more than happy to perform. The gig went well, and
the band drew a large collective of family and friends to the gig, which assisted in the money raising.
The band are currently working on getting original
material to 'recording quality', as well as working on new material and the odd new cover. But it is safe to say that the
band are settled as a five piece.
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