#Lyrics, #music, #Retirement Projects, #The XCerts

Mistaken Identity. The (original) XCerts’ story continues.

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Dave Pepper, Zero Summers, Zero Summers, Gray Summers, Gray Summers, Dave Pepper. Reflections and Reality. The XCerts. 1978.

Old school vintage cassettes holding life from the past. Essential for current songwriting revisiting and relearning of what once was. I simply held the modern technology of the iPad microphone in front of the speaker playing the band’s music, pushed it on record through the MOTIV audio app and there it was……captured. And safe.

Modern technology hey! Song recorded in 1978. To be saved here in 2023. And, as said, safe. Amazing for prosperity values.

The song? Pretty rough to be honest. My vocals are awful. But singing live into the microphone in rehearsal and competing with the volume of guitar, drums and bass that was always louder than loud. Always a challenge. And no monitors! Just the voice coming out of an amplifier. We were a three piece band. Driven punk was the aim.

Thought I would upload this to show how I am catching up with getting ready to play next year, with the reformed XCerts, at a festival in Coventry, UK. We all grew up in the City of Coventry. Played very many gigs there.

Kev, (Zero Summers), sadly died at 21. He was my brother and the band’s drummer. We have the excellent drummer, John Hewitt, who I played alongside in the band Team 23 playing with us next year. He was the drummer with King. The band that had the single ‘Love and Pride’. Worth a YouTube visit to check out his style. My brother Steve (a lead guitar player) is also jumping on board. Steve and I played around the pubs and clubs in the early 1970s. Mainly covering others’ songs. As three brothers? We never played music together. Steve didn’t want to adopt punk sensibilities at the time. He loved his music based in heavier rock and roll. Kev did embrace punk. Never played drums until I roped him in to the XCerts sound. Brilliant natural rhythm. We, myself and Pep (Dave Pepper) were blessed to have him on board.

Mistaken Identity? I wrote this song with naive thought. But I loved the energy on this one. So thought I would give it a share to my trusted blogging community. Be kind! And if you can. Play it loud too!

MISTAKEN IDENTITY:

I need you

To prove my innocence

I’ve no alibi

It’s up to you

To make them see sense.

Goodbye you

Hello me

Mistaken identity

Unified, unified, unified, unified

Goodbye you,

Hello me

Mistaken identity

Unified, unified, unified, unified.

What’s his name?

Find out.

What d’ya mean

It’s the same as mine.

This ain’t no game

I’ve been sentenced

To a life inside.

Goodbye you…..etc.

Middle:

Wonder what I’m doing here. (Whispered…..Inside)

Wonder what it’s like there. (Whispered……Outside)

I need you.

I need you.

I need you

To prove my innocence

I’ve no alibi

It’s up to you

To make them see sense.

Goodbye you. Hello me………..

Live at the Music Machine……I think! MM giving the clue.

19 thoughts on “Mistaken Identity. The (original) XCerts’ story continues.”

    1. Had a listen Shep. Got a Stranglers key board vibe too. Never recorded this Mistaken Identity song properly. It wasn’t long on the live set list either. There are quite a few little oddities on the cassettes I have. Well….as far as I can remember. But, until I can get a decent cassette player, I’m not chancing anything. Back in 1977 and onwards was a strange time of anyone could have a pop at music. Punk brought in street values. I loved that little era of life. Cheers too Shep. Thanks for commenting. 🙏🏽

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    1. Thank you cookie. Be nice to maybe record this one properly in a studio next year. After nearly 45 years? We had basic tape recording reel to reel equipment back then. Be nice to revisit it and see what comes out of the idea. All the best to you.

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  3. Love it, Gray! Very cool the way you captured this from cassette to iPad. And yes, I figured that was Kev as Zero Summers in the picture. I thought the sound was reminiscent of The Cars and Cheap Trick. Then read about punk and was like, “right”! That’s it! Haha! I had forgotten that term. I even picked up some of the lyrics (glad you included them to read so I could check my hearing). I thought the chorus was unify though instead of unified. Love that call to unity even way back then. It’s a great one! And I must also say this picture of Kev reminds me of a young Keanu Reeves. Love the mirror usage. So artsy.

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    1. After Kev died, myself and Angie were watching a very early Keanu film which absolutely spooked us. It was very soon after Kev passed. I can’t remember the film, but he hadn’t made his name at that time. We both watched mesmerised at Keanu and Kev’s similarities. So you have seen what we saw back then. I’ve loved Keanu ever since. What a glorious human being. He is one of the kindest and gentlest men ever. The music back then was very naive and recorded on reel to reel 4 track systems. We used to capture all the songs live in rehearsal in case we lost any hidden dynamics. Thing is, Kev had all the original cassettes and I had copies of copies. The car Kev was driving in the accident was gotten rid of quickly after the incident. Inside was his hippy bag full of the treasured music on the clean and bright cassettes. So they are forever lost. My ‘muddy’ copy recordings are all I have. So, until I get a decent play back system, I can’t chance the cassettes getting mangled. I love both the Cars and Cheap Trick. Got a couple of the vinyl albums somewhere in amongst the others. Punk? Followed by the term ‘New Wave’. Then the ‘New Romantics’. Fashion in music hey! 😆 All the best Sheila.

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    1. Thank you. Lyrics from the past are always considered so that tweaking can update. Also, it will be nice to record this song again. I have been thinking about how to change it to a brighter new sound. I read about you taking a blog break on your latest poem upload. It is nice to recharge yourself from time to time and chill. Also, Christmas is around the corner and fantastic for having time for yourself. All the best. 🙏🏽

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  5. Very catchy tune, totally into it, don’t change a thing. When I read the lyrics I was not into them, but they go very well with the song. If you feel the need to rewrite the lyrics I’d focus on personal issues challenges brought about by social media or the every present cult of personality.

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    1. Great ideas for themes there Danny. Presently I’m trying to get a plan together for self applied cohesion. I read that different parts of the brain are applied to different music elements in a song. So the challenge, without the band in the same room, is to create a synergy/synchronicity of elements to the song that strengthen each part. Practicing rote is one that can break down quickly. The interactive weave is what is best. This in order so that you can remember bass riffs, tunes and words/lyrics all together. Singing and playing are difficult with riff bass lines. And the rhythm of the lyrics matter too. So the theme has to flow comfortably. Almost like writing a blog theme. 😊 Cheers Danny.

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    1. Best played home and alone…😊 Played in our early days and only recorded in rehearsal. But it gives something to play my bass guitar against which is nice. Be nice to get a cassette player now to see what else is on the different tapes. Cheers Brenda.

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    1. At the time of this song, punk was happening. And fast. The new rave. Kev was settling in after starting his new drumming role. Myself and Dave were writing songs like crazy, both bringing a song a day to the rehearsals. We had looming gigs and needed a set of songs. So my lyrics were really piled in pretty quickly. A bit like blogging daily I suppose. Just write with what comes to mind. I like the energy of Mistaken Identity. But there are more songs too. I just need to get at the other cassettes too. I am a little overwhelmed presently with the weather impact. Just going through the motions of getting back to playing bass guitar again. Writing a few ideas for new songs. It says it will be brighter today and hopefully it means a trip out in the VeeDub. The gigs next year should be fun. Not sure how many. With Dave in Spain it gets very difficult. I think getting local musicians here to simply exchange vibes with would be a great experience and see where that goes too. All the best Brenda.

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