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The Cherished Synapse [March 2022]
Trevor Turley’s ‘Sky Trails & Pie Tales’ is described as an autobiographical memoir and for the most part that of a semi-pro musician. It’s a heart felt work that celebrates an ongoing musical heritage driven by the kind of commitment and passion that many full timers could do well to emulate.
It’s also a book shot through with honesty, integrity and the afore mentioned passion, though that in itself doesn’t necessarily make for a great book.
But those qualities do give us a decent insight into an author whose stories are the kind that many can relate to, whether in a musical context or as recognisable universal tenets that are the backbone of daily life.
Rather than dragging us over the coals of his early family life, he weaves an autobiographical thread based round his early musical influences and experiences. There are many familiar names from The Shads and the Fab 4 to his early prog leanings including King Crimson and his lifelong dalliance with Genesis.
The latter provides a recurring thread through the book, for though Trev goes on to form the backbone of several well regarded blues bands, his current band Random Earth Project fills him with the same sort of enthusiasm and musical excitement of his early career band Still.
This is a book that tells you plenty about the author’s temperament. He’s a bass player who much like his chosen instrument, is big on consistency and dependability, but always shies away from hogging the limelight.
In terms of the book, this means he occasionally mentions pivotal moments and individuals in bands, leaving us to draw our own conclusions as to why the events unfolded as they did.
It’s to Turley’s credit that he always thinks the best of people, and is always at the front of the queue when stretching his own commitment to projects into the realms of sometimes ill feted financial returns. However, his own weakness is that of many who see music as an artistic calling while overlooking the machinations of an industry full of sharks.
The subtext to this book could be interpreted as being that things are no better lower down the rung than in world of the commercially successful.
Turley chronologically takes us from his first band Ginger, and his early visits as a music fan to Jim Simpson’s ‘Henry’s Blues House’ to catch a loud UFO.
His first financial commitment to a band is with an outfit called Labyrinthus, circa August 72/73, when he funds the band’s PA. It was a band with an interesting set list reflecting the times; including Trapeze’s ‘Black Cloud’, Stray’s ‘All In Your Mind’ and the Cactus version of ‘Long Tall Sally’.
It comes as something of a surprise then, that after 10 pages on the band we earn they only gigged once before things came to a shuddering halt as their gear is stolen, leaving the author out of pocket.
The afore mentioned symphonic prog band Still was where he met lifetime musical accomplice Larry Homer.
It was a band that featured musicians who lived for the musical moment: “There was a great sense of relief and awe in all 4 musicians when the last note decayed into silence.”
In the event the band had 2 close shaves with commercial possibilities which if I read it properly, provides one reason for the ‘Pie in the Sky’ concept of the book title.
And though the book is in many ways full of ‘what might have beens’ it’s counter balanced by Trev’s absolute commitment to the musical projects he embraces.
There’s another unexpected possibility of going full time pro with another Symphonic prog band Autumn which he turns down sensibly preferring the day job security, especially given the punk background at the time.
Ironically his next band is called Nick & The Dogs which despite the punk sounding name is anything but that.
He meets his wife to be, and there’s a sizable gap in his musical timeline before he’s back on the boards in the noughties with 3 AM which sees him take on the role as their de facto booking agent. And as with the following The Bare Bones Boogie band he comes to realise it’s a thankless task.
He becomes ensconced in the nouveau blues scene with Malaya Blue, young wiz kid Joe Anderton and later the very impressive Mojo Preachers, either side of his own Trev Turley & Friends project.
The above experiences provide the ‘whys and wherefores’ of band politics and occasional memorable gigs.
Happily he lands back on his feet with the current Random Earth Project, in which he rekindles a lifelong mission statement: “I like my music to be in the moment, a special unique event,” which on reflection is a bit like the book he’s just written.
He finally tells us he been: “drawn to prog by the genre’s virtuosity, camaraderie and mutual respect.” These are the kind of ideals Trevor Turley spent his lifespan of this book searching for, and perhaps he’s has finally found a project worthy of that triumvirate.
Review by Pete Feenstra
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