i can’t quite put into words why the recent death of nick sanderson is of importance to me, i never met the man, i didn’t follow his career closely, but it is deeply saddening to hear of the mans passing.
quite simply if it weren’t for nick, ireallylovemusic would never have happened.
given that he was an integral part of several excellent bands it was for one very specific reason that he had such an impact.
i was in my late 20’s, and despite the fact my wife and i were expecting our first child, in musical terms, my life was drifting. my love for noise filled rock-n-roll had taken a back seat and nothing was giving me any reason to be passionate about the one central factor that had up until then dominated my life.
so when in 1996 at the reading festival i happened to wonder into the new band tent on a sunny sunday morning (having just clocked john peel on his way out – always a good sign !), i was thrust into the world of the one and only earl brutus.
nothing would ever be the same again.
the sheer force of the music, a mix of glam guitars, drum machine, and keyboard chaos, the arrogance, the stance, the fuck-you attitude emanating from nick and his motley crew of lager brandishing anti-heros, all amalgamated perfectly.
i was smitten, and my love for rock music reinvigorated.
it was this moment of my own personal reawakening that instigated my need to do something about the ireallylovemusic archive, and while it took a while for the idea to come to fruition (pun intended) , i can pin point the exact reason as to what drove me to set up the site.
hence why one of the first pages i ever put up live was this one : earl brutus
long live earl brutus.
r.i.p nick sanderson.
mark e
ireallylovemusic