This is the story of a band called PDA...
It started, like Christianity, at Christmas. A young boy named Robert received a MIDI keyboard from Santa, and he began to compose songs with it. His best friend Alex, had been writing lyrics for some time, some form of teenage angst related expressionism. One day, Robert and Alex got to talking and decided, just for a laugh, that they would combine Alex's lyrics and Rob's music to see what they would come up with. They were impressed with the results, and had the crazy idea of roping in a band to play these songs.
One of their close friends, Dave, had received an electric guitar that Christmas, in order to prevent young David's talents from going to waste, Rob and Alex decided to ask Dave to become their first band member. Dave agreed, and then there were three.
At this point, two things struck Alex. One, he had nothing to play in the band and a career as lyricist behind the scenes did not appeal. Two, there was no one around who could play drums. Bright boy that he was, or possibly still is, he combined the two and bought himself a drum kit.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rob was searching for a name for the band. For some reason, he mentioned this within the hearing of a young boy named Oliver. This longhaired lad had recently parted company with another quasi-famous band that went on to become known as Barbie Ruined My Life. Ever full of good ideas (!) he suggested a quote from a set of school rules he happened to have to hand (law abiding child that he was), "Public displays of affection (PDA) are not permitted." and with that, a name was found.
Rob and Alex were grateful, and suddenly remembered that Oliver could play guitar to quite a high standard. After a moments thought they offered Oliver a place as lead guitarist and "PDA" now numbered four.
So, to review, the band now consisted of; Rob- proposed bassist, Alex- drummer, Dave- rhythm guitarist and Oliver- lead. A little more thought raised the point that none of us could really sing. This problem caused much loss of sleep for all concerned until it was mentioned to a pretty young female friend named Laura. She came to the aid of our dashing young heroes, and soon they vowed that they would be making sweet music together.
GCSEs for the four boys passed and the long summer holidays appeared. The band managed a few rehearsals, and the first song, written by Rob and Alex was soon dismissed as not being to the taste of, well, most people. Dave came to the rescue and penned a few lovely little ditties about date rape, drug use, suicide and the like and the band was on the roll again.
The excitement continued as Alex became as good as Ringo Starr and everything moved on nicely. The absence of decent equipment did not appear too much of a problem and so the PDA phenomenon continued. Rob and Dave switched places and soon everything started to sound good.
Many months passed and nothing much happened. Songs were written and the repertoire grew. Soon the band gathered enough confidence to start thinking about gigs and recording, but neither materialised. October came and went and all the talk was of Rag Rock and Cabaret. Our young heroes decided that nothing that the school could throw at them could stop them and so they entered for both.
Then of course things took a turn for the worse...
While partying hard, as young (and old) rock stars do, the little drummer boy found himself in the Casualty dept. of Bromley hospital, x-rays were taken and the boy was plastered for weeks... Always keen to help, Liam Hamblin (BRML's drinkin' drummer) stepped in to assist his friends in their quest for fame.
With Liam banging his heart out behind the drums, PDA managed to stumble blindly into The Cabaret. Lex was back for the event (and was labelled a "drum god" during the sound check). Placed third on the set list, sandwiched between Michael Jackson and Fred Crawley (not a pleasant place to be) the band played God! Show Me Magic (with a guest guitarist and sometimes Physics teacher) and Maunder.
A few days later, the band attempted Rag Rock (annual Christmas time Rock festival) and, opening the show, stumbled through a six-song set. Although this wasn't as successful as The Cabaret a few days before, our young idols were not disheartened, and resolved to do better come the New Year.
Plans were already being made with BRML, and soon the idea of Muggle Fest had reared its ever so ugly face again. Originally planned for October 2001, it had been shelved after the bands had failed to find a venue. This time however, a venue was found first, and on February 9th both PDA and BRML set about rocking the Zanzibar.
Our champions opened the show, and played for over an hour. Their fifteen-song set was well received by all, and the night was a roaring success. However, the band was not happy with the performance of young Laura, and eventually the decision was taken to drop her from the line-up. A replacement was soon found, and rehearsals continued as the band prepared for several high profile performances in the summer of 2002.
However, just when you thought it was safe to go into the recording studio PDA lost another singer, she quit, but she was effectively sacked... This time auditions were held and the two contestants performed admirably, the decision was made to hire a fair maiden by the name of Rosalind, and the band lives on, growing day by day...although not literally...
Reviews of all the gigs mentioned above can be found here
