Malcolm Smith
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My musical journey started at a very early age with me hearing my parents playing the Soundtrack albums of old Doris Day films and the crooners of the day such as Frank Ifield and Cliff Richard. Later on my older brother introduced me to the delights of The Beatles and The Moody Blues, but that was hearing other people's music. MY first real music was the Glam Rock of the early 70's. Bowie, Bolan, Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Mott the Hoople, the list is endless. My first gig in 1973 was seeing Mott the Hoople supported by Queen which was my introduction to the live setting, and it doesn't get much better than that. Hearing Queen II in 1974 was the real turning point for me though, to this day I've never heard anything quite like it and it is still my all time favourite album. From then on I got into the American Hard Rock scene in a big way and was fortunate to catch the debut UK tours of both KISS and Aerosmith. Hearing New England for the first time in 1979 was also another epiphany, they bought together ALL the aspects of my earlier influences, such as Queen, The Moodies and The Beatles as well as that American "flash" that was prevalent back then. New England for those reasons is my favourite band. In the late 70's/ early 80's I started working for Bullet Records which some of you might of heard of, this was pre Shades days and it was a great time to work there. I made many friends through my working there and lots of those friendships have endured to this day. Post Bullet Records I decided to get a "Proper" job and went on to get a degree in Psychology and eventually ended up working in education, although now I work in the NHS. Throughout all this time I never lost my love for all things musical, and I'm as enthusiastic about it now as I was when I was a young lad and today I find myself writing for Fireworks about something I love, how good is that? On a more personal note I have been happily married for 36 years and have 3 grown up children. In what spare time I have I enjoy my garden and reading. I support Aston Villa...through thick and thin, and also love my cricket and golf. |