My 'little' brother turns 18 at the end of the month and we've decided to put on a big party to celebrate. The plan is to hire a venue for late February (so Al is over 18 and can drink legally!) and put on a mixture of live music and food, along with some drinks and some DJ spun tunes. As part of the live music four fifths of my band 'Scrat' will be performing. Myself, both my brothers (Stat & Al), Dicko and Steve will be making up the numbers, however there's a slight line up change (and a name change) whilst Dave sits it out and prepares for his wedding and we're going to be joined by a very special guest.....my Dad! Now, Fishman (as we affectionately call him) has a history steeped in rock 'n' roll. He played in several bands when he was in his 20's back in 1970 something, including the infamous 'Mantis' who were once paid by a promoter not to perform the second half of their set during a gig at a bingo hall! In fact, Dad confessed last night that Status Quo were 'in his psyche' - so he's definitely the right man for the job! Last night was our first rehearsal and I haven't had so much fun for a long time. Not only was I playing music with both of my younger brothers, but my Dad was playing too! It was awesome! We decided to start off with a few covers and threw in some golden oldies that Fishman would know in the form of 'Teenage Kicks' (Undertones) , 'Rockin' All Over The World' (Status Quo), and 'Summer Of '69' (Bryan Adams) - which we were informed (somewhat ironically) by Dad was the year that he left school - perfect! To our collective surprise Dad picked things up really quickly considering he'd not played guitar for 20 + years (did I mention he was playing his custom built 70's Fender Tele copy, fresh from the loft?!) and before long we were rocking! He even began to let rip with some Clapton-esque riffage over the end of 'Summer Of '69' and at one point had us all in tears after attempting a Pete Townshend style jump mid-song, which ended up with Dicko burst into laughter! So that was our first rehearsal, it couldn't have gone any better. I really can't wait for Dad to get back from his week long holiday so that we can get back to rehearsing for the gig...this is going to be brilliant!