The Empty Vessels
The Empty Vessels
That was the name of the band my brother and I formed circa 1964. I played drums, my brother Keith played rhythm guitar, Paul Taylor played lead guitar, Andrew Highley sang (with backup from Keith and Paul), and we had revolving bass players. We rehearsed in spaces around town, arranged by my father (he was in the building business). We performed covers of recent hits with no original material included. We used to kick off with Satisfaction. My favorite was Shake by the Small Faces (lots of drumming). We also did My Generation, When a Man Loves a Woman, and In the Midnight Hour. We performed in local halls for cash money. We were little local celebrities. In our mature years (when I was sixteen) we moved on to Blues at my direction (we idolized Steve Winwood). I was the de facto leader of the band, especially where repertoire was concerned. There were no creative differences that I can recall, though some performance differences. We disbanded when I went to university and Andy emigrated to Australia with his family. The Empty Vessels were no more. No recording of them survives. But they live on in human memory.
That’s interesting. I remember reading *somewhere* that your brother was a musician and in a band, but I don’t think it mentioned you helped form it and played drums in it. Now Fogelberg’s “Leader of the Band” is tapping on my brain.
Keith was a semi-professional musician in several bands, but that was later. I ceased all that when I went to university and became a philosopher.
Not that you need suggestions. God no. You’ve got the most active blog I’ve ever seen. But just as great bands release “Best of” albums, perhaps you might consider doing a “Best of” paper on that subject. For example, which do you consider your best papers (published on your website, I’m not talking about books) or which would you most recommend that people read if they haven’t? Just throwing this out there. I know that’s not a simple task. You’ve published so much. Just in the past two years alone.
I don’t even remember a lot of it and am constantly surprised at what I have written. In the recent past I would recommend my papers on knowledge (“Perceptual Knowledge” and “Non-Perceptual Knowledge”), my papers on subjective and objective, and my papers on mental ontology. All can be accessed by a simple search.
Rockstar…
In a tiny pond in Blackpool.
So what kind of music do you listen to these days? Did you follow Traffic? (I would be in favour of more music-related posts, if I may put in the suggestion.)
I don’t listen to any kind of music. I listen to songs I want to learn to sing, memorizing lyrics and practicing the song over and over again till I have it down. Recently I learned Kitty by Racey, I’m a Real Wild One by Iggy Pop, and Alone by Celine Dion.