Alex Smith

Eb Bass

Playing History: I have played for Blackley Band for the whole of my playing career, I started in 1996 after being introduced to brass banding by a music teacher at Crosslee Primary School. Although I do ‘dep’ with plenty of other North West bands, and have even been known to travel to Wales to help out.
Favourite Piece? As a bass player as long as its more interesting than ‘umm-chucks’ then I’m happy.
Worst Piece? Another difficult one. I will have to have a good think and come back to this.
Proudest banding moment? Playing on stage at The Royal Albert Hall at the National Finals in 2000 is a hard moment to beat, and I think it will always rank highly.
Most embarrassing moment? I have made a fool out of myself so many times that it’s hard to choose one, I am proud to say that the chances are this happened in a dressing room, rehearsal or social setting and not on stage. I think Pontin’s 2007 will live long in my memory as a very embarrassing memory, let’s just say you can still see the scar – and probably the mark on the door.
Anything to add? Well I am currently band secretary and hope that the band is going forward under my supervision and with the efforts I am putting in to promote the band for local events and not so local opportunities. I am happy to see the band has seen a surge in players and we are currently having very full rehearsals, which make it more enjoyable and means real progress can be seen.