Paterson; Lawrence: Blaze Bayley – At The End Of The Day (Book)

Lawrence Paterson, who is best known as the ex-drummer in Blaze Bayley, first published this book in 2009, at which time he was still a member of the group. Now a year down the line, Larry has revised and updated his account of Blaze Bayley the man and the band. The book's main focus is Blaze himself, however quite pleasingly it is less of a biography and more of an account of the ups and downs of a passionate metal-head getting to live out his dream as a rock and roll frontman. Blaze's upbringing is briefly covered and while his time in Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden are more than touched on, this period of time isn't really what the book is about. That said both eras are thoughtfully and honestly discussed, with new interviews from some and old quotes from all the main players in both bands adding greatly to the book.

The main meat of the book is the BLAZE and Blaze Bayley bands and Paterson really gets under the skin of how that first outfit functioned and why their early impetus was lost, highlighting some of the decisions made by Blaze and the band which were astoundingly poor, eventually leading to the end of the BLAZE band. It was Bayley's future wife and manager Debbie who rescued him from a deep depression and set him on the road to recovery and with her cajoling, organisation and sheer determination the band Blaze Bayley was born. This is the stage of the book where Paterson joins the band and with it the prose style abruptly changes. Rather than a free flowing biography, the details of the day to day running of the band feel more like a well written blog (which is admittedly where the inspiration of the book actually came from). It is slightly off putting at first, however the warmth with which Paterson recounts his time with Blaze is compelling and leads to many genuine laugh out loud moments. It is easy to get sucked in by every minor triumph the band score and it is impossible not to be heartbroken as disaster besets Blaze and the boys. It is also worth noting that, while always covering all of the members of bands that have been pivotal in Blaze's career the book becomes less about Blaze himself during this passage.

The initial publication of the book closed just as the second studio album Promise And Terror neared completion, however since then Paterson has departed from Blaze Bayley and he covers in detail why he did so, which makes for very interesting and candid reading.

At The End Of The Day, won't win any prizes for being the most weighty tome in rock history, but as honest, humorous accounts of the hardship that being a member of a grafting and talented, but lower profile band go, it is more than worthy. Any budding metal heads that want to tour the world belting out their music should read and learn. The rest of us can only shake our heads in amazement, amusement and admiration.

Added: January 4th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Larry Paterson Drums
Hits: 2178
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]