In the dark depths of Winter 2002, Will Rees and Adam Broadhead started to jam together. With little rhythm but plenty of determination, their first song was written a little after Christmas. Entitled Inferno it was a relatively complex hardcore masterpiece complete with lyrics but no singer. Still it was recorded on Tascam, and has since been forgotten.
In the New Year, Adam and Will worked together (shamefully) on a rap song with a group, for a school music competition, trying desperately to infuse some quality into the song. Luckily they won their category.
As well as the partnership between Adam and Will, Adam also started to jam with a few friends: bassist/singer Jack Osbourne and drummer Matt Turnock. However Adam was looking for a more serious band. And so, that very evening, on February 20th, IRRITANT was conceived, and what was to later be called The Song that Jack Wrote was penned. The band got their name after Adam suggested the Irritant logo on the back of a Lynx spray can.
Whilst Adam was off jamming, Will was toiling away creating new songs and developing his lead style. After practising for hours on end he had completed a few dozen songs but focused his efforts on one masterpiece, Rock til' you drop, which would soon become one of the band's first songs. Meanwhile, after a few practises, Adam was left with no bassist and no drummer. He continued writing songs too and soon had over 30 complete, of which two would be learnt by the band in the future.
Still, the musical bond between Adam and Will was becoming stronger as their abilities improved, and when Matthew reluctantly took up the kit, the boulder that is Irritant began to roll. Slowly but surely, the songs started to come together, but when they found singer Martin – an inexperienced yet charismatic frontman – everything gelled. One Sunday afternoon, Roadkill, Sounding Good, Rock ‘til you Drop and The Song that Jack Wrote were arranged and with a bit of practice, Irritant made their debut appearance at the Sir Thomas Rich’s school hall in front of an international audience of over 300.
Following their success, Adam suggested a charity concert to raise money for the PMM Girl’s School in Uganda. Thanks to Will’s hard work the event (headlined by IRRITANT, and supported by Satchmo) was organised in just a few days, and over £120 was raised for the appeal.
They recently acquired bassist Niall and await more song writing and look forward to unleashing their unique sound on Gloucester from late August.
IRRITANT: The Revised Edition (Christmas 2003)
After Martin left the band due to musical differences IRRITANT were under pressure. With their most important gig to date at Guildhall they had to find something, and quickly. However, they were not going to settle for second best. Several different singers of all walks of life auditioned but none would suit the style they wanted to unleash. That was then they realised the answer was within. By looking at what they already had IRRITANT realised if they all contributed they could better the Martin's efforts considerably. The sheer power of Adam's voice along with the melody of timid bassist Niall and the roar inside Will, they had accomplished more among themselves than Martin or indeed any other local singer could acheive. And so IRRITANT Mach II was born!
