1995 started where 94 left off and demo tapes were pressed up ready for the "big push" into London. Rich designed a cover for the cassette incorporating elements from the titles of each song included on the tape: hence you have a Chimpanzee sitting in a Room with his arm reaching into a Hole In The Wall: and there we have a precious insight into the inner workings of Mr. Nicholson's genius brain. Tapes were duly sent out whilst the band continued to perform locally on a semi-regular basis.

New songs were being added all the time with titles including Glove Puppets, Just For Me and One More Time (all popular crowd pleasers). The 'big' London debut finally came in May at the now closed George Robey in Finsbury Park: truly a learning-curve experience. Simon: "We were all really nervous because this was our first gig in London but when we got there it was a case of no-one smiling at us at all, a very menacing engineer and we felt quite pushed about." In the end only fifteen people came along for the Secrets (although that amounted to more than twice the number pulled by the other two bands on the bill). Having previously only experiencing full houses at their local gigs this really hit the band as the first significant 'down'. Gavin: "Live music for unsigned bands in London these days is kind of an after-the-event thing. You're playing in places which used to be packed out twenty years ago because punk brought with it a real sense that it didn't matter who was playing. So we have played places where the likes of U2, the Sex Pistols and The Jam have all cut their teeth but now most of them are run-down, thin on attendances and living on formerly glorious reputations. The first question a promoter will ask you is how many people you can guarantee through the door and of course you can never say...but I usually convince them it's in their interests to book us!! In any case, if they are 'promoters', surely it's their job to pull people in!?!...it's a very conveyor-belt kind of attitude but these gigs are a necessary evil because what A&R men are really going to be going to a pub in Watford to see bands?...I want their names!!!"

So back down to earth with a bump and back to Watford for more gigs. After one such concert the band met Peter Curtis: singer with local covers group Wing & A Prayer. Highly impressed with The Secrets performance and particularly their melodic vocals and harmony arrangements he invited the band to play at one of the acoustic shows he arranged on a regular basis at the Leviathan in Watford. A special set was arranged with several of the Secretsongs taking on a new acoustic angle and the band went on for a twenty minute slot. Although small, the venue was packed and the band went down an absolute storm in what Gavin cites as "Our first top-notch gig". Several people in the audience had involvements with other venues around Hertfordshire and hastily made it their business to meet the band and book them: a fine evenings business. Knowing most of the area's best established groups, Pete was an important person for the band to meet as he went on to afford the band loads of opportunities in the local scene, setting up gigs and also reviewing the band in his occasional music column in the local paper. And so began a very memorable few months.

The first order of business was a "1st Birthday Concert" held at Ye Olde Red Lion in King's Langley on 19 June. Gavin recalls: "For the first time we really felt like pop stars. We arrived and dinner was all made ready for us (a huge amount of food is always a sign of a good night in my opinion) and anything we needed everyone was really happy to help out with. When we went on people were singing to OUR words which was a genuinely new experience for us and an amazing feeling! Afterwards we stayed at the pub till about 4 in the morning getting really drunk and having a singalong. Rich became barman for the night and Simon started inventing a whole new genre of guitar-playing: I call it 'finger pissing.'" This was soon followed by an appearance at the 1995 Watford Environment Fair (a sort of semi-festival arrangement) arranged by Pete and getting the band's photo in the paper for the first time. Then on 6 August the band headlined the very first Month of Sundays show at Watford Bandstand (now an annual event where three different bands play each Sunday at the bandstand throughout one month in the summer): a performance noted as much for Simon's attire (a kinky mini skirt) as for the music!

By September the band was working as hard as it had ever done. New songs such as Circles, Stickle Back Outing (???) and Inside were written in quick succession and with every new song the band was honing their now trademark harmonies and highly singable melodies. Simon had just bought himself a Tascam 8 track Portastudio which became a very useful tool for the band to record demos over a longer period of time and for much less money. Teaching himself the rudiments of engineering Simon recorded a new demo with Gavin and Rich featuring One More Time as the lead track. Gavin also designed the cassette cover which this time featured a blurred photo of Simon on the In the meantime, another big opportunity fell into the band's path when they were offered a chance to appear on the first edition of Floorspots: a kind of "Later With Jools Holland" wannabe show on local cable TV channel Telecential. The premise of the show was that all acts had to perform acoustically so, having re-worked The Hole In The Wall and Just For Me in this manner the band made their way to the Water Splash Hotel in London Colney for their television debut on 22 October. A good performance was turned in followed by an interview with Simon very memorable for the hugely forgetful hostess, Pamela...poor thing. It also marked a very public first 'outing' of Simon's well known tartan suit! Things were getting so busy with the band that Nina Monet (Richard's then girlfriend and long time friend of the band) came in to run the Secretservice mailing list.

Which brings us up to 8 November and the big day: the Young Pop Act 95 final at the Woughton Centre in Milton Keynes. Arriving for soundchecks in the morning the band quickly found themselves rather overawed by the occasion: the arena was going to be full later of an audience numbering in their thousands rather than hundreds that The Secrets had previously been accustomed to. A coachload of fans and friends was coming up from Watford to support the band through their fifteen minute set. Record company executives were to be amongst the judges and furthermore, the concert was to be recorded for broadcast on Chiltern Radio at a later date...and so the nerves piled on and on!! From here on, Gavin can take up commentary:

"Usually I hate Battle of the Bands competitions but this was without doubt the biggest gig we'd ever got ourselves into at that point...so naturally we were cakking our pants!!

We soundchecked fine and spent the next few hours trying to clear our heads of all the poo that seems to implant itself in the mind before such events...9pm came...our hour of reckoning and with legs by now resembling jelly we ambled onstage before an 1,000 strong audience making quite a clatter. So, into our first song One More Time and disaster sets in when we make the terrible realization that the sound engineer has forgotten to turn up Simon's acoustic guitar!! We improvise an extended intro whilst the arse sorts it out and eventually Simon's strumming becomes audible. Next up, The Hole In The Wall (at that time the current favorite with the punters) and things seem to be going well...for about 15 seconds!!...suddenly a horrible 'twangy' sound...arrrghhhh!!! Simon's top E string had decided to give way at the crucial moment!!...Rich and me stared at each other in utter horror whilst subconsciously continuing to play our lines whilst Simon frantically scoured the stage for a replacement 'tool'. Not unknown for his forgetfulness it did not come as a surprise to find that the silly sod had forgotten to bring his spare electric guitar (...I should explain at this point he only had the two guitars...and his effects tray was considerably smaller)!! So, being a trooper, he picked up his semi-acoustic and we proceeded to play out the entire set list almost unplugged! The dressing room atmosphere afterwards for the 5 minutes following the performance was, shall we say, harsh...yours truly's head buried in his hands in utter desolation, Rich gazing into space (which is kind of his way anyway) and Simon screaming every profanity known to man (...and a few other species besides)...the dawning realization that we had blown it! Then, suddenly, a knock on the door! outside we have a large flock of fans clamoring for autographs, some guy claiming to be George Michael's publisher wanting to meet us and a bloke from MCA Records called Jasper who really 'digs' our acoustic sound!! In utter bewilderment we stepped outside to find out we had, in the event, been voted runners up in the whole contest...missing out on the title itself by one miserly vote!!!(...and if I find the bastard who voted against us I'll plant a small nuclear device up his left nostril...not that I care about band competitions of course!)...life is a funny thing."

The next few days were a bit of a whirlwind: interviews for the local papers, photo shoots and the long forgotten Breakfast Show DJ on Chiltern Radio at the time (whose name escapes this biographer...any suggestions?) singing Simon's praises as "one to watch"!...and then, back to more regular business of gigging. And so ended an extraordinary year for The Secrets who had now developed a serious taste for the spotlight...

1996>>>