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About the band.
The members of Altair Ego are based in and around Leicester.
The band formed in December 2006 after Andy, Steve and Ian had got to know each from going to a local jam night session in Hinckley run by TEGAS . Andy,Steve and Jay had known each other from being in bands before both separately and together. Ian was a newbie to the whole ‘being in a band’ thing.
Having played together on various songs at the jam nights, and Andy being a solo performer in his own right, he decided he wanted to play in a band again and so the call went out.
We started rehearsing straight away and quickly got together enough songs to be able to put a set list together so we could get out there and start gigging.
As you will gather from the Song List page we tend to do indie/rock type songs and our own original stuff also tends to reflect this type of music but its by no means a set thing and we’re sure there’ll be a few surprises tucked away in there somewhere.
We were originally going to be called Unfinished Business and in fact did our first 3 gigs as this in April/May 2007 but discovered another UK band playing under that name so came up with Altair Ego after Andy suggested Altair 4 after the planet in the sci-fi film Forbidden Planet (which was also taken) and Jay suggested the Ego bit instead.
Our current claim to fame is performing Teenage Kicks in front of the man himself, Mr Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones, when he came to Hinckley on June 21st 2007.
Band Members Bios.
Andy – Vocals, lead/rhythm guitar.
Andy has spent 20 years of his life playing keyboards (cos guitar was too hard and he was too lazy back then). However, since nobody gave a hoot about keyboards, the guitar beckoned once more and after a couple of weeks practice it all seemed to come together at last!! Now he is prepared to unleash hell (well medium overdrive) onto an unsuspecting world, usually The Black Horse in Leicester, where he also appears for solo gigs.
Andy has been in a few bands over the years including :
Facewig ,
Micro Fathom still a work in progress with Andy Davies including the now infamous “Save The Manor” gig which worked for a bit until The Manor was crushed by the wheels of progress,
Hustler - a covers band,
Nth Dimension - a covers band which included John from Rewind Rehearsal Rooms ,
Unfinished Business (1st version) ,
Slate ,
then Unfinished Business again with this line up before it became Business Finished and changed its name to Altair Ego.
Andy, along with Jay, writes the songs for the band.
Andy hopes that Brendon Benson gets the recognition that he deserves.
Andys gear.
“Vintage” Les Paul Guitar (still with original strings)
Adam Black blue acoustic
Line 6 Pod
Roland E500 keyboard (as new)
Yamaha DX7 Classic Synth with a less classic chunk missing from the corner. Synth too classically hard to program to get those classic sounds!!!!
Ian - lead/rhythm guitar.
I have been playing guitar since I was 13 but until now was simply, like thousands of others, a ‘hobby’ / spare room guitarist. As my teen years were based in the 70’s my early influences were rock bands like Black Sabbath, Rush, Queen, Status Quo. As time went on I still kept with the rockier side of music but was also influenced by the Brit Pop of the 80’s and 90’s especially Oasis and these days I like a lot of the indie bands like The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol (well you get the picture) and also slip into a bit of Blues every now and then.
Ians gear.
Fender Standard Stratocaster (weapon of choice for most gigs).
Epiphone Gibson Les Paul Standard fitted with Seymour Duncan pups.
Ovation Balladeer electro/acoustic.
I use a KORG Toneworks AX1500G effects pedal for all my sounds.
Steve – Bass guitar.
Steve has been messing round with guitars for many many years, mostly acoustic folky bluesy type stuff.
He decided to get out more and ended up playing bass guitar! Never mind, someone has to!
Bass heroes are Chris Squire (Yes) , Danny Thompson.
Guitar heroes are Rory Gallagher, S R V.
Influences : Almost everything since the early 70’s .
Steves gear.
Rickenbacker bass guitar.
Carlsboro Bassbooster amp.
Jason (Jay) – Drums.
1st band was a punk outfit called Overdose, way back yonder! Recent bands include Sauce, UFB and Slate . I'm into most bands that can play a tune. Influences are The Beatles, Paul Weller, Deep Purple and Ian Gillan, prefer Indie to most stuff, hate (C)rap, love Ska though. My ultimate drum heroes are Steve White (Weller), Oscar Harrison (Ocean Colour Scene),Ian Paice (Deep Purple) and the legends that are Moon and Bonham. I'm into lyrics and write for the band along with Andy.
Jasons gear.
I play a Pearl Export kit with,
22'' bass, 10'',12'',14'' toms. on ISS mounts.
Cymbals are all Zildjan:
A Custom 13'' Mastersound Hi-Hats
A Custom 16'' Crash
K Custom 18'' Dark Crash
Z Custom 20'' Ride
Except for a Sabian 8''Splash
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