by Sam Hawcroft
The surprise package of last year’s Blue Light Bands gig is preparing for considerably more time in the spotlight as the frontman of a new band set to make their debut this month.
Sgt Dave Walker, aka Para Dave, is a serving member of the Parachute Regiment and Tiger Moth pilot, as well as the Blue Light Weekend committee member behind this year’s air show on Sunday, August 11.
He explained how last year’s memorable cameo with leading punk rock band the Zynx came
about – and insisted that, contrary to what many revellers thought, he had had absolutely no rehearsal whatsoever.
Leeds-born Para Dave, who has lived in Patrington for nearly 20 years, said: “I was going up the stairs at the Meridian Centre and the lead singer of the Zynx, Dave Turley, said, ‘I heard you’re a bit of a punk fan – do you fancy getting up and doing one with us?’
“There was one song that stuck out in my mind, which was the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant because it was the only one of theirs that was aired on Top of the Pops and I was allowed to stay up and watch it when I was a kid.
“So I said, OK, I’ll have a go! I went out there and I was a bit nervous, but then it just came out of me, and that was it.
“Everybody said it sounded like I’d been with the band for years, and for weeks afterwards I’d be in the shop or garage in Patrington and people would come up to me and say, when are you going to do another one, Dave?”
It was not until preparations for this year’s Blue Light Weekend that the idea began to be seriously discussed – and the name for the new band arose from one of the committee meetings involving fellow bandmate and festival music events co-ordinator, Chris Morfitt.
Chris is himself a veteran Withernsea musician and also a member of Them Naked Men, who are reuniting to headline this year’s Blue Light Weekend gig at the Willows Holiday Park on Saturday, August 10.
Dave added: “Chris was saying, we’ve got Them Naked Men getting back together, and it’s going to be great – but we could do with a support act.’ And then he said, ‘Do you know what? I have an alternative solution.’
“So I said, who’s that, then? And he said… it’s you!”
Dave agreed to front the band – but only if he could raise money for a cause close to his heart, the Parachute Regiment Charity.
He said: “If I’m going to make a fool of myself on stage, I’ll do it to raise money for my friends who are either no longer here, or for lads who have been severely injured and lost limbs – maybe I can help make an impact on their lives.”
The Alternative Solution will be a family affair with Chris and his sons Sam and Tom, as well as Chris’s nephew Ben Morfitt.
Ben, who will be coming over to Withernsea from Portugal, is a multi-instrumentalist with a hugely popular YouTube channel, SquidPhysics, and he has just written the theme tune for Grand Theft Auto five after being signed by PlayStation.
Their music will be a mix of punk and rock from various decades. It will be loud and pretty heavy – but great fun, says Dave.
“It’s stuff people will know – including the Clash, White Riot, Black Sabbath and the Sex Pistols, as well as a little bit of Green Day and Nirvana to bring it up a generation. It’s a mixed bag, but it fits our name, Alternative Solution, as it’s alternative music – and it’ll be completely chalk and cheese to Them Naked Men.”
Dave has also had 50 exclusive Alternative Solution T-shirts made up, and he will be selling them on the night in aid of the Parachute
Regiment Charity. He said: “They’re a one- off. And the lady who helped me design them is called Margaret and she worked for Vivian Westwood back in the 1970s.”
Tickets for Them Naked Men, supported by the Alternative Solution, have been selling well, and limited numbers are available from Precious Prints in Queen Street, Withernsea. Dave hopes the Willows will be packed to the rafters – but, perhaps surprisingly, given his day job, he admits to a few nerves ahead of the big night.
He added: “Come a week on Saturday, I’ll be terrified. In fact, I’ll be more terrified to go on stage than I would be facing the Taliban…”
