In autumn 1978, I was drinking in one of the many university bars, as one does (did?) with my mates, and Bob came up to me, and asked if my name was Ollie and if I played the bass.  I said yes, and he said he had heard I was half decent, and that he knew someone he thought would make a great singer, and also, did I know any other musicians, so that we could get a band together?  I said yes, I knew plenty, and we chatted about what sort of things we would like to do, and it was all very easy, I think the first jam session was in the next couple of days. Everything clicked straight away, it was just one of those things that was very natural and the songs flowed a bit like water.  

We thought we had better choose a name, so after a rehearsal, then of course the bar afterwards, we took some takeaways (alcohol I mean) to my room, and held an election to choose the name of the band.  Darris and Bob were the electioneers, Darris was the chair, (I think he might have even had a primitive whiteboard of some sort, or perhaps it's my imagination, maybe it was just a big piece of paper...) and Bob was the scrutineer!  it was all meticulously done, scrupulously fair, with loads of rounds of secret ballots, points systems and God knows what, and after at least a couple of hours, loads of extremely outlandish suggestions (I think mainly from me) we ended up as The Golinski Brothers!  And whenever we have got back together over the years, that's exactly how it's felt, we do feel like brothers, even if some of us haven't seen each other for a while, and that's been a really lovely thing.

Pretty quickly, we were doing really well, loads of great gigs, national radio play, record deals, support shows in big places with major bands, all whilst we were still supposed to be in lectures, our studies definitely took a bit of a backseat!  I've always felt guilty that I went to the States after about a year and a half, and things were going really well.  When I came back to Brighton a year later, the band had split, nearly everyone had moved to London, and everything was very depressing... I had a very bad year completing my degree, definitely one of the worst of my life.

So 42 years later, here we are, Bob - over all these years, you, Jane, Karen and I have actually got a lot closer since those days, and we have shared so much - raising children, going on several holidays together, (the last just as the lockdown was starting, when everything seemed really optimistic, we had a wonderful time, and I will share some photos,) crashing at each other's houses when we needed somewhere to stay in London or Manchester, reunion gigs and rehearsals, lovely gatherings at Mick and Lynne's house, and all sorts of stuff.  We would often talk about our plans for the future, and work out different strategies for seeing more of each other, both family-wise, and musically, and I am really heartbroken that this won't happen now, but I want you to know that we will look after Jane, Ellie and Fran the very best we can, as well as Connie of course...  I know that is what you'd want, and that's what we will all try to do.

I am so glad to have known you all these years, and have felt even closer to you the last few years than I ever have, so just want to say thanks for everything - you knew you would be missed, but you didn't know the half of it...  Seeing you all only a month ago was a really moving and humbling experience, and despite everything, you managed to make it a lovely day, I'm not quite sure how you managed that, but thanks so much...

You will always be remembered,

With lots of love,

Ollie xxx