Sep 16 – Not Just Marching Tunes – Life In The Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band
At yesterday’s opening ceremony for Sortie Building – the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band’s new purpose-built block in Devil’s Tower Camp – we caught up with Tony Evans, one of its newest members.
We spoke to the trumpet and cornet player about the band’s taxing rehearsal and performing schedule and how the players all get along…
YGTV: How far back does your involvement with the band go?
Tony: I’ve been in the band for almost a year now however I’d been playing as a civilian with the band for around three years before that. During this time I was waiting for a spot to become available for me to be able to join. There is a certain capacity limit to the band which is determined by the CO so I had to play the waiting game.
YGTV: How long had you been playing before this?
Tony: I started playing the trumpet when I was about seven – we lived in the UK and I took advantage of a really good musical education system. My dad, who is also a military musician, was also a big influence.
YGTV: How have you found the experience so far?
Tony: It’s been very good. I had a real baptism of fire as my first performance was four days into the role when Prince Michael of Kent visited! The week after that we were in London for Gibraltar Day so it was a real whirlwind…
YGTV: How would you sum up a typical month in the band? How often do you rehearse, for example?
Tony: It’s twice a week from 7 till 11 but we have a short break during the summer months. I used to attend rehearsals even before I was selected and I think that showing that level of commitment helped me secure the spot. I had a real desire and passion for it.
YGTV: What’s the spirit like in the band? The members seem to vary greatly in age and background so what holds it all together?
Tony: We all get on. We’re going to be together all the time in a few weeks so we have to! Of course you have to learn to adapt to different characters.
YGTV: How is the new band room going to help you?
Tony: It’s a bigger space than the previous room which was in Lathbury Barracks. We had lots of problems with the cold in the old place during winter and it was very damp too. Now we’re also lucky we don’t have snakes passing through the band room like we used too! It’s also more conveniently located for parades and it has the potential to attract new recruits. A lot of our members are close to retirement so we’re looking to attract new people. Perhaps one downside is that it’s on a military facility so people might think that we only do military music whereas the reality is that we perform very varied concerts featuring big band jazz music.
Catch Tony and the rest of the band at tomorrow evening’s Ceremony of the Keys in Casemates.
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