How Captain Accident became Captain Accident

Not for nothing is Captain Accident known as Captain Accident. It's a nickname he has richly deserved, he admits, as he embarks on a tour to promote the new album.

The live act is Captain Accident & The Disasters and they play The Prince Albert, Brighton on October 30 and The Star Inn, Guildford on November 6.

“I'm just naturally a very clumsy person,” Captain Accident says. “There have been times when I have walked off stage with the guitar still plugged into the amp and pulled the amp over.

“But the biggest one that secured the nickname was when I was with a heavier band. I jumped off the drum riser and when I landed, my leg snapped in half. I tore my cruciate ligament. My leg gave way and was at a right angle. I stood up and tried to play but every time I put pressure on the leg, it collapsed. At the time the drummer was training to be a surgeon, and he looked at my leg and said ‘You've got to stop the gig. You have got to get to hospital.’ It turns out I broke some bones as well.”

Consequently, he became Captain Accident: “That was a while ago now in 2008. I couldn't be in a band for a while because my leg was really bad. So I used the time to start writing some reggae music and recording it at home and that's really how this project started.”

Reggae was his natural music: “I was brought up by hippies. It was great! But as well as the psychedelic rock stuff, they were very, very into reggae music. That was a big part for me of the music that I've listened to throughout my life. It had such an impact on me. There's something about the way it grooves. I love the intricacy of the rhythms that make up reggae. Some people say it's quite simple but actually it really does involve some intricate rhythms. It's just the music that I feel the most. It makes me want to dance.”

This latest is now the fifth album for the band. The first was in 2010, the second in 2013, the third in 2016 and then the most recent in 2021, the latter very much a reflection of the pandemic which was happening at the time.

“This latest album is a lot more of a happy upbeat album compared to the last one which was written during the lockdown. I don't want to use the word miserable but it was quite dark due to the times that we were living through. This album is much more positive and upbeat and exciting.”

Hence the name, Sayonara Paranoia, a farewell to paranoia: “It's a happy upbeat positive album. This is much more of a beacon of hope. It's saying goodbye to the negative times that surrounded the previous album.”