How long have you been playing with The AutistiX?
Er, I'd have to say about... yeah, I'd say five miserable months.
The autism that I kind of have is like Asperger's, a communication disorder.
I do have high function autism, ADD and ODD.
When we discovered that drumming was something that Saul could do, it was just amazing to
kind of realise that rhythm was something that he had a sense of. I certainly had no concept
that he might end up in a band at that time.
One! Two! Three! Four!
We got together in 2010. I had been told that, like, Saul always wanted to be in a band and
then my mate Colin introduced me to Luke and then we got to know each other a little bit
better, like, saying our favourite bands.
And then at one time I sort of explained it to them that I was in a band called The Autistix
and then I was saying that we were looking for an autistic bass player and then he said: "I
could do that".
Just remember, if you see someone running around and doing crazy stuff and setting things
on fire, that would be me.
It's the first time The AutistiX are on tour. So we're going from having an occasional gig
to doing a number of performances to illustrate the talent and potential of musicians with disabilities.
(Song) Butterflies and demons, floating passed my window. I know I can see them. I can see,
I can see, I can see them.
We don't want people to feel bad or sorry about us because we're autistic, we want people
to come to our gigs, enjoy the music, erm, you can also headbang if you like.
Ok, that was a little bit better. Not bad. I just think we need to take the solo out,
take the last chorus out and just do du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du, finish. Yeah?
Yeah, I generally specialise in autism and do music groups for people with autism. It's
slightly different to, like, maybe other bands I've been in. I kind of feel like maybe I've
got eyes in the back of my head a bit.
One, two, here we go... One, two, one, two, three, four...
I write songs to express myself. This song is called feeling stupid. You're walking down
the streets on your own and people are, like, judging you, like you're surrounded by mental
health problems and everybody judging you like you're stupid and things like that.
With my songs like, I Guess I'll See You Another Day, that was the first song I'd written,
which it was about... which basically it was about, well, I'm pretty sure everyone goes
through this but... like, daydreaming about girls.
There was another song that I'd written, which was the second song and don't say a word...
Ha ha ha ha!
I just hope it all stays together really. I don't really care about anything else. I've
been in so many bands that have just fallen to pieces I just thought pick people you get
along with because if you don't choose people that you get along with and are talented,
you're going to pay the price. That's the best advice I can give.
Luke's dragged me into it, obviously, because he's wanted to be in a band for years and
years and years. He's always wanted to be able to socialise and he does find it very
difficult. He's been into bands and then they've asked him not to come and so on and so forth,
so he's a lot more relaxed now.
This next song is called: The Good And The Bad In All Of Us. It's a song about growing
up and learning how to take care of yourself and no matter where we're from or what we
are, there's always good and bad inside of us as humans.
(Song) And just remember, there's good and bad in, there's good and bad in, there's good
and bad in all of us.
One, two, threeeeeeeee......
I love being Saul's father so much. There's very, very clear practical challenges but
there is with every child. It's just with him it will be forever. So it's like having
a young child forever. It's not bad, it's just not easy.
Tell me about Saul.
Saul's ok. Well obviously he's taken a bit of a... he's taken a bit of a shine to me.
Then again at the moment I am probably his favourite person but, I mean, yes he does
have trouble communicating and yes he does sometimes drop out half way through the song
but, I mean he is a nice guy you've got to admit.
I haven't had friends like Jack and Saul for a while now.
These three are friends to each other. As much as they can be friends they're friends
to each other. There's a real feeling of caring between them and they are a unit. So it's
really amazing.
This is how we do warm ups.
Well today we're playing at Autism's Got Talent and, yeah, we're looking forward to having
a great show tonight.
Yeah, it's like Britain's Got Talent only more interesting and better in every way.
Believe it or not, having autism is not really so bad. Like, me, Luke and Saul, we have autism
and look what we're doing now. I mean, it's like a massive "wow"! You can do anything
in life only if you always believe in yourself.
I think one thing: it doesn't get better, you get better.