The Unfortunate Drunken Incident (Censored)

"So there we were in Mike's gaff on the Friday before the first Rock Garden show. We were drinking some of the dark home brew. The evening wore on and when Justin mentioned how he wasn't terribly keen on Sabbath's "Changes". Mike took objection to this and, as he was a bit drunk, rather than argue his differences of opinion with the others, lashed a pint glass at Justin's head. Luckily, it flew over his head and bounced off the wall. Even so, the evening had taken a turn for the worse (Wassie has always maintained since, that the glass was aimed at him, but Mike himself has confessed that Justin was the target. poor aim being the culprit).

This bit has been censored. Sorry.

The rest of the lads were sitting in the adjoining room and all would confess to feeling rather uncomfortable upon hearing the commotion. Wassie went in to see Mike's younger brother attempting to beat the tar out of Mike for his crimes. Suddenly Mike made a break for freedom and, for reasons known only to himself, stopped long enough only to smash an antique chair on his way out. He ran for St. Ann's, an apartment block nearby, with the lads hot in pursuit, except for Big Al who had gone to get his coat. Mike was struggling to get over a wall on the far side of the complex. He was struggling to get over because Justin and Wassie were hanging onto one of his legs to prevent him from meeting the Garda, who was looking, bemused, at the struggle from the far side of the wall. Desperately trying to calm Ike down, Wassie and Justin subdued him enough to walk him back in the direction of his house. It was on the way back that they encountered Big Al, trying to quietly skulk away without being noticed. This was out of the question for a man of his girth. They also encountered the Garda whose curiosity had got the better of him and had come to investigate. It was at this moment that Emily, Mike's sister, put her outlandishly posh accent to use, informing the Garda that Mike was merely drunk and that the situation was under control. We got Mike back into his house and apologised, sheepishly, to his parents. Nobody imagined at the time that he would even get out of his house before the show on the Tuesday. Wassie and Justin discussed their options. It wasn’t really an option to play just bass, drums and vocals, even though it still would have been great. It was agreed Wassie would bring his harmonica to the show."

It was one of a number of drunken hi-jinks which, while in the short term would hamper their progress, in the long term would merely add to the legend.

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