Ok the beginning. The beginning began in an office room. In this office room were three boys named Ollie, Matt and Joe. Also in that office room, was a karaoke machine being used as amplification, a drum kit, one guitar and a bass. They made ‘music’ that day. What is music you may ask? Something you listen to, which brings an emotion to your attention? Whether it is sad, or happy or just anger. Some may describe the ‘music’ made in that room would provoke the latter emotion.
Anyway, soon this office room was filled with another body; Charlie. With him, he brought the will power to learn the bass guitar, which gave band members an instrumental purpose at last. Matt and Joe on guitar, Ollie on drums and Charlie on bass. In the early days they struggled with stamina as it was hard to play Hendrix’s ‘Fire’ from beginning to end, but practice won over tiredness and the repertoire doubled from one song to two in the space of about three weeks.
Slowly, the ‘music’ was improving, as did their practice venue, which had been upgraded, to the loft that they could call their own. Rehearsing was beginning to be almost a weekly occurrence and clearing out beer cans was needed at least twice a month. The boys decorated their room with lyrics and smeared guitar gurus all over the bare walls.
It wasn’t long for another body to fill the gaps between the cold walls to make the five piece ‘Fat Maggi’ who are still playing over two years down the line. Robert Moore, a pupil who was in Joe and Matt’s GCSE music class joined the band to play a school recital concert. It was decided from then on that Rob would conclude the band and give them another angle with his keyboards.
With no gigs planned, ‘Fat Maggi’ set out with a new project to write their own material. At first it was a long process but early songs such as ‘On My Own’, ‘Cast’ and ‘Fade Out’ were a good base to start from. Even now ‘Cast’ still crops up every now again into a Maggi set list.
Slowly but surely, local gigs were becoming available. Firstly, there was ‘Pendley Theatre’ thanks to the ever-supportive Ian Gower. This was great to break the performing ice for the young band. Venues such as ‘The Horn’ in St Albans, the ‘Grand Junction Arms’ and private parties for relatives and friends.
Confidence grew, the repertoire grew, the fan base grew and so did Charlie’s hair. The band was given chances to record material through friends and helpful contacts. This was a great step for the boys as they were given a different insight into being in a band. Recording was very rewarding every time and made ‘Fat Maggi’ even more determined to press forward.
Through gigs, friends were made and Maggi were able to branch out to London on occasions. The most significant gig was probably supporting the London based ‘Creel Commission’ at the major venue ‘Bush Hall’, Shepherds Bush. Other venues consisted of ‘The Brixton Telegraph’ and many others.
August 2005 saw the band enter the studio for their first full length studio effort, which is due December 2005.

New songs, new friends, new places, new website: ‘Fat Maggi’.