When Garcia realised he was never going to become an archaeologist, play for Aston Villa or even complete Final Fantasy VII, Race was born. Obsessed from an early age with the Everly Brothers, Chris De Burgh & The Beatles (at 5 he remembers marching around the playground reciting the script of A Hard Days Night to himself) it was cousin Ryan who ultimately inspired Garcia to play guitar & then assemble a band.
Garcia found Joseph in summer 2002 & a shared love for Chris De Burgh immediately secured their partnership. A mathematician & multi-instrumentalist, Joseph from a very young age showed signs of what was to come, first with his Fisher Price record player which he cuddled at night and securing the deal, his deep emotional receptiveness to the music of Don Williams.
At this time, Garcia's close friend Haymaker started playing bass guitar. Although brought up on the music of Barry Manilow (Copacabana being especially close to his heart) Haymaker developed relatively unscathed. A deep love for Radiohead's Kid A was mutually felt as was Haymaker's passion for buying unnecessarily expensive equipment. His role in the band was confirmed.
In the winter of 2004 it dawned on the band that they needed to stop playing 12 bar blues covers, stop writing songs inspired by Coldplay & get a new drummer.
Vince walked into the room at this moment of realisation. He was a simultaneous Led Zeppelin & Cliff Richard fan. In the 80s he was played rock tapes when he should have been read stories by his father. He hit his drums very hard. He was perfect.
After too few band practises, one too many gigs in the west country and the realization that an insistence on funk workouts and the prominence of cowbells had ruined all of their repertoire, Race split up in 2007.
