Threshold, for anyone who doesn’t know, are a prog/metal band that combines thoughtful lyrics and propulsive melodies alongside some quite intricate song arrangements and are one of those bands who seem to have been around forever, releasing consistently good albums, frequently gigging and attaining a loyal fanbase but who, for whatever reason, have never quite succeeded in making the jump into mainstream acceptance, despite all the critical kudos they’ve achieved.
Keyboard man Richard West, alongside guitarist Karl Groom, is the musical driving force behind Threshold, and Maybe A Writer is his account of one man’s musical journey, which began with experiments in musical layering with cassette tapes in the mid-1970s, and takes us up to the release of Threshold’s twelfth studio album, Dividing Lines, in November 2022.
It’s the story of a journeyman musician, playing in a couple of bands whilst working as an acoustics engineer, whose life changed in 1993 when he was invited by his friend Groom to add some keyboards to a song. A man who’s never quite hit the highest highs, but who has a story to tell about life at the lower levels of the ladder, tour bus shenanigans, a first dabble with illicit narcotics whilst on the road in Europe, supporting mega acts like Dream Theatre and Whitesnake and the inevitable frustrations accompanying any band.
There are tales of cancelled gigs and a tour bus in one country while you’re in another, etc, plus an account of how to propose to your wife whilst in a hot air balloon and being swept across the Cornish countryside. It’s also a story of how, despite all the attendant frustrations involved, band members coming and going, being dropped by record labels, etc, West has remained true to his desire to want to make music. After turning fifty, he takes stock, claiming “I still have time to be many things, maybe a painter, a clerk, a maker or maybe a writer,” and as long as he can choose, his choice will be to make music. Thirty years down the road, he’s still doing it with Threshold.
Ultimately Maybe A Writer is an enjoyable and very pleasant read, with West taking us through his life in chronological sequence. West comes across as a perfectly decent chap, but while this story about his life and times is well told and certainly has its interesting moments, it doesn’t set the pulses racing, so if your interest is in reading about stories of rock ‘n roll excess, management rip-offs, inter-band dramas and the wilder side of the ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll lifestyle,’ you may be disappointed as the wildest it gets here is a brief flirtation with strong marijuana, ending up with Dutch police finding a stoned West wrapped around a lamppost in Nijmegen.
