How I Got My Nickname

G’day,

Well first up I should start with a disclaimer for all aspiring crew & the young & impressionable. My stories come from a time in the industry that was pretty wild & I was young and probably (well, yes I was) reckless. Today you couldn’t get away with some of the crazy stuff that went on, and that’s probably a good thing. In the music industry a lot of people have nicknames and that is pretty much all they are known by. I have been known as Reckless or Recko for ages. Very few people from the industry know my is Steve. Glen “Heffo” Heffernan (Guitarist : Meatballs show etc) had fun with it, sometimes I’d be Restless (when I said i was going home) Legless (On the piss) Harmless etc. Anyhow this is how I got my nickname:

In the early 80’s i was working for Mad Gorilla from their second or third gig onwards. One of the first road trips was up to Cobar (September 1980) and that drive has a funny story i’ll tell later. If you’ve never been out that way it is a long drive and a totally different landscape from the coast. It’s actually almost in another time zone it’s that far. The locals don’t get many live acts, they come out in force and have a bloody good time.
When we got there it was straight out of the vehicles and into the load in. A quick focus & sound check and it was almost time to start. I grabbed a beer & went outside to check the sunset and gather my thoughts.

It was my first full night on the lighting desk for Gorilla as Roger didn’t come away with us due to work and family committments. So I had a walk around the club and sat down to roll a cigarette.

A female voice says “Is that a joint?” and I looked up into the sun to see the silhouette of a very shapely lady.

I blocked the sun with one hand to see she was just as pretty as her silhouette suggested, “No, I wish it was” I replied. She giggled and stuck her hand under my nose, there was a round piece of alfoil in her hand & the smell of hash was unmistakeable.

“Where will we go?, we can’t smoke it here” she giggled again. I suggested the back of the truck and off we went. Well one thing lead to another and not only did the evil temptress get me stoned but not long after we were having some great sex amongst the drapes in the back of the truck. We were totally lost in what we were doing and had lost track of time.

Next thing i hear a guitar and someone banging on the drums “OH SHIT! ! !” I suddenly remembered why I was there. “Quick get dressed, OH SHIT, OH FUCK!!!!”

We get out of the truck, pull the shutter down and I’m running for the door of the club. My shoelaces aren’t tied and I get my shirt caught in the zipper of my jeans, “SHIT”.

I burst into the club straight past the doorman who’s saying “They’re looking for you mate”

The stage is dark, the band’s all on stage ready to go. The room is chocka block full. As I ran into the room tripping over my gym boot laces Sticko ( the singer) is saying to the crowd “Has anyone seen our lighting guy, he’s a little hairy bloke,where is that reckless young lad ?” the whole room turned around, pointed at me and yelled “there he is” and they all cracked up laughing and clapping. Coby was on the sound desk and immediately (and deservedly) starts paying out on me, points at my shirt sticking out my fly “What the fuck were you doing!?”. She kept threatening to make me get all the drapes drycleaned after I told her. All through the night the locals were coming up, slapping me on the back and saying things like “So what were you up to, you reckless young lad ?” then cracking up laughing and handing me a beer. By the end of the night even the local police seargent was calling me the reckless young lad. And everytime they did Coby looked daggers at me.

After the first set I was called into the band room for what would now be called “counselling” I copped an absolute bollocking & then someone giggled and everyone (except Coby) had a laugh. By the end of the night the name Reckless had stuck. The crowd had a ball and we ended up sitting up drinking with the club staff and the local cop till dawn. I never saw her again, can’t remember her name but boy do I remember that night and the time we spent in the back of the truck.

Disclaimer:

G’day Gibbo,
Had a thought about my ” My nickname” post and would like to add this disclaimer.
To all wives and girlfriends: The incidents related in the my nickname story were not everyday occurences & in the time I worked in the entertainment industry (1977 – 2008) only happened twice in that time. The second time I got married to the lady & besides 2 beautiful daughters was in hindsight a disaster. Generally we were too bloody busy & then too tired or heading off to another gig. ….. Recko.