Collaborator's main songwriter and vocalist Veg (Alan Bright) wrote "Free Rock Radio" - a paean to the music radio station he loved in the eighties. The song appears on the band's debut album released in 2006.

'Collaborator" is actually a collaboration between Veg and guitarist Stevie James, together with Dan Dolman (drums) and Pete Barrenger (bass).  Legendary punk and radio host Tom Robinson contributed bass to one track.

The album developed from a series of demo recording sessions at Pete's Early Bird Studios in Harwich in late-2005 and is described as  "an eclectic mix of songs" ranging from skiffle, funky rock to melodic metal.

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio programme director David Randall first heard "Free Rock Radio" on a promo CD and immediately saw wider potential.

"The lyrics perfectly sum up the feeling of nostalgia for a time when pirate radio was pioneering new music, a sense of loss and change not always for the better both in our lives generally and in our radio listening specifically," says David.

Veg describes the song as "a longing for those childhood days of laying under the blankets listening to the real music being blasted from the pirate radio ships in the North Sea."

In September 2009 Veg reworked the lyrics to suit the radio station, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.

"The result is fantastic," says David "and I think it perfectly sums up what Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is all about."

Veg takes up the "story of the song":

'Free Rock Radio' is a song that was written around eight years ago. The first two lines come from a photo that I was shown by a friend of mine of when she was about 16. It was a very Gothic orientated image of a girl holding a candle, very innocent looking pic, but less than a year later she was a young unmarried mum, and we were just talking about how things change but we always have that place we look back to when life was innocent.

For her it was that picture. For me it was listening to Laser 558 on a transistor radio on one earpiece while hiding under the covers hoping my mum didn't catch me. She did a few times although I got really good at faking falling asleep while listening. So the second verse relates to the pirate radio days, I used the analogy to Caroline as it is a stronger image and is strangely enough the name of the girl I had my first schoolboy crush on so it works on a couple of levels even if you don't get the radio reference, although why wouldn't you?

I was just beginning to get really serious about my song writing at this stage, had managed a couple of what I considered to be really good songs and so felt that I could justify berating the industry and the manufactured pap that was, and even more so today is, out there.

I must admit though that I thought the track's time had been and gone until Get Ready to ROCK! picked up on it. It came as a really pleasant surprise to find that there was some interest and enthusiasm for the track. After several exchanges of email the suggestion was made that a small re-write and re-record could make the track personal for the radio station. That seemed like a fun idea. I had some studio time booked, we found the original recording from the album and set about the re-record.

Strange thing though, over the three years since this version of the song was recorded, there have been two others both really shouty and loud, my voice has got stronger so it took a while to select the right microphone for the job to tie the original vocals with the new .

Strangely enough for the tech heads out there it was an SM 58. Good solid gig mic as the original was only supposed to be a guide vocal for the drummer to play to but I liked the life and energy of it. I figured I could not do it any better and so we left it.

So there we have it, 'Free Rock' lives on as does the spirit of the song in the ethos of the station playing it.

'Get Ready to ROCK! Radio,
Get Ready to ROCK" Radio,
You're listening to Free Rock Radio'
Yeah Baby!!!!!!
 

You can hear the song at the start and close of daily broadcasting and throughout October in our playlists.

"Free Rock Radio" Words and music by Veg (Collaborator)

A girl holds a candle in a photograph,
An innocent smile that didn't last,
Long enough to get her through her shattered dreams.
Whatever happened to any of us,
We grew so fast and changed so much,
And moved the markers around to suit our needs.

Our generation has totally lost,
It's sense of direction so what do we want.
We want. Free Rock Radio.
Free Rock Radio.
Whatever happened to free rock radio.

Whatever happened to Caroline,
Every night I believed she was mine,
A secret kept became a secret shared.
She came into my mind into my room,
Into my life.
I'd hang on every single word she said.

Our generation has totally lost,
It's sense of direction so what do we want.
We want. Free Rock Radio.
Free Rock Radio.
Whatever happened to free rock radio.

Talk about giving up, of giving into change,
But I still want it more and more each day.

Independent now we are,
Commercialised it's gone too far,
For that everyone will pay and pay.
Where's your heart where's your soul,
Mine's alive and kicking in this rock and roll,
This freedom of speech that allows me to have my say