The Sensational Vulcan Creedlers. How to Survive a Midlife Crisis - Mark Ravenscroft

January 31, 2009 - The Vulcan Creedlers, a recently formed, middle-aged, rock-covers band, is backstage on the brink of its debut gig. How on earth had they got into this predicament? Why hadn’t they made their midlife challenges more manageable?

What follows is a faltering five-year rise through birthday parties, wedding-band slots, working men’s clubs, with the occasional bonus of a corporate event. Whilst they were never able to utter the rock’n’roll dream welcome of “Hello Wembley”, The Creedlers did, somehow, manage to play at London’s Earls Court. There was even a European Tour, if one gig in Gdansk counts as a tour.

As the band suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune, this engaging tale of life on stage and on the road rattles along to a beat more punk than Pavarotti. Playing to audiences of one to one thousand, centre stage is Mike Stand with his anxieties, paranoias, and unshakeable determination to finally conquer that crucial live performance of his late father’s favourite song.

The Creedlers'' story is a humorous, honest, touching and often surreal flirtation with mid-life crisis and how to survive it.