There are so many stories that I could write, for we most certainly had what Some Might Say was a misspent youth, but for me, Ben and all the boys, it couldn't have been spent better. Never did we miss a call to adventure, always pushing the envelope of what kids our age were supposed to be up to. It was like this creative fire within us, that could only be sated by taking our collective energy and expressing it on a wider stage.


One such adventure took us on a lads holiday to Magaluf, for a riotous two weeks. Ben was just 15. And yet we six amigos took our Heathen Chemistry on a roadtrip around the resort night after night. Within days, we owned that place. Everyone knew who we were. Even casual onlookers could see that there was some alchemy, some social sorcery that we shared, and they respected it. Maybe even envied it. It shone from us like a Champagne Supernova.


Anyway, midway through the holiday, we were playing pool in a bar, and Ben expressed his dismay with me. For we had been boozing for years, and yet he’d never seen me wasted. He couldn't understand how I always stopped shy of losing total control, and he somehow felt poorer for not having seen me like that. I could feel his pain and his eagerness in equal measure. And so I Acquiesced. 


I loved the boy so dearly I wanted to offer him the prize of my inebriated scalp on a plate for him to glory over.  So for his pure amusement I proceeded to sink 9 pints in the next hour. Barely had the clock struck 11 and he had his wish. I was absolutely fucked! 


I don’t remember much of what transpired thereafter, but I do remember Ben having his arm around my shoulder to stop me from Falling Down, and escorting me outside so we could sojourn to the next watering hole, and him proudly declaring to all that would hear him that this poor excuse for a drunkard was ‘Ben’s Little Creation’.


His Masterplan had worked, and to his and my great joy, one of the boys captured this moment on celluloid and the resulting pic was our favourite memento of our friendship.


When you’re young, and happy and basking in the glow of beautiful friendship, you genuinely feel like you will Live Forever. I had always imagined us growing old together, and part of me couldn’t wait for us to all be sitting in our Rockin’ Chairs, with Ben Tellin’ Stories about all those hilarious antics we got upto.


Sadly that possibility has been taken from us with his untimely passing. But as I sit here writing, Half The World Away in the Himalayas, I know with such absolutely clarity that whilst you may be Up In The Sky, you’re also right here in my heart, and you always will be. Not just me, but all those you touched with your magical energy. You were Born On A Different Cloud, you were one of a kind, and we all knew it, and I hope you knew how special you really were.


Thank you for everything you gave to this world. You were a Force of Nature, and a Better Man than I could have ever hoped to have graced my life when I landed on this earth.


Thank you for the music. Thank you for the good times. And most of all, thank you for being you. I Hope, I Think, I Know we will Keep The Dream Alive in your name.


Your dearest friend and brother


Will