Joe's Story

Pencil's bassist Joe has one passion in life, other than rocking with the band that is and that's flower arranging. Before the days of the Pencils Joe even ran his own florist's, a modest little shop on the High Street. Joe originally took up flower arranging at night school as a way to meet women and show his sensitive side, but he soon caught the bug and 'Fountain's Blooms' was the result. Joe got a great sense of achievement working for himself and loved being able to make his own decisions for once rather than being told what to do by some boss. With the business being so simple and Joe's A-Level in business studies, he knew what to do and setting up as a sole trader was fairly easy. He was good at his job too! The customers liked him, his flowers were always fresh and Joe managed to make a tidy profit from his little store. This was great for Joe because being a sole trader meant that all the profits went to him and no one else. It didn't matter that profits weren't massive as the business only had to provide for one person.

It was no small decision for Joe to set-up his own business however. He had to borrow money from the bank to get started and it was he alone who was liable for all the losses if the business failed. In the eyes of the law, Joe and the business were one and the same. He was literally risking his home and all his possessions if things went wrong. This constant worry, the long hours and having to make difficult decisions on his own meant that although he loved working for himself he did find it very stressful and always felt like he needed a holiday. This brings us to the final straw, the final nail in the coffin of 'Fountain's Blooms'.

Joe found himself so busy that he just couldn't give himself any time off to go on holiday. If he left for a week in the sun then who would run the business? This was really hard for Joe to take with the stress of being in charge and everything else, so much so that he signed the business over to Rocky Flame in return for the bassist gig in the then newly formed 'Cheap Biro' that would eventually become the Rock Monster that is 'Expensive Pencil' and he's never looked back!

Rocky promptly forgot about his newly acquired florist's business and had to sell his Ferrari to cover the debts when the bank finally caught up with him. Joe still has a tendency to mention this whenever Rocky is trying to chat up women. Rocky still has a tendency to point out that at least he used to own a Ferrari…and a Porsche and a Lamborghini…oh and a Lotus too.