Читать книгу 5 Seconds of Summer: Hey, Let’s Make a Band!: The Official 5SOS Book - Литагент HarperCollins USD, Ю. Д. Земенков, Koostaja: Ajakiri New Scientist - Страница 15

Wow, looking back I was such a nerd when I was a kid. Most of the time I was stuck in front of a computer screen; because Mum and Dad owned a computer business, they had all the gear, and some of my earliest memories are of playing games at home. I loved it, but luckily for me it was my gateway into 5SOS.

When I was little, my dad played drums, which is where I must have got all my rhythm from. But when I was around eight or nine, my parents bought me the video game Guitar Hero. Once I started playing I got ridiculously good at it. So good that I thought, Hey! Maybe I should try playing guitar for real ...

Until that point, I hadn’t really shown any musical talent. We grew up in a place called Quaker’s Hill, which was a pretty OK town – it had a Domino’s Pizza place and a McDonald’s, which was great as I got older, but as a kid it was pretty dull. I was mainly sat in front of a computer screen and there’s even a picture of me, aged about two, playing on a keyboard. I became quite an intense nerd. It’s a miracle I didn’t end up turning into some kind of mad scientist.

I think that became a problem, because I hated school. I never wanted to go to lessons and often I refused to leave the house. I remember my parents being really angry at me because I wouldn’t go in, even when I was at primary school. I don’t know what it was, but there was something I absolutely hated about the lessons. They sucked. Now we’re in the band and getting up and working hard, I’m fine. Back then, school was like torture to me.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t do the subjects, though. I went to Norwest Primary, the same as Calum, and then on to Norwest Christian College, the high school. When I was really young, maybe in Year 3, I was placed in the gifted and talented class. I was smart. I was good at English, I was awful at maths, but I understood everything and I could get what the teacher was saying. Still, I hated it. I kept thinking, Why the hell am I in a class that needs me to be smarter when I don’t even want to be here in the first place? Everyone else was so dedicated to school. They were getting all these amazing grades and I was like, ‘Forget this.’ The next year they put me in the average class.

When I was about 12 or 13, life got a bit tougher for me because the recession happened and it hit Mum and Dad really hard. I was an only child and until then I’d been pretty spoilt, I guess. I hadn’t realised what money was worth because I was so young. I would just ask for things and get them, no problem. Once I’d got into my teenage years and my parents went broke, it made me realise that I couldn’t expect everything to happen for me.

Now I’m in the band, I appreciate absolutely everything we do together. Every time we’re on stage, I’m happy. Every time we’re meeting fans or signing autographs for people, I make sure I enjoy it, because I know from my parents how hard life can be when things aren’t running so smoothly. Even when I’m tired from all the shows and touring, I tell myself how lucky I am. I got all of that from my childhood. That was a pretty important lesson to pick up.