My Music Story...

I don't remember when I fell in love with music but I was young.  I remember my Mum had a story that before I went to school - so before 5 at least - I was sat on the settee at home and she came in to turn off the TV which had some chamber music or such like playing out... I asked her not to turn it off as I was listening to it.

My real first memories are of a Dansette like record player being replaced with a huge great sideboard of a "stereogram" this was placed in the corner of the front room under the TV.  Soon I had my Mum's collection of 45s crashing down on each other from a great height on the autochanger and was stood in front of it with a metal "guitar" (toy) over my neck "playing" along.  Soon I was buying my own records - the first single I remember buying was Ha Ha Said the Clown by Manfred Mann.

About 10 or 11 years old I started to get more seriously into music.  Supertramp were a major initial influence - they were "my band" I discovered them for myself - i.e. they weren't a band others in the family liked.  I was also into many others - Hendrix, Yes etc. weren't far behind.  At 11 my Mum and Dad bought me an acoustic to learn on - some Eastern European made thing I think.  I went to lessons which were a group of us with a teacher at the front at lunchtimes at school.  That didn't work - I just couldn't get it for some reason and was highly disappointed.  My Mum sought out a young lady teacher local to us who was a friend of a friend and an old school colleague of my elder sister.  She taught classical guitar which my Mum thought was obviously the right way to be taught - it was for me actually.  I got it quickly with her help and was soon romping away.

So I was a classical guitarist, playing oboe as well... I could have gone a classical only route easily.  But I was listening to rock of all types.  I formed my first band with some mates at school / the church and we bashed out some awful stuff I'd written and one or two covers...   I'd bought via my Mum's catalogue a Columbus Strat copy by now.  My songs were called things like "one way ticket to nowhere" and "national violence"... about a year later punk exploded.  I tried to be in a punk band but that failed and I lost faith in punk anyway as the designer t-shirts came along so retreated to rock and prog rock, now most of my listening was Rush, Yes, Zep etc.  I nearly was in a band that went on to be in Quadrophenia the film.

But a couple of years later another school band took my attentions.  A mix of covers and selfpenned stuff, most of that from me as I found learning other peoples stuff without music difficult and preferred writing my own.  I left that band as I was fed up with the direction it wasn't going in - that was a painful experience as my brother had become "manager" and had got us a gig or two but we weren't good enough really.

At 16/17 I was writing a "concept album" based on the Narnia story.  That didn't go anywhere but some of the material I liked - I revamped the lyrics mostly now influenced by the King Arthur stories and Unforgotten King was born - i.e. I had a chunk of material I'd written and needed a band.  I'd jammed with a set up that had failed again a few months before - asked most of that line up to join and we were off.

Sadly we had a year of some success but I let it all fall away...   I was a right arsehole then, I wanted to be told how critical I was to everything but kept telling everyone how bad I was... in the end that band disbanded then reformed... with out me in it!

I didn't do anything for ages - then I got a Fostex 4 track portastudio and in my new married home a studio was born in the back bedroom... synths came in, sequencers etc.  and I had one of my periods of most productive time culminating in an album of stuff I finished off but did little with.   Looking back a lot of it was crap!

Periods of learning a load of covers from magazines etc. came next and finally as I hit my 40s I got into a couple of bands.  One I formed with a singer and bassist but after some months that folded as we didn't have a cohesive direction.  From that I joined another covers band and did a gig or two but found the direction of the material away from whatever I suggested to other stuff... so I left that too... that was just before I stopped drinking too so that was a messy time.

In 2009 I thought I'd get a band together - I talked to a load of people but again couldn't find the magic of people that gelled with my view of material etc.  So I saw a Rock-Till-You-Drop Sunday acoustic thing being set up - Colin Gillman played one and I thought - get over yourself have a go.  So a hastily created set of material was got together.  I enjoyed it and it was a reasonable success, well Toby was happy to offer another set in 3 months and Scooter Forums radio via 4Dinners wanted some material to play.  So I started recording and writing more...   in a year I had performed other gigs and had recorded an album including some time in a professional studio.

Work returned to get in the way in 2011 and I don't get the time I'd like to spend on music right now but that is the position today... I still mostly like writing my own stuff, why sing something that is someone else's when you can do your own...

Go to my Reverbnation site to have a listen...

An update - May 2012....

Thought I'd update here to bring more up to date where I am.  I've been writing occasionally and playing at some open mic nights in Rochester - the Nags Head has one on the second Wed of every month with is originals only - suits me well.  I was on the bill for the inaugural Newington Festival in April 2012. 

I also started a little jam band with two other people (bass and drums) doing covers currently.  We're very loose on plans or not for that - we'll see where that may or may not develop in due course.

So what for the rest of 2012... watch this space...