Still rockin'......
I guess I have always been involved in music one way or another. My parents were very religious and fans of classical music, as I child I was encouraged to sing in the church choir (which I enjoyed) and Sunday afternoons sitting round the ‘Gramaphone’ (no TV then) listening to Beethoven or Bach which though the music did nothing for me I learned to appreciate the power music had. I should add that another influence in my younger days was the BBC broadcast for schools programme ‘Time and Tune’ where we  were taught old English folk songs and sea shanties, to sing but also time signitures and musical notation and whilst I couldn’t sight read music I knew what the symbols meant.

When I was a child Rock and Roll was just beginning although we had little chance of listening to it, to my parents it was taboo ….. the Devils music. As I grew older thoughI got to hear more Rock and Roll on Friends new transistor radios.

It was in January 1963 during the worst winter that I can remember I first heard the Beatles. I was not quite 14 years old but it was an event that totally changed the outlook of my life. First I wanted to hear more of this music which perhaps made me more defiant to my parents and more openly listened to “Pop” radio
programm at home.  Secondly as I got more into the music I wanted to play it. 

My first band was formed in 1964 with some friends from school. We called ourselves “Mick and the Mekons” (after some space alien in a boys comic) and I was the singer. I guess we were typical of the time playing songs from the top ten or from our favorites of the time.

We had a lot of fun and drunk a lot of beer (though we were not old enough) but after a year our 16 year old egos were getting too competative. There were a lot of arguments and when my best friend Chris , our drummer, went to the Isle of Wight to start his apprenticeship we split.

In the spring of 1967 a work collegue said he was forming a band and needed a drummer. I couldn’t play the drums nor did I have a drum kit, but I said I’d join and sold my Vespa scooter to buy a kit and so the next band was formed.

This band was called ‘The Daughters of Reverend Narne’ (also from a comic book). I was 18years old now and (as far as I was concerned) an adult. This was the summer of love, psychcodelia, Sergent Pepper and we had everything. We played a mixture of our own songs and covers we had a good stage presence too, there was just one (or two) flaws  ………. The singer couldn’t sing and the drummer (me) was crap. I sold the drum kit, bought an accoustic guitar and decided not to face the world untill I could play it. But not quite!!! In the autumn of 1968 Graham Maisey our guitarist in the ‘Daughters…….’ Formed an accoustic folk band and asked me to join. Here I did a bit of singing and strumming the three chords that I knew when they came up, confident that Grahams proficiency would cover me. In 1970 I moved away from London, settled down, got married and put away my guitar forever.

But still not quite! In 1985 I got briefly into management and took charge of East Anglia’s premier Rock band  `Chaser’. I spent a year getting gigs for them and writing to every major record label, hoping to get a deal for them but without sucsess. Now though my son was 10 and seeing these strange men his dad was working with, wanted to play the guitar.

Buying my son a guitar was the catylist for me to start again. After playing his ¾ size instrument which was much too small, I just had to buy myself a full size accoustic. By now I new exactly what I wanted musically – just to play guitar, to accompany myself singing, play alone with no arguments with band members over musical policy – I could play exactly what I wanted when I wanted to, and if I got paid for a gig that was a bonus – BULLSHIT !!!! I wanted to be a mega Rock star but at 36 I was past it!

No matter what, from this point I was improving, not just in playing but in confidence to perform. I had attended a vocal masterclass and was standing in  line with would be Pavarotti’s, our tutor gave me full marks with the comment “A street song would sound totally alien sung by an operatic tenor” and added that I had the perfect voice for my songs.

Onwards from there I got regular paid gigs, spent a year as resident performer at Marnos restaurant in Ipswich, played in many charity concerts including the Queens jubilee music day in 2002 and was a regular at the buskers nights at the Limburners pub near Ipswich.

I emigrated to Austria in 2004 and here have played at the Eisenstadt Wirtschafts Ball, in 2005 a pub opening in Bad Sauerbrunn and a few parties. I spend more time recording now, but performing live is my favourite and I’m open to offers.

I hope you enjoy looking around my site. Before you go, please take the time to write in the guestbook, your comments are always welcome,  thank you.