My Artistic
Development
Just a little information about me, what I've done in my career so far and what my future plans are.
When did I start?
What have I done?
Future Plans
I started with music at a very early age (about 5) with the keyboard but my heart was never really in to it. I was always longing for a guitar.
After a while my mum bought me a little acoustic which I absolutely loved and I started learning from some of those really old music lesson books. The first song I actually learned was House of the Rising Sun, which I played really badly. After a while I managed to pretty much master open chords but I was never satisfied. This was just not quite enough for me. Was there more????
Fast forwards to the age of 12 and my first year a senior school. This is where it finally happened for me.
I remember going to music at school and seeing one of my class mates with a silver Marlin Sidewinder and he was the biggest inspiration for me, playing all over the neck with ease and just being an absolute ROCK GOD. I didn't have a clue what he was playing but I knew this was what I was looking for. Turns out it was SAD BUT TRUE by Metallica. This was exactly what I needed.
On the way home from school that day I went home via the local music store that just opened. In the window was a cherry red Strat copy (Just think of Hank Marvin and you wont be far wrong) for £120. That was it, I had to have it! I started a paper round and started cleaning peoples windows to earn the money. After a few months I had enough to buy the guitar, a strap and a guitar cable. I was off.
I plugged the guitar strait into my stereo microphone socket and started playing along to songs on the radio.
It wasn't much longer until I found AC/DC through a school friend and that was it. I found power chords, distortion and a completely new way of playing.
The rest is, as they say, history.
Apart from playing in a couple of pretty rubbish school bands I hadn't played with any decent musicians. I was just a bedroom guitarist that dreamed of being a rock star.
When I was 16 I was lucky enough to spend some time with a real band that was playing around my local area. Through a mutual friend I was introduced to the band and the next thing you know I was carting gear around and hanging around back stage. These guys really lived the Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll lifestyle. That was it, I was hooked.
2 years later I moved 250 miles away to the south coast and within a year I was in a rock duet called BAHO writing and performing. This was fairly short lived due to the other guy moving to Norfolk after his girlfriend.
While I was was in BAHO I was spotted by local singer, song writer legend Steve West. He was forming a rock originals band and he was looking for a lead guitarist. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. The band in this format didn't last long but some of the members including myself merged into Steve's other band Safety In Numbers. I stayed with them for over 20 years and recorded several albums of original material but eventually it was time for me to move on.
After several years of performing and recording solo, I decided it was time to start something new but unfortunately covid hit and we were all confined to our homes.. This did give me lots of opportunity to improve my playing and raise my social media profile.
As lockdown ended I was approached to join a local high energy rock covers band that was just forming, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We had some great success performing at some great venues and managed to headline some festivals. Unfortunately this was fairly short lived due to the lack of professionalism of some of the members.
This however gave opportunity for me to start a semi professional function band called Plethora.
I am now currently working on a new project that will be announced very soon. Lets just say that the Sound, Lights, Music and Performance will only be described as EPIC. I will keep you posted.
I hope to be hitting the studio some point soon to produce a new album of material that I am currently writing. This will ideally be available to download from all of the usual sources. I would also love the opportunity to get a couple of videos done to accompany the album.
My main goal for the future is and always has been to perform my music to as many people as are willing to listen to it. Filling venues and for everyone to come away after having the night of their lives.