I’ve been involved with bands for over twenty years, and have worked with some superb musicians (as well as some naff ones).

My first years were in the North East of England where I was part of a collective of musicians playing original and sometimes unorthodox music influenced by such bands as Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson. Jazz also has been a huge influence throughout, with such bands as Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra.

We were all straight out of secondary school and getting gigs was really hard, at one point we were so desperate to get our songs heard we spent one afternoon in a phone box with a guitar, a drum and a tambourine, randomly phoning people and playing a song!

Punk and New Wave happened while I was at art college in Middlesborough and bands were playing everywhere. I was playing in some of the clubs in the North East and in the ‘phone box band’ which by now were starting to get themselves organized (ish), calling ourselves Fair Warning. The music was written by local legend Richard Searle - a clever songwriter and Peter Hammill devotee. The songs were both jazzy and hard-hitting with original and poignant lyrics. We were jeered and misunderstood in most of the places we played, but there was always someone who would come up to us afterwards who had really appreciated it - even if this was just one person, this would be enough for Richard - this would be inspiration for me in the years to follow

The band now consisted of sax, trumpet, keyboard, bass and drums with Richard on vocals. Two members eventually left the band and we were reduced to bass, sax and drums - an unlikely line up and in many ways unworkable….but the bass player turned up the treble and played chords and we continued, calling our new style ‘Budget Rock’ (we wanted to release our album on MFP or Pickwick records).

I eventually moved away from the North East having played with various jazz musicians and even poets!

I moved to the Midlands in ‘the eighties’ and joined an American rock band playing Boston and Kansas (erm….the bands not the places)! We played American air bases in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. The music although not my favourite was well done and in contrast to my last band had a massive full sound. We were full of Budweiser and testosterone - particularly the lead guitarist (now there’s a surprise), the last time I saw him he was being chased by some American air force personnel with his ‘spandex trousers around his ankles trying to jump on board our van after a gig. He later told us that he’d been caught entertaining someone’s girlfriend backstage. We also had a roadie…..nobody seemed to know his proper name we all new him as ‘erm’ on account of that’s what he said after every other word…and I put him under ‘E’ in my phone book!

My next band was in Northampton…..’Problem Page’. This was a 60’s soul revue band with a fantastic sound and some really good musicians. The guitarist came from THE Rizzilos! We played large clubs and bars and the music was fast and exciting. I bought a brand new silver Pearl Export kit and some halogen lights to illuminate the kit from underneath- these were operated by a foot switch by the lead singer. We had a gig at a large bar in Wellingborough one night and the stage set looked great! As the gig progressed I played a bit harder and the new lights were left on longer…..too long……and suddenly…’drummer on fire’……..the kit had set alight together with my shirt. The flames seemed huge and the buildings sprinklers went off and everyone was evacuated! The venue surprisingly booked us again, but wanted the same trick because of popular demand.

I once again moved, this time to Derby and was playing in a reggae band called Clinic P. I really enjoyed this style of drumming and we recorded a few songs in a local studio. I bought myself a new Premier APK kit and tuned it for a live ringy sound, which fitted the music; we also got into sampling fairly heavily too.

I went along to an audition in Nottingham with a band called You Me and Him - I was impressed with this band from the start in that they rehearsed at the lead singers house and they regularly stopped for tea and freshly made chocolate brownies baked by his mum! The music was nearly all original-composed by Pete Bradbury and I spent the next couple of years playing live and recording with them. The other musicians were a fair bit younger than me and very keen. This meant they played virtually anywhere that would put them on and also played for very little money! The music was however very good and we generally had a good time playing it. One of the best gigs was on a weekend away at Bath. We played a great gig at the university followed by a party and no sleep at all! The weekend was finished off by a gig in Oxford where we supported a band (I think they were called Blue Blood) who were totally obnoxious and insisted on wearing backstage identity passes around their necks! There were one or two definite low points like The Axe and Cleaver in Boston on a Sunday afternoon and also the Post office club in Derby. For this gig we had been double booked and after some time we persuaded the other band to go home. We played the first set and in the interval the manager told us to play something commercial or leave! We spent the next 15 minutes learning some Beatles songs and played the second half fairly successfully - this was perhaps the seed that was sown for the forthcoming Beatles tribute band. I left the band when we had our first child…Anouska and I couldn’t justify being away from home …..and not getting paid!

After a couple of years doing very little musically, Ian Watts from You Me and Him formed a Beatles tribute band called Twist and Shout and for the next two years I became Ringo both on the drums and vocals (yes that bad). As the band progressed the sound got more authentic and the gigs became more regular and popular. We played packed sweaty gigs at The Hippo in Nottingham, and, at one stage gigged every other night in pubs all over the midlands and mid Wales! The more prestigious gigs were at The Commodore where we played with The Merseybeats and Dave Berry, and also St Andrews golf club in Scotland. We also recorded in studios where we completely ignored all the technology that had taken place over the last 30yrs!

After another short break from music after our second child (Cameron) had arrived, I joined Mat Williams in his band Pondlife and later Miracle Beats. Mat wrote all his own music in The Miracle Beats which took influences from Africa and later Jamaica. The band initially was a six piece including drums, percussion, bass, guitar mandolin, fiddle, vocal and Berimbau…. A sort of African stick with a stretched string between the ends and a plants dried pod for a sound chamber…Oh and you needed another stick to bash the string with…..superb sound though!! Unfortunately we only played one or two gigs with the band, but it gave me the opportunity to play along-side a percussionist and some other brilliant musicians. When the band fell apart Mat continued recording an album with the Miracle Beats music, and at time of writing, it has just been completed. (Hear the album)