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The Early Years
Rehearsals three floors up in a scruffy room accessed by an external fire escape. Far right playing a Hofner Verithin through a Watkins Copicat and a Watkins Westminster amp. Aged 14 years.
My first Fender Strat'. For which I had to play a lot of gigs and clean a lot of wheel hubs. This was subsequently stolen from me along with my Vox AC30 and my Binson Baby Echorec, following a pub gig in Brixton: Age 16 years.
One of my first gigs enjoying my new Strat'. Obviously an early low key affair, since I'm still playing through a Watkins Copicat and Westminster amp'. It must have been a family party or something, since Mike's (centre) pregnant wife is there. Irene subsequently gave birth to Shane, now a fine professional drummer who lives in Dublin.
A bit of a setback when local criminals stole the whole of our equipment and ruined our van.
Naughty crooks we said!
Oh' well, another few hundred gigs playing cheap guitars, and I suppose more car cleaning!
A few months later, whilst not able to replace my previous equipment, I purchased a second hand (now referred to as a vintage) Gibson 335.
Unfortunately I looked like a stick insect hanging on a leaf.
It wasn't long after this that musical differences entered the band. (For those that don't understand "band talk" that's a euphemism for wishing to beat the crap out of each other.) Hence I decided to leave and began writing with my long time friend Guy Mascolo: And thereafter my real career began.
Guy was a true artist in all that he did. A classical guitarist who at the time was under the tutorship of John Williams (who in the late 50s and 60s taught at London's Spanish Guitar Centre). Stepping back in time and recalling: I was 13 when I first heard Guy play. We sat in the garden of his family's rented home (in what was then considered a poor neighbourhood in south London), and Guy played in such a way as it reached my soul.
Following the release of The Five Day Week Straw People and sundry songs placed with publishing companies, my move into band management was a natural progression.
My feeling is that unless you are in a band or a solo artist that in your teens or early twenties has gained a vast and loyal following, then by all means keep playing, writing and performing; but in order to continue earning a living in the industry you love, think about band management, or working in an area of the entertainment industry you enjoy. It can be so rewarding.
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