I first started playing guitar at age 13. Graham Hawke ran a weekly club and set out new songs to play, with around 10 guitarists. We did a couple of local gigs which went down really well. I soon progressed to playing a bit of lead which culminated with Wishbone ash’s ‘Everybody needs a friend’, in front of hundreds of parents! Graham was a real inspiration which led me to my first proper band Pegasus.
Pegasus did similar covers, but a bit more rock oriented. Steve Bray on vocals, Dave Faulkner on bass, Paul Rattenbury on drums and Jeremy Kerslake (Harry) on guitar. Most of Pegasus are still in bands or involved in music currently, although maybe with a different musical outlook.
In the intervening years I did a few one-off gigs with my friend Steve Bromley from the guitar club, who played bass and sang. We also did a pub gig with his brother John who was signed to Polydor (1969 album Sing).
In the late 80's I set up a new band in Gloucester called Midnight Hour, which was a soul and blues band. We played a lot of gigs around the south west over the early nineties. Following this my next band Storm were formed. Clive Barton who had been with me from the early days of Midnight hour was the singer and guitarist at the time, with Liz Leaverland on vocals (Clives sister Carol later replaced Liz) and Nigel Davis on bass. We went through a couple of drummers including Jeremy King who went on to play with [Spunge], before settling on Mark Usher a few years down the road.
Mark has been with me in bands ever since and we are now both in Ungentlemanly Conduct, playing rock and blues covers. The band has had a few members including my son James who went on to sing and play in Second Storm with me. Garth Pickup plays bass in the band and more recently Paul Chammings has taken over second guitar duties. I also spent some time gigging with Second Storm with Paul and James and did a single gig with Players No. 6, both of which I decided to leave.