My 15 mins of fame
Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:38 pm
I have often said that i am a drummer (honestly, i am) .Well i have been for the last 30 years or so. Started when i was 15 playing along to cd's on headphones with music like Guns n Roses, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, The Doors, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith. I soon progressed to playing along with much harder rock music like Led Zep. Joined my first band in 1990 and we were called My Stupid Life.
The next few years were a haze of different bands in York and i found the bass player with whom i still play in a band with today. Over a period of 10 years we played in countless bands together and at one point we were in 5 different bands at the same time.
I always practised every day for at least a couple of hours. This was quite easy when growing up on a farm and having parents who were really laid back. Not being trained i learnt from copying other drummers by playing along with cd's until i had mastered them. Rock music gave way to other types of music, particularly jazz with stuff like Herbie Hancock, The Crusaders, Weather Report, Buddy Rich, Chick Corea etc etc. I cant say i could do all the fills in some of these records but i got damned close and never stopped trying.
A million gigs later (some of the stories i could tell) and i ended up in a band called Lo Beams in York. One of our friends was called Chris Helme and along with another of our friends Stu Fletcher, they were recruited by John Squire (Stone Roses guitarist ) to play in his new band "The Seahorses". A few top ten hits later and many albums sold they suddenly split. Chris Helme (singer with seahorses) decided to form a new band and i was picked to be drummer along with fellow lo beams singer/guitarist Dave Keegan, seahorses bassist Stu Fletcher and ex band mate and shed7 keyboard player Frazer Smith.
We did a Uk mini tour which climaxed at the Improv theatre in London, 1999. Nothing came of it in the end but here [urlhttp://www.nme.com/news/music/the-seahorses-2-1392452[/url] is a very brief NME clip where i am mentioned. What do bloody NME know anyway. Unambitious Rock is how they described it and i probably would not disagree. Not the best band i have been in musically but who could blame me for going along with it.The strangest thing was people asking for my autograph and they didn't even know who i was. There were added bonuses like getting to shag some pretty fit birds and i became very popular in my home town for a while.
Bands have come and go since, i still play with the bass player i was in countless bands with (not Stuart Fletcher), at one time we were the ryhtm section for hire in York and i even remember getting paid retainers not to leave. I continued at a semi professional level for a while, even selling my soul and joining a Queen tribute band (i hate queen) for a couple of years. Eventually becoming a parent put a stop to it all but now they are 7 & 4 i have starred again with some old chums and we have the beginnings of a latin jazz rock band. Think Santana but nowhere near as good.
Happy times........
The next few years were a haze of different bands in York and i found the bass player with whom i still play in a band with today. Over a period of 10 years we played in countless bands together and at one point we were in 5 different bands at the same time.
I always practised every day for at least a couple of hours. This was quite easy when growing up on a farm and having parents who were really laid back. Not being trained i learnt from copying other drummers by playing along with cd's until i had mastered them. Rock music gave way to other types of music, particularly jazz with stuff like Herbie Hancock, The Crusaders, Weather Report, Buddy Rich, Chick Corea etc etc. I cant say i could do all the fills in some of these records but i got damned close and never stopped trying.
A million gigs later (some of the stories i could tell) and i ended up in a band called Lo Beams in York. One of our friends was called Chris Helme and along with another of our friends Stu Fletcher, they were recruited by John Squire (Stone Roses guitarist ) to play in his new band "The Seahorses". A few top ten hits later and many albums sold they suddenly split. Chris Helme (singer with seahorses) decided to form a new band and i was picked to be drummer along with fellow lo beams singer/guitarist Dave Keegan, seahorses bassist Stu Fletcher and ex band mate and shed7 keyboard player Frazer Smith.
We did a Uk mini tour which climaxed at the Improv theatre in London, 1999. Nothing came of it in the end but here [urlhttp://www.nme.com/news/music/the-seahorses-2-1392452[/url] is a very brief NME clip where i am mentioned. What do bloody NME know anyway. Unambitious Rock is how they described it and i probably would not disagree. Not the best band i have been in musically but who could blame me for going along with it.The strangest thing was people asking for my autograph and they didn't even know who i was. There were added bonuses like getting to shag some pretty fit birds and i became very popular in my home town for a while.
Bands have come and go since, i still play with the bass player i was in countless bands with (not Stuart Fletcher), at one time we were the ryhtm section for hire in York and i even remember getting paid retainers not to leave. I continued at a semi professional level for a while, even selling my soul and joining a Queen tribute band (i hate queen) for a couple of years. Eventually becoming a parent put a stop to it all but now they are 7 & 4 i have starred again with some old chums and we have the beginnings of a latin jazz rock band. Think Santana but nowhere near as good.
Happy times........