My Biography

I was born in Bangor, Wales and grew up in York. I consider myself to be a Yorkshireman. At school I was always on the music peripheries, not one of the central, classically trained musical kids. I had 2 years of violin lessons, 6 months of piano lessons, and one Tuba lesson. I also sang in various choirs. I managed through all this to avoid learning how to read music at all competently.

At 14 I started studying music 'O' level and at 15 I got my first guitar, a present from a friend of my parents. When I worked out the chord of D from first principles there was no stopping me and and soon I formed a band with my friends. We never performed live but used various strange combinations of equipment to record songs, and often more experimental "music concrète" works of art.

By the time I finished University I was a guitarist and bassist, having already played often in church settings, something I still do to this day. I have been in a rock/soul band, a jazz band and still am in a ceilidh band. I have also been in many scratch bands put together for some event or other. In the late 80s I had access to a recording studio and recorded two albums of my own songs, mostly for my own pleasure.

Instruments I have performed in front of audiences include bass, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, drums, congas, bongoes, cymbals, shaker, guiro, tambourine, African djembe, pan pipes, penny whistle, violin, piano accordian, glockenspiel, bodhran and triangle and mandolin. I don't think I have performed live with my ukelele or my balalaika but I would be willing to give them a go. My main instrument is bass, followed by guitar, followed by computer, which I take seriously as an instrument to be mastered. I have recently added a mandolin and a resophonic guitar.

And I still can't read music at all competently.

I'm 50 and live with my wife and two noisy children (thankfully my wife's not that noisy), and for a living I teach people how to make computer games.

My Christian beliefs are very important to me, if you want to know more I have written a page about them here