It's me name, innit?

Not anymore. Used to, years ago.

I enjoyed it, I was very good at it. But in my experience it doesn't pay the rent on its own and it can have a huge negative impact on the rest of your life if it's not giving you enough back for the effort that you have to put in.

I do miss it and would do it again if I thought it would get me anywhere.

I miss the old ways, but on the other hand, I wouldn't get anywhere near you without this.

Far more people have heard my songs via the internet than ever came to any gigs I did, so go figure...

It would very much depend on the situation, the deal on offer, and how it would affect my life.

I started off writing/singing acoustic stuff 30-odd years ago. Songs about elfs, suicide, and various whimsical wotnots. My gig posters for this stuff used to say "Love, Death and Garden Gnomes".

At the same time I was playing lead guitar in a NWOBHM band, but my real love is 60s/70s pop rock and blues rock. I left the NWOBHM band to form and front a blues-rock combo. I "retired" in 1988/89 to get married. Concentrated on song-writing for a while.

In the late 90s, after the wife walked off with the kids, I went back to band/live stuff. That band even recorded a CD, but I suddenly understood one day that "music", and my dreams about fame and fortune, were stopping me living. Overnight I gave it up altogether.

Eventually I found Mrs Right. After we got married she discovered exactly what "I used to be in a band" meant and what all the cases in the attic were about. She coaxed me back into creating music for my own personal enjoyment. That's the music you're getting now...

There's absolutely loads of it, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'll never have time to record it all. But who cares? It's for my benefit (and hers) not anyone else's. If you like it, lovely, but I don't really need to know anymore. If you don't like it - go and listen to someone else, there is LOADS of talent out in the big wide world, there's something for everyone :-)

The Bee Gees, Rory Gallagher, and Queen were big influences originally. But I've got wide, wide tastes...

The sofa, next to the missus

Strats, Teles, an Explorer, a Les Paul, and an SG
A flat-top acoustic and an arch-top acoustic, and a couple of resonators
A bunch of keyboard stuff I don't really understand
A Line6 Variax bass
Laney CUB12R and Vox AC4TV for guitar amplification
Vox Tonelab LE and POD XTLive for Amp Modelling

I use a BOSS BR1600CD and a BOSS Micro-BR to capture it all. Some of the earlier stuff on here was done on a PC with Cakewalk, but I found PC recording offers too many "options" for me and I fiddle around too much with getting anything done.

I ought to get another picture taken/uploaded. I'm still wearing the same battered fleece, but you can't see it anymore because my hair's grown a bit...