When doing interviews in the past I have often been asked “what got you into music?”, which always stuck me as a foolish question, so being the fool that I am, here I am asking myself it. The only answer I can re- ally give is ‘hearing it’. From the first time I was played music as a child I was hooked. Looking back I think watching the bairn stare intently at the revolving vinyl and attempting to mimic the melody was probably the entertainment for any adults in the house. I was limited in what I was allowed to listen to though as a child. My dad felt strongly that pop and rock music would corrupt me somehow. And maybe he was right. At the time the only thing I was allowed to listen to in his pres- ence was classical music and the odd Frank Sinatra record. Don’t get me wrong, I loved all of that, and still do. But on hearing the ‘golden oldies’ hour playing the hits of the sixties when he wasn’t around I knew I needed more. The whole thing about choruses, hooks with words, and cramming it all into a few minutes instead of what often seemed like hours. Dad was also a poet, and I guess I got my obses- sion with wordplay from him at an early age, and from that wanted to use all of these things.
As a teenager I was heavily into hard rock and punk music and started to play electric guitar, and go to as many gigs as I could. I went on to form a wild eyed punk band called The Nosediv- ers. We were friends first, then in a band, and then we kind of learned to play off our own backs and forged our own rough and ready sound in a sweaty rehearsal room. We were loud and fast and obnoxious. And we loved it.
I would religiously buy magazines that featured the bands I was lis- tening to and started to pick up on the artists they sited as influences. Usually old blues guys and older pop, rock and punk outfits I had not heard of, but then made the ef- fort to seek out in an effort to be- come more like my heroes.
I worked for several years in an independent record store in York, which opened my eyes and ears to other music that would influence me. Soul, country, folk, blues, and many more styles. Everything under the sun really. My nights would be spent in Fibbers, a local venue that I would call into for ‘a’ drink after work. I’d watch a band/artist sound check and end up staying all night if they were any good. Whatever style they played. Often propping up the bar on my own, listening intently, if it was something my friends at the time weren’t into. So when The Nosedivers disbanded, I knew I wanted to continue making music but it had to be something different. More thought out.
Having started to play acoustic guitar, and hone my song writing skills, I moved down to London. Not for musical reasons but defi- nitely following my heart. I started playing with some guys in a band called Sevenball, who were infi- nitely better musicians than me, and that made me up my game And want to up it even more. At the time I guess I was listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams etc…the ‘classic’ American song- writers. What I loved about them was not only how powerful the songs were but the diversity in sounds on the records.
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