The newest recruit, and the oldest member of the band, I started to play guitar around 1961 inspired by the music of The Shadows leading to a number of red guitars, smart suits and choreography. And a place in the top band of the era in that well known mecca of '60s music - Newcastle-under-Lyme... as the music changed so did The Zig Zags, so Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds followed in time...
At college in Nottingham, and needing to earn some supplementary cash, trad jazz (ugh!), Glen Miller big band stuff, and then... another blinding flash of enlightenment - Clapton playing Hideaway on the Beano album. Away with the red guitars, whammy bar and clean sounds, and in with a great deal of practice to perfect finger vibrato, experimentation with stomp boxes, blue lense granny glasses, hipsters and wild shirts and the formation of Clockwork Orange, the first band in Nottingham to play Hendrix' music - supporting acts like The Alan Price Set, Cliff Bennett and the Rebelrousers, The Merseys, Unit4+2, Graham Bond, Family and so on...
Shortly thereafter, marriage, career, family and the guitar under the bed and music forgotten while the scene changed to rock, heavy metal, and glam...
Late '70s, job stress etc. and the guitar rescued, and rusty twiddling resumes, followed by an invite from some local 16 year olds to help them sort their band out, which leads to a place in the band playing '70s rock, followed by various experiments with bluesy stuff, funky stuff and another flash of enlightenment - Albert Lee playing with Emmylou Harris... enter country music, a couple of Nottinghamshire bands, culminating in The Road Band and appearances at Wembley in the International Country Music Festival in '80 and '81...
After that, everything seemed a bit tame, and then the big career promotion and guitar-under-the-bed syndrome struck again... but in 1995/6 a shattering illness put paid to my chosen career for good... and a complete rethink was required... leading to a short career as a motorcycle courier and a nostalgic return to my musical roots - The Shadows!
OK, so it's not fashionable, but there's a whole generation of baby boomers and others who love that stuff in UK and abroad, and discovering similarly obsessed musicians, we founded Legend (you can check it on Wikipedia and Youtube) which turned into the premier British amateur band playing only the later '60s Shadows' music created on Burns guitars. And that led us to Holland, Germany, and all over UK, including three appearances at Bruce Welch's ShadowMania - a real honour. But, surprisingly, the chord work of such music - I shared lead and rhythm - was very demanding, and hand problems forced a retirement four years back...
Since then, some fun playing lead in a Lincoln rock band, and some stints on bass playing, rock and blues, and now UFB following the retirement of the excellent Chris Bull...
Gear:
Come and see!
