Musical Beginnings
For the first 9 years of my life, there was no sign of ever becoming a musician. By age 10 the guitar was starting to take over, and by age 11 I was totally obsessed with it, playing every day, whenever I wasn't at school (and sometimes when I was). This obsession was thanks to my old friend Jim, who often visited my house with a guitar in his hand. He was a beginner at the time, but I didn't have the slightest clue about music so I found it enthralling, more than 20 years later I still do because you never, ever stop learning; there's always something to discover, no matter who you are. Jim would later end up in most of the bands I got involved with, either from the start, or he'd join later.
Wight Dragon
Although I started playing in 1996, for some reason It took until 2005 before I got into my first band; encouraged by my mother. This was a project built up from scratch, which was a great way to start the ball rolling. It was a band focused on originals, with the odd cover thrown in to please the pubs and mini outdoor festivals. We took it seriously and even recorded an album in my early days of engineering (thankfully I've improved since then). The band ran for 4 years with 2 different line-ups, eventually ending in 2008 but I would be seeing a lot more of those chaps in the years ahead.
Niewborn
The following year I was invited into a relatively new local band. I really needed this; without a gig schedule for the first time in 4 years, I was going crazy, craving interaction with other musicians. This was another original band, so it should have been right up my street. In the end, even though I enjoyed playing bass in a band for the first time, my involvement was to last just 6 months. Little did I know, the bass would dominate my gig schedule in a few short years.
Joe Saunders Band
Behind the scenes, I had been developing my style as an instrumental rock composer and things started sounding interesting by 2008. I had become a huge fan of Joe Satriani and realised several years too late that it was, in fact, OK to express yourself without the help of lyrics. I started a band under my own name to perform those early instrumentals, ironically with most of the ex Wight Dragon Line up. After a few months apart there were no hard feelings and we were ready to throw ourselves into music again. It was a great two years for me and I'm glad I did it, however, my personality isn't suited to leading a band and the fact it was under my own name was honest, but I could never get comfortable with it. Frustratingly I also knew that using a band name would be misleading, so it would soon be time for a change.
Sequel
Having been encouraged to take the cover band route, Sequel was born. I was initially reluctant. I had been pushing for originality since 2005 and it bewildered me that people would rather listen to the same covers played over and over rather than discover something new and interesting. Luckily I am an open-minded person and I slowly started to understand the value of it. By the end of the first gig, I was completely won over. Learning other people's songs really increases your musical vocabulary and makes your own writing better, thanks to all the new influences you've gained. Audience response was also much better; happy with familiar music, they were now on our side. We finally had a band that suited all kinds of venues, the setlist was a great mix of 60s and 70s pop and rock and we'd fallen on our feet. The band's activities reduced significantly by 2014 and it is currently in hibernation.
Something About Mondays
By 2014, I was once again in desperate need of live performance. I put my name in the hat for the position of bass player with Something About Mondays. What followed was the busiest time I've ever had musically. This band was much more ambitious than anything I'd been involved with before. Nearly six years on there's already plenty to look back on; things I would have never experienced if I hadn't joined; multiple Isle of Wight festivals, two Wessex Folk festivals, two Original EPs in different studios... I owe a lot of my development as a live performer to this project. It wasn't always a smooth ride, but if it's worth doing you have to expect all kinds of challenges.
Blackfoot Daisy
In Early 2017 I was fortunate to be invited into a new country-pop band. This was a chance to play guitar on stage regularly again, and also an opportunity to take on a different genre of music. I've been with the band since the beginning and I knew it was going to work as soon as we played the first song together in rehearsals. I admit to fearing for my position to start with; mixing it with a group of vastly experienced professionals was a new situation for me and I wasn't sure if I could keep up. I am a flexible musician, but I am also acutely aware of my limitations. It's been a bigger technical challenge than I expected, which can only be a good thing. This is another ambitious project and it's been great watching it grow. We've already played a few small festivals and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve in the years to come. On top of the musical synergy, I have also made a couple of my closest friends during my time with the band.
Solo Projects
By 2010 my instrumental adventure was in full swing. Initially, I had planned to record 2 original albums at home, playing all the instruments apart from drums; this meant becoming a full-time bassist and (years later) part-time harmonica player. I didn't have any trouble using my own name as it made sense in the circumstances. I certainly didn't expect to be sat here so many years later with 110 original pieces of music across 10 albums; each with a different musical agenda, covering rock, blues, ballads, pop and acoustic genres. My song writing and engineering developed as time went on, hitting their peak with the most recent albums.