Music (from my ex-website)

Music

This bit gets its own dedicated section because it's the thing I'm most interested in and get most out of. I love listening to music and making it too. The only thing better than going to a gig would be to play in it!

I'm from a musical family; my father was a church organist (the proper sort that uses the pedals as well) and long-time timpanist/percussionist with the amateur Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as having a fine tenor singing voice. Rarely did he do all three at once. My mother is a singer (in church and with the Philharmonic choir) and pianist. My brother is a singer, bass guitarist, songwriter and now a DJ.

Having started with piano, violin, viola and singing, my instrument is the drums, which have always attracted me ever since I started listening to music. I've not inherited my parents' love of classical music (not for their lack of trying!), although I can appreciate what's going on. Many a happy childhood hour was instead spent pounding a pillow with a pair of my father's drumsticks so as to make as little noise as possible, trying to emulate Phil Collins, John Bonham, Neil Peart, Bill Bruford and Iain Paice (via my brother's extensive record collection, played at high volume!).

In April 1997 I spent what, for my wife and me, was a small fortune on a three-month drum course at the renowned Drumtech school in Acton, west London. I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven! I had top pros as tutors, soundproof rooms for practice and loads of musos from all over the world to trade stories and licks with. As a self-taught player, I was pleased to find that I hadn't developed as many bad habits as I'd feared.

As indicated earlier in the Personal section, I have fairly catholic tastes but mainly my listening falls into two camps: progressive rock/metal and electric jazz/jazz-funk.

The progressive camp is given over to The Flower Kings, Dream Theater (of whose fan club I was a member), Rush, It Bites (who used to have an excellent fan club - Hi, Maggie...), Yes, Genesis, The Dixie Dregs, Planet X, Transatlantic, Spock's Beard and anything else of a similar ilk. I wrote a potted history of It Bites for the website mentioned above. Read it here if you're interested, or check out the site for more info.

Jazz-funk-wise, we have Level 42 (again, a good fan club), Incognito, Spyro Gyra, The Brand New Heavies, and jazz-rock fusion bands like Vital Information, Chick Corea's bands and even Sting. Check out ex-Level 42 bass-man Mark King's solo stuff; the man's a genius. Read my review of his Jazz Cafe gig of November 1999.

Favourite drummers are legion, but the list will always include:

Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater)
Neil Peart (Rush)
Phil Collins (Genesis, solo artist)
Phil Gould (Level 42)
Dennis Chambers (Parliament, John Schofield)
Stewart Copeland (Police)
Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs, Winger, Rudess/Morgenstein Project)
Gilson Lavis (Squeeze, Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra)
Virgil Donati (Planet X)
Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree)

Best gigs ever attended:

Genesis - Wembley Stadium, London; July 1987
Level 42 - Wembley Arena, London; January 1989
It Bites - Town & Country Club, London; June 1989
Dan Reed Network - Astoria Theatre, London; January 1990
Yamaha Roadshow, featuring Dave Weckl, John Patitucci & Carlos Rios -Astoria Theatre, London; March 1991
Yes - Wembley Arena, London; June 1991
Flaw - The Rock Gardens, Covent Garden, London; December 1997 (with me on drums
- I was brilliant!)
Dream Theater - The Forum, London; June 1998
Mark King - Jazz Cafe, Camden, London; November 1999

Favourite albums: (or at least, some of them...)

Flower Kings: Retropolis, Unflod The Future, Space Revolver
Level 42: The Pursuit of Accidents, True Colours, A Physical Presence
Rush: Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures
Dream Theater: Images and Words, Falling Into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Spock's Beard: Don't Try This At Home, V
The Flower Kings: Adam and Eve
Transatlantic: Bridge Across Forever
Yes: Close To The Edge, Keys To Ascension
It Bites: Once Around The World, Eat Me In St Louis
Incognito: Tribes, Vibes & Scribes
Toto: IV, Tambu
Genesis: Duke, A Trick Of The Tail, Seconds Out
Van Halen: 1984, F.U.C.K.
Marillion: Season's End, Holidays In Eden
Dixie Dregs: Bring 'em Back Alive
Steely Dan: Live In America
Flaw: 1998 Demo (that great drummer again...)
Mark King: Trash, Live at the Jazz Cafe
Planet X: Live In Oz
Keane: Hopes & Fears
Metallica: Black Album
Porcupine Tree: Deadwing
The Feeling: Twelve Stops And Home