Sadly, a bit of a muso, I suppose...

I was brought up in a Methodist household by my Mom and so from a very early age I was exposed to four-part harmony hymn singing at Gig Mill Church, to my Mom’s extensive Beatles album collection, and to the Beach Boys : my Mom was also (and still is) active in a variety of choirs and in Amateur Operatics and I was often present at live events. I was given piano lessons up to Grade 5, which will have given me at the very least a firm grounding in chords and harmony, but had to give the lessons up when there wasn’t enough time to do my ‘A’ levels too : in an ironic twist of fate my ‘A’ levels really got me nowhere I then intended, but I have spent the rest of my life (so far) playing live music. doh !!

Anyway, I was by that time singing the bass part at church and, after doing a summer’s casual labour at the long-defunct Round Oak Steelworks in 1977, I at last had enough money to buy my first bass - an Aria Pro II Precision copy.

Then comes the lucky bit... !

A musician learns 80% of his tricks and style in the first rush, the first couple of years where you love your instrument above all else and throw yourself into learning all the tricks you can. Before 1977, of course, there were great bass players to model yourself on : Chris Squire, Felix Pappalardi, Andy Fraser, Geezer Butler, Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Philip Lynott, the awesome Jimmy Lea and the jazz greats like Charlie Mingus and Jaco Pastorius : in 1977 in England, however, punk and new wave exploded and most bands were characterised by fast drummers and bar chord guitarists - and bass players who carried the tunes. I was 17 and young and enthusiastic, and, at the time that I was looking for bass-playing inspiration, all of a sudden the radio was full of great, great bass players for me to pinch tricks from : Jean-Jacques Burnel from the Stranglers, Jon Watson from 999, Norman Watt-Roy from Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Steve Severin from Siouxie and the Banshees, Jah Wobble from Public image Ltd, Bruce Foxton from the Jam, Graham Maby from the Joe Jackson Band, Paul Simenon from the Clash, Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols, the truly seminal Bruce Thomas from Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the also-mentioned-in-despatches Lemmy, and the mystery musician (best guess is Martin Hannett) who did the bass line on “Going Steady”, the ‘b’ side of the single “Jilted John” by Jilted John. The sort of hybrid style I play in now is fundamentally down to these seminal heroes of mine, and often when I’m playing on stage I catch myself doing a riff from old songs like “When You’re Young” or “Strict Time” (recently I was watching John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's "You're The One That I Want" on the telly and realised with a horrific flood of recognition that I still do a bit from the bass line almost every week !). In particular, although I finally managed to play all the way through Chris Squire’s beginning bit on “Close To The Edge” in 1995, I have still never come close to getting Norman Watt-Roy’s “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” masterpiece right...

Suddenly I found myself playing in folk sessions in “The Royal Exchange”, learning how to work all these new influences into playing with traditional singers and players in all sorts of timings and keys (and supping loads of Batham’s). I played gigs and residencies with the Porpentine Elastic Band (Gay Butler, Ami Heyward and Clive Edge), in a more traditional vein with Pyracantha (Ade Partridge, Jan Whitehouse and Clive Edge) and also a whole heap of gigs, residencies, folk clubs, working men’s clubs, beer festivals and nearly one sexual orgy with Drops O’ Brandy (Jack Courtman, Stuart Booth, Ami Heyward, and Des McGuire or Dave Cope), who were a sort of Pogues before the Pogues happened but with better dentistry. After Drops fell apart, I dabbled in Country & Western with Art, Bart and Fargo ( Barry Porter and Allan Coley) and a (sadly, prematurely curtailed) quality period with Eyes in the Mirror (Pete Boddis and Pete Arrowsmith), but bounced back with the Psychedelic Cowboys, playing with Jim Batty and Ben Smith. Jim, Ben and I ended up playing a residency in "The Mitre", and evolved into Jim. me and visiting American Paul Mattes, although because Paul's employment in England eventually finished, he had to go back to America, signalling a return of Ben to the original trio. After a few months duoing with Gerry Riley, the long-term Landlord of "The Mitre", John Knight, retired, so we've also moved the Monday Night to "Katie Fitzgerald's" too, where I play each Monday night with a rota of lead singers ! I also had a surprise return call to playing with the old "Eyes" guys Pete and Pete, joined by drummer Bob White and sax player George Moody in a short-lived lounge-jazzy-Pete-Boddis-original-material setup called "Shaken - Not Stirred".

Guitar... now that’s a different bag of washing. I’m a bass player’s guitarist - the correct bass note with the right chord clamped on the top - and, also as a bass player I do like to get my fingers between the strings : so a classical guitar seemed to be the obvious choice. Now, in folk sessions, you all tend to play together and then a turn passes round the room for individuals to have a go. I always used to cringe away when the turn passed over me - just a humble bass player, after all, even if I could play all of “This Year’s Model” - but secretly I was learning Jake Thackray’s “The Blacksmith and the Toffee-maker” and one Tuesday night when the Bathams flowed nicely I surprised them all by doing it ! Years of assiduous collection of the songs of Jake Thackray, Tom Lehrer, Fred Wedlock, Jasper Carrott and Flanders and Swann later, I perform regularly with my little collection of weird, sarcastic, funny and occasionally perverted songs whenever I can be dragged from my bass. And whenever there is any beer involved in any way.

And then came The Jake Thackray Project. Click here to find out more of that story... !

I’ll be the little, quiet one at the back on the bass, having huge fun and, they tell me, occasionally standing on one foot... if I’ve got my classical, I’ll be the one trying to sing.