British Rock Guitar Launch
Although I originally studied physics at university I have been a studio bass-player for most of my career. I started writing because I have always loved stories: they are at the centre of a musician’s life.
Necessarily in the course of composing, recording, producing, and touring more than a few stories have emerged and — although it has taken me a very long time — I have finally gathered them all together into one book: British Rock Guitar.
On many occasions – especially during a break on a recording session – the silly stories would start, often ending with shrieks of laughter (an important relief from the tension of extreme concentration).
It took about twenty years to gather all of the information, and a further two years to collate and write it
My book — which was published in September 2011 — is a meticulously researched history. Its strength is that it is an insider’s perspective: no journalist could have written it in such detail. The concept of the book was entirely my idea, and it developed simply from countless conversations with my musician friends. And as far as I know, no one else has recorded this period — certainly not the very early days and the session scene — in such intimate detail. Importantly this was based on first-hand conversations: Google had yet to be invented.
We had a terrific launch party at Dingwalls in Camden. It was a wonderful evening, and I was thrilled by the number of old chums who turned up to support — Brian Bennett, Bruce Welch, Bill Wyman, Colin Green, Paul Jones, Ray Russell, Tom McGuinness, Chas McDevitt, Frank Allen, Alan Hawkshaw, Linda Hoyle, and many more. I had to give a speech in front of that lot and it was this that started me off doing illustrated ‘talks’ ( see talks page ) - partly to promote the book, and partly because I love telling stories (and musicians are very creative and funny people).
Steve Blacknell was the MC for the evening and the Rapiers — UK’s best Shadows style band — performed a perfect set of instrumentals.
