About
I always wanted to play in bands and was always fascinated by any geeky piece of equipment with tons of rotating knobs and slidey faders. I’ve owned and twiddled with quite a few in my time (see Geek List). Joe Zawinul of Weather Report and Zawinul Syndicate, Herbie Hancock and Frank Zappa were particularly inspiring in my youth. I did music and music tech MA at York and a few of the Guildhall Summer jazz courses. And embarked on playing in a range of bands of so many different styles, from Acid Jazz with Rap (Elephant Sandwich), to FunkyRock (Earthmoves) to big funky bands for parties like ’For Funk’s Sake’ and ’What a Waste’ a tribute to the excellent Ian Dury and the fabulous Blockheads. Below are the band playing ’Inbetweenies’, ’What a Waste’, ’Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and ’Clever Trevor’.
Touring with the Mike Flowers Pops was great fun and lasted about 6 years in all. We shot videos, did loads of TV and played many of the largest venues and festivals in Europe. Here’s the Light My Fire and Wonderwall Videos and an appearance on TOTPs. Click on the right of the box to play the next one.
Other projects have included creating the music for ’Memento’, a contemporary dance performance by japanese dance company Synapse at the Laban Dance Centre. This used a mixture of musique concrete and my favourite 80s analog synth the MKS80. One of the sections is included on the audio player.
’Tantric Sex Weekend’ is an original project that I created with Chris Cobbett. We’ve got an album of tunes which were born in my studio. The tracks are expressive and filmic in nature with big beats and massive backing tracks. When we gig Chris sings and I play FAT synth bass using my fave MKS80 triggered by an old Prophecy that I drilled some holes in and stuck on a bass strap. Clarinet was originally my first instrument and I found playing clarinet for many years in London orchestras such as The Saloman, The Haydn and West London Sinfonia in my 20s helped me to write in a more orchestral and filmic way.
A main love of mine has always been jazz and I play in various duos, quartets often for weddings, parties as well as clubs, winebars etc. I also play in the excellent John Bennett Big Band.
I’m playing with Tight Fit who are reforming and ready to rock the world with ’The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and ’Fantasy Island’ amongst other tunes.