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My early musical adventures were as a Classically trained violinist (4 years to pass my V theory on the bad side, grade VIII with distinction on the good side), numerous Leicestershire Schools Orchestral “Gigs”, local and nationally, formed a quartet from school and did a few private functions, dinners and social events and a couple of weddings, then left school and discovered beer and women (in that order!!). I wanted to become a guitarist and play in Queen, Maiden or ACDC, I didn’t mind which, but after years and years of my fingers working 4 strings I could not re-educate them to play 6 (and in different positions) so I quit ACDC and took up drums, first ever kit was a 50 quid Budget job from a great shop in Leicester, (now a car park), but it came with a cracking pair of Hi Hats - Which I still use to this day. A year later and a few pay-packets in the bank I bought my first Premier Kit, an APK (Advanced Power Kit) and never looked back, I had suddenly become a sticksman!! (Pete still tends to turn up with new gear unexpectedly - this worries Stu as Stu likes to worry . . . . . ) First Bands First “Real” band was in 1987 - The Jonah Fish, all local guys, writing and playing original music, no covers, heavy airtime on Radio Leicester, Radio 1, Coalville Times, Leicester Mercury, playing places like the Charlotte in Leics, The Talbot and the Hippo in Notts, The Rock Garden in Covent Garden. Line-up change in 1990 saw us playing more London venues like Powerhaus, islington and the Sir George Robey at Finsbury Park, more local activity too with double page spreads in the local press, and the offer of a record contract from a company formed by one of the trumpeters from the Beautiful South (which we turned down) great days !!. The Jonah Fish finally swam off into the great sea of destiny in 1994, never to be seen again. Whilst in the JF, the early nineties saw me sign up with the TA in Nottingham , just to get a post as one of their military side drummers. I had a great teacher called Bill who used to run the Prince of Wales pub in Whitwick (one of the JF’s practice venues) and within two years he had got me into the band and gigging in Germany, Holland, London and more locally in Nottingham. Fantastic nights away, well drunk after most of the gigs and I got paid handsomely too. Subsequent Bands There followed a year of work with the remnants of another local bunch of guys in an outfit called “The Sleeping Surgeons”, doing MOR covers, but loads of work, 3-4 nights a week, well busy whilst holding down a full time job, good fun !! A year off then saw the formation of the great WYSIWYG, with the demise of the Jonah Fish, we all swore that we’d never fall into the “musical prostitution” game of forming a covers band, but we’d all missed it so much that Myself, Andy Jones and Andy Richards from the Fish formed the Wygs with Pete Kirkham up front and Simon Carter on Bass. The rest, as they say, is history. Towards the end of 2005, Pete Kirkham left to pursue a career as a bouncer, we auditioned various new front men to no avail and eventually it all petered out in a damp fizzle. But, as one door closed, another sneaked ajar. Strangers Whilst in the Wygs, the only two other bands I would have wanted to be playing in were Beholder and Strangers, both just awesome lineups. Early November 2006 I get a call from Shakes – “did I know that the throne in Strangers was vacant”, nope!! A couple of calls later I get an invite to an audition in Hinckley, 4 Strangers anthems to learn in as many days, then off to Audition. First song – Bat out of Hell – Bang, all the way through first time, the rest was a breeze (only joking guys!!, never been so nervous). (No, me neither - Ed). Two weeks to the first gig, 20 new songs to learn, a week off work, a new car and we’re ready to ROCK !! My first and lasting memory of gigging with Strangers was that it was like being strapped to the front of a runaway freight train, no stopping, no pauses, just full on ROCK. I barely had time to turn to the next page in my cheat sheets. Just frantically awesome. I was IN !! Forty-odd years old, dressed up as a Gay pot-bellied Welshman, in a blonde wig and red lycra, playing Abba. Just the ticket guys!! Musical Likes Whilst on the fiddle I was well into the classical stuff, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Haydn, all different forms – Orchestral, and Four-piece, the odd solo performance thrown in for good measure. My early Drumming influences were Zep, Queen, Maiden, Purple with a good dose of Blue Oyster Cult and Can thrown in for good measure. Then I started going to Donington regularly and got into Ozzy, Metallica, ACDC and heavier stuff like Motorhead, Anthrax, Slayer, Sepultura, Megadeath and the like. Recent years have seen age start to catch up with me and I have tended to mellow into more relaxed Rock, Jovi, KISS etc, and a little bit of Aerosmith through to more modern stuff like Muse, Greenday (for a while) and Slipknot – Just love their stage shows !!. But I still like to get my “Metal Head” on once a year. I never really listened to a whole lot of Bon Jovi or Aerosmith before Strangers, but playing the songs opens up your eyes to their true qualities. Ze Germans have ze gut muzik too mit mein favourite Rammstein und a little bit of Die Toten hosen, kind of German Punk !! (literally translates to “The Dead Trousers”) LOL !! Anything goes really, these days. Musical Nono’s Blues (Sorry folks, I aint into da blues, it just does no float my boat) and Status Quo (yawn). Gear (for the anally retentive amongst you - Ed) Drums Always played Premier – main kit up to midway through the Wygs was an 80’s APK “Rock” size kit, but then bought my current Artist Maple drums. 6 piece, 20” kick, 10, 12, 14 rack toms, 16” floor and a “Modern Classic” 14” x 7” snare. Kick drum worked a treat in the Wygs but didn’t cut the mustard in Strangers, so, after much retuning and the application of three different heads it was jettisoned in favour of a 22”. Initially re-borrowed back my black APK kick, fitted a black reso on the front and we were sorted !! Current kick drum was purchased through fleabay, stripped, sanded and stained clear to match the rest of the kit. Front reso head was a fantastic birthday gift from the missus, imported from the USA, laser printed design, just awesome !! Tuned just passed the crinkle point and with the D112 mic placed inside the drum gives that deep, full kick sound of all great rock bands !! Snare drums – initially I continued to use my Tama “Lars Ulrich” steel Diamond Plate monster for strangers Gigs, but it just wasn’t the right sound. Too Metal man, and the standard “modern Classic” which came with the kit Buzzed like F**k, so having quit smoking I quickly saved up for a Premier 14” x 8” “2008” model snare, from the mid eighties, flo-beam parallel action, infinite snare control, just a lovely drum. Sorted. The kits original snare is now my Gig Spare – saved my life on more than one occasion Heads – Toms have Evans G2’s on the batter and standard Evans clears on the reso’s. Kick has Pinstripe batter and a couple of old bath towels (clean) for internal dampening. Snare has a Remo paperthin clear reso and a Remo CS coated batter. Cymbals Hi-hats – These are the original Meinl bronze 14” Heavy hats I bought with my first kit, plenty of cut and depth and a lovely patination (not dirt, Stu) accrued over the years. Ride – my only other piece of original kit, Sabian B20, nice full sound and a great bell (the rounded middle but) for sharp accents. Crashes – these are a one of the best things I have ever acquired – a sonically matched set (don’t ask me how they do it) of four Zildjian A Custom crashes, again, loads of cut and power to get through the morass of Keys and Guitar, accompanied by my most recent addition, 16” Zildjian A Custom China, just a lovely clean accent tool. Other stuff Rack – Holding it all together is a custom Gibraltar GRSC series curved rack, loads of clamps, memory locks, cymbal arms and the like, works a treat but weighs a ton!! But a great small footprint for a good sized kit. Best thing I ever did for getting rid of the forest of stand legs I used to have, on-stage nightmare ! Pedals – Hi Hat is an old Premier 2000 series stand, remnant from the APK kit, solid and reliable. Kick pedal is a DW5000 series double pedal, std beaters. Kick batter head is protected with a Remo “Falam Slam” Kevlar patch. Indestructible, but a bugger to keep in place !! Mics – Snare mic used to be a standard Shure SM57 on a mount of the rack, but I go totally fed up with trashing them so I now have the loan (thank you guys!!) of a Beyer Dynamic TGX-5, really small and easy to place off the rum of the drum, delivers a great sound too !! Kick mic is an industry standard AKG D112 (on load from Drew, thank you so much man !!), subtly placed inside the kick drum, delivering heaps of punch and depth. Tom mics are and Audio Technica DC-5 Drum Pack, with custom drum rim mounts, comprising Bayerdynamic MKV-87 spring loaded mounts and a couple of M8 studs for perfect positioning. Sticks – using Vic Firth “Rock-N” nylon tipped these days, good weight and they last well. Pair of felt timpani beaters for rounded cymbal rolls where required (start of Mr Crowley, for example). The Future Next project is to restore an 80’s Premier Resonator “Black Shadow” kit, which I recently acquired, back to it’s full glory, then gig it. It’s going to blow you away !!! Watch this space. | 
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