Born in Lincoln UK in 1950 I went through all the usual 'school stuff' before deciding at the age of 12 that I wanted to play the drums like Ringo. Reluctantly my Dad bought me a 14'' Silver Sparkle Gigster snare and stand from a catalogue, so most my playing was confined to my bedroom. After leaving a disastrous education in 1965 I started work and saved up to buy my first real kit. It was an old 2nd hand Premier, and with that I joined a local band named Burlesque which featured Harvey Booth Vocal / Blues harp, Jerry Waller on Keyboards, Bob Howe on Bass, and the late Den Clarke on guitar.
At 20 I turned professional with a local band based in London named Country Fever which featured such luminaries as Roger Dean, Adrian Legge and Albert Lee. Some of my favourite players in that era were Barry Morgan (Blue Mink), he had an enormous effect on my playing. He was superb on all the early Elton John albums, you could tell his distinctive and 'positive' style on any track, and I believe he was probably one of the busiest session players in the 70's and extremely innovative too. Ronnie Tutt (Elvis) astounded me with his speed and independence. Mind boggling on all the live Elvis albums, he really pushed a 'hot band' along. Then there was Hal Blaine, he did just about everything in the US in the 60' and 70's.I would buy albums by unknown artists just because he was on it. Still one of my favourites is 'Fifth Dimension live'. All read....wonderful stuff.
This was taken at The Nashville Room around '71...or so...
(Thanks to Tim Burgess in Tasmania for supplying the above pic),............and here's a pic of Tim.
Country Fever toured Europe, the UK and Ireland extensively in the early '70's.
We became the regular backing band on tour for George Hamilton IV, Hank Locklin, and Marvin Rainwater amongst others.
(Thanks to Lin in Nashville for the pic).
Above is a pic of me and bassist Rod Clarke whilst backing Geo Hamilton 1V, note Jon Dereks' old Fender amp.
Nan Carys Wood around '74 L-R, Terry Brown,Paul Trubridge, Kenny Lynch, Graham (Frank) Walker,myself and Gus York
Fever finished in '72 or so, and I came back to Newbury. In '75 I joined a band which was fronted by Kenny (Kipper) Lynch, The bands' name was Nan Carys Wood, named after a nearby supposedly-haunted woodland. We did a fair bit of work up and down the nation with the help of our wonderful soundman / roadie Paul Shackeman , and recorded 4 songs, all originals.
NCW ground to a halt in '76, and I went back to working with various local musicians Then in '77 I was seconded into The Wallace Collection, a 'society' band that worked mainly in London. This was hard work and long hours playing the likes of The Savoy, Dorchester, Inn on the Park etc, mainly parties, and also big country houses where we would play Hunt Balls. These sometimes involved finishing at 4am, and then me coming back to Newbury to go to work for the day...!!!!, but the money was very good, and it enabled me to escape Thatcherism and go to live in Australia..
This pic was taken 6/1/2005 when we all gathered for Den Clarkes funeral. A whole bunch of Newbury musos, some of whom I hadn't seen since the 70's. L-R Terry Kruger, Rick Hicks, Graham Canning, Pete Fry, Malcolm Hicks, Paul Jones, Sue Edgar, Terry Bailey, Nigel Reveller, Dave Hicks, Graham Pocock and moir.