Chris was raised on music through listening to his parents sing and his fathers record collection being played continuously. This is his story

‘My fathers knowledge of music always amazed me and I would spend hours looking at his extensive record collection and asking him to play the records for me to listen to. He was a huge fan of the 1960s and therefore I grew up listening to The Beatles, The Hollies and The Small Faces to name but a few. Even now when I hear Sha La La La Lee I am transported back to my parents front room looking at the record sleeve of Steve Marriott standing with his guitar and signature hairdo which I would later emulate in my teen years. My father always had the hi-fi set to have the bass sound louder than most would set. I could feel the sound in my chest.

It wasn’t until I reached high school that I expanded my musical knowledge slightly and became an avid fan of Guns N Roses. Now, when you mention this band to anyone they will immediately refer to Axl or Slash…however I became intrigued by their bassist Duff McKagan. Additionally my brother introduced me to the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers. I loved the Blues music that I was introduced to through this film and again I became fixated on Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn – yes you guessed it…the bass player.

My family enjoyed going out on a Saturday night to hear live music from friends of ours who played in a duo. Sammy and Ricky would perform in the Family Bar on South Pier, Blackpool and I would join my family from the age of 5 listening to the sounds of live music. When I was 11 Sammy and Ricky decided to go their separate ways and a new performer joined with Sammy to create the duo Sam and Dave. It was at this point that I became captivated by the sounds being produced from the bass guitar by the man called, Dave Dover. I would get up to perform with Sam and Dave every Sunday and always wanted to stay up for just one more song.

At the age of 13 I decided that I wanted to learn to play the bass guitar and approached my father. My teacher would be none other than Dave Dover and my first guitar would be a ¾ sized no named bass guitar with a practice amp. The first song I would learn to play was House of the Rising Sun, The Animals. Following this would also be other 1960s classics such as When I’m 64, The Beatles and Don’t Turn Around, The Merseybeats. When I turned 14 the TV show, Crocodile Shoes starring Jimmy Nail aired. From the moment I heard this song I knew I had to learn it and the next weekend I asked Dave if I could learn this song. When performing this song with Sam and Dave the added tones of a harmonica would be played by Dave and I just knew that a life playing in a band was what I wanted to do.

Fast forward to college and I had opened my musical knowledge substantially. There was not a genre or era of music that I wouldn’t listen to and couldn’t find a discussion point with. It was at this point that I became obsessed with Pink Floyd. Hearing The Wall album for the first time in its entirety and I was hooked.

Now when I listen to music, just like my father before me, I have the bass turned up. I can hear Dave Dover talking me through the bass line and my passion to understand the riffs being used is of paramount importance.

Not so interesting facts -

Fave colour- Purple

Fave car- GT500 Shelby Mustang

Fave bass guitarist(s)- Far too many to mention but here’s a few –

Dave Dover (will always be Number 1 in my opinion) Roger Waters, Duff McKagan, Donald Dunn, Geddy Lee, Mark King, Victor Wooten, Bootsy Collins, Leland Sklar, Guy Pratt, John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Willie Weeks and Nathan East

Fave guitar- I own a lot of guitars as I have rarely bought a guitar I have not kept. However, you will usually see me performing with my MusicMan Bongo 4 String

Andy first became aware of music from a very young age. This is his story

‘I discovered from about the age of 4 that I could make tunes on a pull along xylophone- think it was a train. I was fascinated by the different notes and sounds. Then I remember listening to my brother’s cassettes of Roger Whittaker and The Stylistics as well as listening to our parent’s music from Glenn Miller to Jean Michel Jarre. None of which was remotely guitar related.

This changed when I was about 10- again my older brother was beginning to listen to bands like AC/DC, UFO, Scorpions, ELO, Black Sabbath, Rush, Status Quo and Motörhead. I soaked it all up like the proverbial sponge.

This was a time where you would listen to the Sunday top 40 on the radio and record the songs onto the built in cassette player and you would have your finger on the record and stop buttons, doing your best to avoid the voice of the DJ getting recorded too. On one particular occasion, my brother had recorded two songs that grabbed my attention and made me want to pick up the guitar, changing my life forever- Living After Midnight by Judas Priest and So Lonely by The Police. Both have guitar solos. I’ve been a die hard fan of Judas Priest ever since.

However, I didn’t own or pick up a guitar for a few years later.

My best friend Martin at the time, who listened to the same kind of music as my brother and I, had just been bought a Gibson SG and a Lab Series L3 amp. He was going to be Angus Young and another friend Timmy was going to be Paul Kossoff. I didn’t have a guitar so I played the drums using pans and cardboard boxes as well as pressing start and stop on an organ’s built in rhythm section. They were heady times. Hmm.

When I eventually got a guitar ( a Kay Strat copy in sunburst with maple neck) I went to guitar lessons with Martin for about 6 months. I stopped going as the tutor became unreliable and I became self taught.

Teaching myself coincided with Martin discovering cars and girls. As he was a few years older than I was, our jamming together stopped and I was left to learn the the instrument by myself.

Fast forward a couple of years and I started to broaden my musical knowledge by listening to every genre that grabbed my attention- classical, jazz, country, progressive, blues, pop and everything in between. I became obsessed with Prince at this time too.

Nowadays, I enjoy playing the guitar as much as I ever did and enjoy listening to music with the same passion as well.

Not so interesting facts-

Fave colour- Green, sometimes purple

Fave car- Morgan Plus 6 in British Racing Green (what else?)

Fave guitarist(s)- Far too many to mention but here’s a few-

Steve Morse, Steve Lukather, Rik Emmett, Ian Crichton, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen , Michael Romeo, Allan Holdsworth , Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Sykes, Bernie Torme, Reeves Gabrels , Vito Bratta , Alan Murphy, KK Downing , Glenn Tipton, Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher , Eddie Van Halen , Angus Young, Al Di Meola, Aldo Nova, Dave Kilminster, David Gilmour, John Petrucci, Francis Dunnery and John Mitchell

Fave guitar- that’s like asking which is my favourite child- I love them all equally!!!