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MY INFLUENCES


When I got into figuring out how to play lead guitar, at about 15, I taught myself three solos from cassette – Mark Knopler’s on Dylan’s “What’s A Sweetheart Like You Doin In A Dump Like This!” from Infidels, Dave Gilmour’s on Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” from Wish You Were Here, and Pink Floyd’s “Brick In The Wall Part II” from The Wall – once I had figured those out, I kinda got the idea of how to play a pentatonic scale, which really made learning rock solos a hell of a lot easier!!!

I just love electric guitars, and admire any guy who takes the instrument onto a new plane – Charlie Christian turned it into a lead instrument, Leo Fender dreamed up the Strat, Les Paul thought of multi-tracking it, Keith Richard distorted it, Jimi Hendrix set it alight, Jimmy Page knew no boundaries, Dave Gilmour – the sounds…, Brian May turned on a sixpence – what can I say, Eddie Van Halen introduced the other hand to the fretboard, Steve Vai – uh –just watch him go, he played with Zappa, know what I mean?


BANDS BIO

I’ve played with a number of bands over the years, starting off with Gypsy’s Kiss (hard rock) in ’86, Goldrush (folk/rock) 87-90, Tanglewood (folk/rock) 90-92, Photo Finish (country) 92-94, Grass Marjin (folk/rock) 95-01, Fatal Attraction (country/rock) 01-03, since then I’ve been free-lancing, trying to learn as many styles as possible – pop/rock group, Kraze; Showman extraordinaire, Art Supple; funk/soul quintet, Arcadia; plus an occasional gig with guys from past bands – always a pleasure!!

SLIME THE BAND

SLIME
Slime is a band my cousin Tony Steele and I dreamed up in about 1984, we used to spend summers together, when he’d come down from Monaghan with his family, we’d cycle, listen to Queen, play our tin whistles, listen to Queen, record stuff onto cassettes, turn one stereo towards the other, and overdub more stuff onto another cassette, listen to Queen, overdub some more…
Throughout the rest of the eighties, we grew up a lot: we’d listen to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Queen, and whatever else came up. Steve Vai kinda blew me away the first time I heard him on Dave Lee Roth’s “Eat Em And Smile”, and he still does – I met him in July and he wrote on my axe – see photo page.

MY GUITARS

I gigged for 14 years almost exclusively on a Westone Spectrum FX, until I prett much wore it out – it was a magnificently 80’s machine with a H/S/H config, locking Bendmaster trem, neck-through body, rosewood board, 22 frets, three pull-pots and 3-way toggle, giving a total of - I think – 24 possible pickup combos – my son Alan is now learning on it, still very playable, but needs refret, wax-potting, new bridge, etc. etc. – it features on “Untrained Melody”, and I’ll always love the sound of it.
My main guitar now is an Ibanez RG with a piezo acoustic bridge – it’s so incredibly versatile and fast-playing that I would recommend it to any student as a reasonably-priced, lifetime instrument. I also play a Godin Solidac, with a delicious flame maple top that you just sit and stare at. I put together a replica of a ’69 strat in 2006, which is really addictive and growls like a rabid ferret, that will be featuring on my next offering, along with the ’58 Hofner Senator I just had re-fretted.The lyrical content on the album is a mixture of political complaint and psychadelic drool – something for everyone?! The bass I used on most of the songs is a sweeeeet replica of a fretless Fender Jazz – thanks Tony!!