My Life in a Few Paragraphs
I was born on Tyneside, the course to my musical career nearly faltering at a
very early age when I failed the audition for the Blaydon West Infants School
Choir. Seeking refuge in a one-stringed guitar (but what a tone!), I took to
performing on the street, confusing all I came into contact with. Relief for the
neighbours came the following Christmas, when Santa provided an acoustic
guitar and the road to a musical career began.
After school, I joined Hot Snax, a local Tyneside band and spent a few happy years gigging and making the odd 12-inch – making the late, great John Peel’s record of the week with “Pressure Drop”.
The music bug had really bit hard, so I packed myself off to music college, leaving Hot Snax behind and joining Sneck, a modern jazz combo.
After college, a typical jobbing musician was I (working all over the UK) –
95% of the time spent paying the rent with stage shows, session work etc and 5% picking gigs that you really want to do. This time included two stints on the QE2 playing in a quartet of Geordies (42nd Street) where beer was available for 10p a pint – it was the best of times … it was the worst of times!
Eventually the glamour of never really knowing where the next pay cheque might be coming from loses its lustre, and I joined RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind) to put musical scores into Braille ... but still gigged with local bands (now in the Peterborough area) such as Head On.
2004 saw the introduction of a home studio and work started on my first album.
Why SunDog?
There was a musician of the late 1960’s called Moondog and I always really liked the name for some reason– so it’s Moondog with a bit more fire!
Who does SunDog like?
Everything you hear influences you – whether for good or bad.
Guitarists - Steve Foley (the reason I started playing), Charlie Smith (my teacher at college), Ken Tweddle and Ian Stronach (two phenomenal talents at college), Robert Fripp, Alan Murphy, Eddie Van Halen, Pat Metheny, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.
Others – Debussy, Stravinsky, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Miles Davis and Prince.
Favourite album – “Cupid and Psyche” by Scritti Pollitti.
Music I wish I’d written – Rite of Spring, Kind of Blue, Penny Lane.
Favourite animal combination: a monkey riding a dog
Who would SunDog most like to work/have worked with?
Dead – Miles Davies.
Alive – Captain Beefheart, The Prodigy
Would SunDog rather be doing anything else?
Scoring goals at the Gallowgate End.
By the way ...
I’m interested in working with other people online – to share ideas and talent to make music that takes me in new directions. If you are interested in joining SunDog for a run around the park and chasing sticks for no reason, send me an email or use the message board at Overplay
Page last updated 18 April 2008
You are visitor number
