On this page you'll find a little bit of information about my musical side, links to some good sites (especially guitar-oriented sites), and I might even stick up some of my music, once I've got some that isn't over 7 years old - which most of the recordings I've got are; so they don't really reflect where I am now. (better get on and finish those recordings, hadn't I?)
First thing I guess, is what I play. I've been playing the guitar now since (omygod) 1987!! That's a bloody long time! Excuse the exclamation marks, but it shocks me that I've been playing that long. That's 13 years, there. Anyway, I play and write in many styles of music, though I'm leaning further and further towards jazz - Larry Carlton is a god, I just have to say. I play (and modify) electric guitars (see my Guitar Mods page), and currently have 3 and 2 halves. 8) I also have a nylon string acoustic guitar, which is extremely hard to play classical music on - the action's so high - but is great for dirty old unaccompanied blues.
The reason I started to play guitar is all a bit odd really. I was watching 12 O'Clock Rock (a late night music TV show in NZ yeeeeears and years ago), and the Jimi Hendrix Story was on. I was watching, and I went "OMYGOD! I HAVE to do that!!" I've actually pinpointed the moment too. A couple of years ago, I saw the film again, and there's one clip of the Band Of Gypsies live at the Fillmore East. Jimi's in the middle of his enormous solo in Machine Gun. That was it, right there. It was really quite freaky, watching the clip that made me want to play guitar.
My mother and uncle had bought me an old classical acoustic (same one I have now), and I started pissing about with that. Mum heard the name of a local guitar teacher, and off I went. The guy was (and is) a bloody genius by the name of Graeme Webb. Lives in Grey Lynn (Auckland, NZ), and AFAIK still teaches. If you want lessons from a brilliant guitarist, go see Graeme. He plays jazz, but even if you don't think you're into that, don't worry. He's not at all limited stylistically,(Last time I went round I was shocked to see a Kramer with a locking nut!), and the jazz perspective is one which is valuable in any type of music. The grasp of theory you'll get from him is fantastic, as is the sheer musicality of everything he does with you. Beautiful. Anyway, learnt from Graeme for a fair while (dunno how long, just off the top of my head - something around the 2 year mark I think), by which stage I was in a band of sorts. My mad mate Dylan and I were jamming, and writing strange gothic progressive queen-inspired chromatic modulating every 30 seconds type things, until he brought in a guy named Serean Triffinoff, who brought some short pop songs with him. This really kick-started my chops. The reason being, after a while Serean and I, and a brilliant drummer named Pete Griffiths carried on without Dylan (which I'm still not at all proud of). We kept playing three songs in particular from the previous band, but at a hideously faster pace! I liked the guitar solos I had improvised earlier, so kept playing them as the songs sped up and up and up. So my chops had to improve!
We kept getting faster and heavier, to the point we named ourselves Terminal Velocity! (I had to suggest that name, to stop the rest of them calling it "Bulbous", or "Throbbing Member" - scariest thing is that I think they were (at least) half serious! As bands do, TV self-destructed (might have had something to do with Serean playing in about 3 other bands, and blowing off TV practices to play with them), and I started playing again with Dylan. We got a bass player (Matt Penman, who I believe is now very well known - way to go Matt), and a really good jazz drummer - Mike someone. 8) We did various covers, and vaguely funky stuff - with great biiiig looooong extended fusion-y guitar solos. yum 8) For some bizarre reason, we named ourselves "Maid to Order". Don't ask me; Dylan's idea, and I didn't have anything else.
Since then I haven't been in a band, which does free up a fair bit of time, but I often miss it. I've kept playing, and recorded a couple of things; some stuff with Dylan - which I still think is pretty cool - and some with Matt (from Maid to Order) and some other guys. I absolutely love playing music; it is such a release of tension, and it's getting to the point where the more complicated and fucked-up it is - so the more I have to think about it - the better I like it. Masochistic sod, eh? One of these days (once I've passed my exams) I'll definitely have to start another band.