A BRIEF CV (part II)

Myself, Harvey and Martin got to know Dave Brock and Bob Calvert of HAWKWIND very well and spent some time working with them. This led to a one-off concert at Christmas 1977 where we played under the name of SONIC ASSASSINS. The subsequent live recording is very much a collector’s item.
I joined HAWKWIND fulltime shortly after and toured the USA with them before jumping ship and moving to the South of France. I lived there for a dozen years earning most of my income from music. I was a founder of a series of bands - EXIT, EXILES, LEGEND, TWICE AS NICE and some others, gigging regularly and having some minor success with our recordings.
I also played in a dance band for three years which really got me playing in all sorts of new styles.
I was getting into studio work more and more and wrote the music for a couple of films - FEWER SHADES OF GREY and AVALANCHE. I also had the good fortune to work alongside people of the like of TOPPER HEADON of THE CLASH and HENRY MCCULLOUGH of JOE COCKER AND WINGS fame. Topper was particularly amazing : he could play perfect drums whatever state he was in !! And, there’s not many people who can say that he played on their demos.

I got myself involved in running my own business (nothing to do with music) and slowly had less and less time to spend on music and I moved back to the UK in 1991.

I couldn’t keep away though and for a while played keyboards with the well known Hampshire Folk/Punk/Dance outfit, THE CROPDUSTERS.
After a very quiet spell back in Devon, I finally moved to BRISTOL with its wonderful and diverse music scene. (DJ DIE, a member of the RONI SIZE collective, is the son of yet another member of ARK.)

In the last few years I have slowly ‘retired’ from being a business man and am spending more and more time writing and recording and have sold a couple of pieces to TV.
Two years ago, I had the pleasure of working on an album with JALAL NURINDA of the original RAP band, THE LAST POETS. This shows the diversity of styles I have worked on.
I love most forms of modern music as long as it is not pap and what I love the most is BLACK music in all its forms. I spend my time surrounded by it.
All I need is my favourite ROLAND, my APPLE MAC and my iPOD.
Not forgetting the support and love of my lady, Liz, who has music deep inside her and has taught me what it means to be black.

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