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First published in August 2009
I
was born in Holland 9 January 1949.
The
family came to Wellington in 1952, my father being recruited by the NZ
Symphony Orchestra as principal tympanist. He was also a consummate classically
trained concert pianist so this was my initial influence.
I
played violin for a short time then recorder and ukulele at primary school.
At
age 10, I began formal lessons on classical guitar from one of my dad’s
colleagues in the orchestra, however was soon influenced by pop music and got my
first steel string guitar, a Hofner F hole, which I managed to put a pickup on
and plug into our radiogram. Lessons from Len Doran followed on electric guitar.
A
youth club had started on Friday nights at the Wadestown Anglican church hall
and soon I was playing rhythm guitar trying to emulate the Shadows, Ventures
etc. A band evolved, "The Berets", with John Veale on lead, John Hall drums and Onny Parun
on bass. We became reasonably competent with me doing most of the vocals
covering hits of the time plus some more obscure R&B and rock. We played regularly
at school dances, youth clubs and various functions.
The
band lasted through most of my college years. John Veale went south to Uni
and Onny became one of our best professional tennis players.
Next
came The Dizzy Limits/Timberjack, fully detailed
separately on this website. Needless to say we were teenagers in our prime
and had a really good time!
After
Timberjack, I went on to join the Quincy
Conserve in 1972, resident band at the Downtown Club and Lion
Tavern later moonlighting to form Redeye circa
1974 as resident band at the Entertainers Club and then The Cabin. Redeye
gained prominence as backing band for TV programs Grunt Machine and
Ready to Roll. During this period I also played bass on a number of albums
including Mark Williams, Kim Hart and Timberjack Donoghue
to name a few, and I still continue to do session work.
During the 80s I played in a number of house bands at local nightclubs including Slack Alice, Exchequers, Nitesite and St George. I continue to play bass and sing in local covers band Livewire (www.livewire-band.co.nz).
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