About Me
My diverse musical background started with initial, sporadic, piano lessons in my formative years, leaving a trail of exasperated teachers all over the west of Scotland. My first professional engagements were with The Definate Article, a covers band with the ground-breaking feature of having two piano players, and involved appearances at the Marr College school dance, and the League of Pity party, a very happening event. Sadly the strength of having two pianists was over-balanced by the weakness of lack of venues with two pianos (this being before the advent of the portable keyboard) and I was invited to pursue my musical career elsewhere!
This led to me picking up the guitar as being a bit more portable. The guitar underpinned my early folk/acoustic period with highlights of 2 months busking on the Riviera and gigs at such significant London folk venues as Bunjies and the Crypt with old school friend Iain Webster (the other piano player!). The discovery of electric pianos and synthesisers re-awakened my interest in keyboards and led to a stint backing an Elvis impersonator round the British Legions and working men's clubs of Buckinghamshire, while still plying my trade as a singer-songwriter in the folk clubs in the Aylesbury area both solo and with the very talented David Fenner.
A move to Reading in the early ‘80s led to a focus on folk music both as a solo club performer and in a barn dance band, Wheelwright’s Bane (and with brief membership of The Geckoes). In the mid 80’s I joined fellow Scots Jim and Sylvia Barnes to form Scotch Measure a trio blending traditional Scottish folk music with jazz & rock influences. This led to club and festival appearances all over the country, and the release of two albums, the first with Topic Records (and the enjoyable experience of being able to go down to Our Price records in Basingstoke to make sure that our album was in the front of the section – this didn’t seem to make a material difference to sales!). Here's a track from that album - The Swallow, a great song written by Steve Rothero. Mungo Jumbo, recorded by Rex Morrey followed and although strictly a Jim & Sylvia project included myself and Erica and covered a lot of later Scotch Measure material. More recently a lot of excellent live recordings which Rex made have gone up on the major streaming platforms under the heading Scotch Measure Live 1987-88. David and I also reunited following his move to Reading and did a number of duo gigs across the folk clubs of the South East.
The onset of middle age triggered the male menopause and the need to recapture the excitement of my lost youth; faced with the choice of buying a motor-bike or joining a rock band I chose what I thought would be the safer option and joined Clayson and the Argonauts as keyboard player leading to appearances in such iconic venues as the 100 Club and the Half Moon in Putney and the release of a CD, This Cannot Go On and a vinyl maxi-single, Sol Nova. Further Argonauts spin-offs followed; Clayson Sings Chanson, a two-handed show featuring the music of Jacques Brel and a range of artists influenced by him continues to tour the country with Alan Clayson on vocals with me backing him on keyboard and doing a supporting solo set. There was also a brief foray into the world of Jazz with The Argo Jazz Project featuring most of the Argonauts back line. The combo continues but with a keyboard player who can play in Bb and can improvise
Folk has continued in the background with Kick Shins with gigs all over the south east and as far afield as the south of France and Norway and in the last few years or so I have picked up the guitar again, got back into song-writing and performing in folk club and acoustic venues and rebuilding my solo career!
This led to me picking up the guitar as being a bit more portable. The guitar underpinned my early folk/acoustic period with highlights of 2 months busking on the Riviera and gigs at such significant London folk venues as Bunjies and the Crypt with old school friend Iain Webster (the other piano player!). The discovery of electric pianos and synthesisers re-awakened my interest in keyboards and led to a stint backing an Elvis impersonator round the British Legions and working men's clubs of Buckinghamshire, while still plying my trade as a singer-songwriter in the folk clubs in the Aylesbury area both solo and with the very talented David Fenner.
A move to Reading in the early ‘80s led to a focus on folk music both as a solo club performer and in a barn dance band, Wheelwright’s Bane (and with brief membership of The Geckoes). In the mid 80’s I joined fellow Scots Jim and Sylvia Barnes to form Scotch Measure a trio blending traditional Scottish folk music with jazz & rock influences. This led to club and festival appearances all over the country, and the release of two albums, the first with Topic Records (and the enjoyable experience of being able to go down to Our Price records in Basingstoke to make sure that our album was in the front of the section – this didn’t seem to make a material difference to sales!). Here's a track from that album - The Swallow, a great song written by Steve Rothero. Mungo Jumbo, recorded by Rex Morrey followed and although strictly a Jim & Sylvia project included myself and Erica and covered a lot of later Scotch Measure material. More recently a lot of excellent live recordings which Rex made have gone up on the major streaming platforms under the heading Scotch Measure Live 1987-88. David and I also reunited following his move to Reading and did a number of duo gigs across the folk clubs of the South East.
The onset of middle age triggered the male menopause and the need to recapture the excitement of my lost youth; faced with the choice of buying a motor-bike or joining a rock band I chose what I thought would be the safer option and joined Clayson and the Argonauts as keyboard player leading to appearances in such iconic venues as the 100 Club and the Half Moon in Putney and the release of a CD, This Cannot Go On and a vinyl maxi-single, Sol Nova. Further Argonauts spin-offs followed; Clayson Sings Chanson, a two-handed show featuring the music of Jacques Brel and a range of artists influenced by him continues to tour the country with Alan Clayson on vocals with me backing him on keyboard and doing a supporting solo set. There was also a brief foray into the world of Jazz with The Argo Jazz Project featuring most of the Argonauts back line. The combo continues but with a keyboard player who can play in Bb and can improvise
Folk has continued in the background with Kick Shins with gigs all over the south east and as far afield as the south of France and Norway and in the last few years or so I have picked up the guitar again, got back into song-writing and performing in folk club and acoustic venues and rebuilding my solo career!