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Well, here goes.... I am what I'd consider one of the good guys, (apart from when i'm being a bit bad sometimes he he) I'm an honest person (most of the time lol), i'm polite (always), i'm told by mates that i'm a funny person and make other people laugh, which is good lol, laughter is the best medicine after all, and I laugh as much as possible HA HA HA, see ;) and like to act the fool now and again to "let loose".
Musically, I am passionate about heavy metal/rock, and have been since about 1989 from when I first clapped eyes on the cover art of the 12" vinyl version of Iron Maiden's classic "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" album. I had never even heard one single note of music by the band at that stage but I was literally "drawn" (pun intended he he) to the cover art of that record and I thought i've got to buy it, it's bound to be awesome, and do you know what? It was and still is an awesome album to this day (Mr Marilyn Manson's fave metal album ever I do believe, plus countless other metal musicians' fave album). It's been a love affair ever since for me, from that day on I went on to collect every album by Maiden and got really into 'em big time, and have seen them live six times so far, the last time being 14th Dec 2006 at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, NW England, on their "A Matter Of Life And Death" tour. And once again, they never failed to blow me away, they were amazing as usual, and played the full .."Matter Of Life And Death" album from start to finish. A lot of fans weren't too thrilled at the prospect of hearing the full album, but I have seen Maiden in action 5 times before that gig, and am well used to seeing them play their classic set list, and although I would never tire of seeing them play like that, I was more than willing to see them do something a bit different this time around. So, hearing the full album was a real treat for me, and it re-inforced yet again for me, and all the rest of the ecstatic Maiden fans that were present that night that, Maiden still are the kings of metal, and are right on top of their game. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce Dickinson in the flesh also, when he was on his promo tour for his "Accident Of Birth" album back in 1997. It's not something I ever expected to happen to me, to be able to meet one of my all time idols in a small record shop here in my home town of Bolton, NW England, it was an absolute privilege. My only regret that day was not having a camera to capture the moment I shook his hand, and chatted to him about the "then" current state of Iron Maiden, and also what he thought of the bands "then" current album "The X Factor". When I asked him his thoughts on the album he said to me "well, it's not the best maiden album" to which I replied "well that's 'cos you're not on it mate" and judging by the look on his face and the way he sort of agreed with me, I sensed a bit of regret that he was no longer the frontman of Iron Maiden...well, I think i'd feel a bit of regret aswell if I was suddenly not fronting the greatest heavy metal band in the world any more...ah well, happy days! I also met another "then" ex Maiden member Mr Adrian Smith that day, and Roy Z, both great guys and all of them including Bruce, took the time to chat to us fans and sign stuff and were all round great blokes.
Also along the way in my musical discoveries, I found the mighty Metallica shortly after finding Maiden, then numerous other bands which i'll list later (it's a very big list, see the "music section" lol).
But, it's not all thunder and lightning and blistering heavy metal, I love to chill out to the likes of Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Porcupine Tree, Zombi, RPWL, Jean Michel Jarre, Boards Of Canada, Ludovico Einaudi (awesome pianist who makes beautiful instrumental piano music) etc. I like some other classical music too, of which you can hear a great deal of in classic heavy metal or rock. If you listen to any classic metal guitarists solo, you can always hear the classical influence in the playing...it's all good!
One of my other passions is playing computer and video games, and collecting, especially the retro stuff. It all started back in the late 80's for me when my parents bought me a second hand Commodore 64 with tons of games, and that was the start of my passion from there on in. I have since amassed a fairly sizeable collection of games/consoles along the way. I currently own about 4 Commodore 64's (Blame e bay for that, ok blame my retro gaming collecting addiction too lol), Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, C64 GS (a console version of the c64, that is now a much sought after console due to it's big failure saleswise way back when it was released in the early 90's), Amiga cd 32, Amstrad GX4000 (now not working sadly, but still in original box and a collectors item), Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive, Atari Lynx 1&2, Atari Jaguar, Atari 2600 (the original classic "woody" version from the late 70's), Super Nintendo Entertainment System, (or SNES for short), Nintendo 64, Gameboy pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Colour, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo DS, PSP (Playstation Portable), Playstation 1 & Playstation 2, X Box & X Box 360, a GP2X (a portable little wonder machine that plays all your emulators such as c64, SNES, Mega Drive, and MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), and also will play 3d ports of PC and psx (Playstation 1) games, such as Quake and Doom, and even has it's own specially programmed GP2X games created by amateur hobbyist, homebrew coders & creative type people...it's an awesome little machine), and of course I own a PC. I also now own a Nintendo Wii which I wasn't too sure about getting at first, and thought the new innovative control system would just be too weird to get used to, but having been playing on mine for a good few weeks now I can assure anyone thinking of investing in one that they are well worth the money, and an absolute bundle of endless fun and enjoyment. I recommend anyone having some mates round to buy a Wii, and play the bundled (for free with the console) "Wii Sports" which is an absolute top laugh, you get, Boxing, Baseball, Golf, Bowling...erm, I think that's 'em all...it aint bad at all for a free bundled bunch of games :) plus it's a great place to start to get used to using the new Wii wireless remote control system ;)Also, it's the cheapest of the latest consoles, which probably explains why it's global sales figures are soaring above the X Box 360, and the PS3. Speaking of the PS3, I don't intend buying one of those and adding it to my big collection of consoles just yet, I have more than enough to play as it is :)) Phhewwwww that was a pretty big list up there :)...I think that's all the consoles/computers covered now lol. God knows just how many games I own for each but if I was to count 'em all it would be a hell of a lot..Thankyou e bay lol.
I also like to write poetry, although haven't written a great deal just lately, but since about 1998 when I first started writing, I have now written around 80 odd poems I think. Some people who have read my stuff have been moved to tears by them, and said they loved what I wrote, that is the best compliment any writer could receive in my opinion I don't think anything better could be said :o)
I own a drum kit and like to bash the hell out of it now and again, preferably when jamming with mates...it's good for letting off steam :D I am hopefully going to be in a band soon, as some friends I know are interested in getting some jams sorted, so who knows where it all might end up? Should be pretty interesting...watch this space ;)
Anyway, if you've read this far then I thank you very much, and also, if you're still awake at this point after reading ALL that, even better he he. SERIOUSLY THOUGH, THANKS :D Ah well, I can't think of much more to write about myself here, so will move on to the next bit lol..... .. .. .. ..