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Hi, Miles here and thanks for visiting.
My Plan is to run this page very informally as I already have the website to look after business, as it were... I'll also be the first to admit that my attendance here will be sporadic at best, as I much prefer to be out in the real world playing gigs, composing, mending the house, playing with the family - in fact, the stuff of life.
And so..... the Biog
Well the first success I had was with 'Zoot and the Roots' in the '80s this was a 7-piece Soul/Funk outfit with a slightly eccentric edge. We toured continuously throughout the UK and Europe for 5 years or so and played thousands of dates, primarily on the then vigorous college circuit/ we did radio and TV specials and got a helping hand from Led Zep's Robert Plant when he suggested we back Ben E. King when he hit the number one spot sometime in the late '80s, i'm sorry, i can't remember exact dates. Anyway, when that band fizzled out, I decided to work on my playing and song writing a bit more.
I wrote some tunes with Tony Shepherd who had been in a highly respected band called 'The Bible' and although we never really did anything with those, I still think there was some worthy stuff there. I also became a member of a knock-about band called 'The Blueflies' which was formed with the soul aim of earning a few quid at a time when we were all horribly skint. Actually, there were 2 soul aims, and the 2nd was that we should never rehearse....Er.... so we didn't. Amazingly we still wheel this band out 3 or 4 times a month, and even more amazingly people come to see us.
In 1996 I joined Acoustic Alchemy, a highly regarded band of whom I had never heard, but went to the audition anyway. I've been with them ever since and the outfit provides a terrific creative outlet and basis on which to try and improve my art. And that, to me, is what its all about - trying to write better tunes and trying to play and improvise more effectively in front of an audience - without boring them. There are some terrific players in Acoustic Alchemy and Greg the bandleader, is extremely generous about giving space to the members, something that is pretty rare, and actually always has been if you think about it. Ask yourself how much space the 2nd trumpet in Ellington's band had to explore, or any member of any pit orchestra anywhere for that matter!
At the moment I'm starting to gather ideas for the next Alchemy release as well as doing a bit on Michael Tomlinson's forthcomming album - The Way out West. I've been contributing some guitar work to Fred White's 'Balam' project which is quite exciting and I have some sort of vague plan to do some sort of Rock/Blues/Funk thing with the Grainger Brothers at some point. PUT YOUR BIO SECTION HERE! Changes may take up to 2 mins to show on your profile Hi, Miles here and thanks for visiting.
My Plan is to run this page very informally as i already have the website to look after buisness, as it were... I'll also be the first to admit that my attendance here will be sporadic at best, as i much prefer to be out in the real world playing gigs, composing, mending the house, playing with the family - infact, the stuff of life.
And so..... the Biog
Well the first success i had was with 'Zoot and the Roots' in the 80's. this was a 7-piece Soul/Funk outfit with a slightly eccentric edge. We toured continuously throughout the UK and Europe for 5 years or so and played thousands of dates, primarily on the then vigerous college circuit/ we did radio and TV specials and got a helping hand from Led Zep's Robert Plant when he suggested we back Ben E. Kingwhen he hit the number one spot sometime in the late 80's, i'm sorry, i can't remember exact dates. Anyway, when that band fizzeled out, i deceided to work on my playing and song writing a bit more.
I wrote some tunes with Tony Sheperd who had been in a highly respected band called 'The Bible' and although we never really did anything with those, i still think there was some worthy stuff there. I also became a member of a knock-about band called 'The Blueflies' which was formed with the soul aim of earning a few quid at a time when we were all horribly skint. Actually, there were 2 soul aims, and the 2nd was that we should never rehearse....Er.... so we didn't. Amazingly we still wheel this band out 3 or 4 times a month, and even more amazingly people come to see us.
In 1996 i joined Acoustic Alchemy, a highly regarded band of whom i had never heard, but went to the audition anyway. I've been with them ever since and the outfit provides a terrific creative outlet and basis on which to try and improve my art. And that, to me, is what its all about - trying to write better tunes and trying to play and improvise more effectively in front of an audience - with out boring them. There are some terrific players in Acoustic Alchemy and Greg the bandleader, is extremely generous about giving space to the members, something that is pretty rare, and actually always has been if you think about it. Ask yourself how much space the 2nd trumpet in Ellington's band had to explore, or any member of any pit orchestra anywhere for that matter!
At the moment i'm starting to gather ideas for the next Alchemy release as well as doing a bit on Michael Tomlinson's forthcomming album. I've been contributing some guitar work to Fred White's 'Balam' project which is quite exciting and i have some sort of vague plan to do some sort of Rock/Blues/Funk thing with the Grainger Brothers at some point.