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John Rimmer

About Me


John Rimmer began playing guitar at about age 11. At 18, he came across a band rehearsing in a club in Rochdale and blagged a go on the guitar. The following day he was the new guitarist in the band which was renamed 'Speed' and did it's first gig in a local pub for the princely sum of 5 pounds. The band went on to provide support for such bands as Mud (John recalls "I remember that one because it was the night the car set on fire and we barely escaped with our lives.") and eventually headlined at the Rochdale Town Music Festival.
After Speed split, he kept busy in a couple of local bands until taking to the road with Tommy Bruce, a cockney of the Rock and Roll era, and had a number of successful tours with the Rock n Roll Revival Show, featuring names like Marty Wilde, Craig Douglass, The Allisons, Heinz, Ricky Valance and others. "I was very sad when I heard about Heinz's death, he was a great guy. I can still picture him in an Indian restaurant finishing every last mouthful of a vicious vindaloo with beads of sweat streaming down his face."
Moving on, he joined an international touring disco band, 'Hotline', providing bass and vocals. John says "This was not a particularly inspirational time. I hated the dressing up and I was glad when it was over".
Taking a break from professional music, John enrolled at University to do a Physics degree, stayed on to do a Physics PhD and ended up working as a professional scientist. "I'm still not sure how or why all this happened!" he has remarked.
In 1994, John put together the rock covers band 'Crazy Train'. This began as a 4 piece with John on guitar but when the vocalist left to go solo, John took on vocals as well. "It was a bit daunting to do both lead guitar and vocals but I just seemed to get away with it!" The band enjoyed much success in the north west of England and in 2001, played just about every biker's rally in the country.
In 2002 John decided to take a break from live shows and enjoy some of the other things life has to offer. Any talk of the resurection of Crazy Train was laid to rest with the unexpected death of the drummer, Steve, in 2007. Steve will be sadly missed.
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/1/2008
Band Members: All instruments and vocals by John Rimmer. Recording and mixing by John Rimmer in the famous loft studio!
Influences: I guess we are all really influenced by everything we experience, and that includes the things we don't want to be associated with.

I remember when I was a kid about 6 year old and my mother used to take me into town with her for the weekly shop. We always used to call on this old guy who I think had been some kind of entertainer during his life. Well he had a collection of musical instruments like guitar, violin and piano, a ventriloquist dummy, an old wind up gramaphone and a collection of vynil 78s most of which would make me cringe these days. But I used to enjoy those visits. I got to listen to the records and make a few noises on the instruments, with a little tutoring from our host. I suppose this was my earliest attempts at making music.

I also had two big sisters who were mad into the pop scene of the day. They'd be out buying the latest single just so they could say they had it, and raving over the pretty boy pin-ups. I think I decided then that I would not end up like that (er.. pretty girl pin-ups in my case). Although when Cliff Richard released 'Move It' and we began hearing from The Stones and The Kinks it began to get my attention. Then along came the likes of Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Beck etc. and pretty soon I realised that the guitar was talking to me and I needed to join in the conversation. The inovation continued with bands like Floyd and Queen and I guess the more you take in and expand your musical horizons, the more musical appreciation you develop and it just becomes a part of you which relates in a big way to your life.

I mean, just remember what the anarchy of the Sex Pistols started! How many genres have developed from that point based on the musical and life influences of a whole host of people with widely different backgrounds.

So you end up being who you are and doing what you do. Are you interested in commercial success or do you want to express your own truth, or can you do both? Do you want to be catagorised into a genre or have the freedom to explore the possibilities within you? You never know, you could end up setting a marker in the evolution of modern music.
Sounds Like: This is a hard one. I mean I've had my favorite bands over the years and I used to listen closely to the melodies of my guitar heroes but I've never consciously tried to copy them. Even playing covers I've always tried to do it with my own stamp on things. Same with the songs I'm writing. They just pop into my head and I record them, for better or worse.

I suppose somewhere in the back of my head there's a reference which has come from somewhere but I don't know what.

Perhaps someone can tell ME!!!
Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Crazy

This song is a little different from what I've done before. It started with me playing around recording some acoustic guitar after my wife bought me a new condenser mic for my birthday and it's the fi...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:34:00 GMT

Awakening - a bit of chill

This one materialised about the same time as Lonely Nights. Not much guitar in it but some say it's nice to relax to under 'certain circumstances' ;-)
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:31:00 GMT

Lonely Nights

I wrote this tune back in 2002. At that time all I had was a PC, guitar and a few soundfonts in the corner of my living room.  Being a bit stupid, I didn't do a proper back up and lost all the tr...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:40:00 GMT