60's Psych, Country music, Blues, Experimental Electronica, twisted Rock 'N' Roll and The Who!.. Carlsberg Special Brew, Tuborg Christmas Ale and pretty much all Belgian Beers...so much so, in fact, that I once went on a drinking holiday to Brussels, one of my favourite cities in Europe... Playing my guitar (Pink, Paisley, Fender Telecaster) and writing songs.
Playing with my band 'The Psych'Clowns! (yes, that's EXACTLY how it's spelt and it's pronounced as it's written), Djing and presenting my radio show('BONANZA') on Resonance 104.4FM... Discovering interesting and beautiful records never fails to thrill; taking them home, lovingly placing them on the turntable, opening a bottle of wine, pouring over the covers (not the wine) and hey presto:HEAVEN... The same could be said of a certain interesting and beautiful girl ... Well apart from the turntable bit! Oh, I don't know though! Recreational drugs can be enjoyable too especially when combined with the aforementioned!
Retro Effects Pedals and amplifiers especially Germanium transistor fuzz/Wah pedals, Moogs and Phasers etc.
I'd like to meet:
My Daddy... and your Momma,
Well, yeah firstly my fucking Dad, secondly people who are aware of others around them and sensitive to their feelings... People who question EVERYTHING and have a mind of their own...
I prefer cats to people generally!
BONANZA on ResonanceFM every Sunday at 1pm…
Resonance 104.4FM or online at www.resonancefm.com
‘Tracing the roots and subsequent influence of the pioneers, outlaws, mavericks and renegades of Country Music’s past present and future.’
Music:
... Well it all started one morning in the early 70's with 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' by 'Middle Of The Road... or was it 'Killing Me Softly' By Roberta Flack?.. anyway I was playing with me Action Man whilst listening to an old transistor radio (obviously radio is very important as I'm now a Disc Jockey (BONANZA) on Resonance FM). I was blown away when I first saw T-Rex on Top Of The Pops again in the early 70's. I remember later being impressed by Slade and Gary Glitter! Suzi Quattro blew my fucking mind with 'Devil Gate Drive' and that leather jump suit! Jeezus wasn't Top Of The Pops good back then?.. It pretty much went quiet until one long hot summers eve in 1977 when I saw one of the 'big' kids from off of our estate in our local chippy (fish 'n' chip shop) wearing a huge home made badge that read 'The Sex Pistols'... I thought it sounded rude and exciting I wanted to know more but I didn't hear their music until much later... Again it went quiet until 1979 (well apart from me Mam blasting out Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Glen Cambell and Neil Diamond ) but I'll come to that later!)... tantalising isn't it? Why?.... because it's honest and it's from the heart... Yeah, as I was saying in the summer of 1979 I heard 'When You're Young' By The Jam on 'Juke Box Jury' and I went out and bought it the next day on 7inch from WH Smiths! It blew my fucking mind! I'd never heard anything like it and it spoke to me, it was about ME, it was for 'ME'! It was like hearing 'My Generation' or 'Satisfaction' or The Sex Pistols for the 1st time. It was that pure adrenaline rush of Rock 'N' Roll... It changed my life FOREVER... I became obsessed with all things JAM... I became a Mod... and whatever I look like at any time or whatever music I happen to be digging I will ALWAYS be a Mod, "They'll bury me a Mod!" (as some bloke from Woking once said!)... Anyway things took a logical path... I discovered The 'Orrible 'OO! 'Fuck me', My Generation is THEE ultimate disaffected youth anthem. NOTHING comes close and The Who stay with me to the present day as thee ultimate band. The perfect balance of pure energy, musical brilliance,working class heroics, disaffection, art, anger, exhuberance, disatisfaction, dissent, skill, vision, truth and yet contradiction... logic?... My 1st gig was The Jam and my second was The Smiths... Oh and I lied to me Mam about the 1st gig as I went on my own but I told her that I was going with some big lads from off of our estate who'd protect me if there was any trouble (not the badge maker in the chippy from '77, he died of a heroin overdose alongside his wife in the toilets of the local McDonalds in the mid 90's whilst their 2 year old kid wandered around looking for Mummy and Daddy! Is this getting too much for your pathetically weak pain threshold? No? Oh good then you're 'worth it' and I'll continue... I blame Thatcher... for everything! Milk snatcher bitch who went on to destroy the miners and the British coal and steel industry... oh and then sold weapons to Iraq... that's a bit strange, don't you think? Question, question, question! Jesus the 80's were a fucking nightmare!.. But of course The Smiths came along not long after the demise of The Jam (every credit to Weller for not turning into a sad fucker and dragging it out... he ended it at their peak... even if I did cry for two weeks!) The Smiths made the 80's slightly more bearable... As did The Jesus & Mary Chain and early Primal Scream especially 'Screamadelica'
The Paisley Underground bands such as The Rain Parade, Long Ryders, Green On Red etc did it for me as did The Butthole Surfers(possibly the 2nd best band ever), The Janitors, The Godfathers, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Meat Puppets...
Mid to Late 80's discovered Cannabinols, Psilocybin, Amphetamines, Lysergic Acid diethylemide25 and Led Zeppelin WOW!... Unfortunately (or maybe not?) Rush, Jethro Tull and The Grateful Dead followed closely on their tails!... It was pretty much Led Zeppelin non-stop for two years (I still listen to 'em occasionaly but I despise them for not crediting the old blues players they so obviously ripped off!)
The Beastie Boys and Run DMC were a slight distraction...
Oh yeah as I mentioned earlier me Mam blasting out Country Music when I was a nipper... Well it all came trundling back in the mid 80's like a truck down a dirt road when I discovered Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam and even John Cougar to some degree! I just realised how good dirty Country music is and how much I always loved them old songs...
The next big deal for me was in the late 80's in the shape of The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays oh and something called Ecstasy... Stay tuned kids! Jeezus, I'm up my own arse aren't I?
Movies:
Billy Liar... My fave film... it mirrors my life... Except 'I' actually got on that bloody train to London(eventually!) with Julie Christie... 2nd bestest is 'The Pawnbroker'... and then in no particular order... 'Angels Of The Universe', 'The Anderson Tapes', Quadrophenia, Last Night, anything by Woody Allen, anything with Paddy Considine or Sissy Spacek.
Television:
'It's the banality of evil!'... The only Tele' I need is made by Fender, it's pink and it's Paisley!... I have my T.V. hidden in a cupboard (Try it you might like it!) I rarely get it out because it's inane and soul destroying! ... Oh and I refuse to buy a licence. Come and get me Mr Fucking TV detector man! I despise you and everything you stand for!... and that goes for bailiffs too!
Books:
Very little fiction but then I don't consider 'Catcher in The Rye', 'Crime And Punishment', 'Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas', 'The Overcoat' or 'Inside The Penal Colony' as fiction, do you? Biog's of my, well I don't have heroes but... compadres?..'The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner', 'Das Kapital', 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test', 'Where Is Britain Going'... Currently Reading Wolfgang Flurs' autobiography 'I Was A Robot'... It's fantastic!
Heroes:
Working class ones (it's something to be)+ 'Super' ones and 'Uber' ones and 'EXTRAordinary ones... Do you know any?Oh, go on then... Nina Simone, Bobbie Gentry and Arthur Scargill but that's it!.. But gather round friends and consider this for a moment if you will... Once upon a time Che Gueverro was viewed in a similar light to that which Bin Laden is seen today and nowadays some people even wear Che' on their t-shirts or go to see second rate films about him without giving it a second thought. I think some people should have a good, long, hard look at themselves and ask themselves some questions... 'Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? The epitomy of evil or Political soldiers?'... What do you think?
