Leaderboard

It seems like forever since I have made an entry in my blog about the story of my playing in a band, maybe all the lockdown had a lot to do with that. After Lockdown, we started trying to gig again but the market for bands had really slowed down and many of the social clubs we were playing were no longer booking bands. Bars and pubs were booking less also, as they were building their trade up after Lockdown. We were playing several gigs, but something was just not sitting right with me. We had lost our drummer to a serious stroke, although we had already decided to replace him as we were fed up of his forcing his political viewpoint on us all, in that there was no discussion and if he didn't like your opinion, he took offense. We got a fabulous new drummer after some long auditions, but that didn't work out personality wise. Eventually we settled on a guy in his late sixties who had a wife a fair bit younger than him, which has some relevance. The point being that wives were always welcome at gigs but any wife interfering in band business was considered very bad form and well out of order. It had caused extreme trouble previously. But back to the main plot. I had for some while feeling that I wasn't really doing what I wanted to be doing by being in the band, I had a vision for it that was successful when that vision was followed, but others were not sharing the vision that I had set the band up with along with my bass playing friend when we decided to give it a go. Because that vision was not being followed, it was getting harder. I'd taken on the role of lead vocals and I know the songs I can sing and can't sing - for example, I can really do well on singing Rolling Stones songs. And, because the vision was harder for me to fulfill, I was losing interest. On top of that, it was down to me to find gigs, no one else made any effort. Put all this together with the effort to rehearse, play gigs, lose weekends with my family because of gigs and all the effort involved, slowly buy surely, and with accelerating speed, I was losing all desire to be in the band, and just over a week ago, the day before a gig, I decided I'd come to the end of the road. I played the gig, wasn't happy in doing so, and then the new drummers wife told the rest of the band and their wives that she'd been told I was seen playing at venue during the week with another band - a total untruth. Shaun, our bass player, is not just a friend, he's my brother from a different mother and we have a deep brotherly love, we know each others extended family and we used to hang around as kids, stopping over at each others homes. The relationship is close. Anyway, Shaun's wife, Debbie, is a lovely woman who understands how things are, and she tactfully told me what had been said, which didn't make me angry, but just made me even more sure that I'd come to the wright decision. I didn't tell anyone that night because I didn't want to cause any upset, or have people try and tell me I was just being silly. And of course, I wanted one more night to sleep on it. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I knew the decision was right for me, and prior to going out to church, I sent an e mail to the guys in the band explaining how I felt and why I had come to my decision. The decision was made because my priorities have shifted. I'm now 62, have six grandchildren who live quite a distance from me and I want my weekends free to spend time with them. I want to spend Saturday nights with my wife Helen, we have busy days and after doing all the Saturday jobs round the house, I want to sit down with her and enjoy our time together. Going out for a day is also something we want to do and not worry about what time we need to be back for. The bottom line of why I've decided to put the band down can be condensed into one word, and that word is "family" Shaun, my partner in the band, has taken it really well, hes been very supportive and I hope they carry on with a new singer and guitar player, they are good musicians and the band has a good name. But for me, it's time to call it a day with bands. The highs have been great and the lows terrible, but that is life in a band for you. For now, I'm gig to sit back and enjoy others playing, and sitting at home enjoying my guitars and maybe, just maybe, I might get that PRS custom I've always wanted. Thanks for reading - Mark.

It's now one year and seven months since I left my band, route 62. I have found that it was the right thing to do and I haven't regretted it once. One thing I am glad about is that when I left, I kept the real reasons to myself and didn't tell the other guys - after all, we'd had some good times together aswell as the frustrations that led me to leave. When I did leave, Robin in particular was very angry with me, but there were times when he had caused some major upsets and he was aware of that. Robin was our other guitar player. But despite the issues he had caused from time to time (and some of them were very awkward) beneath it all was a good friendship. It was a long time before we were in contact and I used this Christmas as an opportunity to send him an e mail (i'd tried phoning) and wish him all the very best. I received a really nice one back and we're going to meet up for a drink sometime and have a catch up. Shaun, our bass player has been a friend of mine since we were thirteen and we never fell out, he never got upset at me when I left even though he was disappointed and asked me to come back. We've been in constant touch and our friendship is solid. But over all this time, I have hardly picked up a guitar as I had got to the point where I was just sick of it all and needed a really good break. But slowly but surely my desire to play has been creeping back - not to the extent of playing in the band again, or joining another - but to just enjoy the guitar. What I would like to do with some spare time is learn to read music. As some of you may know, I ahve always had a desire for a core range PRS, but the cost of them new has risen so much over the years that I just can't justify almost £4000 for one. However, I've not written off the idea of buying a used one at some point. But to carry on - I've been watching all the you tube reviews of the SE line new models, paritcularly Paul's guitar and the SE DGT. As I had all the day to myself yesterday I decided to explore them and made the twenty three mile drive up to the city of Leeds to Professional Music Technology where they had told me on the phone they had everything in stock. They didn't have the DGT SE, but they did have the core DGT, which they offered me the opportunity to play. I declined the offer because I felt that at £4000 it was not right to play a guitar I had no intention of buying when some one else would be buying it at some point and whoever that person is deserves it to be as new and unplayed as possible. T did however play three SE models - Paul's guitar, the McCarty and custom 24. I was somewhat disappointed after all the hype. They weren't bad guitars and sounded very good - perhaps the fact that the shop had made no attempt to set them up. I'd still like to try the DGT SE, but I am coming to the conclusion that if I do ever buy a PRS, it will have to be a core model and also used. What I did find that I really liked when I played it was the Yamaha Revstar, which sounded and played great, I will definitely be having one of those with P90's at some point. So, I left the shop somewhat underwhelmed with the SE guitars but glad I'd played them. This morning I took my Japanese Tokai Love Rock (think 59 Les Paul) out of it's case for the first time in ages and really enjoyed playing it, the quality is excellent and surpassed the quality of the SE range by quite a distance. I got to thinking that I do have some nice guitars, not all of them in the price bracket of my H555, but none the less good guitars. Oneof my favourite youtube channels is five watt world, where the emphasis is using what you have, and for now, I think that is just what I am going to do. Here's the MIJ Tokai.

BLOG...

Saturday I sold my Peavey Bandit to an older gentlemen that recently lost his job. He had been on the prowl for a Peavey Bandit USA Red Stripe model because they sound better than the older USA models. Couldn’t help but agree with him. As we sat there for nearly an hour talking about guitars, amps, and the thirst that can never be quenched for obtaining them, I told him something about my guitar buying. As I looked about the floor in the living room, I had a brand new Fender Stratocaster, a Reverend Six-Gun III, and a Martin MMV. I told him the longest I’ve had any of those was three weeks. But I said, my wife cannot complain about my buying guitars for one very good reason. In a way, they have provided for my family. And it has a lot to do with The Heritage and PSP. The week of PSP VI, I had a job for nearly eight years as a Senior Traffic Engineer with MetroPCS before they were “merged” with T-Mobile. I was called in the Human Resources Director’s office and with him was my boss and our Vice President of Network Operations. I thought it was really odd and found it immediately worrisome. And just like that it was over; I was told that T-Mobile has looked at all the markets and decided that Traffic Engineers weren’t needed. All the Traffic Engineers were to be laid off in 60 days. It didn’t matter what I really did for my job above and beyond my job title or how I was the senior engineer with the most knowledge and experience. What matter was my official job title. So for the second time in ten years, I was out of a job. Of course, that overshadowed my plans that week, the week of PSP VI. I packed my old HFT-445, loaded up my car, and headed off to PSP. I picked up Slammer from the airport on the way there and checked in the hotel for the night. Seeing all the guitars on display in the conference room that night and all the people I admire and consider friends really helped me to forget my own problems for a while. The next day, I was walking through the factory and saw so many unique instruments. Then there was the smell of the old wood dust, the sound of the machines sanding down necks and carving tops; it was just amazing. Undoubtedly, I had forgotten my problems, at least for now. I took my Heritage HFT-445 out of its case and held it proudly outside that factory for the group photo. 225 Parson Street, the birthplace of many guitars of rock stars. A place that should be a national monument. A place where it’s not the end of line, but just the beginning. I was in front of a factory who has seen its own end, its doors closed, people sent to Nashville or laid off, and left to rot. But a few people chose to stay; chose to open those doors again and start over. Marv, Ren, Jim and few others gave that old building and the equipment inside basically a reset button, a new lease of life. Perhaps there was some hope for me too. Perhaps, I’ll be able to restart my career and pick-up the pieces to begin again. The Saturday after PSP VI, I was still at the hotel when an ex co-worker from MetroPCS sent me a text message about his latest bass guitar purchase. He had quit on his own a few years ago, but he was happy with his decision. He asked how I was doing and I told him what happened. He demanded I talk to his wife immediately. He gave me her cell number and said I have to call her right now. She, of course, was a HR manager at General Motors. It never dawned on me to call her since I knew nothing about cars nor was I an electrical or mechanical engineer. I called her, she asked about my bachelor’s degree and my knowledge of Microsoft Office. She had me look up a specific job on the GM website and how to adjust my resume to highlight certain skill sets. That following Friday, I had a job interview. Less than a week later, I had a job offer. When my time was up with T-Mobile, I left on a Friday and started my new job at General Motors the following Monday. That was just about two years ago now. Last December sparked a heated conversation that banned members and damaged relationships to other members of the forum. The site shut down for several weeks and when the lights turned back on, things changed. One of those things was PSP. There was a looming question of will there be another PSP again. One could only hope. I decided to step up and see what I could do. I didn’t know if I would fail or not, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. I called the VFW Hall to see if we could play there. Thankfully, they were excited to hear from us and not have to pay a band. We were able to play live music again and entertain some veterans at the same time. It was a win-win for everyone. I had help from Pressure to get a PSP VIII Logo setup. Called a friend from church about having shirts made with the logo. Obtained a guest list of all those who were going to be there. Guy was able to get the Factory to participate again. I received lots of help from a lot of people to make PSP a success. I cannot take credit for it all. PSP VIII came and went like a whirlwind. It was over just like that. As I woke up still tired and exhausted on Saturday, I checked my email and found someone wanted my Peavey, so I had to pack up and head home quickly. My family had left a few hours before to head out east on a vacation with my mother-in-law; so I had the house to myself and enjoyed the quiet stillness of home that night. No amps, no guitars, no beer, no sound; just peacefulness. I could have died a happy man knowing how much everyone enjoyed PSP this year. As I look back, I will always remember the great times I had at this PSP and the ones before. Someone asked why I did all this; it’s very simple really. The Heritage brought us all together. It’s the people who bring us back. That's PSP. Enjoy those beautiful Heritages everyone. There is a lot of history in your hands.

I find that the more I play the guitars I have, the less GAS develops.

After a few weeks of not making an entry into my blog I am back to keeping those kind enough to read it up to speed on where we are at and the life and times of a would be semi pro player here in Northern England. Life in the band has been interesting, my Fender Hot Rod deluxe had valve issues and was horrendously noisy. It turned out it was a pre amp valve. This particular amp has three of those so I decided that as one of them was on the way out and causing so much trouble, I might as well get them all replaced. The guitar tech who worked on my guitars recently had recommended an engineer only a couple of miles away from where I live in the next village, so that was excellent in that there was no distance to travel, and on top of that the guy was very honest and very reasonable in his costs. I had used our other guitarists old amp, a Peavy Valve King for one rehearsal. It was as noisy as my fender before it was repaired. I think it also needs to go to the engineer. Anyway, we have moved our practice time from Saturday afternoons to Thursday evenings. Mainly because Dave, our other guitar player has met the woman of his dreams and moved in with her and wants to have weekends free for now. It's fine with me because it frees my time up on a weekend to do some jobs round the house that are in need of completion. We are almost at the point now of having enough numbers ready to play a gig with. We are aiming for thirty. It has taken quite a while on this journey to get here, but we have all put our families first and there have been times when we have all had to cancel rehearsal for various reasons. Another thing is that we have discussed what sort of songs to we rehearse: a) easy ones that we can get six of down in two weeks, or do we: do some that will be more challenging but perhaps give us a much better set. We have gone for the latter, the most recent one being Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. I have never been a big pink Floyd fan, but I have to say that this is a stellar song and credit to Dave for nailing the two guitar solo's in it. We are also finding that the midweek practice makes us focus more, as we don't have a full afternoon to go at. One thing that is happening now is that plenty of people are wanting to know when we are going to play so they can come and see us, which is a good sign for us. Of course, in the back of my mind I am thinking "are we going to be good enough"? Yet I know for a fact we can play some knock out songs in our own style. I Keep telling myself that we are not going to be playing to people who are saying "Go on then, impress me". The people I want to play for are just your everyday people who want to hear live music, may be they might want to dance a bit. I think we all have to remember that this thing we love, the guitar, if we choose to get up and play live gigs, that the we are paid to entertain people. I really hope that the songs we have thus far chosen will do exactly that for the cross section of people that we get in our British pubs that put bands on. When our set list is complete I will post it here. So, there we are, five more numbers and our set list has enough for a gig, then all we have to do is rehearse it until it is sharp enough to play for money! Thanks for reading and best to all.

Well,guys...I don't believe it !I finally hit 70 years of age recently.The cards arrived.I thought they were for my dad ! I looked in the mirror...I am my dad !! How did I get here so quickly ? I started playing guitar in 1957.I'd been shipped off to a private school by my dad.It was like 'Tom Brown's School Days' .( An English book about private schools ) What was I going to do ? The answer revealed itself when I went into a small common room,used by the boys at the school.There was a roaring fire,a crowd of boys being entertained by 2 guys,playing guitars, who were about to become my friends.A real magic moment,and a life changing one.During the school holidays,I nagged my dad to buy me a guitar.I met with some resistance,but eventually,he bought me a starter guitar.I also arranged lessons off the school campus,so I also got a night on the town thrown in ! When I left school in 1960,I sought out other players in my then home town,and a band was formed.We did a limited amount of pop gigs.I also secured a job with a local jazz type band,so I was away. Disaster arrived when my parents moved city. Luck was with me.I already knew some guys in a band there,and I got a job with them.Things started to move,and in a short time,we were doing well paid gigs in various towns & cities in the area.A change of singer,and new agent,and we were further up the ladder.By the end of 1963,we'd started to support well known U.K. acts,Freddie & the Dreamers,Dave Berry & the Cruisers,Jimmy Powell & the 5 Dimensions.These were bands just bubbling under the top liners.!964 came,and we were supporting the Rolling Stones,Joe Cocker,Peter & Gordon,Marty Wilde & the like.I thought there was no stopping us.All it took was a 'No' in the wrong place.We were offered a recording deal.The deal was we had to sing a rather awful song by Chris Andrews.The good thing was we could choose any song for the flip side,and that could be the 'A' side.Our singers said no way,and that side of my playing career was over. I moved to London for a while,then returned home,and joined a function band.The unit did great paid work,and a greater variety of music.Perfect. Things were changing in the music scene.I started working as a house musician in clubs,and once again,I was backing the U.K. stars of the day. I've had a great run for my money.Got some mega guitars & amps,played with some great people,and guess what ? I'm still doing it. Last week...Saturday, a band called 'Mean Eyed Cat',in an open air gig,and yes they are a country band (bass guitar),Wednesday...Dr.Jive & the Sick Notes,a 50's 60's Rock 'n Roll band (Bass guitar),Thursday, an all day recording session,putting rhythm & lead guitar lines on a Hammond B3 recording ( 1953 Gibson L4 CC & 1988 Fender Strat. plus Deluxe,through a Peavey 'Decade' with Jensen speaker,straight into the mixing desk,via the pre amp out). Saturday...A great pub gig with a pop band I play with regularly,with me at the front sharing the singing & playing bass.Today...the phone rang..can I play guitar with a Rock a billy band...yes..that's a job for my 575 ! I can't believe the fun I've had.What a life.Long may it continue !

Since trying out a Heritage guitar in a shop in the late '80s, I had wanted one. After graduate school, university position, getting a start with our family, I was able to save money for purchase of high quality guitars. I renewed my guitar tech hobby in the late '90s, bought, fixed up, and sold many Korean guitars... working up to higher end goals. My collection slowly grew, 71 Gibson SG, 78 Gibson ES 345, 78 Gibson Les Paul Custom... These ladies are beautiful... In 2007 I purchased my first Heritage, an H575 Antique Natural finish. I hated the Schaller pickups, replaced them with Seymour Duncan Sh-1 '59s, set up a coil tap... put in a tusq nut, this guitar is a beauty and can cover a variety of jazz to rock to country tones, plays wonderful... But.. I still was looking for the higher end... sold off all my cheapies, taught overload classes at the university, made some $ doing guitar mods and repairs... saving... Last fall I found her... Golden Eagle... she is a dream... but she needed a bit of work. This is a thinline model. Label is Heritage Custom Shop... on the label is the name original customer?), and details "Alm brg" (Aluminum Bridge?), HRW pu (HRW pickups). Jim, the guy who had the guitar before me, said he used it for Ted Nugent-like rock tone (ala Gibson Byrdland) and it is clear that Jim used this guitar extensively, while seemingly taking good care of it. However, I have had to make some small repairs. The previous owner had stuffed the guitar with foam and installed foam f-hole covers to lessen amp feedback, I removed these, plus some two way tape installed inside the guitar. When I received it, the Golden Eagle had a problem with noise... clearly there was a grounding problem. The wiring harness had been altered by a previous owner. The neck pickup tone pot had been replaced with a very cheap alpha 250k pot, and the ground solder had come loose. I replaced all the pots with high quality CTS 500k audio pots. Furthermore, it was clear that someone had altered the pickup wiring, with messy connections made to convert the original four wire leads to two wires. Finally, as all the shielding had been removed from wiring harness control cable, I rewired the entire thing. I used high quality 3 conductor shielded cable for the entire harness, keeping the shielding intact for the entire harness, from the pickup switch through the pots, to the input jack (I removed the input jack wire with the bridged connectors..., replaced with high quality shielded cable, much quieter... is this bridged connector setup, noisy and clunky, really necessary?) While the HRW pickups are very interesting, I need much more tonal versatility, playing soft jazz to hard rock jazz fusion... my favorite setup comes from the use of Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings... they have two mini switches on the ring, which allows you to select either coil, plus series, and parallel coil combinations for a humbucker pickup. I installed two bridge, archtop triple shot pickup rings, then a Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz pickup in the neck, and a Seymour Duncan SH-11 Custom Custom pickup in the bridge. With the triple shot pickup rings, the tonal variety of this guitar is simply amazing and very simple to work. There is a gold Gotoh Nashville style bridge on the original Heritage rosewood bridge mount, which I assume is a replacement made by a previous owner. One of the last modifications I have had to make on my Golden Eagle is a nut replacement. The previous owner had installed a stone nut (yes, made from marble mineral). While very interesting, this nut really over-emphasized high pitches and harmonics, and while that may have been good to sound like Ted Nugent, my needs point to more subtlety and variety. So I replaced the marble nut with a tusq nut. After some minor truss rod adjustment and fretwork, this Golden Eagle was ready for my jazz and rock work. After this happy bit of shop work (I was trained as a guitar tech working in a music store in the early '80s... made a living doing guitar setups and mods through college days, and it is my big hobby today...) my Golden Eagle is quiet, responsive, has incredible tonal variety and versatility, and plays like a dream. Cosmetically, this guitar shows clear signs of valued, but moderately heavy use, during the last 5 years. I replaced the black speed knobs with more traditional and high end Gibson 60's style gold-faced black knobs. I have carefully rubbed out the finish and touched up minor scratches. I can honestly say that this is one of the very best sounding and playing guitars I have played. Friends and colleagues agree. Way to go Heritage... ... and while I continue to enjoy building solid body Fender knock-offs during summer vacation, and playing my Gibsons is wonderful, there is nothing quite like the Golden Eagle for me... all of us guitar players know the feeling when you play a guitar that feels like there is a direct connection to the creative part of your subconscious, when creative desire seems translated automatically into musical tone... this happens to me almost every time I play Golden Eagle... truly, a guitar romance in progress...

Our quest for a singer has ended. The last guy who came to audition was not very good at all, and he left somewhat dejected looking. However, after putting posters up in every guitar shop and web site we could find advertising for a singer, we finally found the right guy. I must say though, that very very few singers got in touch with us, and I think that is because here in England the live scene is not very healthy for bands like ours. In years gone by, we used to have what we called Working Men's clubs. These were like a pub, but were for the working class man where he could get cheap beer and have a good night out. Most of these clubs had a concert room and would have entertainment on several nights a week, from comediens to singers, and bands. Some of the bigger clubs would house up to a thousand people in the concert room, but those size clubs were few and far between. However, they did provide a very fertile ground for talent to develop. But sadly, they have all but disappeared from the scene and along with their disappearence, many would be singers and bands have gone. Their heyday was the late sixties and early seventies. But, I digress. So, to carry on. Our new singer came to audition, a 29 year old police officer called Arron, and he can sing rather well! He also likes our stuff and sang some great songs such as Alright Now, and a few others we had asked him to. I knew right away he was the one we wanted, but we had agreed that we would give it a couple of days so we could all be sure we wanted to offer him the gig. So, after wednesday's get together, and the singing was done, we asked a few questions about his willingness to bring a decent qulaity (but not mega big) PA to the band, because after all, as I have said before, we as musicians have laid out a lot of money in amps and guitars, and we can not afford to subsidise him. He is very happy to bring his own gear to the party so now he needs to get a pa and decent mic. a 500watt pa should suffice as the two guitarists - myself and Pete, use 40watt valve amps and those are ample, so he needs real clarity. Arron is also a really nice and friendly guy, which suits us as there are no ego's in this band, just a a bunch of really good friends. On top of that, he's quite a handsome lad, which helps! So, now onwards and upwards, I think we now have the basis for a good line up. And, although I say it myself, on Wednesday my playing was cooking! As Pete of the yellow telecaster fame said, I was in the groove - it's great just to be able to concentrate on playing! Watch this space to see what happens next, and thanks for reading.

Still on the shaky side. My remaining Heritage guitar is a sweet, stunning, Sweet 16. I've had equally stunning h-530, h-575, and custom h-150 come and go. At 70 years of age I'm not sure how long I can wear my rock and roll shoes. Carpe Diem indeed

It's some months now since I left the band, Route 62. I was at the end of my rope with it all, the whinging of our other guitar player, no end of things and I'd just reached that point where I had had enough. I thought about it, and the positives of leaving outweighed everything else. I knew that once I said I was done, there was no turning back and I still left. So, four and a half months on, where am I up to, and with the benefit of hindsight, did I do the right thing? Well, I can answer yes, a resounding "yes" to having done the right thing in leaving. I have already started reaping the rewards of having free time on my hands. I see more of my family, do more things with my wife, and I am able to plan so many other things I want to do. One such event was just taking a week out and going to the Highlands of Scotland, renting a house in spectacular Glen Coe for a week and touring the Highlands - I can't tell you how beautiful the Highlands are, you just have to go and see for yourself. I haven't done all the things I want to with my newfound free time yet, but I am far more relaxed, and I am enjoying the weekend evenings much more. I just feel released from dealing with everyone else's expecting me to run everything, and then them coming and taking an equal cut. I have kept in touch with the bass player, who has been a lifelong friend, but who in fairness played his part in my decision to leave. Robin, the other guitar player is pretty angry at my going, but this is because I was the enabler who made it possible for him to go out and gig on a weekend after a week at home because he is wealthy enough not to have to work. Now, he has no gigs to play because they haven't been able to find a lead guitar player who can also take the lead vocal role and front the band, building rapport with the audiences. As Shaun, my bass playing buddy told me a couple of weeks ago, all they get at auditions are wannabe's and dreamers. I gained some sense of satisfaction when Shaun Told me that Robin finally admitted that "Mark was the biggest part of this band and made it work". At the risk of sounding smug, I feel that I have finally been vindicated, and that their departing from the vision and formula I was working to is what brought it all down for them. They pushed me beyond my tolerance limit, and they are now the ones that are frustrated because they cannot find a replacement and get things going. I wish them well, but I don't think they will make it work. I have seen their ad for a singer to go down the route of becoming a tribute band. So what have I been doing? Well, the truth is, as far as playing guitar is concerned, absolutely nothing. I haven't had a guitar case open with the exception of taking one in to work to show it to a colleague, it's my MIJ Tokai Love Rock , which is a clone of a 59 les Paul Standard and plays beautifully. But I have to admit to almost getting my tele out and having a few moments with it. So where do I go next, musically speaking? For the time being, nowhere. I hope I get to play with other musicians at some point, but where I am now, there doesn't seem to be other musicians around who are easy going and on the same wavelength as myself so for now I'm just not interested. What I do want to do is swap my burst for a gold top, and I really do want a core range PRS, so one of my guitars is going to have to go. But as I began, I will finish - with hindsight I really did do the right thing. Thanks for reading.

Running a band, as I have said previously, can be a totally different experience to playing in one. Once I am up and playing, I enjoy the experience, especially when we are getting a good response from the audience. We seem to get that regularly, playing our local venues and pleasing the audience. finding new gigs is always a pain in the neck but it has to be done. A few of our venues are closing down, due to not being able to make it pay or dwindling club membership, and some just keep on booking us which is nice. Some are really popular venues and we compete with bands across the local scene to play their. We are getting known as one of the better bands in the area for what we do, which is great, but that doesn't mean that the competition isn't out there. However, issues arise that never should and when they come from your own band members it really hurts. We have one venue we play and go down very well at, it's called The Travellers Inn and is about 20 miles away from where I live. Unfortunately the two bookings we have for next year have had to be cancelled due to a mix up on their part, double booking with other acts who were booked their first - how these things happen is beyond me but they do. My way of dealing with this is to say OK, we will play another time. however, our other guitar player decided to tell Bev who owns the venue in no uncertain terms what he thought of her, using severely bad language and being very rude. Not only did he do that, he went on a public website used by venues and bands and posted even more vitriol about the venue and it's owner, again using unacceptable language and calling the lady concerned names that I was disgusted with. There was no need for this at all. I do not do business in this manner and I have taken a pride in how I deal with venues, which after all, are making a living from their clientele where as playing in a band for us is in effect, just a hobby. I find you get more with honey than you do vinegar, so when I have difficult situations I always find that being friendly is the best way to resolve them. So, I called the venue up, spoke to the owner who I know, and gave her an unreserved apology for how she had been spoken to and for the posts made by our other guitar player, who had no business in making such posts. I apologised for abusive nature of them and said how I was ashamed to be associated with them as they were made in the bands name. (Later on that night I was at a Wishbone Ash gig with our bass player who could not believe what I told him about these posts). Well, lots was said in our conversation and the venue owner very graciously accepted the apology I made and said she knew it wasn't me and that I and the rest of the band would be welcome with the exception of our other guitar player. Just right now it would crate more problems than it would be worth to replace him so in some way I have to deal with this to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. This matter will come up for discussion, but our other guitarist has had outbursts before, usually aimed at myself when I have had to tell him about something that he didn't like. While he would apologise later on very sincerely, I am now seeing a pattern of behavior which I won't put up with, and the other guys in the band don't like either. When I tried to ask him about all this he refused to discuss it with me. So at some point in the future this will have to be dealt with. As a result of this, I have told the other members of the band that unless they get a gig, they must stay out of the management role of the band. What Bev (the venue owner) Did tell me was that sometimes she is let down by bands and loses custom as punters come to the pub expecting a live band and there is none, as the let down has been at the last minute. So I told her that we would be willing to help her if we are able to. I was trying to changer her perception of us from a problem to a solution. she liked that and said she would indeed give us a call in such circumstances, so the relationship is on the way to being repaired. However, I think it will be 2021 before we get a proper booking there again, which saddens me very much. But Bev and I ended the phone call on good terms which enables me to go back with a new band or with a new guitar player. On a different note, I am on the hunt for another guitar to add to my tonal palate. As Heritage guitars are all but unavailable here in the UK I am looking at other makes and models. The ones coming on to my radar are PRS, Duesenberg, Musicmann and similar. I would love a PRS but at £3800 for a core range model I just can not afford one and I will not get into debt for one. Maybe a used earlier USA made PRS may be affordable, but certainly not a new one. I really like the MusicMann Silhouette HSH with trem, they play beautifully and are so comfortable strapped on so definitely a contender for a future guitar in the next year or so. But the surprise on the list is the Yamaha Pacifica 611VFM. This guitar has two Seymour Duncan pick ups, (not the cheaper ones) a Wilkinson Trem sysystem, Grover locking tuners and is superb to play. These are extremely competatively priced guitars and play and sound as well as guitars which cost much more. I like the simplicity of one tone and one volume control which is great when playing live. With myself, I have to have a job for a guitar to do before I buy it and this guitar would be very versatile. The neck is maple with the rosewood board. I am very impressed with Yamaha guitars, every one I've ever played has been a really good instrument, although I don't bother withe the cheaper end of the pacifica range. Yamaha seem to know how to make great guitars at a good price point, check out the Yamaha SA2200 Semi - fantastic build and playability. So that's if from me today, thanks for reading and best wishes to all, Mark.

As we are back on our world tour of nowhere in particular, I I'm finding that running a band is often harder work than it needs to be. Thankfully though, I am now able to drive once more and can find my own way to and from gigs. Saturday night we were playing in Sheffield at a venue we play three times a year and go down very well at. Sheffield in one of Yorkshires largest cities, if not the largest. It is a city built on steel production and there are still some big foundries in the city. However, although there are a fair few venues in Sheffield, it's not an easy place to get bookings in without and agent. We're all nice people in our band of wandering minstrels, each of us with our own perculiarities, but as I go along , I am finding more and more that the un asked for role of manager which I seem to have ended up with can be very much managing people. Graham, our drummer, is rock solid, turns up, sets his kit up and follows the set up plan. PA first, Drums next, then guitars and amps. Shaun, our bass player, is so laid back it is unbelievable, the worlds greatest fence sitter when we are hammering out band policy, but as decent a human being as you are ever going to get. Robin, our other guitarist, who I affectionately refer to as Moaning Myrtle (see Harry Potter) always feels under pressure, he's landed the job of running the PA purely and simply because he owns the mixer. Complaints? Oh yes - The Pa actually belongs to me and is a pretty good one, if basic. But it does handle the venues. Poor Robin get's very frustrated, he's not a natural sound guy, but he knows more than any of us about setting the PA up as he's learned by trial and error. I'll say this for Shaun, Graham and myself, we have our sound sorted. Shaun has some great bass's, nice big bass rig that produces great sound. Me, I know what I need to do to get a nice full tone without scorching the ears of the audience. Now for the fun bit. Robin plays a lovely Gibson R9 Les Paul through a Fender Vibroking amp. The thing is so loud it's unbelievable. My main amp is an American built Peavey Classic 30 which has hade a a rather expensive speaker put in and now sounds great. I also have a Fender Hot Rod Delux. Now I know that these two amps are far from top of the range, but they go out and do the business and I make them work. I know my tones and settings and all is well. So, we come to Saturday night. Robin, with rather expensive kit, can not get his amp to sound right. He may well have a superb guitar and great amp but in between those two lies his pedal board, which I personally would like to strip out, and throw all his pedals except one into the dump and start again, minimising what he has on it and replaving the cheaper pedals with better quality. In cutting a long story short, his sound was truly horrendous on Saturday and was so far up the treble scale it was hurting my ears. No matter what he was playing it sounded. Now he is a nice guy, as nice a person as you could wish to meet and will do anything to help. But he was becoming somewhat snappy with me as I was getting a couple of negative comments from the audience and the guy who runs the venue, with an audience of about 250, we had to be right as we don't like complaints. So, when the opportunity arose and we were on our own, I asked my friend why he was so short tempered with me? Right away his voice rose and he lost his cool shouting and swearing, saying that I was putting him under pressure and he can't handle it. I soaked it up for a minute or two and calmly asked him to hear me out - there's a proverb that says "A soft answer turneth away wrath". I like that and try to remember it when I'm in challenging situations. I told him that no one was being criticised, but I get all the complaints about sound and as we are being paid by the club and return bookings depend on the enjoyment on the night of the club members. Well, I reacted kindly rather than with anger and Robin soon realised that there was no criticism of him but rather we need to help him get his sound right. He's no slouch, but in my opinion, he could do with a decent quality class A 30 watt amp, a decent overdrive pedal, a delay and a boost. Add a tuner and that's enough. I have never understood having a hue amount of pedals in fro nt of you when you don't use three quarters of them. Recently I have come to the conclusion that the less gear you are using the less likely you are to have problems. In fairness to my band mate he immediately apologised for how he had spoken to me and was most sincere, I told him not to worry, it's done and forgotten. So now I am finding that so much of managing the band is actually people management, making sure every one is happy while sorting out problems. Robin is, as I said a nice person and he was quite bothered that he had been the cause of a problem and apologised again several times during the evening and went out of his way to be pleasant. I'm pleased to tell you that even with the sound problem he had, we went down exceptionally well, plenty people dancing and a few encores demanded and three bookings taken for next year. I get on exceptionally well with the venues management, and the boss really likes our way of doing things, which is to turn up early evening, get set up and all ready for playing long before all the club members are ready for the evening to start. I was quite surprised when I was told that many bands turn up later and are setting up while other parts of the evenings activities are taking place, which I feel is totally unacceptable. So, in the end, we worked through the problem, Robin realised he has to do something about getting his sound right and the club members were all going home having had a great night and enjoyed what we did. My next challenge is to get Robin playing sixties style guitar and to not put Led Zeppelin into ABBA - poor analogy, but it makes the point. It's amazing how many rock players can't get out of that heavy chugging style. I spent all my early teenage years as a rhythm player and it did me a huge amount of good, laying a great foundation for later years. By the way, I used my 555 on Saturday night, what a guitar! On a totally different vein, I have joined Slimming World and at the end of my first four week period, I have lost 15 1/2 Lbs. I have eaten like a horse and not been hungry at all. I am fed up of being the fat guy in the band and now I'm doing something about it. As I was walking up the stairs in our home to go to go to bed in the early hours of Sunday morning, I was carrying something and by the time I'd reached the top, my six week old jeans had fallen round my ankles. They fitted just right when I bought them but being fifteen pound lighter they now don't stay up. I'm hoping that this time next year I look completely different. Thanks for reading.

What a twelve months I've had, it's been a roller coaster to say the least. It all started at the end of April last year when I was redundant from my job. Thankfully I have always had a mortgage protection insurance policy, so my mortgage is paid for up to two years from one month after the job loss, so we've done alright. It wasn't long before other companies and recruiters were showing interest in me but there was a huge obstacle to over come, which was the possibility of my losing my driving licence in October. Over here in the UK the police have placed so many speed cameras on the roads that it is unbelievable. If you are one mile an hour over the limit, they have you, and three points are on your licence. Get twelve over a three year period and you get an automatic ban for six months. When, like me, you normally drive 50,000 miles a year you are going to get caught sooner or later. This obstacle was too much and no one would take a chance. And, on 23rd of October last year I received a six month driving ban from the court. So, I thought I'll find something where I don't need to drive for work, it was impossible because every prospective employer I approached took the view that as soon as I got my licence back I would go for better employment - in fairness, they were right. But come 15th December, this became a moot point as events took an unexpected turn.t With two weeks to go before Christmas, My wife Helen and I had not bought each other our Christmas presents and Helen insisted that we go to a shopping mall about thirty miles south of where we live and she was not taking no for an answer. However, she did not know that rain was falling and as soon as it hit the ground it was turning to a layer of thick black ice which in the dark, we could not see. As Helen was driving, I walked down our drive to get in the passanger door. However, I never made it into the car. I fell forward on the ice, with all my weight going on the front of my foot which turned under itself, giving me five breaks in various bones in my lower leg and ankle. It was rather painful to say the least. I spent two nights and three days in hospital, and was superbly looked after. Well, Helen and I thought if trouble comes in threes, we've had three big ones and things can only get better. However, on Sunday January 13th Helen was coming driving home from church on her own (we usually go together but with my broken leg I was unable to attend for a while) when she was blinded by low winter sun and she lost control of the car and wrote it off smashing down some steel railings and taking out a traffic light. She was taken to Hospital in an ambulance and spent the day there getting checked out and getting X rays and what have you. Thankfully, all she suffered with was some very nasty bruising, but that took quite a few weeks to heal - what we learned was that no matter what, your health is all that matters. Anyway, without going into it in depth, it's four months today since the injury, and I can now walk without my big plastic support boot if I take it slowly and use a walking stick. But the injuries meant that we had to cancel three months of bookings. In a way, it worked out well because Robin, our other guitar player started with some health issues and the bands down time was helpful to him as well. One of the side effects of my leg break was my getting very fed up with many things in general, but what drive me round the bend was cabin fever, and not being able to get out. Also, because of the cast on my leg I could not take a bath or a shower so every morning I would sit in front of our wash basin and wash and clean up. I remember the first shower I took after I got the OK from the surgeon (I had two scars, one either side of my ankle from the surgery), that shower felt so luxurious! I'd given myself three and a half months recovery time from the accident to the first gig, and we played a venue we go down well at in a town near us on Saturday 6th of April. We were rusty, and even though we'd had a couple of full rehearsals we were out of practice playing live shows and I have to admit that we were nowhere near as tight as we needed to be. However, we are our own worst critics and the crowd enjoyed us. My 27 year old daughter has never seen me play live, so she brought her friend with her and came for the night, she was very impressed and even said she was proud of what I'd done and my playing. This last Saturday saw us play our second booking of 2019 at The Lion Pub in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Castleford is very much what you would call in America a Blue Collar town. It's a run down town which had its history in the coal mining industry, and when the mining industry went into rapid decline in the 1980's, many were made redundant and lost their jobs The town has never recovered and the jobs there are low paid. So the crowd we played for were very much a down to earth group of people. The pub itself was quite rough, but the crowd were a nice enough bunch of folks who just want a good Saturday night out with what they have. The Lion is also known as a heavy rock venue and as we are not a heavy rock band, we did wonder how we would get on, Robin, our other guitar player (AKA Moaning Myrtle) as usual was making his forecasts of doom. But he needn't have worried because right from the word go we had the crowd with us. At the end of the night, many of the pub regulars told us how much they enjoyed the two sets we played and that it was nice to have something different than the usual bands they have week in week out all playing the same stuff. As a band, we do pack a punch when we rock and one of the highlights of the night for us was when we played the old Bad Company song "I Can't Get Enough" complete with the twin lead guitar solos and it sounded superb. We have a return booking for there next year. One last interesting fact about this pub. Mark, whom plays guitar in Wishbone Ash, is from Castleford, we've known him over twenty years and he is currently touring the USA with Wishbone Ash and this is a pub he is well known at. Robin was talking to him on Saturday afternoon via WhatsApp and he said to give the locals his best wishes, so we did, and we got a real cheer and round of applause for that. Last of all, I've decided that as soon as I am able to, I am going to pull the trigger on a PRS. Since buying a Telecaster, I have come to love the simplicity of one volume and one tone control. I've also played a couple of PRS guitars and on a personal level they work for me very nicely, and give me all that I require in a working guitar. I feel it would immediately become my go to guitar once I got it. The one I get will be a custom 22 or 24 with trem and mahogany neck, nice burst with a red mahogany back. Hopefully I will be working in June and that will be when I start looking at the options. The question is, do I sell some guitars to fund one or just buy the PRS? What I may well do is buy the PRS and sell a guitar I don't use. Watch this space, and as usual, thanks for reading. Best to all, Mark. 2

As 2018 comes to a close, the band I play in, Route 62 has had two changes of personal and we are re establishing our selves on our playing circuit and we're happier than we've ever been. Our old guitar player's wife cost us all just short of £2000 but we are now 18 months rid of them both and we no longer hear anything from them. Robin has been playing guitar with us just over a year and has fittted in well, he uses three guitars on stage, a Les Paul RI, a Strat and a Tele. Our Drummer, Graham, is well and truly in the driving seat and fits right in with us personality wise. He's brought a great sense of humour to the band and we like having him around. This year we have added a few new venues to our customer base and have gone down well at each of them, getting return bookings. Over here in the UK you get to play the same place three times a year if you are very lucky, and we have two venues that give us three gigs each. We are aiming to play 26 dates next year, not a lot, but we are al family people, with the exception of our bass player who is divorced, his kids have grown up and he more or less lives alone. He would play three nights a week every week if we would, the band helps him with the loneliness he often feels. However, we now have a very happy line up and for the first time ever we feel that all of us are friends and there are no strains in any of the band relationships. For myself, the year has brought two big challenges. At the end of April I was made redundant from work when the company I worked at started making cutbacks, and I was one of them. The second challenge has been losing my driving licence. This has been because of an accumulation of penalty points on my driving licence. Over here in the UK road side cameras have proliferated alarmingly and if you are one mile an hour over the speed limit they get you. This leads to an automatic 3 points on your licence. Get twelve and you are banned from driving. I was driving 50,000 miles a year with work and just before a lot of points came off my licence I was caught by a camera over the limit. I thought I was in an area with a higher limit than it has and was making an effort to stay within that limit unaware that I was completely wrong. Well, you could say it's my own fault and the courts banned me from driving but I have tried to be very careful and I really do believe (along with any one I speak to) that these cameras are not about safety but are about raising revenue. Even the police refer to them as revenue cameras. Not having a driving licence has impacted on me in two ways. First of all it has severely affected my job search and I firmly believe I'd have been back in work by now. The second way it has affected me is the inconvenience. I really do not mind being a passenger, but I now depend on others in the band to help me. A couple of years ago our car broke down and had to go to the repair shop to be put in working order again. not one of the band offered me any help and I had to hire a car ( I was out of work then also) and fuel it. It took more than my share of the gig money to go and play the gig. Not one of the band offered to share a bit more with me and had I just cancelled the gig (due to unforseen circumstances) every one would have lost their share. However, this time, Robin sent every one an e mail telling them that as a band they needed to be willing to help me. So, my wife drops me at all local gigs, and if it's not local she take's me to Robin's house and we go in his VW van and he brings me home from the gig. Also our drummer has brought me home, so it's a different experience for me and no one has said it's my own fault. I've had lots of support from the guys. We finished the year with our last gig on Saturday night at a Club in Wakefield, the next town to us. It was only a twenty minute drive there, and it's the third time we have played this venue. They have a new Concert Secretary at this venue and he told me that they are looking for a band to play for the last Saturday of the year next year. Our normal fee for this club is £400, but as it is the New Year event they will pay £1000. So, that will be our biggest fee to date if we get it. Years ago in the UK when the pub and club scene was really in full swing, a semi pro band, if good enough, could ear some really nice money pro rata to what they can earn today. But things change and the industry that led to the organisation of many of these clubs has died. Over here there was lots of coal mining and engineering plants, which have all gone. the Clubs we play are what we call in the UK "Working Men's Clubs" where working people can come out as couples and enjoy entertainment and a social life at greatly reduced costs. Often the clubs had their own Snooker, Pool, Soccer, Crown Green Bowling and other sports teams which would be involved in the local community. They still provide a great night out for people but they are getting thinner on the ground. However, the bigger ones are surviving for the time being. In their hay day, some of the clubs would book top singers such as Tom Jones and other big names and they would be packed. Something else you may find interesting is that the Clubs formed a "Federation" where by if you were a member of one club you could visit another club without paying an entry fee. The Federation of Clubs owned it's own brewery in the North of England called "The Federation Brewery" and distributed beer to the clubs of the federation at greatly reduced prices compared to the big commercial brewery's and the saving was passed on to the club members. Today the aim of the clubs is to plow the profit's back into the club so the members can enjoy a less expensive night out and it is certainly noticable that when we buy drinks we pay 30% at least than when we play in bars and pubs. During 2018 I have taken more notice of pedals and how they are used to a better effect. I'm not talking about having a lot of them for the sake of it, but for enhancing the sound. My friend now plays in Wishbone Ash and I've noticed how he and Andy Powell use pedals to great effect. So next year I'm going to try and enhance my own sound just a little bit where it is applicable, and that it the key word - Applicable. I don't use a lot of pedals but for some songs I'd like to combine two or three - for example, the end solo of Throw Down The Sword uses reverb, overdrive and boost. I'd like to be able to switch these on all at once and off together. I am also hoping to get a new amp and guitar. The Amp I would like is a Fender 30 watt Vibroverb which has a beautiful clean tone. I play on a clean setting and use the OD pedal when I need to, I don't channel switch. I will sell my Fender Hot Rod then the Vibroverb will be the number one amp with my Peavey Classic 30 as my back up amp. Now for guitars. I have over the years had a hankering for a PRS but never really had the money. I've always admired them as a quality product and I've decided to try and get one by the end of next year if things go well enough for us. I will never buy a guitar over the needs of our family or home, and over the last few years I could have had several very nice guitars with the money we have elected to make our home a nice place to live in. But if I can, I will save my gig money next year, sell off one of my guitars and buy the PRS I've wanted. There are other guitars I would like just as much, such as a Gretsche Country Gentleman but what has made me settle on the PRS is that every time I have picked one up and played, my playing has been more fluid. On a personal level I find them very comfortable to hang on a strap and stand up for 90 minutes with one round my neck. I know there are other great brands out there, and I would enjoy any one of them. But I am talking about a working tool here that earns me money and the PRS has come to the fore for that reason. when I win the lottery I'll buy a couple of nice H150's, a Music Man Sihouette the Gretsche, and have a few more hand built ones to my speck by top luthiers. Until then I will just make do with the PRS. I've got to find the right one, but the fun is in the search, the work is in the practice and the playing. The band always takes January off from gigging for a couple of reasons. First of all, every one has spent up over Christmas, the bills are coming in and it's cold so the venues are all about empty. Secondly, we use January to rehearse new numbers for our set list and now we need two different set lists. One for pubs and bars and a seperate one for the clubs which demand a different type of set. The song I am looking forward to playing most is Blowin' Free by Wishbone Ash, it's a song we all love in the band and to me it fills me full of joy. We finished the year off with a great gig and had to play a twenty minute encore at a club that is known for letting you know if they don't like you and they would have let us play for linger had we done so. But finishing on such a high note has made me look forward to next year and the gigs we will play. I hope you all have a great Christmas and that the new year brings everything you need. Thanks for reading, and best wishes to all, Mark.

We're having quite the time in our band just now, we finally feel we are rid of the troublesome pair that was our last guitarist and his wife. We thought we were rid of them after our last gig but they could not let things go. They were sending us e mails, phoning our bass player, they phones my home to cause trouble but Mrs 555 is not a woman you trifle with. She answered the phone and told Mrs Satan never to call our home again and to stop causing trouble. So far she has not made any further attempts to call our home. They have also tried to cause a lot of trouble for us by phoning our venues and cancelling gigs, telling the venue that the band has split up or changed its name and they would take the booking over. When the venues found out the truth, they were not at all happy about being lied to and being used in some petty game to cause trouble. One venue rang them back and told them that they were now black listed and would not be welcome there again. I cold go on but you get the picture. I cannot believe that we ever got involved with such people. Over the last few weeks we have been busy holding auditions for a new guitar player. On the whole it's been a pain in the neck. We've had some good players come but some of them wanted to be THE lead player and just have us back them, which is never going to happen because the ethos of the band is to ensure what is best for the band and have it sound as good as possible. We had three guys who said that they wanted to join us and then before the week was out they gave back word, two for the reason of wanting to be the main man in the band and the other because he had decided, in the space of three days to move to Vancouver. We got to the point where we were cancelling gigs so we thought we would just take our time and get the right guy in. This last week I was looking on a site called "Join My Band" and found an ad from a guy who wanted a band to join and he lived in the locality we rehearse at so I talked with him for a while and tried to ascertain where he is at musically and competancy wise. We decided to meet up this Saturday (today) and have a session. It turns out that Wishbone Ash are his favourite band, as they are very much one of the favourite bands of myself and our bass player, and he is a friend of Andy Powell. We also both know Wishbone Ash's new guitar player. But that is by the by. What it does mean though, is finally there was a guy who would play some Wishbone Ash numbers in the band. So we set it up. He came at the agreed time, and we had two hours. He had not had time to learn our set having only two or three days notice, so I just asked him to play lead on certain numbers and invited him to take leads where ever I could and he did just fine, so we know he has the ability. We offered him the place in the band and he accepted. When I got home I received a really nice e mail from him thanking us for giving him the job in the band and promising to be committed and to learning the songs we need him to. What more can you ask? We are slowly building our PA up as we need to do so. Our good friend and fellow forum member Peter Alton is selling some nice speakers, stands and cables as he is thinning his gear out (but not his guitars. On a side note he has just sold a 1962 fender 15 watt valve amp that sounds fabulous). So on Tuesday I will pick those up from Peter who lives about sixty miles from me. Peter is a true gentleman and I consider myself fortunate to have him as my friend. It was Heritage guitars that really sparked our friendship as Peter was working one day a week at a guitar shop (not that he needed to) I used to drop in at and as we got to know each other I mentioned that I wanted a Heritage 355 and that I was tired of the Gibson Corporate attitude. It was that which brought us together as Peter at that point, and still does own two very nice Heritage guitars, along with other superb guitars which you will be lucky to see in any retailer. Anyway, the constant in the band has been our drummer, bass player and myself and we want to keep control of our sound system so we are not left without one again. Although our PA amp is older, it works and is powerful enough to do what ever we need. in case you are wondering, it's a Peavey 600 watt mixer amp. Our new guitarist has a mixer, so we will see how that can enhance the situation. We really hope that this is now the end of auditions and the start of the new constant line up. our new colleague seems more than willing to learn the songs and parts he needs to. When he comes back from his holidays we are going to have three good rehearsals before we start gigging again. Thanks for reading, Mark.

I thought I would put a picture of our drummer Allen on the blog picture today, Allen has been in hospital for surgery on his back and his leg and is taking six weeks out to get back to full health and recover from the surgery. Allen is an excellent drummer and an extremely nice person. And, this is where our tale starts today. we have had two drummers dep for us so far, the fist one did a couple of gigs for us, another extremely nice chap called Mick. Tony is depping for us for about four or five bookings and is more my style of drummer, also we hit it off as friends instantly and have enjoyed being in each others company and getting to know each other as friends and band mates - it is true to say that I hope to play in a band with him at some point, and I think it will happen. We click musically and have the same groove. Now, here's where it gets interesting. Tony comes from the same town as our other guitarist, and indeed it was he who brought Tony in to help out Saturday night in the city of Sheffield, about thirty miles south of where I live. It's one of our favourite venues with a nice big stage that lets you move about a bit. We used our new lighting for the second time and it was great, I think the audience liked them and they certainly added the effect we wanted. However, for the first set, only the two Derby lights at the end of each side of the light bar were working and we couldn't understand why. It turns out we had not switched the foot control on! Needless to say, the second set was a lot brighter! We went down really well and are at the same venue again later this year. After the night was over, we got packed up ready for home, and our other guitar player and his wife, Mrs Satan, were away first. I am usually ready to go last as I sort the money out and make sure every one was happy that we played to. So, that left Shaun our bass player, Tony the drummer and myself. Now what you need to know is that Madam Satan is all over every one else in the band hugging and kissing them at the beginning and end of the evening, with of course, the exception of myself - and that is how I like it. We are on civil terms and it's left that way. When we were about to go home, I explained to Tony about how things are with Madam Satan, just incase he noticed anything funny. I was worried that he might think he was being negative, but his reply stunned me......... Tony had played in a band before with our other guitar player for a little while, and he told me that he knew exactly where I was coming from, and that her behavior had caused her husband to be kicked out of the band he was with previous to this band! Not only that, but it was a band he himself had started. He then told me what a nice guy the other guy in the old band was, but Madam Satan had caused so much trouble that they just could not tolerate it any longer. So, it seems at some point the truth comes out everytime. But I feel totally vindicated in taking the stance that I did and being prepared to get a replacement player if needed, and at this point, Shaun, Allen and myself are ready to implement the change if we ever need to. On a positive side, it's been great getting to know Tony, a top bloke (as we say over here) and making a new friend. The band is playing well and we plan on adding some new material in July. Thanks for reading, Mark.

Music is fun, Right? Or at least it's supposed to be. I've always thought that if you play in a band you do it to enjoy playing and when you get paid for it then you are worth the money you earn. The best thing about being in a band other than playing music you really like, is being out with your mates, or as you Americans say, your buddies. To me, getting along well with all the other guys and enjoying their company is the number one priority. On the whole the relationship within the band is really good, no ego's getting in the way of getting things done and a common aim of being the best band we can be. At our age some of the younger guys are leaping about a bit more and what have you, but we put on a good show. For the first time in our two years, coming up to Christmas and the new year an element of rot set in between the guys. And what was it caused by? One of the guy's wife putting her oar in where it was not needed. One band member always brings his wife to a gig - nothing wrong with that at all and she is most welcome. But the three other wives leave "the band" to manage and get along with running things, Keeping out of band business and not giving any opinions. We all try and bring what we have to the party for the benefit of the band. But we will call this wife Carole, it's not her real name. But Carole likes to pass comments and organize where she is not required, and when she has had a few drinks she becomes a little different. One night the band has played a gig, it's a month or two away from Christmas and the club we are playing wants to book us for new year at £600. Not a fortune, but £150 in my pocket is well worth it to me as I have been out of work for a while. The figure is being negotiated and behind the door from where the guy who says yes is, Carole is giving me grief that we are not asking enough and we should be going out for £1000 on new years eve. Well, that was the case in years gone by, but the Working Men's Clubs don't have the money they once had and depending on which club you are at, £600 is very nice for an evening's work. Every one of us agreed, having raised the guy up from £400 to £600. The very next day Carole's husband says he won't do it. We all agreed that all he was doing was making a point with his wife. We didn't do any think about it as it would not have been in the bands interest and I am not interested in scoring points over any one. But Carole had been coming to gigs and muttering things to our bass player such as "Mark hates me", which is nonsense, but I was getting tired of her antics, which usually start when alcohol is involved. So, what do you do? At one point I was ready to leave and call it a draw, or even get a replacement for the band member concerned. But putting my business head on I knew that if the situation could be manged without any further upsets, the band would progress because the basic line up is right and the formula we have seems to be successful. I talked it all over with a couple of friends who are musicians in working bands to get their perspective on the situation, they were pretty much on my wave length, One of my friends said "it's your band, don't put up with it", another said "the next time you get up to play tell the audience that Carole is going to sing the next song, and when she looks and says I'm not in the band, then tell her to stay out of band business". No What I decided to do was not stir the pot. As we had a few weeks of playing, I decided to leave things alone and calm down. We all e mailed each other with Christmas greetings and took a break. Coming back together in January to rehearse a couple of new numbers there was no ill feeling, every one got along really well as we do 99% of the time and we had a good get together, and added a superb version of Roy Orbison's "Pretty woman" to the set. We played it at the first gig of the year and it went down a storm. We are also adding "The Summer of 69" into the set list because almost every where we play we get asked to play it. I think think the moral of the story is use your head and stay cool about these situations, and if there is a way to avoid a rift, find it and implement it so that the good of the band is the first thing. I still believe that each member of our band is a really great guy and we all have our own flaws and imperfections which we just have to live with. We get on well and it shows in the music we play and the gigs we put on. My big buddy in the band is our bass player, Shaun. He has been my mate since we were kids and he is the opposite of me, he's extremely quiet and will never come down one way or another in a band disagreement, which can be very frustrating. On Stage he is like Bill Wyman, he just stands and plays, never cracks a smile.... But we compliment each other, sometimes I bring some life into him and he will get more animated and he will keep me level headed when I need to be, it's a good balancing act - like an old fashioned set of scales with a half pound weight on one side and two two ounce weights and four four ounce weights on the other side. The scales are balanced by the same weight but coming in different formats. I did hold back from phoning round for gigs at the end of the year, because I wanted to see what happened, but now that things are steady I shall be seeing what's going on and trying to find some new venues to play at. As far as guitars go, I would really like to add a couple to the stable this year. I would love a Gretsche and also something like a Duesenberg. I really have a fancying for something that looks fantastic on stage, maybe in candy apple red or some finish like a blue sparkle. Anyway, I will add a picture or two of what I have in mind. Best wishes to all and thanks for reading.

Well,nice to be back where I started from.Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve. I was playing bass with a Rock a Billy band.It was one of those gigs where the young 'uns are telling me how the songs they are about to perform go,I was thinking 'No they don't ',but I was all ears,because I have to know how THEY do the songs I have been listening to for over 50 years. All went well.We were playing a venue that I've played on & off for over 50 years.It's about to close & become yet another supermarket.Another gig vanishes into the mist of time.I left the gig limping.I'd been paid,and sat on my wallet ! NYE.always a good paying gig .

Greetings Heritage owners! I have owned several Heritage instruments and I have 3 at this time. I began playing in 1960 and had several local bands during the 60's. My first guitar was a cheap flat top and my first electric was a bright orange Framus that I used for several years. Because I was born and raised in Kalamazoo I knew about Gibson and the factory at 225 Parsons St. all of my life. My first Gibson was a cherry 335. Soon I had a Melody maker and eventually I owned 2 Les Paul's. First a 1967 Gold Top and then a 1977 Blond. Now I play a 1992 H-550 Antique Sunburst, an H-555 Custom in butterscotch translucent and a "one of a kind" Heritage Bass. My Heritage flat top is now owned by my son. It is an H-440 in cherry with gold machines. I have all of my instruments displayed on string swings in my home and my collection is limited to guitars made in Kalamazoo. I am a big fan of Fender tube amps and I have restored a 1973 Princeton Reverb and a 1979 Twin Reverb. I also have a completely refurbished Ampeg B-15N "flip top" amp. My entire life was spent in the music business as an A/V salesman and store owner, a weekend DJ for weddings and parties and a homeowner/hobbyist. My wife and I have been together for more than 45 years and we have two grown sons and two grandsons. If anyone has questions about music, sound reinforcement or A/V problems, please let me know. Jim

Here I am, two years and a month into this crazy journey. I meant to blog here more often, but you know how that goes. I'd like to say I've been busy playing, but that clearly hasn't been the case. What I have done is buy/sell a bunch of gear, and gotten a bit better at playing along the way. Right now I'm in the process of simplifying my gear, one electric/amp/pedal board and one acoustic with a practice amp. That's it. I'm paying those off over the next year and shutting down all my credit that's enabled this swapping. And I'm blocking TGP, MyLesPaul, and Reverb once everything is sold. Damn those sites are hard on the wallet (although do have some useful information). If I go and look at all the players I admire, and listen to stories about their formative years, they sure as hell weren't on TGP swapping pedals or reading reviews on which tailpiece increases sustain or which pickguard looks the most like a real '59 pickguard. They were playing. And listening. And woodshedding. Some of you guys/ladies (most, really) are excellent players and I enjoy listening to you. But buying $5000 guitars isn't going to get me any closer to sounding better. So, like I said, I'm simplifying my setup, and getting to work. So I'll post a couple more HNGD and HNAD in the next few days, then it should be happy new song days after that. I don't want to come off all doom and gloom though. I've made some good strides and made some important discoveries. I'm certainly technically more proficient, and hear a lot more in music than I used to, particularly with guitar-centric pieces. I've noticed how some music that I used to feel "meh" about, I enjoy a lot more now that I realize what's going on with the guitars. I've discovered a bunch of new-to-me artists, people you all probably have been listening to for years, and finally understanding why artists like Peter Green and Neil Young are so important. All in all, I think 2014 should be a great year. I think I can finally leave my beginning player title firmly behind, and jump into that wide pool of intermediate players.

I have long been a fan of rocker Charlie Gracie.I recall going to my local record store around 1958 time,and buying his then current E.P. ( Extended Play, 7" vinyl disc,usually with 4 tracks for those newer members to the planet !) Not only did I constantly play the 4 tracks of the E.P.,but I oggled the Guild guitar on the cover,with It's 3 P-90 style Pick ups,and a row of tone switches to die for ! Charlie had many hits both here (U.K.) & in the U.S.A, and he was right up there with Elvis,Buddy,Eddie & Gene.Fast forward to 2012 ( Time DOES fly ! ).I never,ever in my wildest dreams thought I would not only share the stage with my old idol,but be backing him too ! Not only that,but he still uses that Guild guitar,and, I GOT TO PLAY IT ! This is a guitar that has been played by most of the great, early rockers,so it's hallowed ground indeed. I have seen & chatted to Charlie before,but this topped the lot.Charlie gave us all his hits,and some great songs from others too.I hope I get that job again ! Now,the technical :Charlie played his Guild through a 1968 Fender Twin Reverb,that I'd borrowed from a pal for him.The bass player used a Gibson EB0 from around 1970 time,through a Mark 2 x 10" bass combo.I was sorely tempted to take my Heritage 575. Two things stopped me.1) Charlie was playing an archtop,and I didn't want to clash so,2) I played my Fender U.S Strat plus De Luxe ( 1988 ) with it's 3 Lace sensors,through a Fender Conert top from 1985 ( A Rivera design ) & a 1 x 12 " cabinet.When I'm unsure of things,I take a Strat ! All sounded great to me. Thanks,Charlie.

We got together on Friday and Saturday nights to practice for our upcoming gig. Aaron, our long lost lead guitarist extraordinaire lives in West Virginia. so he wanted to hear what we now sound like. He came up with the idea of getting on Skype and communicating with us while we go through the set list. Seemed like an odd idea, but we gave it a try. I repositioned my iMac to a spot that could get the whole band in frame and we dialed him up. We announced which song we were going to play, then charged into it with Aaron watching through the magic screen. After we finished we'd talk about where his solo or part might fit into the arrangement we had been working up. We have been trying to add room for his guitar and vocals all along, but this was a great way to make sure we are all on the same page. Every now and then when we were in the middle of a song we'd check the monitor to see if Aaron was smiling or caught a slight change in the arrangement to what he might have been used to... what? no Aaron? Then we'd see a little bit of his headstock bouncing around and his head peeking into frame with a big smile. That was so strange to see, and great to experience. What a great time that was. I'm hoping our gig goes well, and i'm much more confident that it will thanks to technology I would have never considered. We talked about how great it would be to have him in our headphones playing along with our live mix, but latency issues would certainly prevent that (for now).

As some have noticed, I have not logged any posts on the HOC for most of September. (Thank you to Tully, Slammer, Koula901, and Steiner for asking me if everything was ok). I recently came to the conclusion that I spent way too much time on a forum discussing guitars, amps, and gear, rather than actually playing, practicing, and learning guitar. I’ve been a member of the Heritage Owners Club since the 9th of August, 2010. At the time I’m writing this passage, I’ve logged in 3,427 posts. 3,165 have been discussing various subjects on our forum. I decided that I must become a better guitar player first instead of a better critic. I’ve dedicated the past few weeks to learning songs I’ve thought about, but never actually took the time to learn. My goal was to have a complete set of songs that I could sing, play rhythm, and play lead to. I figured one set of songs is eight or nine songs for a 45 minute set. I thought if I can stretch out some solos, I could extend out some of the songs, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Learning solo’s has been so far the trickiest part of my learning process. Since I have a blues rock orientation, I wanted to stray from songs that have the standard “I, IV, V” formats. Like all rock songs, the roots of the blues are there, but mostly in the soloing minor pentatonic scales. I’m trying to put together some recordings with backing tracks to demonstrate my progress. My Line 6 Pocket Pod didn’t allow me to do both. My goal was rather lofty as I quickly learned. Being a husband and father of two, I cannot neglect my family to pursue my musical interests. I found I only learned five electric songs and one acoustic during the past few weeks. The solos on the songs are shaky at best. But I still jam to the songs every night. I think I’m getting closer and closer to getting each of them right too. I’ve been meaning to learn more, but I usually only have about an hour each night to play. During the evenings, I can use my amp, but without the proper effects and backtracks being heard, I cannot really perform the songs correctly. Typically, those sessions are ½ hour or so and I’ll play my blues covers during that time. My current song list is as follows in no particular order: All Right Now- Free Jenny Jenny (867-5309) - Tommy TuTone Jessie’s Girl- Rick Springfield Layla (Electric) - Eric Clapton Bad Case of Loving You- Robert Palmer House is a Rockin- Stevie Ray Vaughn You and Tequila- Kenny Chesney I spent a lot of time trying to learn all these songs, I had many more I wanted to learn, such as Takin’ Care of Business, Just Got Paid, Boys are Back In Town, Run to You, Hold on Loosely. Which perhaps, I’ll learn those songs next month, time permitted again. Perhaps next year, I’ll make another attempt at joining a band, but from the feeler’s I sent out, there are many songs out there that decent paying bands play, that I need to learn if I’m going to succeed. Since I was a boy listening to Foreigner, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Leonard Skynard, etc., I’ve always wanted to play guitar in front of an audience. Only much later in life did I realize it takes a lot more than courage to get in front of a group of people, it takes time, patience, and talent to prepare for that moment. I’m putting in my time and I hope I’ll have the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do for over 30 years. The patience and talent is still something I hope to develop as I go. As a footnote to this blog, I also wanted to point out how difficult it is to break the habit of being on the HOC nearly every moment I’m in front of the computer. Generally, I’ve only logged on to answer a message from another member. Other than that, I’ve stayed away. I recently caved in and logged on to see Mr. Brentrocks has picked up a gem of a Gold Top 150 which I offered to trade my ’85 Amber 140 for when he chooses to part ways with the Gold Top (as we all know he will! ). Today I also posted my Pocket Pod being for sale after witnessing just how incredible the new Peavey Ampkit is for learning, recording, and as a live multi-effects software through my iPod. While I didn’t look to hard into it, I suspect many were glad not to see virtually every new topic with me leading the way in responses when they log on. I put on my status, “What is was, what it is, and what it will be”. I wrote that because what I was is a forum junky, what it is, I’m guitarist, what it will be is a musician. I hope I haven’t missed much and I also hope to keep any offensive postings off the grid.

Just when I was beginning to wonder how long I could hold this band together, as we had recently lost our very new singer, out of the blue I get an e mail from a guy about seven miles from me asking if we are still looking for a singer. Well, of course I e mailed back and said yes, with my telephone number. I am careful about giving my phone number away on the internet, you don't know who is taking it down with some nefarious thought process going on in their heads. So, I spoke with the guy, who is called Chris, and we had a good chat. By now I am straight to the point, although always well mannered and pleasant. I explained that we had recently had a singer who was told exactly what was required and then when it came to the crunch had just wasted a lot of our time. Chris explained that he was singing in a band but there were alcohol issues with the drummer and other band members and that he was fed up with them, and was looking to get involved with a decent set of guys. I explained that we were not professional players, but that we have a professional attitude and we take practices very seriously and do not mess about and weedle away on our guitars, because we do that at home. I also made it very clear about the situation with him needing to buy a pa if he was to join us, and if he wasn't then there was no point going beyond the phone call. "Not a problem" he said, so we arranged an audition for the coming Wednesday, which was this last week. Peter, our other guitarist of the yellow telecaster fame, has been away at his house in France and only contactable by letter, so communication has been slow and I did not want to audition a singer without him there. For two reasons really, one was respect for him, and secondly he is a very wise individual when it comes to sussing people out, but as Alan,our drummer said, we need to strike while the iron is hot as there are a lot of bands out there looking for singers. So, Shaun (bass) Alan (drums) and myself decided to hold the audition ourselves as three of us would have to be in agreement anyway. Chris turned up on time, which is always a good sign, and had made an effort to at l;east try and get some of the songs he had not heard in his head and have a go at any of the fourteen songs we sent him. A very nice individual of 53 years old, he has been fronting a band for the last six years. We kicked off with my favourite Bad Company song 'I can't get enough' and he did well, we also did Alright Now, whiskey in the Jar and a fair few others. Chris did struggle with some of the keys we played in, which were actually geared up to myself, but on those songs he was comfortable with he was ok. He wasn't the best and not the worst, but definitely a guy we felt we could work with, so after the audition was through, (I had already informed him that we would not be telling him on the night) Alan, Shaun and myself stayed behind for twenty minutes and talked about it. The upshot was that we decided to go with him and that I would contact Pete and let him know of our decision. It has surprised me just how hard it has been to find singers, so we didn't want to pass up on a guy who could take on the role. The next day I got a call from Pete, just back from France and getting in touch. I explained what we had done and he was very supportive and said that we had done the right thing. I have known Pete for a long time now and I have a lot of respect for him, and explained that I was concerned about going ahead without him being there, but I needn't have worried. A true gent, he was just thrilled that we had a singer on board. So now all we have to do is get things going, and hopefully I will be soon telling you all about playing some live gigs. Thanks for reading, and best to all, Mark.

A new chapter is about to begin with my band, Route 62. We are finally rid of our other guitarist and his wife, Mrs Satan. It didn't go without trouble though, but we expected it. However, the deadly duo of the Satan's sank to new lows. We were playing a gig fifty miles from my home and it was the last one we were playing with the present line up, and it is important to state that he left because he chose to do so. I knew that it was imperative that one of the three of us collected the fee for the night because if they got hold of it because if they did, we knew we would not see a penny of it. So I had a word with the venue manager and she made sure she gave it to me. We actually played very well and we got a return booking for when we have a new guitar player. Even Satan's guitar amp breaking down didn't ruin the set during "Before you accuse me", I just took over lead and played it superbly, the crowd really liked how I played it - think Mrs Satan didn't like that either. He got his amp changed and off we went again. So, the end of the evening came with four encores and then we packed up. I split the money equally to the penny, and when we were all packed up and we ensured all band gear was in our individual cars and each car was locked, we then then got together to discuss the lighting rig we had all put in equal amounts to buy. We had all put £133 each in to buy a light rig. We knew we would have to give Satan something for his share, we didn't want to, but we knew it had to be done, so a couple of weeks ago after a gig, Allen, Shaun and I got together and decided to offer him £100 for his share, and not a penny more. We know that it we had to sell the lights and split what we got four ways, we would all get less than £100 each because the second hand market is full of light rigs etc. Well, we got together after the gig in the car park (of all places) and they asked for their share in cash, as we had just collected our fee in cash and they knew we had that on us, they demanded we give them the full £133 they had paid in for the new rig. Right away Allen, our drummer, said no, that is not going to happen because the lights are now used and we were not giving them the full amount. We told them they were getting £100 and that we were being generous with that offer. Well, it's a good job our cars were locked and everything was safe. when they realised there was no way they were getting the full amount, that's when things got very nasty indeed, in fact most of it from Mrs Satan. They could not grasp the concept of once something has been bought, no matter how recently, the value has gone down. We were extremely fair, giving them 75% if the purchase price. In the UK our equivalent of purchase tax is called Value added tax and is at the rate of 20%, so they virtually got everything back except the tax. Where else would you get that? Well, Mrs Satan kicked off with abuse that I will not repeat here, all aimed at myself, every four letter word you have ever heard of came out with vitriol that I have never experienced before, she also attacked me for my faith, even though our church has provided free rehearsal facilities which they were more than happy to take advantage of. I have never experienced such hatred and vitriol in my life. She then turned on Allen who told her the reason this was at the stage it is is because of herself. As it got nasty, Shaun, our bass player, who always sits on the fence, just said we should give them the money to put an end to it. Allen and I looked at him in disbelief at what he had just said and we instantly said not a chance. After they had gone, I gently told Shaun that we succeed in these situations by standing together. Well, things continues for quite a while at a very nasty state, I was threatened with violence, and also that they would smash my car. The funniest thing was that they said they would sue us for £33. I just said that was fine if they chose to do so. They were beaten from the word go because none of us raised our voices or retaliated at them in an undignified manner, for which I am truly glad. They showed their true colours and it was very unpleasant. Imagine a situation as bad as it can get and there you have it. We all feel that a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders and that we are rid of a great burden. We are auditioning new guitar players on Saturday, and each guitarist has been told in no uncertain circumstances that if they join us, their wife or girlfriend stays out of band business. Break this rule and you will be fired instantly. So Allen, Shaun and I are very positive about the bands next chapter, on Saturday Shaun bought a fabulous new bass rig, a 200w USA built Ampeg rig that sounds incredible and looks like it just came out of a showroom. Our first job in finding a new band member is to buy some new PA speakers as the ones we have at the moment won't take a a bass drum being mic'd up through them. So there we are, rid of a giant monkey of our backs and looking forward to moving onwards and upwards. Thanks for reading, I am sure my next blog entry will be far more positive.

Practice? You are talking about practice? No way around it. You need to do it, both individually and as a group in order to improve. Our band gets together about once a week and tries to tweak our arrangements, learn new covers, write or define compositions we are working on and generally just play together. There's really no substitute for gathering and working on our craft. What is often more difficult for me is working on my playing individually. I have a busy life - or at least I use that excuse - when Its hard to find the time to play alone. My personal practicing often strays from the disciplined structure that would likely help me most. I tend to just noodle around and head back to the same familiar territory. Maybe it is because I have a regular job and play music mainly for the enjoyment and sheer joy that I experience when gathered with my bandmates, making music together. When its right we all know it and we all experience that "Deep Rich Happy" together... Ooh, this is starting to sound weird. It takes a lot of time and energy to dial in our sound and levels and get it just right. Working out arrangements and fitting the different parts together so they all work and allow for individual space is tricky. I have found that I just don't really have a knack for it - let alone the patience. I just want to plug in and play, not having to worry about the technical details that are vital to creating quality sound and tone. The playing is what I enjoy and when our former lead guitarist and musical mentor travels the long trip up from West Virginia to join us we'll practice once then hit the stage for a gig. We haven't played together in probably seven or eight years, but he has the chops to be able to jump right back into it and not miss a beat. He's more of an instinctive, improvisational player than we are used to playing with and he'll take us places we don't normally go. More of a jazz player, he tends to really listen and play off what each of us are doing rather than adhere to a predetermined structure. We'll have to be ready to go there with him and that will take practice, both personally and as a "team". Can't wait.

Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for going away as he was so committed to the band. The first thing I knew about it was when I received an airmail letter from him explaining his situation and that he was therefore resigning from the band. Well, friendship counts for a lot, and I wrote back and said as far as I was concerned I would wait for him to come home and see what happens then. In the meantime, we had an e mail from our new singer saying that he could no longer be our singer because his mother had had a fall and damaged her hip. Personally, I feel he was just another time waster who didn't want to fund his own gear. The next thing that happened was that our drummer, Allan, decided that he had put too much energy into the band and now it was falling apart he would look elsewhere for a gig. To be honest, he is a fine drummer and good guy, I could understand his point of view. There was no falling out, just decisions to see what else is about. Allan said if he found anything and they want another guitar player he would recommend me... So, that just leaves me and Shaun, who have played together for years. For now, we are having a rest from things and just trying to work out our next move. Maybe losing the singer was a pain in the neck, but Pete pulling out was such a blow, he was such an integral part of the band and his absence was just too much to overcome. He is an incredibly nice guy. Shaun and I are putting everything on hold until Pete comes home, in this case it's more than about who is and is not in a band, it's about friendship and genuine care for each other. When Pete comes home, we will get together and see where we are all up to, but for now, it seems that all we can do is put it down. It has been a hard journey putting this band together, I don't know why it should have been so. the chemistry between the four musicians was great, both as players and people. In the end, it was the struggle to find a committed vocalist that was just too much, there just did't seem to be any one out there available who was really wanting to give it a go. The sad thing is, that although there are far better musicians than myself out there, our band could have done quite well and it is sad to have to lay it to rest. On the other side of the coin, Shaun and I are quite happy to get a rest from all the effort of trying to make it work. I am sure that in the not too distant future we will be making new plans. It's been a great journey and friendships have been made along the way that will last. Thanks for reading, Mark.

Music has always been a strong presence in my life. It has always been around. There are lots of musicians on both sides of my family: my paternal grandfather played acoustic guitar; my mom's youngest brother plays guitar, there are professional musicians on both sides of the family, my parents are very decent singers, so is my sister, I consider myself very musical, my wife is a classically trained pianist (and she plays a lot, too), our children are very musical as well. I grew up with a ton of music: Beatles, Stones, Motown, Samba, Rock'n Roll, Jazz, Reggae, Flamenco, Zydeco, Fado, Gospel, Tango, Blues, Bossa Nova... My paternal grandpa played fun songs on his acoustic, Italian songs mostly, and I enjoyed his music, but it was my uncle, my mom's youngest brother, who really made me want to know more: he had an electric guitar, I can't remember which make and model, probably not a good one by today's standards, by I was fascinated by the buttons and controls and how loud that thing got! My uncle had a cover band, mostly Beatles and Stones, some other 60's stuff, really, really cool stuff. I watched a couple of Beatles movies and bought my first album (Help) at 8 years of age. At 10, I decided the Beatles were always going to be cool, but the Stones won my preference as my number one band. Along with Mick Taylor, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Brian Jones, my two other main influences are Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. I am not talking about who I have ultimately come to admire and learn from. I am talking about those who inspired me to pick up a guitar. By the way, guitar was my second attempt at music. I first started at 12, playing the piano, but I could not find one single blues/boogie woogie piano teacher anywhere, and my "classical-music-only-do-not-insist" teacher was strict and I left after a year, without having learned what I wanted. But I managed to learn something, and I did have fun. I found out I could figure out melodies, right hand in piano talk, and I also decided that I liked piano a lot, but it wasn't really the instrument I wanted to learn. That's when I started to listen to a lot of guitar music again, after a progressive rock period. All of a sudden my life was full of high gain music: Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, JHE, Zappa, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Van Halen...so I got myself a guitar. It was a Giannini (Jazzmaster replica) that was actually pretty decent; not great, but a good beginner level electric; got a teacher that was very cool, my friend to this day, and took lessons for three months, then I moved, sold my guitar and bought a guitar that was too much of a hype and almost ruined my musical life. It was the mid-eighties and EVH was all the rage if you were a guitar player. Quite frankly, how dumb of me, what was I thinking? I really liked VH (and still do), but never wanted to play that kind of music. I never liked the Floyd Rose and for 15 years I had only that one Kramer (still have it), a guitar that never really stayed in tune. I removed the tremolo bar pretty much as soon as I bought the thing. But I never wanted to sell it, and I lived in a place where having a second guitar is almost unheard of, so I was kind of stuck with a bad guitar, and so my playing was very off and on. Had a few bands, but never liked the ego thing, I am more for balance and harmony and prefer to stay from unnecessary conflict, so never really got into the band thing too much, but jammed a lot with friends' bands, which always seemed to work well. Anyway... I bough a Schecter in 1999. Once again, I wasn't paying attention: I wasn't aware of the "shredder guitar" thing, didn't know about Korean-made guitars. The fact is that I developed a skin irritation that seemed to have come from the strings, but my fingers looked corroded like an extreme case of being under water too long, nothing was ever diagnosed but the thing was painful and I didn't play from 1999 until 2009. Until then, all I ever knew were the three months of beginner lessons and some failed attempts at re-starting. Too busy raising a family, working too much, no time, maybe you know what I am talking about: excuses. I felt bad one day, after answering "yes, I play a little guitar" to the casual conversation question "Do you play an instrument?" and decided that I did love playing music and playing guitar, and that it was important to me to keep doing it, but I also came to the realization that I would have to decide whether I was a guitar player or a guitar owner. I would not have to reach any specific level of playing, just do my best to