In 1990, I got wind that Elkie Brooks, the highly regarded British singer, was about to record a new album. I selected 3 song demos that I thought might suit her. I popped the envelope containing the audio cassette into the post box with a mixture of hope and pragmatic acceptance. These things nearly always … Read more
It’s Tuesday – it’s Road Trip Day !!! My first stop is my lockup on Portrack Lane where I’ll pick up the small PA, projector and screen, pedal board and other gubbins. Then northwards. I plan to cross the Tyne a little further West than the Sat Nav suggested because I spotted a rather nice-looking … Read more
In the late 70’s I was house producer at Neat Records in Wallsend. In 1981 I took a brief sabbatical and went to London to cut a recording of one of my songs for State Records with Wayne Bickerton producing. The recording is attached to this post, I am playing guitar on the track, but … Read more
I posted preview clips for my upcoming album at the weekend. There’s still a fair bit of work to do on the album but I think we’re on the final or penultimate lap. The album started just before the lockdown and as a result, went through various stop-and-start stages. Some tracks got shelved and new … Read more
I’ve been working on another set of chapters from my book which I will release soon. Here’s a little story from one of the chapters: One of my favourite gigs was at Bellingham Town Hall. It seemed such an adventure to go so far and as a non-driver, it was always something of a mystery, … Read more
A recent conversation prompted me to reach for the book “Memory Lane TYNESIDE”. I’ve posted a few indicative pages to give you the gist. Then I turn to page 27 where the image at the bottom is captioned: “In 1971, young people enjoy a concert given by musical group Bullfrog in Eldon Square”. We made … Read more