Bio, influences and gear

I first picked up a bass guitar at the age of 14 encouraged by my many school friends who were looking for a highly talented bass player for the school band Government Property. 30 years on and thanks to the marvels of modern day super glue solvents, I am now finally able to put it down and go to the toilet normally - great joke guys.

I joined The Whistling Army via a complex route. My brother Liam and I partially formed a band along with a real top dollar geezer by the name of Bob Bastard, middle name The. After forcing Dickie "can you smell fish?"
Jamieson to be our Singer/Rhythm Guitarist we were set for stardom. We rehearsed every week for about 6 years, but despite some thunderous tunes, we never felt quite ready for that first gig. Steve "I really don't like anyone in this band or these awful songs" Jamieson - brother of Dickie joined us at some point and to be fair (despite his spangly ivory
twinkling) the whole thing eventually fell apart - but what larks we had in the middle bit between the band forming and breaking up. We managed to record a CD (I think the current youth refer to this as "cutting a disc") in a small room in Ilford that does contravene several sections of the Warsaw Pact. In reality it was reasonably acceptable as CDs go, but in spite of this great success and in a state of complete exhaustion, the band fell apart due to musical apathy.

We went on to say goodbye to dear Dick, who moved to the consequently even more depressed North, and then we began a process of band forming from TWA, via Archie O'Chopperless, Don Quay and the Jaquettes (with a guitarist called Dave who looked just like Peter Butterworth), a heavy thrash metal trio called Turbo Pin Thrusters, through to Jelyd Pig and eventually with the current line up that is Boyld Pig. At this point it is fair to say that I am the best bass player in the band, and to make it even more amazing, I have the least number of strings to play with, which is a disgrace. I think that secretly all the others are jealous of my obvious talent and have endless discussions about how the band would be nothing without me. No-one has actually said or done anything to provide any evidence of this, but it might be true. In any event I don't want them to think that I actually enjoy this at all, so I make every effort to look totally bored brainless when I am with them, so I think they get the picture. Losers.

The Rickmeister is back!! After years of verbal abuse from Dickie J, I finally saved up enough cash to pay the deposit on the deposit to replace the long lamented Midnight Blue Rickenbacker 4003 (is there any other one?) and only 6 months later thanks to those great guys at the Bass Centre I have it. It is totally fab and groovy; forget the band, come and see this bass. What is more, I also play a lovely Japanese Fender Jazz Bass 1960's reissue, with what they call "Vintage Coil" pickups, they are more likely "left over in a corner of the factory until we can sell them to the Japanese" pickups but they are good enough for me. There's more (as the hilarious Jimmy Cricket would say) I have a Washburn AB10 acoustic bass that all the reviews say is total bollocks "a plank of balsa wood hollowed out and painted with one thin coat of Early Learning Centre paint" but I really like it.

As well as these obvious treasures I also have an Aria SB600 what is also lovely. Amplifier wise I have a new Ashdown EVOII 500 head, an Ashdown 2x10 cab, and a Trace Elliot 1518 cab. The amp goes all the way up to 11 but I am only allowed to go up to 3 as it makes Goon's trousers and their concealed contents wobble to an alarming degree. More to the point, the story behind choosing the Ashdown is very funny. I have a couple of pedals as well, mostly because Goon and Hippy have some and I want some too. There’s an Ashdown dual band compressor and a Tech21 Sansamp Tube Emulator. I also sing backing vocals and have the best mic in the band. This helps me get over that fact that I have the worserest voice in the band. My mic stand very clearly cost more than the £11 Boyce paid for his one. UPDATE ON MIC STAND: one of the black knobs fell off and I had to replace it with a chrome one;

that is all....

My influences are many and varied, John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, John Entwistle, Noel Redding, Dolly Parton, Roger Whittaker, and Mrs Mills. I have no problem with Country music, or Western music, or indeed Country and Western music, but prefer not to listen to it. It's a bit like Steve Wright in the afternoon with his hilarious and university educated posse - the pleasure to be gained by turning them off is far greater than not hearing them at all; I am glad to live in a time when we have McDonald's and Madonna for the same reasons. Someone on the radio yesterday said something that I really liked: "Life should be fun, if it isn't, it is probably your own fault". But then again it might not be.

I love all my fans equally, and fairly.

Dazz.......