Now is as good a time as any! I started playing in bands at 15 and now I'm way the wrong side of 50, so it might be considered a little late to start introducing new material....

I've always loved the classic 3-4 minute pop song format, (usually by bands based around drums/bass/guitar/vocals) including, in no particular order:
Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan, but The Byrds version)
Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)
Roll To Me (Del Amitri)
A Design for Life (The Manic Street Preachers)
Come Around (The Mutton Birds)
Oliver's Army (Elvis Costello)
If I Can't Change Your Mind (Sugar)
Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls)
Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
Sparky's Dream (Teenage Fanclub)
The Unguarded Moment (The Church)
And even the guilty pleasure of When You're Gone, (Bryan Adams & Mel C).
All brilliant, short, catchy songs! It's always about the song's melody, feel, drive & harmonies etc - never about a musician showing off.

About Beatnick

My first band The Designs, was with school friends Dawn & Steve Price, (brother and sister) on vocals and drums and Pete Griffiths on guitar. Apart from a house party, we never got as far as playing proper gigs, but this was a wonderful learning environment.

Pete's songs had a great pop-funk feel to them, he initially wrote the basslines, but as time went on, I was left to improvise my own. When this band fizzled out, Steve went on to play for British indie-pop band Hurrah! Dawn is currently one of the co-founders of the great back-to-nature festival Between The Trees.

I was then introduced, via a mutual friend, to David Notley and asked to join The Chance with original drummer Mark Atkins. When Mark left for university, we found the ideal drummer in Andy Morgan and changed the band name to Red Forest. For the next 7 years we wrote songs, rehearsed, gigged, made a video with ex-Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, enjoyed many studio sessions and courted the record companies - they were always 'interested' but never enough to sign the cheque 🙂

These were exciting times, I think we were happiest in the studio, where the songs really shone. Eventually, we channeled our energies into starting a music retail business and families instead! Music aside - I've spent the majority of my working life, working alongside David, and more recently, Andy too 👍

With the addition of Dino on drums (who also brought his vocal talents to the party) we felt ready to take on anything...
There's way too much to cover here, but over the course of approximately 14 years, we released 3 albums, played many gigs, (including tours for Total Music Wales and Stiff Little Fingers) played on TV shows & live radio sessions, won a few competitions and produced a few videos. In short, we had some great experiences, we then rested for a while, (ok, for 17 years 😮 ) but we've recently re-grouped to get match-fit & play a few gigs - watch this space...

From the age of 19, I worked in music shops, the ideal place to meet local musicians. At 25 I started to work with, and play in bands that included the future members of The Henrees.

It started with Gareth Selfe, who was already a great vocalist and songwriter at 19 years of age! (He's got even better since).
I played live with his band on a few gigs, but didn't want to join because of the age difference, (at 25, 19 year-olds seemed like babies!) but they were so talented, I had to forget my age-biases.

After a while, with a few line-up changes, and with the addition of Chris Webb's management skills, (see The Escape Goats later) we enlisted the considerable rock/mod guitar talents of Dan Davies. This meant we were in a very fit state to complete the line-up by enlisting the skilful drumming capabilities of David 'Dino' Stephenson, after his successful stints with Newport bands A2Z and Very America.

During the long hiatus from the Henrees, Gareth and Chris had formed The Escape Goats Collective, with singer songwriter John Campbell, (dark & broody songs - imagine if Pearl Jam were from Pontypool). This started life as an open project involving various guest contributors, with the songs and main vocals alternately written by Gareth and John. Eventually Dan and I were asked to join as 'regulars', (dropping the 'Collective' from the title) making it a more conventional band basis.

This slow-burner project has given us a lot of satisfaction, (& praise from the Welsh music press) with the release of two mini EPs and new material currently being written for the 3rd EP.

All this brings me to where I am now. Having decided to record a batch of my own songs, I soon realised that beyond the main vocals, standard guitar and bass parts, I needed some help. I wanted the songs to benefit from a full band sound. Then I had some luck; I asked most of my chosen victims to contribute their skills at a birthday party for Gareth, whilst they were mildly drunk - that worked a treat! (Find out more about the Beatnick Support Crew here).

I also drew inspiration from working with Tim Manning, (Blind River Scare). I've been watching him play and grow as a musician and songwriter for 40 years! Nowadays, he has an impressive back catalogue of quality alt-Americana songs and can effortlessly switch from a full band sound to a solo performer. It's fair to say - he's adept at adapting 👍
And apart from stealing his idea of using a band name, as opposed to using my own, he also provided a wealth of information about launching your songs onto the music business.

And last but not least - thanks to Tracy, my trainee-drummer, (oh, and wife!) for her love & complete support. 😊

There you have it.
All the characters, influences, chapters and plot-twists I needed for 'my book'.