Music
The main hobby in my life is writing and performing music. I played drums with the band BAiT from 1996 until the band's demise in 2007 and with the covers band Kill Clouseau from its birth in 2006 until its final gig on New Year's Eve, 2007.
I now play for Coventry-based covers rock band, Ministry of Beaver.
I originally learnt to play the piano before the age of ten, but when I was offered a way out of piano lessons, on condition that I took up drum lessons (the school band needed a drummer), I jumped at the opportunity.
I have played the drums since 1981 and took up piano lessons for a couple of years again in the early 2000s, followed by some more drums lessons in an attempt to improve my playing technique, which still leaves a lot to be desired.
In 2007, I started to learn to play the classical guitar and am very much enjoying it so far, both as exposure to a new form of music and as a means to improve my skills on what is a very useful compositional tool.
I dabble in other instruments from time to time, and I am amassing quite a collection to date.
When it comes to music for recreation, I tend to listen to Progressive Rock, such as Yes, Genesis, Rush, Jethro Tull, and Mike Oldfield, but I do like quite a variety of other music, from pop to classical, via jazz and electronic, oh and occasionally some pretty damned weird stuff too.
Updated: 2nd February, 2008
About My Family and Me
From humble Yorkshire lad to honorary Midlander, I've been in the making since 1971 and still haven't made it yet.
Born in Bradford in 1971 and raised in the village of Oxenhope in Brontë country, I attended Coventry University between 1990 and 1994, where I studied Modern Languages (German and French as core languages and Russian ab initio), with a third year spent between Potsdam, Germany and Grenoble, France.
I met Emma Paddison in 1993, we married in 1996 and now have two girls, Murron (born 1998) and Philippa (born 2001), and one boy, Tristan (born in 2008).
I live in Nuneaton, Warwickshire and am webmaster for a CAD/CAM software company in Coventry. So much for the Modern Languages degree!
I have played the drums since 1981 and was a member of Coventry originals band BAiT between its birth in 1996 and its demise in 2007. I now play classical guitar and mandolin for my own amusement.