| photo ©2006, courtesy of www.andrewspiers.co.uk |
| At 14 I joined some school friends in Somerset and for 5 years had a whale of a time as a member of the band of choice for a huge area of the South West - well a 50 mile radius in Somerset and Dorset seemed huge to us! After University in Leicester and a move to the Cambridge area in 1971, I was soon involved with both Royston and Hitchin Folk Clubs, performing solo and as a duo with Doug Jones. In 1974 Doug and I joined a band calling itself Flaky Pastry. We enjoyed a successful 70s and early 80s with releases on the DJM label and Black Lion Records, as well as performing at festivals and The Royal Albert Hall for the pre-British Grand Prix concert on the same bill as Lulu, Georgie Fame and The Chris Barber Jazz Band. A few solo projects followed the demise of Flaky as a 5 piece but in 1987 I joined two lecturers from Cambridge University to form a blues band called, eventually, Backyard Band. Although the membership of the band changed over the years it gigged right through until 2002. After Backyard Band split, I worked with original BYB lead guitarist and the sax player to form an acoustic unit called Free Agents. From 2003 - 2006 Free Agents performed as duo, trio and 5-piece releasing a CD recorded 'in a home studio' in 2005. I moved to the Surrey/Berkshire borders and have gigged there since, performing mainly in Ascot, Ash, Bracknell and Basingstoke. |