music
I've been playing music in some form since starting to play the violin at the age of 8 and singing in various choirs. It wasn't until quite late on in school that I picked up my mum's guitar, taught myself some Oasis and R.E.M. songs and started to get interested in song writing. For the last 12 years, writing, recording and playing music has been an important part of my life.
Here's a brief history of my life in bands...
I had already written a few songs by the time Dougie Robertson (guitarist) asked myself and my drumming friend Colin MacArthur to get together to try playing through some cover songs. We had great fun practicing in Colin's drum room playing songs by the likes of The Stones, The Beatles, Oasis, Radiohead and U2. We also started to try out some of my songs but didn't spend too much time on them. We didn't have a bassist and we also parted company with Dougie. Colin and I had a gig in a church hall lined up so we recruited Alastair Lightbody on a short term basis to play bass for us. For that one gig we were called Reckoning and there is some interesting video evidence of the gig!
It wasn't long before I was introduced to Phil Gemmell by a friend at work. We hit it off very quickly and Colin, Phil and I started playing gigs regularly under the name Sundown (thinking of a good name for a band is incredibly difficult and this one was definitely a case of "that'll do"). We practiced in Clydebank in filthy studios only because we didn't know any better. We played several gigs in places like Fury Murray's and Strathclyde Union. After a few years of blood (Colin's hands), sweat (all of us) and tears (well maybe not quite), Phil and I were looking for another drummer and Crawford Fulton was on hand to join the band. We continued to play venues around Glasgow and recorded three songs at Chem 19 which you can buy at Scotloads. Sundown eventually came to an end due to conflicting commitments but Phil and I were to continue playing.
After playing a lot of acoustic solo gigs, I started playing gigs with Fraser Campbell on keyboards. It didn't take long before we wanted to get a band together and so Phil joined to play drums and Doug Corner played bass. After playing quite a few gigs under my name, the band agreed to give itself an identity and after much discussion, Doug came up with the name Four Minute Mile. However, it wasn't long until Doug decided it was time to move on which left us without a bassist. I decided to take on that role and Paul McShane took on guitar duties.
After a while, Phil decided that drums weren't really his thing and called time on his involvement with the group. It didn't take long for Phil to realise he missed the band and the next move was for him to rejoin as bassist, letting me revert back to 6 (or 12) strings. The only thing missing now was/is a drummer. We have considered a few options and Scott McLean played with the band for a few months before the band decided to take a break during 2008 (after the birth of my son Noah).
I'm starting to line up some solo acoustic gigs again to try out new material and to ease myself back into gigging again. Any news on the band will also be announced on this site.
I'm always open to collaborations and for writing songs for other artists so please get in touch if you're interested.
