Rock 'n' Roll Music

Much like the moment in John Lennon’s life when he saw Elvis for the first time and thought “that’s a good job!”, the same could be said for me when I first saw The Beatles. As a youngster I was amazed that you could get paid to play a guitar and sing - in fact if truth to tell, I'm still pretty amazed you can get paid for it! Of course, it could be just my working class background coming into play because it didn’t seem to me to be a real job of work. However as I have subsequently found out, it is a real job of work and a challenging and at times difficult one at that. It is one of those jobs all too easily misread as glamorous and perhaps only for the work shy. With cries of “get a proper job” still reeling in my ears, I realised that even John had that problem. I had not the faintest idea at the beginning that I would still be playing the guitar and singing all these years up the line and for that I am truly thankful. It has definitely been a journey. Without trying to sound like some tortured and pretentious artist, there is almost a “calling” with music. It’s something you just can’t get out of your hair. It can and has got me out of my bed in the middle of the night to write something down before it’s forgotten – and that’s something Mrs Beatcomber appreciates a lot I can tell you! They are the times when I’ve asked myself, why do I still do this? ‘Cos you know, I’d kinda rather be sleeping right now…and then my head drifts to The Beatles. I have to say, they have never let me down in terms of inspiration. My Beatle discovery not only provided me with brilliant music to listen to over a lifetime, which is amazing enough, but they also unwittingly offered a route that I would follow in my career. Much as Elvis, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and Little Richard did for them. I was never involved in the music game to get famous though - I just wanted to write and record. I wanted to learn the craft of production and even to this day I look at how they did things with genuine amazement. I have a million tracks at my disposal and they had a mere four! Astonishing!
Isn’t it amazing that listening to something as inconsequential as a “band” at a certain period in your development can have such a profound effect on your life? I can say, hand on heart, that The Beatles are directly responsible for the route I followed - straight into the music industry. And with that, all of the great people I have met and the great experiences I have had.
One minute you are listening to She Loves You with your tennis racquet and hairbrush and the next you are on stage at the Cavern Club, Rickenbacker in hand, rocking your head off in front of 500 people squeezed ever so tightly together right in front of you! Those are memories I just wouldn’t be without. Being involved in music hasn’t been easy and, as I said, there have been lots of time where I have considered knocking it on the head…but one listen to The Beatles and the stubborn creative little fellow that lives in my soul dictates that I should carry on no matter what.

How have the Beatles influenced your decisions?