Alexander, Music and a short
Biography.......
I
had a very healthy Pedigree of good music on account of my father only
listening to the purest music there was around. At a young age he used
to play music to me and my sister, we didnt know why we liked it but we
just did!
I used
to hear the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Rolling Stones,
Creedence Clearwater Revival and various "old men playing Bluesy music"
as I called it.
I didn't pick a single note till I left school. I was wondering what to
do to kill time when a local blues player and family friend picked out
a second hand guitar from a local guitar shop and presented me with it.
I spent the next few years honing
the skills needed to make any kind of living whilst battling the usual
mundane jobs needed to fund this passion.
I needed a
way in to the music business so I decided to enrol in a college course
in an attempt to meet like minded musicians.
I moved up to Nottingham to do this course and took up a job in a local
blues bar up there where I saw the best acts from all around the world
letting out their soul on stage.
By this point I had began to really find the type of material that I was
into and was able to distinguish between what I considered good music
and bad music.
Working in that bar developed my ear for music and taught me about the
blues. By the time the college course had finished my musical tastes
had broadened and I was listening to the likes of Bukka White, Otis
Redding, The Faces, Free, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and I developed a
small taste for cajun too.
Working in the bar one night the band playing finished their set and following
a discussion with them I found myself joining and moving to the deep
south (of England!) and resided in Cornwall.
I was there for a couple of years whilst we gigged some up tempo rhythm and blues to the people.
I
was always writing my own material on the side whilst performing with
the band and eventually it got to the stage where it was band or solo,
decision time.
I was listening to
the likes of the grease band, the band and little feat during this time
and found it gave a countrified layer to the original blues foundation
I had layed.
I moved back to the home town of Gloucester where I played open mic
nights as soon as I could to get a bit of feedback.
The aforementioned local blues man and friend of the family attended and
was impressed with what he heard.
The following week I had been put in contact with a local music promoter
who liked what he heard and proceeded to put me on in the local area
supporting American artists.
To
date I'm in touch with a few promoters, all giving me various supports
here and there around the country.
Generally,
I've spent the past 5 or six years sleeping on couches, floors and in
laundry rooms etc, moving place to place on the journey through life
trying to turn the passion into a living. Burned by many a woman and
turning it into a song!
