From Hoxton Market to the Heart of London's Music Scene

Growing  up in 1950s Hoxton, London, in a crowded council flat with my parents and six siblings, there was no music in my life - no lessons, no instruments, no encouragement etc. Years later after moving to Camden, grammer school only offered piano and violin, both lovely but not the sound that caught my interest.

While the London 'swinging 60s' largely bypassed kids like me, the sounds of Motown, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones filled the air. My first experience hearing a drummer play in a live band was at Saturday morning pictures and I was captivated! Soon after, a school friend let me try a drum kit at his house and I was amazed by the endless sounds that could be created.

I didn't enjoy school and left with no qualifications at 15 years old. Following a difficult and turbulent adolescence, I needed to turn things around - so I bought my first drum kit!  Practicing at my family home wasn't an option, so luckily and with thanks to guitarist Chris Duffy and his family, we set up and played at their house until we wore out our welcome and eventually moved my drum kit to the nearby Winchester Youth Project.

At 'The Winch', I jammed with Chris Duffy, bassist Paul Francis, and guitarist Rene Go. Rene who'd moved from Holland to London, invited me into a new music project, on the condition that I fully commit myself to drumming. The problem was, I couldn't really play and needed serious commitment and time by myself to learn how to play to a decent level. So I bought 5 of the standard drumming books of the time (Charles Wilcoxon, Jim Chapin, Joe Jones etc) and for the next three years, I worked as a hospital porter by day and practiced drums for five hours every night. It was a huge challenge to take on and it marked the turning point of a new life for me - which is where my musical story begins.