Birthday ? 15th of March every year lol, since 1962 .

Birthplace ? Wolverhampton . 

Hobbies ? This is it: playing bass. Though as age has caught up with me I’ve started reading a lot as well .

Married? No , never have been but have been close a couple times . I’m presently engaged to my new partner though and hope to get married to my lovely lady next year but we have not yet set the date .

Children ? Yes, I have four , three guys and a young lady , plus two Grandchildren I adore .

Favourite groups ?

Originally a big Elvis fan in the 1970’s then anything from the fifties . In the eighties I really loved Restless ,polecats , the blue cats  and a lot of the other neo and some psychobilly bands . Now all the above but I’ve become a huge fan of Buddy Holly and of course my present band the Memphis invaders. I’m not stuck in the fifties though, I don’t mind a bit of rock, reggae or early listening crooners and even a bit of pop . I’m a big fan of Rhythm & blues as well .

Favourite food? I’m naughty and love sugary snacks , I’m not a big eater though , breakfast before I go to work and dinner when I come home , nothing in between .

Favourite drink? Banks mild ale but haven’t had any for ten years or so, I was partial to a malt whiskey though these days I’m sad to say it’s tea .

Previous jobs? I’m a gas engineer: fitted heating and boilers all my working life and still doing a boiler change a day at the age of 63.

Likes? My partner, and I will leave it at that .

Dislikes? Politics 

Pets? Always loved dogs , presently my partner’s poodle but also we have a fourteen yr old African grey parrot who tells me to F off every morning lol , great fun .

Double bass is a big instrument … hell yes lol , sometimes wished I learnt Harmonica…What on earth made you want to play it ?

I originally tried to learn guitar but I have huge hands that proved a liability in getting clear chords and notes . The first time I saw a double bass being played I said, that’s for me: less strings and further apart lol

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Did you buy your own initially or borrow one ?

I bought my first bass which I only recently sold to my good friend with the very first loan I ever had three days before my twentieth birthday back in 1982 .

How often do you get people referring to it as a Cello or massive violin?

Really? Put it this way if I had a £1 for every time I would be a rich man by now .

How long have you been playing ?

Too long lol , see above: since 1982.

What was first band you played in ?

I was asked to replace the bass player of the Sunset Valley Boys which I did .

What other bands have you been in ?

How long is this interview?

The Sunset Valley Boys which became eventually the Railroaders. Next was the Wildkatz, Followed by the Shakers( not that one ) I debued for a few bands after that for a while including back for the wildkatz a lot . Next was a local band called the Bravo Boys. After that I fancied a change and formed a rockabilly influenced blues band called Boogie Disease . My last band is called“the Memphis invaders . I’ve also played bass for my good friend Norm Elliott in the band Norm and the Nightmarez . I think that’s it though I’ve probably missed one or two bands , I’m old lol .

What’s your favourite song featuring slap bass ?

Too many to mention, I learned by listening to Bill Black’s bass on cassette and playing tracks back until I eventually matched the notes, I taught myself this way , never had lessons . Also watched the early Elvis VHS recordings and studied hard what Bill was playing . Also Marshall Lyttle’s bass on the Bill Haley tracks and Guy Gumbo on Eddie Cochran tracks . One of my all time favourite track though is ‘The Big Noise of Winnetka’: not rockabilly but I love it .

What’s your favourite song you played on?

All of them. I write my own stuff now along with the other band members but one song as stuck by me in every band I’ve played in and normally it was always the encore number, that was the cover number ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’  so I suppose I should say that one , I used to play a lot of solo bass riffs on it and it was my trick song when I at least pulled of one tric , standing on , sitting on , lying underneath , on top of punters tables  and still standing on top of bass and once I actually played bass whilst doing a head stand with bass upside down lol , never again ouch!

Is there anyone who influenced you as a bass player ? 

All the above as mentioned before but I became friends with the late great Marshall Lyttle after we – the Wildkatz – supported Haley’s original comets at Hardy Spicers club in Birmingham back in 1996 , and we spoke a lot on the internet until he sadly passed away , he gave me all the info I could ever want on what and how they played back in the fifties, lovely guy as well .

 Do you have a name for your bass ?

My original bass I named Big Bertha , everyone since then as been Bertha except a blonde I owned which I called Marilyn.

As told to Nick Constantine