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I dabbled with acoustic guitar on and off from my mid teens. I did the fingerpicking ragtime thing for a while but didn’t get into the electric guitar properly until my studies finished in about 1990.We were living in Liverpool. I enrolled in a nightclass called ‘Contemporary Rock Guitar’, lead by a dude who was awesomely good. He taught us all a few scales and showed us how to get the fingers going. Luckily Barb was supportive and furthermore, she quickly learned to play the bass. Actually I think she’s a great bass player. And she sings while laying down a solid bass line. Not easy.

Bands…4

The Dippy Wicks (aka Dipping Wickedly) 1993 in Liverpool

Gas Mark 4 1994 to 2001 on the Island

The Sliders 2002 to 2004

Riptide 2005 to present

The Dippy Wicks

Myself and Barb were living in Liverpool in the early 90’s.We had recently returned from Australia and started jamming with an old mate of mine called Paul ‘Mugsy’ Mullen on vocals and a lass called Alice on drums. We were named Dipping Wickedly and performed twice, both low key affairs which couldn’t be termed true gigs.Then we moved to The Island in early ’93. Mugsy is still gigging in Liverpool. He was a great singer and probably still is.

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	updated 07-05-07
Playing the guitar I’ve played the guitar for about 20 years. I don’t come from a musical family, but for some reason my Dad bought me a banjo-ukelele when I was about 10 years old. Here it is. It cost £5. Yes, I do George Formby numbers. Don’t ask
I dabbled with acoustic guitar on and off from my mid teens. I did the fingerpicking ragtime thing for a while but didn’t get into the electric guitar properly until my studies finished in about 1990.We were living in Liverpool. I enrolled in a nightclass called ‘Contemporary Rock Guitar’, lead by a dude who was awesomely good. He taught us all a few scales and showed us how to get the fingers going. Luckily Barb was supportive and furthermore, she quickly learned to play the bass. Actually I think she’s a great bass player. And she sings while laying down a solid bass line. Not easy. Bands…4 The Dippy Wicks (aka Dipping Wickedly) 1993 in Liverpool Gas Mark 4 1994 to 2001 on the Island The Sliders 2002 to 2004 Riptide 2005 to present The Dippy Wicks Myself and Barb were living in Liverpool in the early 90’s.We had recently returned from Australia and started jamming with an old mate of mine called Paul ‘Mugsy’ Mullen on vocals and a lass called Alice on drums. We were named Dipping Wickedly and performed twice, both low key affairs which couldn’t be termed true gigs.Then we moved to The Island in early ’93. Mugsy is still gigging in Liverpool. He was a great singer and probably still is.
Gas Mark 4 Shortly after settling on the Island we met Chris O’Connell and Nigel Hayles and formed Gas Mark 4. We chose all the songs from the 70’s which had formed the musical background to our lives as teenagers. These early days preceded the ubiquitous CD compilation albums, so we had to draw on our memories. I think we hit on a winning formula, although not punk enough for my tastes.
Although we were basically a two guitar, drums and bass band, our sound was enhanced by Nigel’s propensity to embrace the latest guitar technology in the form of a guitar synthesizer. Hence we had a keyboard sound in a number of songs. We gigged around the Island for about 7 years. The Sliders After GM4, myself and Bar wanted to play some more contemporary material. We teamed up with Matt, guitar and vocals and mad bad Dean on the drums. We were unsure of how it might work, and the vocals were a particular problem, not to mention some tension regarding choice of songs! However once we got into it we shared the vocals between myself, Bar and Matt, and I think we developed a really strong set with lots of stuff which no one else was doing. This included QOTSA, Foo Fighters, Strokes, Weezer, The Vines, Blink 182, Dandy Warhols, Rancid, Paul Weller, Bowling for Soup etc. We really started to improve and I certainly enjoyed bellowing my head off into the microphone. After about 12 months it became apparent that our material represented the complete antithesis of Dean’s taste, who actually wanted to be in a retro- rock band (Gas Mark 4 Mark II would have been his perfect choice). So he left and we were lucky to quickly replace him with Wosey. We tightened up overnight and entered a good period with lots of good energetic gigs. Unfortunately we had to share Wosey with 3 other bands, and we ran out of steam after about another 18 months. Riptide Bar and myself kicked our heels for a few months after the demise of The Sliders. I had enjoyed doing a lot of the lead singing and I had very much enjoyed having a major input into the type of material that we had played. However, I’m the first to admit that I am not really a lead singer. My voice just isn’t good enough to carry a band. And, I found it pretty stressful. The Sliders seemed to be teetering on the edge. We were inconsistent, and although we were able to have some truly amazing gigs, we also had a few real duffers. It was nice to have a break from the regular gigging, but we missed the interaction with other musicians. Without a band, there is less reason to pick up the guitar and play. So, ultimately, it was inevitable that we would get another band together. We were lucky to hook up with Jason and Nigel. Two top musicians, experienced, reliable, like-minded and punctual. I’m happier to concentrate on my guitar playing. Obviously, I need the practise. Hopefully, we will continue to improve, and get better and better. Our aim is to be versatile, entertaining and to be able to play any sort of gig at a wide variety of venues.

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