Raised and educated in Torbay, I've had a love affair with music from an early age. Influenced by a healthy record collection belonging to my mother when I was growing up, then a whole lot of teenage angst and all that came along with it.
I joined my first band aged 15 or so whilst at Paignton College. After hearing a school mate play 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on a guitar in a GCSE Music class, we struck up a friendship built almost entirely upon the Nirvana soundtrack and I found myself at their little skittle hall rehearsal space the following weekend. Whilst the band were rehearsing, I was sat in a chair singing along to Nirvana's 'About A Girl'. I was asked to repeat my efforts over the mic and rather embarrassingly I did...and that's how I joined my first band, Plastercast. Half covers and half original, for 2 years we played around Torbay, as loudly as possible. My first ever gig was at a Paignton College youth Club, where we'd go on to play almost every month. We entered the Stairway To The Stars competition, reaching the national final after a performance of an original song at an event held at The English Riviera Centre (without a bassist, he'd quit the night before). We recorded an EP with Dave Bloomberg (who was playing with New Model Army at the time) titled 'No Significance at All', recorded in the studio at Paignton College and also at Dave's in Brixham. The EP has featured 3 original tracks, written by our songwriter and lead guitarist Matt Woffindale (now of The Humanitarians). The ep was distributed at a few local music stores and at gigs and received a glowing review in the local press. To accompany the Ep release we issued a load of t-shirts and hoodies, with original artwork provided for the band by our schoolmate Nick Mitchmore.
For me, a highlight of this period, amongst others, was the opportunity so visit Muse an after party after a gig at Plymouth Pavilions in 2001. Unfortunately, Matt & Chris headed straight to the hotel after their performance but we were able to meet and talk music & performing with Dominic Howard (Muse drummer). We ended up in the local press again, with the Herald Express hijacking the meeting and somehow claiming responsibility! Being young and naive, we were 'managed' by the parents of our drummer and rhythm guitarist (Chris Lockyear, now of Destruction Preventor). As much as I may have rebelled against them and the direction I felt like they were pushing us, I'll be forever grateful for that meeting. Shame the bassist had recently quit eh, he missed out on the occasion. This gig also stands out for me because it's the one and only time I've ever crowd surfed, during 'New Born', it was an experience that I'll never forget.
Another memorable occasion was the 1st of 3 visits we made to the Gemini Fm (now Heart Fm) studio in Torquay for a pre-recorded interview and live acoustic performance. The 1st one stands out for me not only because it was my first experience of the inside of a radio station but because the following week the interview and song was played in an assembly in school (we were still in mainstream school at this point), which was a horribly embarrassing surprise. I left school in 2002 and had the great idea of studying Performing Arts at 6Th Form. Little did I know that we'd be forced to take part in dance and drama sessions (which I hated and often didn't attend - I should have figured really!) Somehow, despite low attendance during anything other than music related tasks and projects, I passed the course with a distinction. So I have a GNVQ in Performing Arts, which is utterly useless as far as I can see now! The best bit about this period for me was the access to the college studio, often only venturing outside on breaks to smoke or eat, often I'd just have the studio to myself and was able to build up a collection of original demos, loads of them...I have no idea where they are now and hope I find them one day.
By the time we disbanded in 2003, Plastercast had performed all over Torbay, most of these gigs were performed whilst underage, I'm not too sure how that happened but it never seemed an issue for us. The musical seed had been implanted deep within me and I soon set about figuring out what my next musical move would be. I soon formed my next project, which would be an original 4 piece based in Torbay. Towards the end of Plastercast I'd began to teach myself some basic guitar. Being left handed and not ever having had access to a left handed guitar, I taught myself on a right handed guitar played upside down (with the low E at the bottom). It seemed to work well for me and not really understanding what I was doing I just sort of continued, and still play the same way today (though I have progressed to owning several left handed guitars, strung like a right handed guitar). I gave the new band the name Zenn.