I usually play solo with my trusty Martin D41 and a few harmonicas.
Love to play mandolin and bouzouki too.
Here's a few songs from The Pink Cow show on March 1st 2009
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Influences
PERSONALLY, kind of in order..
Thunderbirds (are go!), Georgie Best!, Gordon Banks, John Toshack, subbuteo, Cardiff City Football Club "THE MIGHTY BLUEBIRDS!!!", Python (Monty), my cousin Colin (a member of the welsh band 'Hobo' in the early 70's), old long lost friend Jim Hunkin for inspiring me to learn guitar, shrooms and spliffs, Penygraig Farm and the mystical silent hum of the mid Wales hills, Whitman, Lennon, Kerouac and Castaneda, Yogananda and Ram Dass, Glastonbury, Tolkien, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Guinness, Merlin, the city of Hiroshima, the holy island of Miyajima, the Spirit of Aloha, the phenomenon of Kauai, and all of my beautiful soul brothers and sisters around the planet, you know who you are..
MUSICALLY again, kind of in order..
the organ intro from "A Whiter Shade of Pale", my first record, how I diligently saved up my pocket money pennies (6s/7d) to buy that back in 1967.. The Monkees, Lindisfarne, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Steeleye Span, Jackson Browne, Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Eagles, Poco, Byrds, Zevon, John Martyn, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, Van the Man, Ronnie Lane, Andy irvine, Christy Moore, Bruce Cockburn, Robin Williamson, Neil Innes, Mike Scott/Waterboys, fiddles and flutes, bouzoukis and bodhrans.
I was born in Cardiff, Wales a cool half century ago and have been performing music in some shape for more than 30 of those years. I've loved celtic folk stuff all my life and have been performing almost nothing else for the last five or six years. I've also been performing solo a lot and I'm enjoying the simplicity of it as well as the focus it demands.
From 1999 until late October '06 I was living on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a rare jewel, one of the most amazing places on the planet surely.
There, and in the Irish pubs and bars in Honolulu, I played around 500 gigs between Dec '04 and Sept '06. Then I came back to Japan, where I lived for 13 years before my Hawaii adventures began, and in May '07 I made the move to Tokyo. Quite a challenge for this nature boy living in one of the world's biggest urban jungles... and in June 2009 I moved out of the city to the beach at Chigasaki. Love the breeze, loving the 'Aloha' spirit here - many Hawaii-loving Japanese have settled here and it feels good.
During seven years in Hawaii I also played mandolin and bouzouki in the long-standing Americana/island music 5-piece "The Lost Pelican Band" and as one half of "The Mahalo Brothers" with inspirational world music singer-songwriter Jivan. For a spell in '03 I was honored to play mandolin alongside Hawaiian music legend Liko Martin and to feature on his "Surf and Bay Blues" CD. I love that role just as much, when I can settle in and just play while someone else takes the center stage.
Since moving back to Japan I've renewed my musical partnership with my longtime friend, guitarist and vocalist Chris Knobler. Chris and I have begun a multi-genre guitar/mando combo, tackling everything from our respective standards of rock and blues and acoustic folk, to recent chart stuff, J-pop, reggae, soul, country, 60's 70's and 80's standards, with the emphasis on entertaining. We played a regular monthly gig at Molly Malone's in Hiroshima City for two years and these days get together to perform at various special events there.
I'm playing solo around the Irish pubs in Tokyo and other cities in Japan, as well as playing mandolin in a 5-piece Irish Folk band 'Mutiny'. We get rowdy every other Friday at The Clann pub near the south exit of Jiyugaoka station.
And the road goes ever on and on..
YOROSHIKU!!
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4Video clips at Ustream
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Thanks for the add. I got to know about you on mixi the other day. I'm very interested in Wales and its folk music, so glad to know you very much. Look forward to seeing your live soon!
16 tracks recorded mainly live on stage in Hawaii - 2004-08
