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Biography
In reverse chronological order
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2004 - 2008 Hurtle Music Studio
Work in my home studio has escalated since I got started in 2004. I have learned a thing or two
and upgraded my hardware and software as I can afford it. I have set up another web site
as an outlet for the artists who have recorded their original songs here - George Paul,
Darryl Bisset, Jack Gielen, Le Pan and Lola Jamieson. The studio, website and label are
called "Hurtle" in memory of my little Jack Russel companion for nearly fifteen years.
Click on the heading or logo above to visit the Hurtle Music Studio website.
George Paul, Jane Blackler and me taking a break from recording (Jan 2007)
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February 2006 - Back To Choir Boy
In February 2006, in the wake of yet another failed attempt to justify myself and solve
the riddle of my inability to fit in anywhere or find something resembling happiness
in my daily experience, I attended a grace fellowship where the preacher was preaching
mid-Acts dispensationalism, the King James Bible and that Paul is our apostle.
At the time I was quite hostile toward him. I didn't get it. I had rarely
ventured out of the red letter words of the earthly Jesus and couldn't see why
Paul was so important. He came along later and hadn't met the Lord.
The preacher said "aah but he met the risen and glorified Lord - surely his words are
even more important". He then went on to explain that the risen and glorified
Lord revealed to Paul a simple gospel to be preached among us Gentile dogs!!!
I suspect that I had some help from God because rather than storm out
in anger, I thought to myself "maybe he's right". The Spirit came upon
me at that moment and I realised later that I had been saved. I have even figured
out why I got saved at that moment - because in accepting Paul as my apostle, I
was implicitly totally believing in the resurrection of the Lord. Why? Because that's
who Paul got his gospel from. OK, I know that believing in the Lord's death and burial
are also part of Paul's gospel, but believing in the Lord's resurrection is the clincher.
""And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead:" (Romans 1:4 AV)
Being a Gentile myself, I am now getting my doctrine from the apostle Paul's epistles
to the Gentiles. These have taught me that I am living in the dispensation of grace;
that all of my efforts to justify myself are in vain; that I need only place my faith
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This amazing simplification
and clarification of what God requires of me has resulted in a quantum leap in my faith
and I indeed feel 'truly saved'.
Life is still full of trials and tribulations but I am far better able to cope and to see
that they too are the will of God - to develop patience and longsuffering in me. The habitual
negative attitude that has accompanied me for most of my life is gradually giving way to
a genuine faith and I do believe that my not infrequent spells of peace and joy in the Spirit
will soon become the norm.
I have helped out a bit with the music at the aforementioned preacher's meetings and may
have a go at being a preacher myself once I have 'studied to shew myself approved'
for a year or two. I have had a go at writing a few grace gospel songs which are
downloadable on my downloads page.
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1991-2006 The Blues
During my time in the Mods II, I came to especially love the style and sound of Eric Clapton and discovered that he was more grounded in the blues than most
other rock guitarists of his generation. With the help of Kerry Kostanich at the Victoria Street Record Exchange, I gradually expanded my knowledge of blues
music, particularly that which resulted from the British blues boom of the late sixties. All of my favorite guitarists of that period - Peter Green, Paul
Kossof, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Abrahams, Mike Bloomfield - also had derived their styles from American blues guitarists like Buddy Guy,
Freddie King, Albert King, BB King, Otis Rush and others. It was good to become a musician primarily motivated by love of the music rather than the mad
desire for riches and glory which characterised my earlier efforts in the music scene.
I regularly played at the Hamilton Blues Society's monthly jams and tried to form a blues/rock band a few times during the 90s. Around 2001 I was recruited
by Bryon Steenson's RiverRockers and played many pub gigs and jazz & blues festivals with them until February 2007.
Me and Nate Taiapa playing some blues on White Ribbon Day, Nov 2006
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1988-1991 The Mods II
I tried to continue drinking back in Hamilton but had to admit defeat late in 1984, when I finally got off the booze and started taking sobriety seriously -
as a matter of life and death for the likes of me. I worked as a programmer by day and went to meetings by night. I was not happy (nor was anyone around me)
but I stuck it out and gradually life got more tolerable.
In 1988 another ex-Mod and I put together the Mods II and played the pubs around Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua and South Auckland. I returned to my first
instrumental love, guitar, and bought the Gibson L6-S that I still use today. With the help of a Wolf Marshall tuitional video, I learned some basic lead
guitar. I was pretty slow and limited but what I lacked in technique I made up for in enthusiasm. We played covers of the 1960s bands - Beatles, Rolling
Stones etc. I went a bit stale on the material and left in 1991.
Mods II around 1989. (John Bisset, Rob Port, Kevin McNeil, Graham Dukeson and Dean Adamson)
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1981-1983 Diamond Cutter
My love of London women, pubs and beer slowed me down somewhat, but I eventually returned to Sydney, Australia in 1981. I managed to score a programming gig
and a flatshare with two lovely young Aussie women. Through another ex-Fraternity member I met Billy McMahon who had played bass with John Swann's 'Swannee'.
We eventually recruited a guitarist (Brett Hamlyn), vocalist (Terry Barker) and drummer (John Affleck) and rehearsed in a Darlinghurst studio for a few
months late in 1982. We called the band Diamond Cutter and started playing around Sydney and the Gold Coast in 1983. In mid 1983 we attracted the offer of a
recording contract from CBS records on the strength of demo tapes we made of our original material.
With the help of a young girlfriend I stayed off the booze for about 6 months during Diamond Cutter's rise. Unfortunately a strange sequence of events got
me back onto it in a big way and I managed to destroy my credibility and ultimately Diamond Cutter as well. I went off on a strange spiritual tangent and
ended up on a psychotic high in a psychiatric unit attached to a hospital in Randwick. I spent two weeks there before being flown back to my family in
Hamilton, New Zealand.
No photos of Diamond Cutter. This photo was taken around that time at a girlfriend's house in Waterloo (apt suburb for what came next).
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1974 - 1989 Computer Programmer
I stayed on in the UK and was briefly hired by Mungo Jerry. It was a lousy match (they didn't like my playing and I didn't like their music) and I was fired
after a few gigs. On the strength of the reputation of Kiwi farm workers, I scored a gig as a cowman in Surrey, near Leatherhead. It was always my intention
to return to the rock scene but this turned out to be the beginning of a long stint away from it. Had I been alone I probably could have survived in the UK
as a muso but the additional responsibility to provide food and shelter for my little family, forced me on to a different path.
I didn't last long as a farm worker and got a gig polishing cigarette lighter cases on the production line of Ronson Products. I was attracted to the new
computer scene and got a computer operator job on the strength of an IQ and programming aptitude test I did at Ronsons. English friends offered us a nice
rental cottage in Hounslow, Middlesex so I moved jobs to Williams in Hounslow where I got into computer programming in 1974. Later in 1974 my mum died in
NZ and my marriage broke down. I went out on my own in London and started having a better time of it in 1975, when I moved into a house full of partying
university graduates. They taught me the ropes about 'real ale' which was served in all the best London pubs.
I got a job with a software house (KPG) in 1976 where I met my London girlfriend who was amazingly tolerant of my lifestyle and provided me with shelter
and companionship for the remainder of my time in London. I had carried my drinking habits formed in the Australian rock scene of the late 1960s, into the
world of London business. Fortunately computer programmers of the time were often just as crazy as rock musicians and I fitted in fairly well.
My daily diet of real ale and vindaloo curry began taking its toll on my health. A 1978 contract in Saudi Arabia with an American company, Pepper
Construction, seemed to offer an escape from alcohol to a dry country. I had not taken the thriving black market into account and was soon drinking just as
much over there. While browsing music cassettes in a Riyadh soukh, I saw a picture of Bon on the cover of an early AC/DC album. I think this reignited my
desire to 'make it' in the rock scene.
Once back in London I got a contract programming gig with Shell Oil in the Strand and bought myself an Oberheim keyboard, Roland amp and recording gear. I
wrote some songs, recorded some demos and plotted my return to Australia and the rock scene. I made contact with Bon briefly whilst at Shell. He left five
tickets for me and my mates at the ticket office of the Hammersmith Odeon, where we saw an early AC/DC concert. They hadn't quite made megastar status at
the time. I went backstage after and chatted briefly with Bon and Angus before they were whisked off in a limo. That was the last time I saw Bon. My wife
rang me at Shell when she read news of his death in London.
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1968 - 1973 Levi Smith's Clefs and Fraternity
I scored a gig with the resident band at the Whiskey A Go-Go nightclub in Kings Cross – Levi Smith's Clefs. I started using a Hammond organ with a
Leslie speaker for the first time at this gig. Loved the sound and still do. The Clefs eventually went on the road and we later parted company with our lead
singer to form Fraternity. We recruited Bon Scott on vocals and became quite well-known, especially in our home base city of Adelaide. We won the Australian
Battle of the Sounds in 1971 and travelled to London in 1972. We played a bit in England and Germany but weren’t right for the era. We started out as a
hard-rock ‘Deep Purple’ type of band but mellowed to more of a country-rock band (heavy influence from The Band).
I parted company with Fraternity early in 1973 before they became 'Fang'. Most of the guys returned to Australia later in 1973 where Bon later joined AC/DC
and some of the others formed Fraternity II with Jimmy Barnes on vocals and John Swann on drums.
Levi Smith's Clefs L - R; Barry McAskill, Bruce Howe, John Bisset, Mick Jurd, Tony Beutel.
Fraternity around 1970 L - R; Bruce Howe, Mick Jurd, John Freeman, John Bisset, Bon Scott
Fraternity lineup that went to the UK. L-R; Mick Jurd, John Freeman, 'Uncle' John Eyers, Bruce Howe, Bon Scott, Sam See, John Bisset
Me with son Brent, wife Cheryl and dog Clutch taken during Fraternity's heyday in Adelaide around 1971
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1966 - 1968 The Action
I joined Auckland band The Action in about 1966, initially on rhythm guitar, later switching to keyboards. The switch was mainly to increase my chances of
survival in the rock scene. Rhythm guitarists were going out of fashion, there were a lot of hot lead guitarists around and keyboardists were all the rage
but thin on the ground. There was always a piano in the house when I was a kid but I had never learned how to play it. I played the first few gigs as a
keyboardist with pictures of the various triads in front of me. We later recruited Evan Silva on vocals and specialised in Tamla Motown and Soul material. We
went to Sydney in 1967 and disbanded after a six-month gig at the Hawaiian Eye nightclub.
Early Action lineup L-R Back: – Bryan Harris, Dan Stradwick, Jack Stradwick; Front: John Bisset
Later Action lineup L-R: – John Kristian, Bryan Harris, John Bisset, Jack Stradwick, Evan Silva
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1964 - 1966 The Mods
I left school at the end of 1963 and joined Hamilton band The Mods as rhythm guitarist and vocalist in 1964. We were popular around Hamilton at venues like
the Starlight Ballroom and the Three Musicians. We played covers of the popular British bands of the era such as the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies
and the Yardbirds. Later in the piece we recruited Clive Coulson on vocals and included more R'n'B covers by bands like the Pretty Things.
Early Mods lineup; Kevin McNeil, John Bisset, Neil Reynolds, Wayne Reynolds
Later Mods lineup; Neil Reynolds, Wayne Reynolds, Kevin McNeil, Clive Coulson, John Bisset
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1947 - 1963 My Musical Childhood
I was born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand on the 19th of November, 1947. I spent most of my childhood in Cambridge. My father sang and played the piano
accordian and violin; my mother sang in a local choir; my three sisters are all good singers: two of them went into singing training. My sisters and I would
sing three-part harmonies to songs like 'Down By The Riverside' while doing the dishes. I became an altar boy and member of the Cambridge Anglican Church
choir, mainly to keep my mother happy. (Anyone who knew me well then will know that I was far from the angel my mother was trying to forge.) I was deeply
impressed by the social standing that one of my sister's boyfriends got by being a good guitar player and was soon playing 'Bye Bye Love' by the Everly
Brothers, and other songs of the era, on the ukelele. I got my first guitar at about age 12 from an older brother who still loves and plays country music. I
got my first electric guitar and amp from another older brother, as payment for milking cows during my school holidays.
I formed a band called 'The Shadracks' while still at Cambridge High School. My mother was very tolerant and encouraging and let us rehearse at our place
in Princes Street. We played mainly Shadows and Ventures covers and placed in a couple of local talent quests. We also played at a few parties and a local
rugby club. Our drummer was Maori and I was able to attend gatherings in his neck of the woods where I learned many new chords and rhythms from the
accomplished guitar players that were always in attendance.
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