I was 24 when I took up the bass, a mate asked me to join his rock band.

T Rex, The Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London 1977. The Damned were supporting.

A Yamaha BB2000 Jazz Bass. I used to have a columbus before that and I've used the Yamaha ever since. Its had a lot of nice things said about it and I've been told its built just as good as an American Fender.

I have a Lany combo, SM58 mic, a dvpc running cubase 5. Yamaha active monitors and a Axiom keyboard/Midi Controller.

T. Rex, my sister was a huge fan so I grew up listening to him, and Bowie, Led Zep, Deep Purple all those 70s greats.

Motorboat was my first band, a rock outfit that were compared to The Pink Fairies. John Peel used to give us a plug on his show for a wee while. In the 90's I formed bands with friends, Handy, The Night Shift and then Chicken Inspectors. The latter gained local media attention, in the press and on radio. Our highlight was playing The Bedfordshire Millenium Festval at Shuttleworth House. It was the biggest event of any kind to be held in the County. My favourite gig with these guys though was in a tiny boozer on St Patricks night. Oh Danny boy, the pints, the pints are calling...

Bob Marley. Cos his songs are about Peace and Love.

Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Zappa was a musical genius in his playing and his writing and same goes for his band. Its got some awsome grooves, great solos, and vocals. It's also very funny so that would be important if I was in solitude.