Sunday, 11 March 2018

My Guitar Journey from Mid-Teens (1969) to my 60's (2015) Photos














               Hear here !   http://www.indiemusicpeople.com/artist.aspx?ID=123095























Yes...That was fun...and some nice guitars...Gibson SG, Les Paul (Standard), USA Strat, Japanese Fender Strat... And now sitting at the bar Chilling...but I still miss the long hair...LOL !  Fortunately my baby granddaughter Matilda loves to smack my bald head...No competition ! 

I can remember my first band 'Blue Gold' at 15, with my friend and first teacher Pete Lane on rhythm guitar...We played at the local youth club and a church hall (where I first met Gwyn) ..I knew about 3 chords and a basic blues lead style...and we had about 3 songs we played again and again ...My friend Ady (see earlier post) came and played a few jams.
 My set up was an old fruit box with speakers nailed to the wood and an amp we called the Birdcage ... But people came and enjoyed this primitive effort...It got me hooked ! My early influences were Clapton, Green, Beck, Kossoff, Rory Gallagher, Leslie West and Carlos Santana and l later I got to the Blues Masters !  I got to play many varied decent gigs, including odd venues like Tower Bridge, The Natural History Museum, The Law Society, A large boat sailing down the Thames and others... One gig in Croydon ...we had 1 person turn up...and he was a drummer friend ! So if you're a beginner ...Keep on keepin' on... and enjoy.

I played in The O T Band for over 30 years with some great guys and a lady ( Earl Green & Kaiya Maxfield on vocals,Gwyn Hood bass,Andy Dummett tenor sax, Alan Hawkins later Glen 'Funk Foot' LeFleur drums ) We started as a Live Band playing classic Blues R&B Soul and our own originals and played many gigs to mostly appreciative crowds...Met many people, some who became good friends...And laugh after laugh !...Great banter ! 
Here as a repost is my compilation of the years 1984 to 1996 with Studio, Live & other recordings  - The O T Band - 'O T Scrapbook 1'  - Tracks 1,2,6,9,11,13 & 19 are original songs written by band members. The released versions of the alternatives I included  are to be found on the CD 'Earl Green - Feel The Fire ' (1996)  

Here as download  : 
https://mega.nz/#!bQEgTCTD!uKmtb5bFOiVJvAUNZ0rqfvs4rckPTE5vdRzIlAZ3e1k

Streaming here with other earlier bands :  https://soundcloud.com/user-81292978






And.I must promote this full gig from 2008 again...which is a good example of us really going for it !

Here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x14OohXvb3s


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Various Artists - The O T Band Covers-Influences

Various Artists - The O T Band Covers-Influences Here is a 52 track compilation of the songs that The O T Band regularly covered/featured ...