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Shoestring Blues
More than just another Blues Band.
Rich: I reckon I was about 17 when I first picked up a guitar – an old six string acoustic that my brother used to play. Evenings were spent listening to records and trying to copy guitar rifts by my favorite bands. However, having no concept of chords or notes I just copied the bass lines.
One
day my brother, Phil, said to me “Rich,
have you ever thought about playing the bass”?
“No” I said, feeling pretty miffed that he didn't’t think much
of my guitar playing skills!
“Well” he said, “all you’re playing is the bass notes,
so why not play bass. You won’t even have to bother learning chords.” I
smiled.
With my 18th birthday not that far away, I decided to take him up on the idea. Phil was at Coventry University and had access to an array of guitar shops and Mum and Dad had the cash! So, on my 18th Birthday I was presented with a Kay Fender Precision Bass copy and a baby 12 watt Marshal bass amp. My first bass guitar and amp, but not my last……....
For the next 12 years or so I honed my bass playing skills. Learning by ear all the rifts and bass lines by people such as Mark King of Level 42 and JJ Burnel of The Stranglers, all the way through to the likes of Phil Lynot of Thin Lizzy and that crazy man called Prince!
In 1999, I got a phone call from my brother in law, Keith. It was a Sunday afternoon and the phone call went something like “Hi Rich, do you still play bass? Would you like to join a band?”
With some trepidation and a certain amount of excitement, I drove round to his mate’s house, not knowing quite what to expect. After a few minutes of meeting and chatting with the guys – Ian, Keith, Simon and Steve – I found my self in my very first band - RISK.
Initially, rehearsals took place in an old school hall in West End but we soon upgraded to Ian’s front living room, which had free coffee (thanks, Penny) and comfy chairs and the occasional bottle of beer thrown in for good measure. We’ve now moved on again to proper rehearsal rooms.
Between those initial days of the band and now, we’ve been through quite a few line-up changes. Steve was the first to leave followed by Keith and then Simon. When Simon left, Ian and I had to act fast – we had a gig lined up but no lead guitarist. A few weeks later, after a bit of nifty advertising by Ian, we not only had our new lead guitarist, Iain, but we also had a much-needed drummer, Dave. Iain turned out to be much more than just a brilliant guitarist he was a catalyst providing new ideas and an injection of energy.
Over the next couple of years the four of us played several gigs but eventually Dave decided to give up drumming and left the band, which was now called RSi. Another advert later, and our new drummer, Charlie, joined us. Sadly, after only a few weeks, Charlie left us due to ill health. A few weeks later, in July 2005, Rob joined us. With the addition of Rob’s excellent drumming we were now back to full strength; our music taking on a more focused and dynamic approach.
We had always been meaning to rename the band and this seemed like the ideal time, so we became Shoestring Blues.