Back at school, I started a band with Jake Burns and Brian Faloon. We tried numerous names with a heavy metal slant, such as Highway Star, or Dragon, but eventually settled on Scruff. (Still a pretty good name). Then one day, I went over to Jake's place and he played me "Anarchy in the UK", by a new band, The Sex Pistols. He was very enthusiastic, but I thought "what is this tuneless crap?" Shortly thereafter, I left the band -- the old story of "musical differences". They got in a new bassplayer, second guitarist and the rest is history. Or at least it is if you know anything about punk. (It would have been nice to be a star, even for Andy's 15 minutes, but I don't mind really.)

Meanwhile, I'd been approached by a band that I'd jammed with previously, who actually got paid money for their gigs. I spent my final school months, and the break before university touring Ireland playing "top chart hits for the kids" and getting twenty or thirty pounds per performance, which was a fair amount of money for a teenager. I moved away to Edinburgh to attend university and never again appeared 'live on stage' playing bass. Until...

Steve Graham, Jim Ferguson, Ian Larmour, Willie Shufflebottom (sic), and ???
That's me on the left.

Steve, aged 35 and a half

Do The Christmas Do

I was just a boring executive, but some work colleagues had the idea of spicing up the work's Christmas lunch with a live performance. A trawl for musical expertise located three guitarists, two bassplayers, two keyboard players and ... no drummers. However, we borrowed a drummer and practised hard and put on the surprise Christmas show. It was such a hit that we were asked to perform again the next year, and the next. 

Then I retired again for a long period, (although I get a miniscule credit for acoustic guitar on the Roni Size 'Brown Paper Bag' single(I claim I was sampled) ) but started to get a hankering for the stage again. I think it was the mid-life crisis! (Another symptom being that I bought myself a ridiculously expensive Stratocaster in luminous Chrome Red. And a Porsche. Obviously.)

Return to the Stage 2004

SteveIt happened! Playing bass again with the violin-enhanced rock of Muinzer Black!  Mid-life crisis - what mid-life crisis? Oh yes, the hair has gone! -- But the shades are still there. After 18 months of Muinzer Black, the "Black" part of the team (Paul Black) left the country, so the band ceased playing.

But all was not lost. The very talented Greeters needed a new bass player and asked me to join. The Greeters were a fantabulous funky pop band, featuring amazingly talented musicians: Kasey on drums, Georgia on vocals, sax and clarinet, Scott on guitar; and me. (Check out the punctuation of that sentence. I'm not claiming I'm amazingly talented.)

During the time I was playing with Muinzer Black, I heard the bass guitarist from the Tin Pot Operation several times, and I realised that my own playing had become lazy and unadventurous. In fact, to be honest, my exact thought was "This skinny wee girl is better than me." So I began to work a bit harder. I still think she's better than me, but I'm grateful for the kick up the backside. Playing with The Greeters was a great challenge too, and lots of fun.

When I told The Greeters that I had plans to emigrate, they got a new bass player. So I'm not playing with a permanent band right now, but Brian and I are playing the occasional retro punk set.

Here's Me

Here are a couple of random pieces with all instruments played by me. I may change the playlist from time to time. Or I might not.

The Music Scene

Gigging with Muinzer Black led to my going to other local gigs again, and there's a huge amount of talent out there. For a measly couple of quid, you can enjoy great music and a great atmosphere. I often take my camera, and there are pictures here of excellent local bands.