I'll Be There

As mentioned in my bio, I have been Jane McDonald’s guitarist for over fifteen years and have performed on all her tours during that time as well featuring on many of her TV shows for Channel 5. Alongside performing with Jane, I have co-written several songs with her and ‘I’ll Be There’ was the first track we worked on and is very special to me. It was written very quickly and then went straight into the live show to see whether it worked for an audience. Having survived that test we performed it in virtually every live show for four years thereafter, with the song subsequently featured on two studio albums and showcased on ‘Jane and Friends’ season 1 on Channel 5.

The song changed subtly over the years we performed it, starting out solely as guitar and vocal before developing into more full band arrangement before its feature performance on TV - a mix of both. The clip below takes us back to the start, a sound-check rehearsal of the song, probably only the first or second time we’d ever played it together.

Jake To The Bone

This is a full length track from the final show of the Roland Academy Tour 2012-13. We traditionally finished these shows with a daft Toto instrumental starting with 'Party in Simon's Pants' from Steve Lukather's second solo album, Candyman, on the 2011-12 tour, Jake to the Bone from Toto's Kingdom Of Desire in 12-13 and the trilogy was completed with 'Dave's Gone Skiing' from Tambu in 13-14.

File under odd time and many notes (probably too many) but much fun nevertheless. The clip features Rick Benton on keyboards, Ben Stone on drums and Tobias Kabiersch on bass (who was our special guest for this gig only). Filmed at the Performance Hub, University of Wolverhampton.

It's Getting Better

This is a TV appearance from ITV's 'Loose Women' with Jane in 2009. We performed on the show three or four times with a final appearance in Christmas 2013, which you can see here. 'It's Getting Better' went on to  feature in the full length concert CD/ DVD recorded at the London Palladium and released the following year.

Changes

Jimi Hendrix is certainly a huge influence on most guitarists and I'm no exception. Here's a clip from my own live archive, a recording of the Steve Cooper Band performing 'Changes' in the mid 2000s, around the same time as the 'Is This' EP was released.  This is a Jimi tune from one of my favourite live albums, Band of Gypsys. This live recording features Karl Brazil on drums, who played on 'Is This'  and has since gone on to work with Robbie Williams, James Blunt and Feeder. 

Magnetized

This is another Steve Cooper Band live recording but this time from 2005/6.  The line up changed to Jamie Little on drums, Stuart Trotman on keys and Colin Peters on bass in this period. This is an arrangement of a track written by Eric Johnson on his Bloom album, released in 2005. The fidelity isn't the best but it sounds cool and we are having fun with it!  

Two Grey Rooms

Here is a great version of Joni Mitchell's 'Two Grey Rooms' (originally recorded on Night Ride Home)  that I recorded with Lindsey Butler, a finalist on the The Voice UK.

Lindsey is a phenomenal talent and I love working with her in the studio and in one of Birmingham's most talented RnB acts, Up 4 The Downstroke.  

Sledgehammer 

Heart to Heart

I worked on many projects with my good friend and fantastic vocalist, David A. Saylor, and we spent many hours arranging some of our favourite tracks for guitar and vocal. This drop-d flavoured version of Peter Gabriel's, 'Sledgehammer' was a particular highlight at our acoustic shows and the version of Heart to Heart we recorded is one of my own personal favourites, originally written by Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald and David Foster and on the formers High Adventure album.

David had such a great voice - these were both live takes with no dubs whatsoever and you can find more songs and clips of Dave and I at the You Tube Channel. These videos were shot in the main live room at the original and much loved Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham. The studio has since relocated and this famous old building has been demolished.

David passed away on 1st January, 2017. We all miss him greatly. RIP my friend.

Is This

I recorded the 'Is This' EP in 2002. The album featured some covers including a drop-B acoustic version of the Beatles' 'Blackbird' along with SRV's funky blues classic 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' the title track of his second album. 'Is This' also featured an original instrumental entitled 'Blue Not White'. The album featured many friends and there is a full list of credits on the CD sleeve here. 

Girl From Havana

Finally, a really 'classic' clip from 1998. This Birmingham band, JoJunc, is one I look back on with great fondness, love and respect since I remain close friends with all the members, most of whom have gone on to forge highly successful music careers. Karl Brazil on drums is featured again here but the band also included Sean Barry on keyboards and Matt Hoy on vocals - these are musicians are I was so fortunate to meet and learn from and we are still really close mates.  This was an original track we wrote together and this promo video was filmed at the Railway Pub on Curzon Street, our unofficial home in the mid 1990s and a well known venue in Birmingham which was subsequently knocked down to make way for Millennium Point. Fresh, youthful faces abound.