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| Music, to reach your soul, must be inspirational. My defining moments were watching The Beatles perform "She Loves You." after returning from America in 1966. They had just returned from America flying into Heathrow airport with thousands of fan's screaming and generally going mad with excitement. The other key moment for me was hearing "Star Man" from David Bowie, on the radio, travelling on the school bus to a theatre trip.(1972) The whole David Bowie album "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" became hugely inspirational and motivating. I had some guitar lessons at the age of 11 and had picked up a few chords. Soon I would be writing my first song, which was called "Marianne". Other songs such as "Viet Nam" "Rain" etc. followed in quick succession. Playing in front of the school, in a concert in 1973, was the moment, which confirmed that I had the musical bug, big time!! The only song, which survived my school days, was "What would you tell me." This song would be my first ever studio recording, five years later.-play song- I actually wrote most of the music for this song in my final years at Kings of Wessex School in 1973. The lyrics were completed in the glorious summer of 1976 and I would like to thank Christine Packer, for the inspiration.Other thank you's are owed to Heather Alexander for her support and encouragement during my school music days and my sister Lorraine who rarely missed a gig and indeed sang with me on some occasions. I remember my grammar school days at Blackford with "a lot of good memories" but have "few memories of a lot of good parties!!??"(SMORG party raves made Manunition look like a "kids tea party"!!)The school band at this time was made up of Irving Kinnersley-David "thunder thumbs" Booth and Irving's Brother, Dale.If memory serves me well they did a great version of the Argent Classic "Hold your head up".They would let me do a support slot,if I promised to be good!!
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| Living in a rural area of Somerset, the folk club was the
principle musical forum for creative music.John Martyn,Paul Penfield,Magenta were artists
I remember,from this time.Kevin and myself did several support slots at Banwell Folk club
which was the Saturday night "place to be"..Thursday's at the Queen Vic.-
Priddy-Mendips also has a lot of good memories.the resident band here were "Straw
Folk" who on most Thursday's could barely "Stand" (cider) but always
managed to get a song and tune out!!?Not always all together at the same time..or in
tune..but always got there in the end.Their version of the folk song "Robin
Hood" had a certificate X 18 ratingwith lyrics such as "The friars name was Tuck
and he didn't give a F***".I will leave the rest to your imagination!!
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| It is not surprising that my first music band was "Contemporary Acoustic Band" (CAB) which was formed in 1978. |
| Kevin Taylor;Vocals,guitars. Paul Weston, Backing vocals, guitars. Pete Cornish; Backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars. Kevin now lives in Leeds and we
are still in touch.Pete moved to USA and I have had no contact for 23 years.If anyone
knows where Pete is now based, please can you let me know and say hello from me?I would
love to know how our intrepid "sound man" Bob Cook is doing?Also hello to Lainey
Weston,Sally Brown and Rachel Gibbons who played on many folk gigs we did.(But out boozed
us on every occasion!!?) |
| We had a regular following and played a residency in "The
Tavern in the Town" in Bristol. |
| Gigs on the collage scene soon followed with gigs such as
Dublin University and Manouth College, London University etc. Our style was influenced by
Crosby,Stills, Nash and Young and this style of harmony folk music. None of the original
tracks we wrote were ever recorded in the studio. I have no copies of any of the songs so
if there is anyone out there who has tapes of live gigs, could you let me know?? Hi to
Mary and Bernice from county Cavan who arranged our Ireland gigs.Remember
"Blackbush" Bob Dylan with Eric Clapton on guitar?Who cares if it took seven
hours to get out of the car park. February 2004.A big thanks to Lainey Weston
who has let me know via email that she has an old CAB tape.When we meet up I can hopefully
add a couple of samples of these early days on my web site. |
| I moved to Cardiff in 1981 to take up a postgraduate course in
social work. I became interested in the local band scene after watching a band called
"Singapore", a year earlier. I joined a band called "Milan" in
1983. |
| Simon Davies;Guitars. Mike Taki; Percussion and vocals. Jeff Turner; Bass guitar. Paul Weston; Vocals, Acoustic and electric guitar. Our manager Simon Payne went on to become a celebrity in his own right!! (Fat Club / ITV.) A special thanks also to Graham King for his artwork. I have dedicated one of my songs to the memory of Mary King whose support and encouragement were invaluable. Thanks to Richard and Phillip for making this era of music, possible.
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| Milan had a "West Coast / USA musical influence. These
included Todd Rungren, Doobie Brothers,Cars, Steely Dan. Milan recorded three demo tapes
and made a Tape EP in 1985. I have selected two songs from this era to be included on this
web site;
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"Where do the children play." This song is a tribute to the film "Taxi Driver" staring Robert Deniro and Jodie Foster. My experience in working as a childcare social worker also helped to establish this "angry and controversial song." |
"Make the night stand still" A song written by one of my favourite singer songwriters, bass players, Vince Jenkins. Vince had written this song before he had left the band "All in All", which went on to be called "Milan." This song is a live out take recorded at Loco Studios Monmouth and the backing is very basic and not finished. Even so, the song still sounds special to me. Vince Jenkins web site click here |
| I formed my own band in 1985 to perform a range of new
material, which I had written. I was very fortuitous to work with PVC production team-Mike
Price/Nigel Voyle and Danny Chang. Nigel and Danny had both played with the Cardiff band
Singapore that eventually became the band "Just Good Friends." Just Good Friends
were one of my favourite bands of this time and signed to a major record label/Magnet. My first single "Feels So Good" -play- got us an invite to EMI records after the song was picked up by Clive Black. The single was play listed by a number of regional radio stations including Red Dragon (Known as CBC), GWR and Downtown radio Belfast. The Paul Weston band made a BBC Wales Television appearance on contemporary magazine show "Juice" and also performing live on BBC Wales's radio show "The Orange Box." See www.vincejenkins.com for song samples.History link. "Touch".recorded live on Radio Wales show "The Orange Box".Listen out for some amazing percussion from Greg Havers who is currently producing the new album from the "Manic Street Preachers."As well as a great producer Greg is a rather special percussionist!! "Touch" -play song- mono. Electric Rain was also recorded live at this radio session for BBC Wales. "Electric Rain"-play
song- |
Paul Weston Band 1985 to 1988. Paul Weston.Guitars and vocals. Danny Chang.Guitars/keyboards/percussion. Vince Jenkins.Bass guitar. Danielle Nichols. Vocals. Nick Mercott.Drums and percussion. Where are they now??
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Acknowledgements / Links Danny Chang arranged Songs for live performance. www.darecords.com |
| Danny now owns a very successful music production company and
has numerous commercial credits including an Ivor Novello nomination for his music for the
ITV production of the "Snow Spider" also Transavanian Pet Shop" also "
Fat Freddie's Cat" etc. etc. Rumoured to be working on the music for a feature film,
this year?? |
| Photography. Dave Daggers. I hope to be including more photographs from Dave
Daggers who is one of the UK's finest photographers. Dave's specialism is dance and music
and he is also noted for his body painting photography. I am hoping his film "Dancing
on a volcano" will be on commercial release in the near future. The film was shot
entirely on location at Mount Etna, Sicily. Dave has numerous credits including taking the
photograph for the front cover of Sir Anthony Hopkins autobiography book. If you wish to
make contact with Dave to say hello or for enquires about Commercial photography, then
please refer to www.davedaggers.com
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| Art work for single/posters etc. Graham King. Additional photographs Rob Brazier. Songs published by Ko-operation Ltd. Special thanks to Olav and Carolynne Wyper for their support and inspiration. Songs arranged by; (See lyrics for specific song information) |
PVC. (See previous information) Mike,Danny and Nigel had one of their songs
included on the Eddy Murphy film "The Golden Child"movie soundtrack. |
Vince Jenkins. (Songwriter / session bass guitarist /producer. Bands include "Quaking House" "Moira and the Mice" www.vincejenkins.com
Vince arranged music for original Sarah Spencer song "All of You".(See New Music page.)
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Al Steele.Shabbey Road studio is a must for /musicians/singers/bands looking to record quality demo or master tracks.See this web site -about- link for more information on Al. Contact.email hartsteele@btconnect.com |
Rob Read. Can be reached through Danny Chang Music. |
Lawson Dando. 2004.Lawson has just completed a live album recorded with
Incredible String Band" at Peter Gabriel's studio in Bath
Somerset.(Lawson/Hillary-see you at Cinnamon Tree soon!!) |
| Nigel Jenkins."See -about- link on my site for
lots more up to date information - on Nigel.
|
| "War of Love" was written by Nigel Jenkins.
Nigel is one of the UK's if not the world's finest guitarists. Nigel also plays bass and
keyboards rather brilliantly also. Also…wait for it… is a fine songwriter. I
don't know how many of you remember the huge hit song by Gerry Rafferty called
"Baker Street"? For those of you who remember "Baker Street",
the sax solo/riffs and guitar solos/riffs stand out, even until this day. Nigel played
guitar on this track as well as on other Gerry Rafferty album tracks. For more information
please refer to;
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| I was privileged to work with Nigel thanks to an introduction
from Olav Wyper. We worked together on "War of love" and a remix of my
song "More than this" I have the Nigel Jenkins production of "More
than this" if anyone want a copy. Nigel has worked with countless named bands and musicians so search the net on Google search engine for more details!!! |
| Anyone who likes the "War of Love" can find
more material from Nigel Jenkins on www.kpm.co.uk I recommend Nigel's album "Ready or Not" on KPM/EMI Group records. |
| The Future. I needed to take a break for a decade!? I
am now back working on several musical projects. Log into this web site every week
or so, when new songs-news etc will be added !?Many thanks to Jackie Lee whose
encouragement to get me back working on my music again ,has been so important.
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| Conclusion. I would like to say thank you once again to all the people mentioned in this introduction. Also in memory of my music teacher at KOW, Mr Tonkins. A very special thank you must be given to my mother Anona Offer and my sister Lorraine Simmonds. Without their help, support, and encouragement, none of this could have ever happened.
Updated February 2004. |
