Drumming starts for me at the tender age of 10, when myself ,my brother Dave and spookily my next door neighbour Phil ‘the power’ gilespie (guitar) would mime to records of the sweet with me banging away on old hat boxes with wooden spoons for sticks. After my parents realised I was serious about drumming they purchased my very first kit a lovely 3 piece Beverley in red sparkle. Skip to two years later and after drum lessons with a well known jazz drummer George Hann I formed my first school band along with Phil on guitar ,we started playing at youth clubs and school parties etc.

Totally obsessed with drums and music I would practice every night until either my parents or my music teacher( who lived 2 streets away ) would get me to stop. Around this time myself and fellow band mates would do anything to practice and I can still remember loading up my sledge with drums, guitars ,and amps to make the trek down to the church hall in snow drifts that would scare Captain Scott of the Antarctic. Around the age of 15 I would often sneak into pubs and play drums for various bands whose members were a lot older than me, someone once said that I must have kept my action men in my drum case to play with them !

Roll on to my 20’s and after playing in bands with Phil we formed the rock band The Force, where we would stay for the next ten years supporting such acts as The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Steve Via, Nazareth, Magnum, Izzy Stradlin and Skin.

We also played at many biker festivals like The Bulldog Bash and Stormin the Castle featuring the Hamsters and also Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts. After leaving The Force both Phil and I played in various other bands but never felt quite at home either musically or personally. We placed an advert on Riffs looking for a Bass player and singer and met up with Garry and Kev, and Spartan were born Spartan for me is the ‘real deal’ committed talented musicians who just love to play Rock music, no ego’s just four friends enjoying what we do best .

Who could ask for anything more !

Favorite drummers - Neil Peart , Cozy Powell ,Stuart Copeland ,

Favorite Bands - Rush , Rainbow( early years ), Dream theatre and the Police

Favorite Albums Rush ‘all the worlds a stage’, Rainbow ‘on stage’, Dream Theatre ‘Images and words’