Artist description These songs are from various bands and projects that I have been involved in over the last fifteen years.

Music Style Synth rock/pop and a bit of prog

Musical Influences As a bass player, my hero is Geddy Lee from Rush. In my early days when I played synths it was Thomas Dolby and a jazz/funk/synth combo called Landscape (who had one hit with "Einstein a go go" in the early eighties). I was also a big Tears For Fears fan and early Thompson Twins. However, it was David Bowie who completely turned me on my head and has had the most influence on my music. When I first heard Hunky Dory there was no turning back. I am now heavily into Rush and have been for the last ten years.

Similar Artists Rush, Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Europeans, Shriekback, Marillion

Artist History I first got into music whilst still at school around 1980. I dabbled with my own forms of 'musique concrete' under the name "Pumpkins Over New York" because I could not afford any proper musical equipment. I had to make my own instruments out of anything that produced an interesting sound. This Warhol/Residents influenced phase continued until I left school and I bought my first real synthesiser,a Moog Rogue, with my first pay packet. I then decided I should try and make some serious music !My first real band was called Dissidentz and was formed in 1984. It was made up of myself and school friends John Cook, Tim Jennings and Paul Brown. We were the local Depeche Mode and stood out from the other post punk/guitar based bands in our area because we played synths. It was a good time and I loved writing and performing with the guys. Dissidentz expanded to a six piece around 1986 but the new mix of musical styles, instead of improving the quality of our songs writing, actually split the band apart.Out of the ashes of Dissidentz came Indigo Jo in 1987 which Tim and I started up with Tim's girlfriend, Sarah Pearce. We wrote a lot of great tunes (well I think so anyway), formed a live band in '88 and recorded four 'albums' between '87 and '94. The line-up changed a little during that time but the integrity of the band remained. Some of the songs on this site come from the later recordings of Indigo Jo's repetoire. I could put some of the earlier stuff up here but the recording quality is not really good enough.In 1993 I was asked to play bass for a new band called Shine who had just started up in London, again headed by Tim Jennings. This time we were serious about getting that elusive record deal and very quickly got a Management and Publishing contract with Sony. The eighteen months between '93 and '94 were very headdy and we played loads of great gigs in London, live radio shows and had a pretty good fan base. Unfortunately, all the short-sighted A&R men were not prepared to put their money where their mouths were and so, when the Sony contract expired the band had no where to go and so it wound up.Indigo Jo finished as well in 1996 and since then I have been more involved with writing sound tracks for theatre and a couple of films (no, not Hollywood). This is great fun but I have found that it uses up what creative juices I have, it dawned on me when I started this site, that I haven't written an original song for about four years now and this is something I must rectify - watch this space !To keep my hand in these days I have sold my soul to the devil and am currently in a 70's funk/disco covers band called Dr Shock & The Groove Republic. We play weddings, corporate events and parties etc, it 's great fun - and we get paid, how cool is that ?! For anyone interested we have a web site - www.groove-republic.com so go and have a laugh.I am still involved in the music industry and have been heading Alesis Technical Support in the UK for the last five years. It is great to be involved in something you love and to earn a living from it as well.

Group Members Band details can be found on their individual info pages

Instruments Alesis QS8, Roland D20, Yamaha DX27, Moog Rogue, Korg MS10, Jen Synx 508, Alesis DM Pro, Alesis HR16, G&L 5500 bass, Rickenbacker 4001 bass, Frontier fretless bass

Press Reviews Rob who ?

Location Codicote, Hertfordshire - United Kingdom

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