This is to tell you about my life and how I became a musician and what it has done for me,
Hi Its nice to know that there are so many musicians and music in this world, I am just one of them, I begun life as Christopher Paul Barnes , I was born in a place called 23 Comus road, Upper Holloway , London , N19, I was 9 years old when i was Bought my first accoustic guitar, My late brother John showed me how to play three chords on the guitar, I drove my parents Alfred & Rose up the wall with that guitar ! One day ,My dad said to me, Son, If you keep advancing with your playing as you are, I will buy you an electric guitar, So of course I practiced even more and I got very good indeed !, Then came the week of my 13th birthday and I found myself being taken down to our local music shop in Holloway road, The shop was called Berry's Music shop, Little did I know what was next to happen, After looking around the shop' My dad said , Do you like that guitar in the widow son' Yes I said, It's lovely, Without hesitation he went and bought the guitar for me ,It was priced £28, But he was not happy just getting the guitar' He decided to get an amp as well' So we came away from the shop with a Hofner Colorama guitar and a Watkins Westminster 10 watt amp. After that there was no stopping me, My Idol at the time was The Shadows, I wanted to sound like Hank Marvin, After a couple of years' I got so good that the guitar was too slow on action for me and was stopping me from progressing any further, So my dear old dad decided to get me another guitar' This time he got me a Hofner Verithin electric smiecoustic guitar, This one had a Bigsby tremelo arm and was much faster on the frett board'
I progressed so much that by the age of 13, I joined my first band, We didn't have a name, We were just known as the band! We played at the goumont in Holloway road on Saturday mornings in front of about 800 kids with songs like Dave Clark 5 s Glad all over etc, It was good fun. After a while we all got fed up and the band split up'
Joe Meek in his studio 1966
When I was 14 years old I was told by a friend that he knew a band that needed a guitarist, So I went for it' I ended up in the band , It was called Mick Daly & his northern stars, We all became good friends , The members were Mick Daly on drums & vocal, Horrace De Bourge on rhythm guitar & vocal, & myself on Lead guitar & vocal, We were popular in the north london pubs and played a number of regular places, After a time I realised that the band would never come to anything, So I started looking for other bands to play in' One night I was visiting a local pub Called the Half Moon in Holloway road, As I sat down with my bear ( I was only 16 ) I started watching the band on the stage, I realised that I needed to play and contemplated on new sounds and music' Although I was still with my little band, I needed something different' One day as I was walking down Holloway road to the music shop' I saw some people taking equipment in to what I thought was a shop'Being nosey I realised it was a band, So I went in to the shop called Shentons and asked the man what was upstairs, A recording studio he replied, So plucking up the courage, I went up there, Knocked on the door and Joe Meek answered it, I said I am a guitarist singer that needs studio experience, Can you help me, Come in he said, I was nervous so I was a bit reluctant at first, Its ok he said I wont bite you' After a tour of the studio, It was decided that I would be able to learn how to be a sound engineer' I saw plenty of famous artists and bands such as the Checkmates, The honeycombs, Hienz, etc,At that time,My brother John had joined a band called The Rapids,He told me that they needed a lead guitarist and singer, So I joined them, We went to Joe's recording studio and after some practise runs ,We recorded an EP, This was in September 1966, The tape was sent off to Westcliff on sea in Essex to be cut as a demo in January 1967, One day in 1967 I was at home with mum & dad and I picked up the Islington Gazzette, To my horror, Joe Meek had commited suicide on the 3rd of february, I only saw him a week before when we discused about making a comic record ' So that was my training gone along with the chance to make a record ' You could say that I missed the boat yet again' After that shock, I played with my little band for about another 6 months, Then one day I went back to the Half Moon pub In Holloway road, On the stage was a country band they were called the Larietts, After a couple of pints of beer, I got up and asked if I could play and sing a couple of songs, They said yes' I ended up joining that band and I stayed with them until 1969, I had to leave the band because my mum and dad was moving to south London, I had to go with them, I was nearly 19 at that time' We ended up in a place called Bellingham , I didn't play for a year and got fed up with being bored. One day my dad saw an advert in the local news paper for a guitarist vocalist, I Applied for the position and joined the band ,It was now 1970, The band was formed with a drummer called Gordon Summers ( Nicknamed Jazz ) an organ player called Peter Curtis, a rhythm guitarist called Terry Gadd, A bass player called Terry Harris and a Singer called John Maher, Also two girl singers called Sue and Margret, We called the band The Instigation, Well John was not a very good singer , So we got rid of him, After a while,We had some problems with the girls and they left the band, Then Terry the bass player and Terry Gad both left the band, So we reformed , Peter reverted to playing bass, And then we were three, then Jazz got us a gig at the Harrows pub on the A127 near Wickford for 7 nights a week, But we needed a fourth member, So a guy called Paul Carass joined us as a bass player and pete went back to playing organ, We had a great sound , We all sang songs and had great harmony together!( at that time I changed my name to Paul Burns) We went pro and played in that place for nearly 2 years. I had to leave because of the stress of playing 7 nights a week was making me ill. So I gave up playing for about a year' I started playing in a little local band with my nephew David and his friends , After a while He called the band the samples, I played with them on and off for a good while, In 1979 I was Approched by a member of another band while playing in a CIU club, So I went to hear them as their guitarits was getting the sack, I joined that band, We ended up calling our band Lazer, It consisted of a bass player called Peter Sugden ( Molly Sugdens nephew ) A guy called Robbin on rhythm guitar, A guy called Johnny Geen on drums ,And myself on Lead guitar / Keyboards and vocal, We also had a girl singer called Lizz And an Elvis impersonator called Tony Ormerod, We played the CIU circuit for about 5 years, Then due to a dispute over a record deal , I left the band and did not play an instrument for 15 years before comming back in to the music again, Now I only play for pleasure as a hobby due to illness, Thats it folks, Hope you enjoyed my life story, If you have , Please come back here again and maybe leave some of your own stories or comments thanks 'https://www.google.com/http://paulburnsmusicsite.webs.com/
I progressed so much that by the age of 13, I joined my first band, We didn't have a name, We were just known as the band! We played at the goumont in Holloway road on Saturday mornings in front of about 800 kids with songs like Dave Clark 5 s Glad all over etc, It was good fun. After a while we all got fed up and the band split up'
Joe Meek in his studio 1966
When I was 14 years old I was told by a friend that he knew a band that needed a guitarist, So I went for it' I ended up in the band , It was called Mick Daly & his northern stars, We all became good friends , The members were Mick Daly on drums & vocal, Horrace De Bourge on rhythm guitar & vocal, & myself on Lead guitar & vocal, We were popular in the north london pubs and played a number of regular places, After a time I realised that the band would never come to anything, So I started looking for other bands to play in' One night I was visiting a local pub Called the Half Moon in Holloway road, As I sat down with my bear ( I was only 16 ) I started watching the band on the stage, I realised that I needed to play and contemplated on new sounds and music' Although I was still with my little band, I needed something different' One day as I was walking down Holloway road to the music shop' I saw some people taking equipment in to what I thought was a shop'Being nosey I realised it was a band, So I went in to the shop called Shentons and asked the man what was upstairs, A recording studio he replied, So plucking up the courage, I went up there, Knocked on the door and Joe Meek answered it, I said I am a guitarist singer that needs studio experience, Can you help me, Come in he said, I was nervous so I was a bit reluctant at first, Its ok he said I wont bite you' After a tour of the studio, It was decided that I would be able to learn how to be a sound engineer' I saw plenty of famous artists and bands such as the Checkmates, The honeycombs, Hienz, etc,At that time,My brother John had joined a band called The Rapids,He told me that they needed a lead guitarist and singer, So I joined them, We went to Joe's recording studio and after some practise runs ,We recorded an EP, This was in September 1966, The tape was sent off to Westcliff on sea in Essex to be cut as a demo in January 1967, One day in 1967 I was at home with mum & dad and I picked up the Islington Gazzette, To my horror, Joe Meek had commited suicide on the 3rd of february, I only saw him a week before when we discused about making a comic record ' So that was my training gone along with the chance to make a record ' You could say that I missed the boat yet again' After that shock, I played with my little band for about another 6 months, Then one day I went back to the Half Moon pub In Holloway road, On the stage was a country band they were called the Larietts, After a couple of pints of beer, I got up and asked if I could play and sing a couple of songs, They said yes' I ended up joining that band and I stayed with them until 1969, I had to leave the band because my mum and dad was moving to south London, I had to go with them, I was nearly 19 at that time' We ended up in a place called Bellingham , I didn't play for a year and got fed up with being bored. One day my dad saw an advert in the local news paper for a guitarist vocalist, I Applied for the position and joined the band ,It was now 1970, The band was formed with a drummer called Gordon Summers ( Nicknamed Jazz ) an organ player called Peter Curtis, a rhythm guitarist called Terry Gadd, A bass player called Terry Harris and a Singer called John Maher, Also two girl singers called Sue and Margret, We called the band The Instigation, Well John was not a very good singer , So we got rid of him, After a while,We had some problems with the girls and they left the band, Then Terry the bass player and Terry Gad both left the band, So we reformed , Peter reverted to playing bass, And then we were three, then Jazz got us a gig at the Harrows pub on the A127 near Wickford for 7 nights a week, But we needed a fourth member, So a guy called Paul Carass joined us as a bass player and pete went back to playing organ, We had a great sound , We all sang songs and had great harmony together!( at that time I changed my name to Paul Burns) We went pro and played in that place for nearly 2 years. I had to leave because of the stress of playing 7 nights a week was making me ill. So I gave up playing for about a year' I started playing in a little local band with my nephew David and his friends , After a while He called the band the samples, I played with them on and off for a good while, In 1979 I was Approched by a member of another band while playing in a CIU club, So I went to hear them as their guitarits was getting the sack, I joined that band, We ended up calling our band Lazer, It consisted of a bass player called Peter Sugden ( Molly Sugdens nephew ) A guy called Robbin on rhythm guitar, A guy called Johnny Geen on drums ,And myself on Lead guitar / Keyboards and vocal, We also had a girl singer called Lizz And an Elvis impersonator called Tony Ormerod, We played the CIU circuit for about 5 years, Then due to a dispute over a record deal , I left the band and did not play an instrument for 15 years before comming back in to the music again, Now I only play for pleasure as a hobby due to illness, Thats it folks, Hope you enjoyed my life story, If you have , Please come back here again and maybe leave some of your own stories or comments thanks 'https://www.google.com/http://paulburnsmusicsite.webs.com/
Visit my blog on here as well as my other blog on http://paulburns07.blogspot.com
or on http://www.friendburst.com/Rockhousemusicproject/ or on Rockhouse Musician-Band http://www.reverbnation.com/ or on the Rockhouse music project page on facebook,
Thanks for your support and for reading this page '
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