NS: I'm living in Bangkok with my wife Kirsty and our 2 children Josh, aged 3, and Kady, aged 2. Kirsty is a primary teacher and I help out in the Art Department of a large international school. I've played a few gigs over here, mainly doing covers. I'm still writing my own stuff and hope to be recording in the not too distant future - the school has a recording studio which is very handy. I'm interested in forming a "garage rockabilly/punk band, but drumming up interest is proving difficult.

 

 

 

 

NS: Both Bruce Watts and Paul Vollans had been members of my band "Somebody Stole My Fridge". I met Kev Ladden when he teamed up with Paul and Bruce to form "St Elmo's Fire" - I had a go on guitar but for some reason didn't get involved with the project which became, once a guitarist had been found, "Big Red Gun". When that guitarist left, (I recall his nickname was Gollie) I joined. Kev was a really good songwriter and had some ideas that really appealed to me whilst Bruce and Paul were always good to be involved with. Incidentally, Kev, Bruce and Paul still play the odd gig around Scunny - can't for the life of me remember what name they go by, but seem to think it involves "Stella".

 

 

 

NS: I appeared in the 2nd Rock Open,  which was the first to be held at The Baths Hall. I was guitarist for "Harry The Spider's Coming Out Party"; we won the heat but not the Final. The following year, my partner in crime, Sean "Stig" Tighe and myself appeared, complete with Eric Thunderskins the drum machine, as "The Day It Rained Frogs". We won the heat but came last in the Final (may have been Frogs first then Spiders). For the next 12 or 13 consecutive years I made appearances with various bands, though mainly with the Frogs - the band gradually expanded and went through several line-up changes. In fact the Frogs won a heat towards the end of that period but, as Stig was away (he was, and still is, a roadie) we had to concede our place in the Final.

Usually when Stig couldn't take part we'd use an alternative name and appeared as "Crier les Chiens" (from a Young Gods track) and The Lesser Blessed" (from a Fields of the Nephilim lyric). Other bands I appeared with included "The Bible Bashing Jesus Freaks", "The Hoverchairs" and "The Carpets On Fire" - the latter featured my "Big Red Gun" cohort Bruce on bass (aka Walter Wall), "Figgy" on drums (aka Shag Pile) and myself on guitar and vocal (aka Axe Minster) - we failed miserably and deservedly so!

 

 

NS: This was a really happening time for music in Scunthorpe, the likes of which will probably never be seen again. The Furnace Arms (at the bottom of the High Street) was a really important venue and place to meet up with anybody, as was the Baths Hall which was home to some fantastic alternative discos (Steve Bird at the decks) and some great gigs including the likes of The Pogues, Faith No More, The Cardiacs and New Model Army. The Scunthorpe Free Rock concerts that the Council put on (free of charge!) on the Ashbyville playing fields (now, like The Furnace Arms, gone) were a fantastic initiative. I wasn't in a band at the time, but was photographer for the Scunthorpe Star and actually managed to be onstage at the same time as The Pogues, The Housemartins, The March Violets, The Boomtown Rats and many others. They were great times. I could probably fill a book with stories and improbable tales from that time; I'll touch on more later.

 

 

NS: For most of the 80's and early 90's I admired most of the Scunny bands; I recently discovered the song "Late Night Shopping With Elvis" by the legendary "Brucie's Chin" on YouTube which reminded me just how good anything that "Finch" was involved with was (listen to it on YouTube - finchioni59 - do it now!). One of the first bands to really impress me was "Product Of Reason" - I'm not sure, but I think I met Stig through this band as he was a friend of bassist Martin Walker. "Duck In Fog" were another band I liked very much as they did a good cover of a Killing Joke song though I can't remeber which one. It was while I was taking photos at the Free Rock event that I first came across "Harry The Spiders Coming Out Party"; they impressed me mightily; very tongue in cheek, good fun and a great front man in the form of Gaz Inglesby. I was really pleased to join them later on when Gaz's brother went off to college.