Going right back,there was no one in my family who played an instrument,my mother loved music and singing,but didn't play. I recall my Da having an old mouth organ,but I never heard him play,even his humming was off key! So in more than one way,I appear to be the black sheep.
Earliest musical memories are listening to a pile of old 78s featuring Irish folk music and Scottish bands such as Jimmy Shand. The radio was always on in the kitchen too,so I heard lots of music in the course of a day.
I remember 'making up' music on my Da's old gub-iron,then pestering my folks for a guitar,so they bought me a Ukulele and a song book with chords. I have to this day a deep hatred of the sound of Ukes!
A well off Auntie bought an organ,even though none of them played,apparently it was meant for visitors to entertain them. Anyway I was allowed to make noises when I visited and after a while I was able to pick out the melody lines to various songs. Because the uke book had shown me chords to go with the melody and the organ had buttons to play chords,I was able to bang out tunes using a three chord trick and eventually get busy with the minors and sevenths! What more do ya need anyway!
While still harping on about a guitar,my folks eventually gave in and bought me an accordion...
I played this from I was around 10 until I finally got a guitar at 15. It was a good old Eko 6 string acoustic,built like a tank and cheap as chips!
Next along was a no name 335 style electric and a little Selmer valve amp. That did me until I started work at 16 and began earning my own money,which bought me a Gibson SG Special and my world changed! Jamming with mates turned into learning songs and forming bands,though I was 19 before I played a gig. No Youtube or vids to help learn in those days,it was all coping the records and pestering those who played well for licks and tips!
The playing live bug really bit with me and I loved getting out and playing anywhere,church halls,youth clubs,wherever,even getting paid sometimes was cool!
Later,I played in a rock band SOS playing originals,mostly written by myself and the other guitarist. We had fun,toured the UK a bit,plus some TV and radio spots,but we never made the step in terms of recognition or making a living,so eventually we drifted apart into different avenues.
I played and wrote songs for about 20 odd years,before kids came along and the gigging slowly faded away. My guitars ended up in the roofspace and amps/effects sold. It was years before I played again and I didn't write a song for perhaps 15 years. The band/songs thing was inseparable to me,so if there was no bands,then why bother writing songs?
Then one day an old bass player pal of mine who never stopped gigging,told me his working band was looking a guitar player and the money was very good. At first I wasn't that interested,but I had been playing again for a while and thought...why not. So I went and did the audition and got the job!
The band was run as a business,all covers for weddings/functions etc. We had a ball,great people and great craic and for the first time in my life my guitar earned me very respectable money.
When this band folded,two of the members professed an interest in recording some originals. Martin owned a studio,Fiona had a great voice,so given my history with SOS,they asked me to do the writing. I had no idea if there was anything still there,but I gamely had a go and we made it work!
We recorded an album of songs,a little more laid back than the rockier stuff I used to do and it's nice to have a physical recording of those good times.All mastered by our own Boydie.
It was also around the time I discovered this place and the first song I posted was Martin,Fiona and myself as Vance Magill.
I haven't played a live gig in about 4 years now,getting too old I think,plus a DAW makes me lazy in so many ways!
I don't have anything recorded of the really early days,probably be dreadful anyway,but for those interested,here's a few tracks taking us up to fairly recent.
A couple of SOS tracks.
https://soundcloud.com/skub1955/fortune-tellerhttps://soundcloud.com/skub1955/not-feelin-blueA couple of Vance Magill tracks
https://soundcloud.com/skub1955/01-seasons-wav-premasterhttps://soundcloud.com/skub1955/mouth-waltz-boydie-master-1