I first began playing Guitar in my early 20’s, after I'd left the forces. I had a chance encounter with an old school friend, Paul Boden-He encouraged me to take up the guitar as he felt it would help. How right he was too!. I embarked on learning to play and over the years it has helped me considerably with my battle with PTSD, which I was later diagnosed with as a result of my service. I discovered Pink Floyd whilst in hospital in1994-95 and I was hooked!!. David Gilmour has really influenced my playing style. I’m self-taught and draw upon my influences and inspiration from many of the Greatest players such as Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, plus many others including Sir David Gilmour!. Having an eclectic taste in music really aids my creativity and when I play-I play from the heart!.
About 5 yrs ago I met my partner and life's never been better, at the time I was playing at jam nights in a local pub and attending a day center where I had met other musicians who had mental health issues of their own, My partner started coming along with me when we were playing and found it beneficial sitting in and listening-proving that music is a very powerful healing tool! , her love for music and encouragement spurred me on. Through peoples kind, encouragement-we flourished and formed a band, which led to playing live outside gigs and small venues-this boosted our confidence no end!. My love of music deepened, with the help and support of my partner, Bandmates, and friends my confidence grew!. It was during this time that I met Keith, through a friend of his who worked at the centre-Dave Ashton.
Strawkites was formed a few years ago by founder member Keith Symes. Who is and always will be a huge fan of Pink Floyd !. Over the past few years there has been some changes in the band line-up, most recent change being when Jason Walker joined in October 2016-present day, Jason is also a huge Pink Floyd/David Gilmour fan and Destiny has blessed our partnership, and we met through a mutual friend David Ashton who regretfully is no longer with us, but is guiding us from a distance. The genre that we work to is very much inspired by Pink Floyd and we have been very honoured to be considered similar in style to Pink Floyd.
We have at the moment a new album out called Crash landing, which has received some great reviews and is available on all major download sites i.e. Spotify, iTunes, Amazon etc. We are at the moment creating new material for our next album, and also promoting ourselves on the modern media platform of the internet and at present.