What are your roots

[juddernaut]

My brother bought SGT Pepper as my first album when I was 6. It started with the Beatles then they still going strong for me 45 years later.
Other early influences were Stones and Elton John Yellow Brick Road

[DarkMark]

When I was knee high to a grasshopper my Nana passed an organ on to our household. I had to take lessons, I learnt to read music (for which I’m eternally grateful). I didn’t stick with it.
Flash forward several years.
My older brother had an extensive cassette collection with lots of bands I’d never heard off. I must of been 14yo when one night I decided to grab two random albums from my brothers cassette collection to listen to while I did my homework. They were Starfish by The Church and Pleased To Meet Me by The Replacements. There was no going back. Not only did I like what I was hearing, but to me it was better than what I was hearing in the popular charts. It was Indi/alternative music for me from then on.
18yo and on the dole. Looking for work as best as an 18yo knows how, but needed a reason to get out of bed each morning. Brought a cheap pawn shop guitar and started about 12 months of guitar lessons. I remember it had a stick for a bridge.
Got interested in Jazz later in life through returning to guitar lessons and my former guitar tutor, Ross Gibson down in Gosnells (recommendation).

[king casey]

Brought a cheap porn shop guitar
(recommendation).

Geez I didn't know the local knocking shops were a broad church.

I suffered a similar fate though...getting sucked down the jazz hole.
I did see Count Basie @ the Perth Concert Hall in '79.

cheers, Mark.

[DarkMark]

Geez I didn't know the local knocking shops were a broad church.

I suffered a similar fate though...getting sucked down the jazz hole.
I did see Count Basie @ the Perth Concert Hall in '79.

cheers, Mark.

Freudian slip? I need a proof reader.

[king casey]

Freudian slip? I need a proof reader.

No worries, I've stuffed it up also...unless 'porn shops' have a 'try-before-you-buy' policy.

On the topic though. Perth often missed a lot of the big acts due to location.
Managed to see the duo of Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass...also at the Perth Concert hall.

cheers, Mark.

[Fretworn]

As a pre-schooler I was so determined to listen to music all the time that I taught myself how to use the record player, much to my mother’s chagrin. One of the first albums I was fascinated with was an original copy of Switched on Bach. I also listened to a lot of jazz and orchestral music that my mother listened to. My dad never “listened” to music, it was always just background for him, but I think it was through him we had the comedy records - Bill Cosby, Allan Sherman, that sort of thing. I have two older sisters, the oldest is 7 years older than me, so she introduced a few rock compilations to the house where I got to hear AC/DC, Stevie Wright, Sweet, etc. My second eldest sister liked ABBA, Elvis and the Grease soundtrack. So I had music coming from everywhere.

[I’ll give it a go]

My music story is:

I’m not a musician, I can play a bit but wish I could play a lot better. Wish I started when I was a nipper and had more time on my hands.

I bought my first guitar (acoustic) because I wanted to play Elvis songs. I soon found out it was far more difficult than I thought. It sat in my bedroom for years until that is, I heard Oasis. I learned a track from a computer program called cast no shadow. From then on I would fade in and out of playing, found it very difficult. Still playing mainly Oasis songs (I’m surprised my missus never divorced me).

I’m now 50 and this year I want to learn how to play the blues. I’m getting there but very slowly. YouTube has been my go to.

My tastes I’m music are quite wide, Elvis, Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Foofighters, Nirvana, Madness, ACDC, SRV, just discovered Albert Collins, BB King and a bit of rap, Ice Cube and co.

That’s me done, who’s next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FrankenWashie]

It is a very interesting little rabbit hole to wander down isn't it?

I grew up with my dad rocking Elvis, Marty Robbins, The Highwaymen, The Irish rovers, Kenny Rogers. I really didn't discover music that really moved me, until the early to Mid 80's. It was watching Carlos Santana do Black Magic Woman at Live Aid that made me want to pick up a guitar. I quickly found Cream, the Who, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, SRV, Midnight Oil. I had the privilege of seeing Albert Collins as my first ever live Gig just prior to his passing which just reinforced that i needed to play guitar. I was also fortunate to catch Hunters and Collectors several times in Auckland which blew my tiny little mind.

Then Grunge Happened. I lost the nineties to Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Mother Love Bone. My Brothers plugged me into Metallica, and the rest of the "Big Four" and my youthful teenage anger saw me belatedly find Public Enemy, NWA, RATM and the like. Of late i have rediscovered some of the Classical music my grandparents used to play, but its all gotten heavier and louder in the last decade or so. I've enjoyed a lot of the stuff that our forum mates have posted, and of late some of the more jazz oriented things i have are getting more airplay.

But there's always room for some monster metal riffs!

[Marcel]

Some great stories here.... I guess it's my turn.

Dad loved opera and classical orchestral music. Mum was a more Hank Williams kind of listener. We had a great stereo for it's day. 10W per channel in the early '70's. An uncle left an acoustic guitar with us and I often banged on it only to make noise. At age 12 my parents offered me lessons and a guitar that could actually be played, my F25 Fender acoustic which I still have to this day.

At 13 another uncle took me to my first concert. 5 bands. Dragon, Kevin Borich, LRB, Santana and Fleetwood Mac at Calder speedway.

At 15 I got my Ason strat copy. Plywood body monster that permitted imagination of being some kind of Hendrix style rock god... I wished... Also got the complete Beatles and Rolling Stones song books. I learned and could play every song in those books. My school friends were all impressed, as was school, they bought a Fender Jazz bass and amp to allow me to play in the school band and annual school drama play. It was here I learned that while I enjoyed being in the production I did not enjoy being on stage.

A 6 year stint in the RAAF finished with me getting a Diploma in Audio Engineering from SAE. My tearing apart the pro mixes of 'Everybody want's to rule the world' and 'all those zombies' earned me a position as instructor for a while, I soon diverted and hit the road pulling sound with touring bands around Brisbane. A side line that quickly grew was repairing amplifiers at the Musicians Pro Shop, followed by being the audio repair technician at Expo 88.

A few years in rural radio broadcasting followed by 6 years with WIN television meant the guitars found their way to the closet. 19 years in aviation meant the dust just got thicker. Redundancy 10 years too early, sickness and boredom had me wiping away the dust, and finding this site.

Back into radio broadcasting these days, Mostly 4RO and 4CC, and others like the KIX network and odd jobs for MMM... and lots of free time to practice what I thought I had forgotten...

[OliSam]

Grew up in a house where Dad played records from the '50s and Mother played tne Beatles...
Loved the rawness of the old rockers such as Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and co...
Then one day I heard Tim Buckley's Greetings From LA and fell in love with the Bass playing of Chuck Rainey
The rest, as they say, is history.. but it is due to Chuck Rainey that I ultimately became a Luthier.. well, Chuck and the fact that I totally suck at playing

Agreed.....Greetings from LA was a real turning point for me.

Loving this thread!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk