My Music

HI!

I'm just another one of those getting-older has-been lead guitarists! with a garage full of PA equipment and loads of old bad-quality live recordings from my early bands!  It feels like I never really got pay-back from all those hard-yards of rehearsing and gigging.  One hour of glory was usually paid for by weeks or months of struggle and strife!

My "day job" was even less satisfying;- far too many years in the high pressure I.T. world working on projects that, looking back,  ultimately were soul destroying and pointless! 

So, as I enter retirement, I've decided to put my energies into creating things I am personally proud of and that will hopefully stand the test of time;-

It may not ever buy me more than a coffee every now and then, but it's immensely satisfying, and my greatest wish is that someone (you!) will enjoy what I am creating.

 - George

Recent Projects

New Toy

I see Drones as the new way to present my music, so I was thrilled to get a Mavic Mini 3 Pro.  Here is my first attempt to combine footage with my home studio ideas - shot on the beautiful Kapiti Coast, New Zealand.

Home Alone in my studio

Some projects I composed during the 2020 New Zealand lock-down

ESCAPE

My little piece of NZ paradise

Just me and the weeding

INTO ORBIT

Stepping right away from our worldy problems

Turn up to full volume!

VIRUS

My first COVID lock-down project

Too loud? Overpowering?  Manic?  Yup!

Creating a Blues Club

I formed the "Taupo Blues Club" during the first year of the pandemic, as a way to pass the time. It was quite a challenge starting from zero - organising the people, venue, rules, advertising, bands,  web site etc.  Here I am playing with the House Band

Also included a jam at the Rotorua BOP Blues Club with my sadly missed friend and beautiful soul Tamati on vocals.

Valerie

Taupo Blues Club house band

Hands Off

Taupo Blues Club house band

RIP Tamati

I will miss you

Acoustic

I started playing on an acoustic at 14 years old.  So it's always the foundation to my playing style - even when using an electric.

Here relaxing with my Maton acoustic - plugged into the marvelous Roland VG8 - a guitar synth that came out in 1995, and was WAY ahead of it's time.

Eclectic Electric

An originals trio with lots of promise....

A local Taupo trio/project (one female singer, one keyboard player, me on guitar.)  It didn't work out due to conflicting commitments. - but some great original music ideas.  All recordings were original, spontaneous, and full of potential... alas unfulfilled.

Trust Me

Live jam - no edits so expect some bum notes!

Rainbow

Experimenting with Video

Pretty amazed at the results playing with my iPhone timelapse mode.

Decided to "put it to music" using Omnisphere and my trusty Strat, filming sunrise at Mount Tauhara in Taupo, New Zealand

Jamming

I’ve often enjoyed jamming over the years – and it can be a lot of fun with moments of pure gold… 

OR an excruciatingly painful experience... Depends on who turns up! – roll the dice!

For the most part it was great.

Here I am jamming at 2 Mile Bay WaterSports Centre, Taupo NZ

...and in the Gold Coast, Australia, an afternoon barbie round the pool

Cover Bands

I spent a few years in a cover band in Taupo. Looking back, there were some fun moments but overall for me it was not a very satisfying experience.

Great musicians, lots of talent, but I can never really feel alive unless there is an original aspect to my music.    Grinding through a playlist of covers which have been painstakingly rehearsed to perfection over the months feels like a bloody job! (on minimal wage!)

The Hair Years (1980's)

Me, London 1980, with hair

My old band Brunel were an original rock outfit playing the London pub and college scene in the 1980’s. Comprising of myself and Keith Haggis on twin lead guitars, Robert “Nobby” Smith on vocals, Pete Franich on bass, and band leader Julius Gamski on drums. We were at the time playing old-school original classic rock, and being squeezed out by the new punk scene. Fashion goes in circles! as we are now amongst the “fashionable” NWOBHM bands (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal).  Mind you, we didn’t consider ourselves heavy metal at all.

A selection of tracks recorded at Gateway Studios in South London 1980. We were recorded by Dave Ward of Gateway Studios (which went on to be Gateway School of Recording, Music Technology)

Home Studio

Home Studio, 1990's

One of my many earlier studios… YamahaPromix 01 mixer, Tascam DA30MKII Dat recorder, Akai 8 track hard disk recorder, Korg M1, outboard EQ and reverb etc. What a mess! Back then, for every minute recording, I would spend 20 minutes configuring and fault-finding.


Nowadays it's all inside my Macbook!

I use Logic Pro, Omnisphere and various virtual Korg synths