Straight Shooter

Bill - Bass

Early influences? Roger Glover, Jack Bruce and the late John Entwhistle

Mike and I go back to school-days. I had played a couple of years with Duns band called Plastic Cheese. We were the local support band to the dance circuit; names like East West, the Dollyrockers, Andy Fairweather and on one occasion, the Bay City Rollers (aged 14!). Our influences then were Free, Deep Purple, Sabbath, King Crimson, early Genesis, Family and a smattering of reggae found its way into the set, along with some original material.

Mike arrived on the scene and although we never got a band together, he and I used to jam on a regular basis. I reckon this accounts for me knowing what he's going to play before he does!

My college years in Aberdeen saw a departure from heavy rock. I played two years with Tarragon in rural pubs and city residencies alike. Our set included rock'n'roll, Beatles, Eagles, James Taylor, Mason Williams, Wishbone Ash, Doobies and others. The guitarist/singer, Alan and I moved to London where we recorded his original tracks. There was interest from EMI but we were about 2 tracks short of an album and it never got finished!

I dropped out of bands completely for many years and took to learning more acoustic guitar. Around 1990 I was asked to stand in on bass with the DMAPS, a fund-raising Rock'n'roll band and got stuck there! Later, I pulled Mike in to it and it was there that the dynamic rhythm section was reborn, hammering out Jerry-Lee Lewis and the like, until our hands hurt!

When I went off to NZ for a few years, I played in a 3-piece rock band (for sanity more than profit)! Like so many things about its culture, NZ's musical influences are quite diverse.

The original Straight Shooter band gelled very quickly. There were no egos at play, we just wanted to get on, make music and have a laugh doing it. Recording our demos and getting good constructive criticism from Colin Smoult and others, helped us forge a really tight set.

When the guys went their separate ways in October 2005, within a month I was playing with blues band "The Imbus Eels" which were thankfully renamed as "Dr Zeeks Blues Epidemic"! We play Blues from the likes of John Mayall, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray. We produced a demo CD last August and I'm still with the band. I find Rock easier to play than blues; its more structured. Because of the room to improvise in Blues Epidemic I'm always thinking about what sounds are needed and where to take that bass line next.

Rock music's popularity just seems to perpetuate. To me, rock is about the energy produced at a live gigs. The new band have agreed not just to turn over the same old classic rock ground but to re-vamp some of the forgotten numbers and produce some stuff of our own.

Current fave artists: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, John Martyn, Audioslave.

Mike arrived on the scene and although we never got a band together, he and I used to jam on a regular basis. I reckon this accounts for me knowing what he's going to play before he does!
My college years in Aberdeen saw a departure from heavy rock. I played two years with Tarragon in rural pubs and city residencies alike. Our set included rock'n'roll, Beatles, Eagles, James Taylor, Mason Williams, Wishbone Ash, Doobies and others. The guitarist/singer, Alan and I moved to London where we recorded his original tracks. There was interest from EMI but we were about 2 tracks short of an album and it never got finished!
I dropped out of bands completely for many years and took to learning more acoustic guitar. Around 1990 I was asked to stand in on bass with the DMAPS, a fund-raising Rock'n'roll band and got stuck there! Later, I pulled Mike in to it and it was there that the dynamic rhythm section was reborn, hammering out Jerry-Lee Lewis and the like, until our hands hurt!