Band Bio: I was born on the 24th March 1963 in Fontainebleau France.
My parents were stationed there with the Royal Air Force and we returned to England sometime in 1965 from memory.
In 1974 the family came to New Zealand originally settling in the North Canterbury town of Kaiapoi.
I took up guitar at age twelve after seeing the movie "Ferry Cross The Mersey" by British 60's rock legends Gerry and the Pacemakers and from there developed an interest in bands such as The Beatles, The Shadows and many of the 50's Rock n Roll acts like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
My first professional gig happened in 1978 when I was fifteen. I formed a three piece band "Exodus" with guitarist / singer Chris Boje and drummer Stu Ford (no bassist, could've been the White Stripes) and played a lunch time gig earning $12.00 each.
Over the years I played in a number of bands around Christchurch's clubs and pubs while writing and recording demos when I could.
The most successful of these bands was "Dizzy Heights", which despite not practicing much, lasted four years and several local T.V appearances.
In 1996 I resurrected the name "Exodus" and put a tribute band together with the intention of performing some of The Shadows music. At the time there were many "Tribute" acts around, but they all used backing tracks, which sounded pretty bad, so I thought a live band playing something clever would work.
Well it did. The first show staged at a Christchurch chartered club played to 800 people, and so did the next, and even the one after that had good crowd numbers.
During these shows I thought I'd try something new. Original music in a tribute show? Well that worked as well and tunes like "Liverpool Crying" and "The Oily Rag" stood up pretty well with the crowds.
With quite a bit of bad management and in-fighting "Exodus" fell apart although the lurid gold jackets still appear from time to time.
After the Exodus experience I essentially quit music and moved on to various roles which included Corporate Security, Chief Reporter's Assistant at the Press newspaper in Christchurch for two years and more recently Funeral Directing.
It was during my time at the Press that I became interested in media communications. I studied Journalism, Media Studies, Written Communication and Professional Communication through Massey University and the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand.
My interest in music was rekindled mid-2007 with the compilation of the 13 track album "Passing Shadows".
The album "Passing Shadows", which was a compilation of old and new material, gave me some perspective on where to head musically in the future.
The next album "Guitar Exponent" represented a major return to writing and recording for me and features some pretty cool material.
2008 got off to a roaring start with the album, "Beautiful Night - Craig plays McCartney", which is a collection of instrumental versions of my personal favourite Paul McCartney hits.
I hadn't considered a "covers-concept" album before and had an absolute ball working on some of the most memorable tunes of the past four decades.
"Beautiful Night" was swiftly followed by "Rockin' On A Level Surface" which features 13 original guitar instrumentals.
My fifth album, "Wanderlust", the title track was written by Paul McCartney, and features 12 new original tracks which have taken my career to the next level both as a composer and an instrumental guitarist.
Album 6 "Love In A Changing World" was actually going to be released at midnight on New Years Eve 2008 / 2009.
But after previewing a few tracks here and there the interest in the album was strong enough to bring the release date forward and so a date of November 3rd 2008 was decided on.
I can honestly say that 6 albums in 14 months is a cruel and unusual pace to work at...
But, sometimes when your starting out you have to listen to what people say and take the opportunities when they arise, which is rarely when you expect them to pop up.
So my 7th album and final release for 2008 is "Craig plays The Shadows", which I started to look at following many emails and much feedback from people who had either bought one of my albums or listened to my tracks online.
It has that 'clean, cool sound' indicative of Hank B Marvin of the Shadows and a nice vibe.
I had a lot of fun making this very simple album choosing to record in a way that might capture a bit of amplifier buzz and a few crackles and pops that are slowly becoming a distant memory now most recording is digital as opposed to analog.
Each lead guitar track was recorded with no overdubs to try for a natural and live feel.
I like the material and hope that you and The Shadows themselves will enjoy the 13 tracks on it.
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