Stuff about Clarky

Date of birth: 12th October 1965
Principle Instrument: Lead / Rhythm Guitar
Additional: Lead / Backing Vocals, Song Writing, Composition, Programming / Sequencing, Sampling, Drums and Percussion.

Most noted work as the lead Guitarist for David Cross [ex - King Crimson]

Guitars:
‘Pride’: 1978 Fender Stratocaster – [Tobacco sunburst, custom]
‘Wrath’: Ibanez RG470 [Black with pink PAF PRO’s and green knobs]
‘Lust’: Ibanez RG470 [Jewel Blue with black PAF PRO’s]
‘Envy’: Ibanez RG7620 [Quilted Blue 7-string modified by Morgan Custom Guitars]
‘Avarice’: Black Universal Gems custom 7-string based upon the Universe UV7
‘Sloth’: Washburn D-21 electro-acoustic

Rack / Effects:
Digitech 2120 Pre-amp / Multi-effects
Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah

Backline:
Marshall 8008 80W per channel stereo power amp
Two Marshall 4x12 bottom cabs

Picks:
Jim Dunlop 3.0mm Stubby

Strings:
For standard concert tuning: Ernie Ball 9 gauge Hybrid Slinky
When playing with the David Cross Band all strings are tuned a whole tone flat.
To maintain tension I with this tuning I use: Ernie Ball 12 gauge Power Slinky

Studied music history, harmony, analysis and composition [16th to 20th C] at the University of London

My influences are varied:
Vai, Lukather, Satch, Malmsteen, George Lynch, Yes, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Hed PE, One Minute Silence, Slipknot, Macio Parker, Trace, PFM, JS Bach, Mozart, Paganini, Schubert, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Rodrigo.

I’m into mostly most kinds of Metal and Rock, Progressive Rock, Funk, Baroque, Classical, but I also enjoy Jazz Fusion / Be-Bop, Blues / R’nB, Dance / Trance, Reggae / Dub.

Clarky’s Musical History:
The first instrument that I learned to play was drums when I was around 9 years old. As a young boy I played drums in a military band and at the age of 11, I started to learn to play the drum kit – rock style – at school. It became the foundation for my sense of timing and although drums are no longer my main instrument, I still have a deep love for drums and enjoy getting behind a drum kit when I can.
I started to learn to play guitar when I was 12 years old and here is the story.

I have an uncle called John and he could play guitar. He could play ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and pretty much nothing else. On 4th November 1977 my uncle showed me the chords to this song and gave me the guitar. It was a cheap old nylon strung acoustic. I played that song over and over, and got it in the end. This was the beginning of a love affair that has lasted ever since.
I still have that guitar. Her name is “Prima”.

I was too young to actively follow progressive music during the early 70’s as I was between 5 and 11 years old when it was at its peak. This means that I was a little too young to go to gigs. As it turns out it was the same uncle that was listening to Yes, Genesis, Deep Purple, PFM, Trace and ELP and this was where a 5-11 year old acquired an ear for progressive rock. At the time, all of my little friends at school were into David Cassidy, The Osmonds and Sweet etc, something that I just could not understand. Also, my grandfather was introducing me to Classical music (particularly Eastern European composers). Give a young boy a guitar with a head full of Yes and Tchaikovski and an independent streak that is contemptuous of fashion and see how he turns out. That sounds like all of the ingredients for a rock guitarist to me. It wasn’t long before I was learning more on the guitar. I remember picking out by ear and playing along with Genesis bass lines on my acoustic. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was developing my sense of aural perception.

A year later it all changed. I discovered electricity – for my birthday I got my first electric guitar, a Kay copy of a Jaguar and a 15W practice amp. It was at this time that I developed a new found taste for Motorhead, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Hawkwind, UFO and Led Zeppelin. Don’t laugh I was only 13. This is where I began to learn to ‘riff’ and find my way around a few basic blues rock licks. Despite all this, I still thought of myself primarily as a drummer, although guitar was becoming an ever increasing distraction.
When I was around 14, there was a band at school. I thought the guys in the band were just so cool, I so wanted to be a part of it. The problem was a guy called Gary Wallis. He was without any shadow of a doubt, the best drummer in the school. In fact, he was so good that he went on to become a world-class session drummer / percussionist. So the only way for me to get into the band was to be the rhythm guitarist. This was I guess the turning point for me, where I began to make the transition from a drummer that plays guitar, to a guitarist that plays drums. I played my first gig with these guys at school. We did some sort of jam based on Smoke on the Water and another based on Birdland. I was so nervous I thought my legs would give way, and to be honest I was in totally out of my depth.

At around 15 I formed my first rock band called ‘Aquila’. We did a passable cover of Thin Lizzy’s Don’t Believe a Word but beyond that, we had no songs so I wrote the bands set myself. You’ve got to start somewhere. We also had no singer so I ended up doing that too. It was with Aquila that I played my first ‘real’ gig – nothing to do with the school band. “No turning back now”.

In 1978 some older friends took me to see Black Sabbath play in London. The support band was Van Halen. I’d only been playing a little over a year at the time, and without realising it at the time this was a ‘life changing’ event. It was like seeing some sort of magician, I was spellbound by his dazzling style. Although I was still really a drummer at the time it was such an inspiring sight. I didn’t know weather to give up guitar or rush home and practice. I got the Van Halen album and no matter what, I just couldn’t get my head or hands around any of it, even after I’d switched from being a drummer into a guitarist. It took until the early 80’s until I finally figured out to play ‘Eruption’. It was one of those ‘try it, leave it and go back to the Sabbath, get a little better and try it again’ things that lasted for a few years. Once I’d figured out Eruption, it sort of unlocked his whole style, and before I knew it, I’d figured out pretty much the rest of the album. I was so proud of myself that I called a friend “dude, come ‘round to my place and check this out”. He came to my place but he brought an album with him. It was Rising Force by Yngwie Malmsteen. Once again I was so blown away I just needed to know how to do all that stuff. That set me on the technique trail. Now I was hungry for all of it, Malmsteen, Satriani, McAlpine, Vinnie Moore etc. The whole Mark Varney stable of insane ‘shredders’. I know that people cringe at these names now but I did learn an awful lot about discipline, accuracy, trickery, theory and I also developed a taste for learning Baroque music written for other instruments and figuring out ways of applying it to the electric guitar.

After playing in several rock and metal bands I became disillusioned with the whole shredder thing. I felt as though I was being judged on every guitar solo in the same way as a gymnast. It was as though a good solo had to contain the complete set of techniques available. I found this constraining and I needed a change. That’s when I discovered Funk. I spent the following years playing Funky Rock and then pure Funk. Clean rhythm guitar sitting in the rhythm section as an extension of the percussion. I threw in the odd solo but it was not stuck in a set formula. It was fresh and great fun. There was no need to impress, just get into the grove and enjoy it. It was here that I really learned a great deal about playing across the beat and phrasing. It brought out the drummer in me but on the guitar. Eventually I needed something extra. I found myself missing rock music but I still enjoyed the grove. In the early 90’s I found Yessongs on CD. The live version of ‘Yours is no Disgrace’ is one of my favourite songs of all time I thought that I’d get it and give it another listen, all be it for the first time in ten or more years. The thing that amazed me was that it was rock with a funky rhythm section and it was so beautifully written that I was blown away all over again. It was like going back home. This time I was a much more developed instrumentalist and musician. None of the original substance that attracted me to it had disappeared. If anything it sounded better than before. The next step was to go back through all of that stuff and I found that I love it more know than ever. Albums such as Yessongs, Going For The One, Relayer, Foxtrot, The Wind and the Wuthering, Chocolate Kings, Trace, Strangers in the Night, The Trick of the Tail, 2112, Permanent Waves, etc. This music contained everything that appealed to me. It had really great drummers that could grove with such wide variety. In fact these band had amazing levels of musicianship all round. The songs were huge arrangements, there would be heavy and light moments, tempo shifts, unusual time signatures, key changes and in some cases, all of this in the same 15 minute song. What more could I want.
In the early 90’s I was still writing and recording music of my own. I wrote and recorded a concept album about a Columbian drugs cartel called Baron Bigman. I took it to several major labels but nothing came of it. Listening to it these days, some of it sounds a little dated although there is some nice music in there. Maybe one day in the future I’ll revisit it, give it a make-over and re-record it.

These days I still listen to the old prog stuff but I do like to mix it with Satch, Vai, One Minute Silence, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engange, and a healthy dose of classical, blues, be-bop, fusion, trance, funk. Essentially, if I like it, that’ll do for me. Although it’s mostly rock and metal music that ‘flicks my switches’ I’m not constrained to just one thing. That’s not healthy for a musician.

Let’s talk Cross.
I think it was summer 1994 that I’d had a little bit of a falling out with one of the guys in a funk band that I was playing in called Civilians. I’d just had enough so I got a music paper to look through the “Guitarists Wanted” column and saw an ad in there for a rock guitarist. I felt like it was time to go home to rock music. I went for the audition in London. The studio I auditioned at used to be the public library in New Cross, South East London. I remember going there to get books out as a little boy.
In the audition with David, I wasn’t quite sure if I liked what I heard as it was not quite what I was looking for. I do however recall the old guy with the electric violin making some great sounds and I thought that he was an amazing player too. It was John Dillon - bassist / lead vocals - that really did it for me. How could someone with such a terrible looking technique play so well and generate so much energy. I still don’t understand how to this day, but it works. At the time I had no idea if they thought I was good or bad or indifferent. Johnny was helping me load my kit back into my car when he said to me “do you know who you’ve just auditioned for?”
“No” I replied.
“David Cross.” He said.
“Who’s he?”
“He used to play for King Crimson.”
“Oh, the 21st Century Schizo crowd. Very clever stuff but it’s not really my kind of thing.”
A few days later I got a call saying that they’d like to try me out for a while and see how it goes. If figured “why not, let’s give it a go”.

Although I like progressive music I’ve never been a big fan of the experimental stuff as I like to work things out first. After a while I felt as though I began to get my head around the way that David works and I really enjoyed it.
Working with David is hard work, inspiring, soul destroying and just ‘out there’.
- Hard work because he’s always searching for that something which is very hard to find. When that something is found it really can be quite something but the searching isn’t all that easy, but worth it none the less.
- Inspiring because of the times that it really comes together. I’ve been on stage with David many times and I know what to expect. His playing standard is very high and he can be very unusual and unorthodox (sometimes more like a guitarist). Every now and again David has a great moment (considering his own high standards) and when they occur it is a truly great experience. On those occasions it’s easy to get the “I’m not worthy” vibe and it makes you feel so proud to be part of the same band.
- Soul destroying because, I guess, the nature of the music. Writing and playing with David is never going to be easy. That’s why there is only one David Cross. When things went well they went really well, but sometimes things did not go quite so well and the whole thing could get quite painful. I’d just hang on in there waiting for the ‘really well’ bits.
- ‘Out-there’ because of the times that it all came together. I do recall playing Learning Curve on more than one occasion and getting ‘out of it’ on the music alone. For all of the music that I have in my collection, Learning Curve is one of my favourite songs of all time and I feel proud and fortunate that it was me playing on it.
Eventually, I felt that I needed to write with more order and composition and the band tended to do a great deal of improvisation in a manner that was not to my taste. I think that the band sensed this and would have found my writing style too constraining considering the way that they go about their business and what they stand for.
I was beginning to write in a style that does not suit David so I was keeping it for another time and another band. I’d expressed to Sheila Maloney - keyboards - a few times that I was not comfortable with the way things were going and I guess that the rest of the band got together and figured out that I was no longer the ‘right man for the job’. When I got the bad news I was a little sad but in another way it allowed me to carry on with my own music which made me very happy.

I formed a band called Siberia which I really enjoyed. Sadly this band never made it out of the rehearsal studio despite having some great music.
After parting with the David Cross Band, the really great part is that no feelings were hurt and I’ve remained friendly with all of the band members. I still record with David as I ended up doing most of the playing on Exiles even though I was out of the band by then. A few years later I played all of the guitars on Closer Than Skin. Closer Than Skin is a special album for me, because David really allowed me to play naturally, in my native style. I felt a tremendous freedom. I guess you could say that he let me off the leash.
To sum up, although David’s music was not the kind that I imagined that I’d end up playing, I really enjoyed it and I learned a great deal in the process.
How can you not.

From 2000, I started writing my first instrumental album called Shredz at an Exhibition. This album consists of 7 pieces, each of which based upon a painting and telling it’s story. Shredz was finally written and recorded as a 4-track demo at the end of 2002.
At the 2001 UK JemFest event, I played:
The Rape of the Sabine Women
The Raft of the Medusa
Artaud: On the Fringe of Insanity
Shredz suffered numerous interruptions, I moved house, built my little studio, I did a few tours and an album with the David Cross Band, and I found myself working away from home quite a lot. This album also took a long time because I wrote it, recorded it, programmed all of the sequenced parts, played all of the guitars, mixed it and engineered it. It just seemed to take forever.
Finally, Shredz was completed and released by Rusty Cage Records on December 8th 2006.
I’m so deeply proud of this album I just can’t put it into words.

The Future:
Right now – Jan 07 – I’m looking forward to another David Cross tour and potentially another album with him too.
I’m also creating my own band to go out play some of my music live.
Further out, I’m already planning my 2nd solo album – something I’m very excited about.

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