Bob has involved himself in the rock scene in one way or another for quite some time now. Actually for longer than he cares to remember!! This is alongside his full time occupation as an Air Traffic Engineer.
Bobs interest in music started when he was still at school and took up bass playing. Influenced by the likes of Zeppelin, Purple, early AC/DC and similar early 70’s bands. A number of his mates being accomplished musicians, he was involved in the local band scene. His own musical abilities were considerably less than his best mates, to the extent he would never ever play live in the same band as them (except for once and that’s another story!). After one or two stage appearances Bob pulled the plug on his Bass playing career.
One of his best mates is Ritchie Brewer, then lead guitarist with Bournemouth heavy Rock band Raw Deal. As an Electronics Engineer, Bob had been mending his mates back-line kit for some time, and started to become involved in the PA side of things. He built his first PA rig, and became engineer for the final incarnation of Raw Deal. After a short time the band split up for the last time, and re-formed a short while later with a different line up as Jack in Irons, with Bob again as Sound Engineer.
Jack in Irons were, Ritchie Brewer on Lead Guitar. Ron Bending on Bass. John Manners on Drums. With Clint Cartridge on Vocals.
Ron Bending was an old hand, having been a session musician, and played with some big names in the 60’s and early 70’s, including a short stint in the 60’s in a band with a certain J. Page on guitar (Yes THE J. Page!).
Together with John Manners (ex Raw Deal) on Drums, the Rhythm section was awesome. As a result Bob had to get used to getting Drums and Bass just right for a couple of very demanding and competent musicians.
Ritchie on Lead (and only guitar) needed a very up front sound, Ritchie, influenced heavily at that time by his guitar hero Jimmy Page, is a total perfectionist, (and as writer of most of the bands material), had to have everything just right for the whole bands sound. Sadly after a year or so this band went the way of so many others and split up. Bob moved to Leeds in the early 80’s and there once more, built up a small PA rig and did small hire jobs around the Leeds and Bradford Area. A plan to increase the size of the rig fell through when a business partner pulled out. Soon after, Bob returned to Bournemouth and became involved with some of Ritchie’s Solo recording projects, building a PC based digital recording system.
After a break from live sound, in 2002 Bob became resident sound engineer and entertainments licence holder at The Gander on The Green, a well known Bournemouth Music venue (sadly now defunct), and his partner Simone was assistant Manager. He engineered there in his spare time, for many well known bands including Stan Web and Chicken Shack, Dark Ocean, Neil Brocklebank, Shadowkeep , and many well known Tribute bands such as Boot Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Max, Stereo Ironics, Newvana, Metalicish, and others. Also well known local bands such as Pronghorn, Hidden Agenda, High Voltage, Shirley Temple Pilots, and many many others.
In spring 2003 Bob and Simone left The Gander, and Bob started NoizyBoyz PA hire with his neighbour and friend, Jerry Deane. The main area they work in, has been Bike club rallies in the South of England, again working with mainly rock tribute bands, such as Hi on Maiden, and many others. Spring 2005 included The Anti-Nowhere League.
Bob and Jerry have built the rig up to its current capacity of a very efficient Ten Kilowatts. The clarity and sound are superb, and Bob just loves mixing classic “old school” style Rock such as Zeppelin, AC/DC, Motorhead, and that genre of stuff. So if you play solid rock, Bob will have the sound to back you up, and so will the rig, all the way up to 10K!!
When Bob is not doing his day job at the Airport, repairing stuff with Jerry or running the 10K Rig, his other interests include spending time with Simone, riding his 1971 Triumph 650 Chopper, Pubs, Beer and Music, more bikes, Biker parties, more pubs, more beer, more music, and of course relaxing after all the above!