Fractal

The Principal Guilty Parties

 

Bio	I was born in London, and brought up in London and Frankfurt (Germany).  Like Jim I trained as a physicist/astrophysicist and I am now involved in the design and implementation of computer software.   That's my day job. Whilst at high school I decided that being in a band would be rather neat, given that music was what I seemed to enjoy doing the most.  When I was about 16 I asked someone what instrument I could learn the quickest so that I could gig as soon as possible.  They said the drums.  This was good as I have always been a compulsive (and probably extremely annoying to those around me) tapper.  Thus it was - drumming was for me! I have been in bands almost continuously ever since, always playing drums in rock or progressive rock influenced groups.  My main musical influences were not originally progressive in nature, rather they were hippy, psychedelic or heavy rock, but I always seemed to join prog bands.  It must be to do with the challenging nature of the music! Anyway bands I am proud to have been a part of include, but are not limited to - Psi-Storm (1982) - The definitive high school Hawkwind and Motorhead influenced rock band.  A legend in our own lunch hour, we played a number of fun gigs with an almost constantly shifting line up, around Orpington and Bromley (both in Kent, England).  Fame elluded us in spite of almost infinite enthusiasm. Arque (1983-1984) - South East London's progressive "phenomenon" (if only) during the revival that spawned Marillion, Pallas, Pendragon, Solstice, Twelfth Night, IQ and so on.  We got so close.  We recorded a great, although unbelievably basic (by today's standards) demo, which garnered much praise and some airplay.  Genesis and Yes were the influences most easily recognized, although Hawkwind, Gong and Steve Hillage were still my major influences of the time.  I left to go to university and the band continued, only to split on the eve of signing a real deal. Unnamed band (1985-1986) in Manchester, England, which never quite got it together, but which included Colin Blakey (later of the Waterboys) Auditioned for Niadem's Ghost, but we weren't a good fit for each other. Vade In Pace and later Dragged Off The Street (1986-1999) - We started life as a progressive rock band (main influence being Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator) playing pubs and clubs in the northwest of England (Manchester) and graduated to ... being a rock band (main influences Zappa, Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band) playing more pubs and clubs in the northwest of England.   A lot of fun for many years.   I only left because my day job brought me to California and.... Fractal - of which more below...
Fractal	Fractal absorbs me.  What more can I say.  The chaps are my companions of choice on our collective musical journey.  Our material, and Nic's demo drum sequences, constantly force me out of my comfort zone and thus to expand my musical horizons.  It's rather cool that we can make CDs and gig so that others can accompany us.
Influences	Hawkwind Gong King Crimson Pink Floyd Led Zeppelin Genesis Pierre Moerlen Bill Bruford Neil Peart Stewart Copeland
What?	Drums, Percussion, Noises, Engineering & Production
With?	Things Electronic Kit - Roland V-Drum Pro kit inc. TDW-1 expansion card and V-Cymbals Drum Workshop hardware Drum Workshop DW5000 turbo twin bass drum pedals Alesis AirFX Alesis MidiVerb 4 Alesis D4 Soundcraft Spirit M12 20 channel mixer Roland V-Drum monitors Roc 'n Soc drum stool Things Acoustic Kit - Tama Imperial Star drums inc. 22" bass drum, 10" and 12" concert toms, 13" and 14" toms, 16" floor tom Zildjian cymbals inc. 14" New Beat hi-hats, 10" splash, 16" A Custom crash, 17" A Custom crash, 17" K dark crash, 18" K china and a 20" ping ride Ludwig Colliseum snare drum Tama Titan hardware Tama Camco double bass drum pedals Things Recording - DigiDesign Digi003 Rack, MBox and ProTools LE v7.3 PowerMac G5 MacBook Event Project Studio 6 bi-amped studio monitors
Links	Alesis DigiDesign Pro-Tools Drum Workshop Drums JBL Speakers Event Project Speakers/Monitors Roc-n-Soc Drum Thrones Roland V-Drums Soundcraft Mixers Tama Drums Zildjian Cymbals
Comments	Note for fellow V-Drummers: Keep a stock of spare mesh heads. The last replacements took 3 months to arrive! Roland "customer care" just blamed Remo and didn't seem to do as their name implied - ie. care. Their representative indicated that I should ring Japan if I wished to complain! I was less than impressed. There will be a merging of electronic/acoustic later this year....V-Drum cymbals don't have the right tonal variation and dynamics and a real snare is much, much nicer.   I have a DW Craviotto in my sights!