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Jay started wanting to
play at the age of 14 but actually wanted to learn sax or piano first.
At the age of 17, Jay
was invited to practice with a band that had done one gig under the name of “The Missing Link”
then nothing.
Under the name of “Date with Destiny” : - Mike Buse (Bass), Andy Hastings (Drums), Gary Anderson (Guitar/Keyboards) & finally Jay (Vocals), they did their first gig at the King Ethelbert in Reculver, Kent.
They were a ‘70s-80s
type pop/punk outfit, mainly doing Undertones and The Jam kind of stuff and originals but with the inclusion of a few Rock
standards.
After the first gig Gary parted
company with the band and once more the group was in limbo.
During this time Jay met
up with a trio called “Limestone Pavement” that did Hendrix, Clapton, Stevie
Ray Vaughn, Cream & Zep covers, Jim Oliver was guitar & vocals.
Jay stepped in and took
over the vocals so Jim could concentrate on guitar.
After the first couple
of gigs, Jay was so impressed with Jim Oliver, he invited him to join with the other band,
which had re-named itself with its old name “The Missing Link”.
“The Missing Link” started gigging regularly in 1987, finding that they were moving more into Classic Rock,
by a year later they were covering Van Halen, Whitesnake, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Rush, Iron Maiden & loads more and still doing
original material.
Jay started to teach himself
guitar in 1989.
Also around this time,
was formed “The Wednesday Band” with Jay on vocals,
Gary Anderson on guitar (ex Date with Destiny & Missing Link),
John Taylor (ex Strange Frontier) on Bass (now Vocals in The Hardest
Part) & Chris Smith on drums (after to play in Crash
Palace). This band never went on to gig, but started some onto other good projects.
Also this band re-incarnated a few years later with Jim Noble (ex Strange Frontier & presently Tortilla Army) replacing Gary Anderson on guitar.
Gigs for “The Missing Link” were plentiful and they played all the Rock haunts including, The Castle,
Ashford, The Dolphin & The Druids Head, Herne Bay, to name a few, also playing at the Rejects “Drink, Drop &
Doss” in 1990 at Stone Street supporting “Short Notice” & “Live n Kickin”.
Bands that had been around
just before were the likes of “3am“ & ”Roadhouse”,
which had good followings & knew damn well how to rip it up.
“The Missing Link” seemed to step into the genre they left behind, joining a pedigree of bands including
“Live ‘n’ Kickin”, “Scandal”,
“Short Notice”, “Summer Indoors”
and many more.
In 1990, after Andy Hastings had broken his wrist, an acquaintance of Jay’s, Eddie was asked to cover on drums for one gig at the Dolphin Hotel,
Herne
Bay.
After this gig, Eddie & Jay struck up a mutual, musical
friendship, recording and embellishing Original material written by Jay, though the finished product was always collaboration
from both.
In 1991, Jay left “The Missing Link” to work abroad in Europe, working as an Entertainments Director in
clubs but always in a situation where he could sing and play, but still, every year returning and recording his new material
with Eddie.
At the end of 1998, Jay returned from Europe. Eddie and Jay decided it was about
time they went out on the circuit, Eddie being a very accomplished drummer, bassist &
a fair keyboard player, as well as being a good guitarist, laid down the backing tracks live on mini disc, to preserve the
“Live Band” feel, instead of the sterile sound of sequencers & drum machines, which never sound completely
right, after both had discussed which tracks to do. Jay organised the gigs, sorted out the
kit, etc.
In general, managed the
band, as well as playing rhythm guitar and doing lead vocals.
“Where’s my Thing?” was born!
Since then “Where’s my Thing?” have been playing pubs &
clubs regularly all over Kent & also bike rallies and parties, including the Rejects Drink, Drop & Doss rally 2002,
2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006 and their Margate Lido parties & the Renegades Pissed Indian rally 2003 at Cobtree, Maidstone
to over 2200 bikers & revellers, supporting the Troggs.
Jay has deputized four
times for “Live ‘n’ Kickin”, twice on rhythm guitar replacing the
keyboards, once on lead vocals & once, nerve-rackingly for the amazing Martin Kidd (ex Roadhouse, Shann Lee Parker & Berts Boogie Band) on lead guitar! Well, doing the best he could anyway.
He has also deputised on vocals 4 times for Captain Mildred replacing Matt Silk when he has been indesposed.
“Crowman” is a 3 piece project that plays classic & nu-rock from Deep Purple, Disturbed
& Bad Company to Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More & Placebo and involves Clive Ward
as “Flymo Destructimo” (ex Phoenix)
on 7 string guitar, Andy Hastings as “Big H”
(ex Date with Destiny & The Missing Link) on drums &
finally Jay as “Cro”
on 5 string Bass, lead vocals and managing the group.
Crowman had a lot of gigs and bike rallies including
The Celtic Warriors 12th Birthday Bash at Wood Green Animal Shelter, Godmanchester, nr Huntingdon, Cambs, supporting
The Celturian, Red Not Chilli Peppers, Juicy Lucy, (Oliver/Dawson) Saxon, Bernie Torme, Wishbone Ash & Barefoot.
Folded in 2008 but Crowman reformed in
2011 as a STRONG 4 piece with Eddie Seatter (Where's My Thing?, Dangerous Breed)
on drums, Paul Howard (Captain Mildred) on guitar and John
Buckett ( Chopper Nostrils, Ruthless Truth, Alike Cooper)on bass & Jay
purely on lead vocals !!
See Crowman at www.crowman.rocks.it or www.myspace.com/crowmanweb
Since
2007 Jay (Vocals) joined all originals progressive metal band Dangerous
Breed with Baz Nicholls (Bass), Paul Johnson (Lead
Guitar), & Colin Codd (Drums) , Colin was
fairly immediately replaced by Eddie Seatter on drums, the bands name was changed to Lazarus
and Tick Brown (Guitar) joined from User Friendly & Little
Alligators fame, though after a few gigs Tick left and was replaced by ex-Dangerous
Breed guitarist Paul Stickles and the band name morphed into Lazarus
Dogs , more writing and gigging ensued, though, just before the album was to be recorded, due to artistic
differences, the other 4 left Jay & Lazarus Dogs and became
Dangerous Breed once again.
See Lazarus
Dogs at www.myspace.com/lazarusnet
Another project
Jay has started from infancy in 2008 was GristleFridge, initially with
songs he'd been writing for years, all parts recorded by him for the demos at Dargate Studios where he found kindred spirit
Gary "Paco" Patson who helped engineer the tracks as well as play acoustic
on 2 of them.
After recording
10 songs Jay decided to pull in Gary (guitar) ex Tide
Rising as well as Damon Blackmer (bass, backing vox) & Chris Hogg
(drums & backing vox) of Jesus Fix and the Warriors, to for
Gristlefridge proper.
Their 1st gig was
at Lounge on the Farm 2008 and already have a guaranteed place there in 2009 as well as playing Cheesefest 2008 too.
GristleFridge
are currently writing for their 1st album which will be available by March 2009
See GristleFridge
at www.myspace.com/gristlefridge or www.gristlefridge.co.uk
Also at the beginning
of 2008 Jay deputised for infamous local covers band Crazy Train
, ultimately replacing the ex vocalist. Crazy Train have a very large following in Kent,
so Jay enjoyed becoming the real full on frontman/showman once again, with Nigel (bass, backing vox) ex Phoenix, Gez
(drums) & Gary Collins (guitar).
At the end of 2010
Nigel and Gary parted ways with Crazy Train, and Jay and Gez decided to fold the band.
See Crazy
Train at www.crazy-train.co.uk or www.myspace.com/crazytrainuk
At the beginning
of 2010, Jay was contacted by Johanna Sarakinis (guitar & backing vox) for advice
about putting together a duo with her friend Vicki Burchell (lead vocals).
After listening
to the duo Jay suggested forming Plenty, the girls found Kerry
Button (bass & backing vox) to complete the line-up with Jay taking up the position of drums & backing vox.
Plenty played 8 showcases and then started gigging strongly throughout 2011. Jay will be replacing himself with
a great female drummer at the end of 2011.
See Plenty at http://plentyuk.tripod.com or look up plentyuk kent on Facebook
Also halfway through
2010, Jay recieved a call from good friend and fellow musician Matt Silk (Captain
Mildred & R.A.C.E.) talking about a new band where we would all play the covers we'd
ALWAYS wanted to play.
Joining us were
Steve Knowles on drums (Pigs Might Fly, Captain
Mildred, R.A.C.E.), Colin Till on lead guitar & backing
vox (Captain Mildred, R.A.C.E.) & John
Buckett on bass & backing vox (Ruthless Truth, Alike Cooper)
leaving the Lead vocals and second guitar as a split between Jay and Matt switching between the two.
The working title
of this band was Zip Nada, but the guys finally settled on Chopper Nostrils as
the preferred moniker.
Chopper
Nostrils have enjoyed an EXTREMELY strong 1st year in 2011. In 2012 Captain Mildred will
be back but Chopper Nostrils will keep gigging when CM isnt.
See Chopper
Nostrils at http://choppernostrils.tripod.com or look up chopper nostrils on Facebook
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Late in 2011, Jay was asked to dep for Live N Kickin' on lead vocals by Martin Judd and was then asked to join the Hugely popular kentish band, Loz
Smith also joined on drums at the same time, completing the line-up of Martin Judd (bass),
Alex Savage (guitars) & Martin Kidd (guitars).
Jay is looking forward
to pulling all the stops out with Live N Kickin'.
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