Here’s Jon’

I got interested in playing guitar at about 4 years old, I can remember an old photo of myself sitting on the front door step with my first guitar, luckily I’ve managed to save up for a new one since then, and its quite a bit louder! I can remember the lovely classical lessons being about 7 or 8 ish and then the step to a bright red electric guitar at the age of 13. Mmm, (of which I still have ....ahh). More lessons continued but the guy who was teaching me was an arse, (sorry if your out there reading this) and by this point I’d found a mate who could play Bon Jovi, (Cheers Dave!) & that changed everything. Think as a guitarist I was influenced by Brian May, Garry Moore, & Slash to name but a few, and loved the big fat sound delivered by the Gibsons with the Marshall gear. I love all the strange noises / effects for the guitar, and ‘The Edge’ & Matt Bellamy are up there with the greats for me. I guess a general mix of rock/ Indie music is now for me and just enjoy playing and keeping music live.

I’ve messed about with various mates jamming where ever possible over the years all in ventures with no real names or direction. The mid to late nineties saw me in an all original band ‘D-collective’, this was classed as alternative rock, influenced by the likes of Radiohead, Muse, and even a bit of Nirvana. I think over the years we possibly tried every drummer in Rotherham, and possibly most bass players too, well at least it feels like that, but then went back to the original one. Nevermind! We hit all the decent venue’s for the music we were playing but then a few years ago I realised all the beer we’d drunk to give us the physique we’ve got, and the general ageing process wasn’t entering us into pin up territory and decided to hit the covers pub/club circuit with ... “The Crashers” and leave the original material alone for a bit.

The Crashers is all about fun and playing songs that the majority of people know and can shout (or even sing occasionally) along too. It’s a great band with a great atmosphere and has made me realise the enjoyment of playing live music.