Played guitar in many outfits over the years - some I can remember(!) include:

Artemis (Kev Pinnell: Bass, Mark Stephens: Guitar and keyboards, Me: Guitar, Helen Stephens: vocals, Mike Williamson: drums) - not sure how to describe this schooldays band - kind of prog-pop-rock I guess??

More Sense Than Money (Mark Stephens: Guitar & keyboards, Angela (now)Stephens: vocals, Mike Williamson/Sean Reohorn/Karl Brady: drums (not all at the same time), Pete Booker: bass, Me: guitar) - Recording and practicing at the warehouse (and occasionally nipping down The Vulcan with Burke Shelley!). Playing Inn on the River AND Sam's Bar on a Saturday night, rolling out of there around 3am then recovering Sunday morning listening to "Time Out" doing smooth groovy soul songs at the Bristol Hotel. Running round our ankles in the pub was a very young (6?) Genine Louise Taylor.

Time an Emotion (Russ Charles: Bass, Glyn Protheroe: Guitar and vocals, Me: Guitar) - Recorded some great songs at Sapphire Street before Glyn moved onwards and upwards, to London to join 'ReGenesis'. Unfortunately I no longer have any contact details for Glyn - before anyone else asks!!

The Bonnetts (Mark Stephens: Guitar & keyboards, Ben Bennett: vocals, Sean Reohorn/Karl Brady: drums, Gary (Spaz) Spokes: bass, Me: guitar) - So many memorable gigs! Cardiff University, City Hall, Kiwi Bar, Ben and his radio mic being carried round The Plymouth Arms etc. Mark went on to join the mighty Relics, Ben started up Gordon Bennetts, Karl moved away somewhere with work, Spaz and Sean are still around I'm pretty sure.

The Full Hit (Ben Bennett: vocals, Dave Owens: guitar, Me: guitar) - Named after the breakfast at the Bridge Cafe. Rockin' Rioja nights at the Fox & Hounds (Ben throwing up some perfectly good rioja on the bypass), and the '96 tour of Belfast stand out...

Hostage (Sian/Rob/Claire: vocals, Craig Donovan: bass, Paul Hewitson: atomic drums, Dave Little: guitar, Me: guitar) - Classic rock band. Very loud, very short lived, but good while it lasted. Gordon Bennetts was usually a good reception, the Waterfront open air festival was fun too.

The Blind Venetians (Rob: vocals, Pete: bass, Joe: drums, Jeff: guitar, me: guitar) - a rock/blues adventure. We played our first gig at the Neil Lewis Memorial Concert, Barry Island on Sunday October 4th 2009.

Techie info: Guitars

We try to keep our setup fairly simple, so I bring minimal gear along nowadays... I use a Charvel MBK625C (The "MBK" stands for Metallic Black) acoustic guitar purchased from Cranes in Cardiff. It has a very bright sound and stays in tune very well. My main electric guitar at the moment is a metallic red 1985 Fender (Japan) Stratocaster - from Sound Centre in Cardiff (used to be in The Hayes). I blocked up the floating tremolo and replaced the original pickups with EMG SS81 active pickups many years ago. It's over 20 years old now though and the neck and bridge are in need of some attention.. The other guitar I occasionally use as a backup is a G&L 'ASAT classic' guitar (pictured) in gloss black. I got this from Cardiff Guitars, after a brief spell with a PRS Santana that I really couldn't get the best out of. I also have a Les Paul gold top copy assembled from bits purchased on EBay but I don't bring that out with me - lame excuse I know but I just don't have a hard case for it.. For the Blind Venetians gigs I used an Epiphone Les Paul copy borrowed from Jeff..

Techie info: Amps and Effects

For Off The Cuff I'm not using a traditional guitar amplifier - just a Tech21 SansAmp Tri-AC analog preamp pedal. The output signal then goes through a Boss chorus and Boss digital delay (plus a Boss tuner) and straight into the mixer - dependable, consistent, portable. For The Blind Venetians it was the clean channel of my classic 1987 denim covered Session 'Sessionette 75' amp (the only one of its kind!) coupled with a Mesa V-Twin pedal (er, also borrowed from Jeff..)

Techie info: Misc other stuff

..Are you still reading this??

• Strings - usually Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 10's (the fluorescent green pack)
• Picks - usually Jim Dunlop .67mm
• Leads - I are be mostly using Planet Waves
• Whiskey - Jack Daniels, Canadian Club, Jim Beam..