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Biography
Potted Henry
Anyway, James Bogle was frequently off school because of his dodgy kidneys and, to help get him through the day, he became the beneficiary of a cheap electric and something like a ten watt amp. Upon hearing it, I sped home to badger my poor Mum & Dad into buying a chestnut brown, acoustic from Argos (a well-known, warehouse-style UK retailer), complete with ultra high action and a white scratchplate that sheared the skin off the sides of my fingers, whenever I tried strumming. The first tune I picked out on that horrible plank was “Play Me Like You Play That Old Guitar”, a comeback hit in the mid-70′s for Duane Eddy, one still mired in his trademark boomy twang. I vaguely remember him performing this on “Top Of The Pops”, looking not unlike Acker Bilk but without the bowler hat and clarinet. I went from that high-fallutin’ start to a flimsy version of “Albatross” that, in later years, would become a favourite of my Dad’s as I think he liked the vibrato setting I got out of my 15-watt amp, recreating that watery, sub-Peter Green effect, sitting in our front room with the sound turned down on “Tomorrow’s World”. I suddenly thought “one day, I might earn some kind of living doing this”…….Little did I know that such a “kind of living” would often involve starving.
As I already knew and loved The Beatles, I figured the next best step to take in my guitar apprenticeship would be to learn some chords, so that I could play along to their songs (not “Revolution 9″ perhaps, but the easier ones). I nipped on to the 19 bus at the top of our road and found my way to Philip, Son & Nephew in Whitechapel, a now defunct bookshop that was a Liverpool version of Foyle’s, just around the corner from Mathew Street and a few doors along from the Kardomah Cafe. Here, I bought “The Beatles Complete” songbook which had all the chords for each song dotted down in easy-to-read, little pictures. I mastered the basics and, eventually, could play along without sounding too at odds with the general proceedings. This was progress from wielding a pretend-Fender tennis racquet and miming at the anaglypta wallpaper.