Hello
Hi...welcome to Chris Baylis Guitar. I am a UK based guitar player of many years. Passion and presence are the cornerstones of my playing. The value of 'a single note', space and feel are the things that are important to me. I play mostly instrumental guitar music. I cannot play a guitar without a floating trem arm, such is it an integral part of my playing style. I play Strats, with volume control and delays. My early heroes were Hank Marvin, Paul Kossoff and Peter Green...but then I discovered 'the chief'....'Jeff Beck'.
My Story
I started playing guitar at an early age and began proper gigging in 1971, starting with village halls, dances etc and playing my first 'pro' gig with original material supporting' The Mick Abrahams Band' at Abingdon Technical College in 1972.
The following year I enrolled at Surrey University, Guildford, where I formed the group 'Moonmouse', playing gigs at Surrey and other colleges. In 1975 I played for the first time at The Hammersmith Odeon, with 'Moonmouse', supporting 'Steeleye Span'. The music was kind of 'prog rock' in the genre of Genesis, Camel and other bands of the time.
In !976 'Moonmouse' morphed into a more jazz rock style as 'The Brains Trust' playing some 70+ gigs over the next two years, including 'Ronnie Scotts' in London.
Sadly 1977 saw the demise of the band, ending a 5 year collaboration with my friend and keyboard player Dion Barker.
Picking up the pieces, I started writing more 'direct' pop / rock songs and after auditioning some very talented drummers, including John Reynolds, who went on to join Sinead O'Connor's band, I discovered the amazing Al Hodgson, only 13 years old at the time, but already a 'phenomenum'! We worked together for around a year and then formed a partnership with keyboard player John Pethers and vocalist Jacqui Brookes. Within 6 months we had a deal with A&M Records, who at that time, were one of the UK's hottest labels with a roster including,' The Police', 'Quincy Jones', 'Squeeze', 'Supertramp', 'Joan Armatrding', 'Split Enz', etc. We had not played live at this point, but when we did, it was a revelation. Great reviews followed gigs at 'The Marquee' and the circuit of the time,
'The Nashville', 'The Greyhound', 'Dingwalls', 'The Rock Garden', 'The Hope and Anchor' etc, with supports at The Hammersmith Odeon and Hammersmith Palais (one time supporting 'The Ramones'!!). At some point the gig schedule became too much for John and we recruited Pete Bartlett on bass and Simon Champion on keyboards and the band became a veritable power house.
3 singles however did not set the world on fire and management machinations saw Jacqui Brookes head off for a short lived solo career....an opportunity lost!.... The rest of the guys formed 'Helter Skelter' and I was on my own again!
More to follow....
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