MEET IAN
In your own words, tell us a bit about yourself...
My name's ian, been playing since i was 7 - one day i'll get it right - and done pretty much everything: touring musicals, tv series, couple of singles, couple of albums, a gazillion live shows with all kinds of people, brass bands, big bands, soul bands, r&b bands, symphony orchestras, couple of cruises, opening act/support band for james brown, and once appeared on "this morning with "richard & judy" in tights. as for me, i'm 61, divorced, diabetic, one son, 'in recovery', hopeless romantic, irrepressible sense of humour, kind to animals, keeper of confidences, prepared to suffer fools gladly, love playing music, 'gear' hoarder, avid reader, love to cook, non- smoker, seeking similar for fun and possible romance, reply p.o. box 4372, willesden, NW10 1BA
how did you learn to play/sing?
learned to play in a salvation army brass band, took to it like a fish to water, lots of people said "oh, he's a natural" but no-one sees how much hard work goes in to being 'a natural', an hour a night 5, 6 nights a week, everything comes second, friends, homework, relationships, but then i've been round the world twice and bought a bmw, so y'know, maybe it's worth it... i learned to sing travelling to & from gigs with my friend, a sax player, listening to al jarreau, george benson, steely dan, donald fagen, he'd play music that i'd never listened to previously (unreconstructed metal-head) and get me to find a harmony, either from the song or one of my own, then he'd play the song again and sing the line i'd just sang and tell me to find another one. i was also in a 'cabaret' band where we'd play songs with horn lines in and we'd play those lines, if there weren't horn lines but you could think of something that would fit we'd play those, if there was no horn line and we couldn't think of anything we'd sing, mostly 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' of backing vocals, but when there's a lead singer and sometimes 6 or 7 other people on stage with you you soon develop an ear for harmonies and how to slot them in around what other people are doing and to blend your voice to theirs
what inspired you to get into music and who are your biggest influences?
music is really the only thing i'm any good at, that and kissing, possibly the two are related, and once i reached a decent standard where it wasn't hard work all the time i realised i loved it, it was something i could do that set me apart from everyone else, something i could do that no-one else could and my influences? well, since you ask, Tony Laing, Bobby Pratt & Bert Ezzard (Ted Heath Big Band), Count Basie Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, Dave Browning, Barry Daykin, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Gerard Presencer, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Jerry Hey, Chuck Findley, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Guy Barker, Philip Lynott, David Lee Roth, Billy Sheehan, Pete Murphy (Bauhaus), Orinoco Womble, Florence Foster Jenkins and my brothers-from-other-mothers, Pete Couzens & Neil Shaw-Hulme.
what's your favourite song to play live?
take 5, walkin' in the sunshine
what's your favourite thing about being a dekkertone?
the money, ha ha ha. making people dance, knowing that it's what i'm doing making them do that
what's the worst thing to happen to you at a gig?
hmmm, generally speaking a fight breaking out is always trouble, once upon a time 'the band' were set apart, it was nothing to do with us and the brawlers kept us safe, but now we're fair game cos we're sitting ducks; lips getting tired is always one but it kinda comes with the job, you need to be prepared, to have put the time in; did a production of "the messiah" a few years ago, the conductor gave me all duff info, from which trumpet i needed (no, they're not al the same) to what we were wearing; forgot my trumpet once, 20 minutes away from the gig after 2 hours driving, just got 'that feeling', so pulled over, opened the boot and no hooter - everything else: suit, music stands, mutes, even my piccolo trumpet cos we were doing michael buble's "just haven't met you yet" with the little solo in the middle but no trumpet. so i closed the boot, wondered what to do, gave it a couple of minutes and then opened the boot again like i'm expecting it to magically appear. idiot.
what's your favourite lyric and how does it relate to you?
the whole of "it must be love", cos i'm in love
if the dekkertones were stranded on a desert island, who would you sacrifice first?
myself, the idea of being on a desert island, with anyone, is the stuff of nightmares - satre was right - or else i'd sacrifice everyone else so i'd have enough to eat, use their clothes to keep warm, rub their bones together to start a fire and line up their skulls so i'd still have someone to talk to.
what would you say to someone who thinks ska music is for old timers?
hmmm, you could apply that to any genre, really. i know a lot of people who hate jazz, you just need to play them the right jazz, same with classical, opera, rock, it depends what ska/jazz/metal they're heard, why they don't like it, why are they so dismissive of it. so if i was defending any genre i'd find different stuff and meet them half way: yes, that song is a bit dated, bit sloppy, badly played, the lyrics are rubbish or garbled or racist/sexist/whateverist, but have you heard this...? yes it's ska but listen to this bit, the horns, the solo, the vocal harmonies (reel big fish, o.c. supertones, skameleon); yes, it's jazz, but listen to the soloist when he just flies (charlie parker, wynton marsalis, guy barker, clark terry, david sanborn, mark russo); yes it's metal, but listen to how the bass & drums lock in under the solo, taking the whole song up a gear, or the pure rock & roll fun of it (dream theater, thunder, david lee roth); yes, it's opera, some shouty woman, but she's pouring her heart out, her whole world is falling apart and the only thing she's got is this tune to win back her love (queen of the night aria from the magic flute, the humming chorus from madam butterfly); yes, it's christian singy-songy 'jesus is my girlfriend' stuff but try this, a christian ska/metal/prog/funk band, if you didn't know they were christians and weren't judging them for that just listen to the song, the horns, the solo, the bass player (o.c. supertones, skillet, ron kenoly, steven curtis chapman, take 6).
if you had to pick a different genre to play, what would it be and why?
jazz. or soul. give me something with more than one chord, something more involved, more complicated, something challenging, something cerebral, something that moves me, something that gives me something to do.
what's your drink of choice on gig night?
i'll have a beer, usually just one, two at the most. i don't subscribe to the old musician theory of "i play better when i'm drunk" - you might think you do, but the audience don't and the rest of the band certainly don't.
if you could collaborate with any ska legend, who would it be?
no-one. if i'm brutally honest i'm not enough of a ska fan to know any 'legends', i couldn't name more than 4 or 5 ska bands if my life depended on it. millie, possibly, for leading the way and breaking the rules, and i have to say you've not lived til you've played "my boy (girl) lollipop" to a roomful of skinheads wearing kilts and watching them skanking; might've been fun to be in madness' horn section, but then if i was doing that i'd go with reel big fish or the o.c. supertones.
if you could enforce any band rule, what would it be?
no drinking on gigs. at all. i'd go full 'james brown' and fine bandmembers for drinking. it doesn't help and there are no excuses, no- one plays better when they've had a drink, it makes you sloppy and unpredictable and while other people are pulling their hair out at how bad it is the drinker usually thinks they're having the best gig of their lives and it's all a big joke. if you need to drink to do a better gig you're in the wrong band/job/room.
if the dekkertones were a tv show, who would be the villain and who would be the hero?
hmmm, in my head we wouldn't be that kind of tv show, i think we're more like the banana splits or the double deckers. benny hill.
what ska song would you be happy to never hear again?
any ska song or one we do? possibly one of the ballads, simply because from a trumpet-player point of view there's nothing to do, just 'um bap um bap um ba-dap-ba-dap'; "54-46/train to skaville/keep on jumping/wet dream" has me wanting to drive spikes through my ears, i hate it, every second, every single note of it. out in the real world i don't listen to ska enough to want to consign a song to room 101, possibly after years of playing in function bands at weddings it has to be "come on, eileen" if that's a ska song, it's the 'go to' for lazy DJs - no-one's dancing? stick that on.
