Anyone who knows this particular instrument will also know that even the best guitarist in the world would have trouble making this thing sound good! None the less, I struggled on with my encore guitar day after day night after night playing along to tapes and vinyl in my bedroom. I managed to also buy myself a cheap chord book and fathom out what these guys were playing on these records. Purely playing by ear I thought to myself anything these guys can play surely if I try hard enough I can play also. After 6 months or so on my cheap guitar I saved up some money and bought myself my so-called first real guitar, which was a charvel model, made in USA! This was like a dream come true, a guitar that stayed in tune! Heaven! So within six months still at age 13 I'd formed my first band with a few other friends from school, which we called ‘Near Dark’. Derek Bradley on Drums, Paul Jones on Bass then myself on guitar and much to my dislike on vocals. I’d never sang before but we couldn’t’t find a singer so I was elected to provide these. I’d told the guys that the only good singer in my family was a sowing machine but that didn’t help so I got the job. So ‘Near Dark’ started performing gigs in the local area, pubs, town halls etc playing a few original tracks and the likes of Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, and Rory Gallagher. We recorded a few demos that were passed around but the band broke up in 1991.After the break up of ‘Near Dark’ I moved from Trim to the capital Dublin. This is where I started to concentrate on writing songs along with teaming up with other musicians. At this time I met a young Dublin guitarist from Finglas named Darren Greer. We sat around writing songs at night whilst also enjoying the life we had in Dublin at this time. I had myself an old Tascam 4 track recorder, which was a little bit dated but still did the job. During the next three years I found myself dropping round to pubs that had singer/songwriter nights and there I tried to build myself a following. I was also playing local pubs doing covers to keep me off the streets and earn some pocket money for cigs and drink. So in 1994 I released a 4-track EP entitled ‘Sally Forth’ recorded in Pulse Studios Dublin. It was released under the TEL record label an independent company based in Meath. One song in particular on this EP called ’Crazy World’ was quite well received by some radio stations including 2Fm Dublin’s 98Fm and Rock FM, which gave the song a spin on numerous occasions. Larry Gogan gave the record a spin or two whenever he could and really gave the song a good plug. I started to tour around Ireland performing anywhere that would have me, outside, inside just about anywhere. Passing from town to town around the country I passed the EP to as many radio stations as I could. I seem to be doing at least a couple of different radio interviews every day plugging the disc. The EP would finally peak in the Irish charts at a very respectable 18. Shortly after Sally Forth I released my 1st full length self penned album entitled ‘Tempus Fugit’ under TEL Records in 1995. The album was extremely well received by the radio and the press and was put on regular rotation on most FM Radio Stations around Ireland. From this album came the first single ‘Delilah’ which with the aid of a full music video which received numerous plays on MTV Europe reached number 11 in the Irish charts and stayed in the top 20 for 5 weeks in total. The then head of BBC Radio 1 in the UK ‘Paul Robinson’ called the album ‘Outstanding and Almost Beyond Belief’. Hot Press chief ’Jackie Hayden’ called ’Tempus Fugit’ one of the most confident and consistently brilliant debut albums by any Irish artist’ He called the songs naggingly catchy and poppily impressive.

My record label TELwas then approached by ‘Dawn Harrison’ of Jackson Guitars in America to find out about an endorsement and sponsorship deal. I signed a deal with Jackson/Charvel along with the fantastic amp manufacturer Hughes and Kettner in Germany for 4 years. Numerous guitar and music publications promoted Jackson and Hughes and Kettener around the world using my picture with their guitars and amplifiers.

During this time I was approached by the then head of A&R at Island Records ‘Barney Cordell’ in London to talk about a recording contract. Sadly enough before this deal got signed there was a change of management in the A&R department and Barney Cordell left the company.

Over the course of the next few years I began to drift away from the original scene and decided it was time to try my arm a different bands and acts including tribute shows. This was mainly to try and make a living yet still be involved with music and gigging. During the summer of 1997 I formed a tribute band in Ireland to the great American band ‘The Eagles’ along with fellow Irish Musicians ‘Mark and Jeremy Oliver’ with whom he also had chart success in Ireland in the mid 90’s with a band he played in called ‘The Cool Cats’. They called this band ‘Hotel California’, and went on to tour Ireland and the UK extensively until early 2001. They performed in globally well-established venues such as the world famous Olympia Theatre in Dublin city, along with the ‘Ulster Hall’ in Belfast, ‘Dolan’s Warehouse’ Limerick City and the ‘NEC in Killarney’ in which they played to 5k at the ‘Rally Of The Lakes Festival’ to name but a few. Also around the same time as ‘Hotel California I decided to put in action a few other tribute bands including a ‘Bryan Adams Tribute’ which Howard fronted and a ‘Status Quo Tribute Show’. Both acts received massive acclaim on the cover circuit around Ireland notching up around 200 gigs a year.

After returning to Ireland in 2002 Howard and Andrew Byrne set their sights on forming a ‘Bruce Springsteen Tribute band’. Which they did after recruiting a Keyboardist called ‘Ronan Tierney’, 2nd guitar player ‘Chris Connor and drummer ‘Paul Daly’. They called this tribute show ‘Born to Run’. ‘Born to Run’ went on to become one of Ireland’s premier tribute acts performing the length and breath of the country. They also had the privilege again of playing four nights in the legendary ‘Olympia Theatre’ in Dublin city centre to a packed house. Also, the band went out under the name ‘Stoneloader’ as a four-piece original.‘Born to Run’ and ‘Stoneloader’ continued to gig until the middle of 2004.

Next move for me after a short return to Ireland was to relocate to the Island of Cyprus in 2006 where I stayed and gigged till 2012. Shortly after arriving in Cyprus I formed the high octane rock trio with fellow musicians John Artes and Barry Stanbury. 'Axis' quickly became the most respected and sort after band on the Island performing to full crowded house whenever and wherever they played. The group performed classic rock anthems along with much liked modern tracks that suited the three piece feel.

Brand new album 'Outside The Pale' out this coming September 20th 2013 on the TEL Records label based here in Ireland. First single is the extremely catchy and topical title songs 'Outside The Pale' a song about the recent tough times here in Ireland right now.

There are 13 brand new songs on 'Outside The Pale', all rock/pop based and all songs will make you want to listen to them again and again!

You need to listen and check this new stuff out and soon!!!

Brand new 13 track out January 2014 KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSE release via the record label TEL Records based in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. This is a highly contemporary rock/pop album with catchy songs, with great melodies and riffs throughout.