Upon This Rock

As Mark 2 gained momentum, we began to focus more on our musicianship, style, image and material. Helen decided to leave the band in July 1981 to pursue her career, so we needed to recruit a new keyboardist. Steve Smith, our drummer, mentioned that there was an exceptional talent at his church - an 18 year old lad called Simon Elvin. We invited Simon to audition for us at our practice hall, and he impressed us with his keyboard skills. He also turned out to be a good vocalist and could play a number of other instruments, including guitar and woodwind. He was in! We played a few more gigs together that year and then at a concert somewhere in the north of Devon, Sue and John Ritter, leaders of the full-time touring band The Reps, turned up in our audience. They were scouting. Afterwards they met with Paul and offered him a job playing bass guitar for their band. He agreed, and The Reps gained a new member, while Mark 2 were now left for the second time that year seeking a new band m...

Mark 2 original lineup: Helen, Steve, Smudger and Paul Following the demise of Sonrise , I worked solo for a while, developing my songwriting. In 1978-9, I renewed contact with my cousin, Paul Raper, who told me he was learning to play guitar. Not long after this encounter, I went over to his house and took my own guitar with me, and we  jammed. He liked some of my compositions and asked me if I would like to play at an event at his church (the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family). I agreed and played a short set at the event which went down well. Afterwards we talked about forming a new band, and soon, Paul and I were practicing and gigging together. It wasn't long after this we realised we needed more members to create a band. I had thought of naming the band Sonrise Mk2, but eventually the name Mark 2 stuck, and we began to actively seek new members. Soon, we discovered a keyboardist and vocalist by the name of Helen Walrond, who was also at Marjons (where I worked). ...

This is continuation of my short series of posts about how I became involved with Contemporary Christian Music. Previous posts are listed and linked at the foot of this post. Me c 1980 I met Roger Lenk while we were both at Marjons in Plymouth (then a teacher education college). I soon discovered that Roger identified as a 'Messianic Jew' - someone who had been born into the Jewish tradition, but had accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as his mashiach (Messiah). We actually first met during a journey up to Dartmoor Prison where we were both billed to play at an event organised by Youth for Christ. It was a daunting trip for me, because Dartmoor Prison can be a forbidding place at the best of times, and we arrived at Princetown that autumnal evening as an eery fog was drifting in over the moors and the sun had already set. The granite walls of the prison stared at us gauntly, and the sodium lamps cast a sickly yellow hue over the stonework. As the large gates of Dartmoor slammed sono...

Yes, that's me playing in Plymouth in the late 70s. In my last post I wrote about my first foray into performance of my music. It didn't go particularly well, but I learnt two very important lessons - be self sufficient (the stage can be a lonely place) and keep going. As I played at more events and my audience began to grow, I became more confident, my song writing improved and I began to perform my songs rather than just survive them. I began to play at youth events across the city and then ventured further, playing a series of barbecue events and barn dances in and around the city. I met with various other young musicians including Noel Richards , who lived just across the border in Wales. We did at least half a dozen concerts together, and I learnt a lot from watching his confident playing style. I also played alongside another Welsh musician by the name of Kevin Gould , who went on to record several albums. We did a student gig in the local teacher training college...

Me c 1979 playing an Ovation Matrix electric/acoustic guitar I first began to involve myself in Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) during the early part of 1974, just after I came to faith. Armed with just an acoustic guitar and a few self-penned songs, I began to play short sets in cafes and church halls - in fact anywhere I could get a spot. My first ever 'concert' consisted of just four songs and a few stories, which I put together when I was invited to play an evening slot on the Royal Air Force camp my father was stationed at, just outside Hereford in a village called Credential. I was just 16 years old. It was an evening organised by SASRA - the Soldiers and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association, which was being held in one of the airmen's bars on the camp. The audience was mainly young RAF apprentices, just out of school, who were there to basically have a few beers and let off some steam after a hard day of training. When it came for my time to perform...