'I'm older now, but not necessarily any wiser. I've been through the whole fashion thing through my teenage years and into my twenties and thirties, obsessing over what I wear, what trainers or boots I should sport, and whether leather is in/ out. I once wore some tights over my head which I fished out of my mums drawers, and a sparkly red cowboy hat for a London Borderline gig many years ago. I couldn't see a thing and I looked like a camp bank-robber. I've dressed as a stormtrooper, making my comrades and I there first band in the world in 2003 to do the whole dancing stormtrooper band thing. Yet even  earlier, I used to wear tight black PVC jeans that I used to have to peel off, after a hot sweaty gig. 

I'm at an age where I've seen music go round in circles, and rhythms get recycled from Adam and the Ants and Duran, all the way to The Killers and Beyonce. You would think that as a musician, I would be keeping up with music but I don't. I listen to the stuff my teenage boys pump out through my car stereo, and I think- I've heard this all before, first and second time round....I watch the highlights of Reading/ Leeds/ Glasters/ IOW etc, and frankly, I find it takes an awful lot to impress me anymore. Is it me or is there anyone else out there who feels the same?! I just can't get excited about new music anymore! (I get way more excited about conspiracy theories which turn out not to be theories, but realities!) I must therefore be getting older.

However, when I successfully teach my pupils 'the train-beat', the Bossa Nova or a 16th hi-hat pop/rock beat with an intricate ghost note pattern on the snare, that's when I get excited. I know that as I close my forty-ninth year, these guys could be the ones who take the baton from me, and take the stages in front of screaming fans one day soon. Their music could be tomorrow's soundtrack. It's not about me being screamed at- although I'm still capable of being screamed at- my kids do it quite a lot and I probably deserve it!

So, yes- fashion does come and go. Thankfully.'

Thanks to Simon Marton for this great article. Please check out Simon's excellent testimonials and profile.