Iain left school with A levels to become a Chartered Accountant,

what went wrong?

Music took over and his hobby and passion turned into a full time job with his band "Energy".

The band secured a publishing deal with Nigel Gray, the producer for the first three Police albums with hits like Roxanne and Message In A Bottle.The band demoed all their songs in the same studios as the Police had used, and this had a big impact on Iain, who was always the band member most into the recording side.

The relationship with Nigel ended after the band took 300 fans 90 miles to London for a showcase gig and none of the invited Record Companies turned up, (surprise, surprise.) Looking back, Iain says they should have stuck with Nigel but they were so devastated at the time, they became disillusioned, and felt it was Nigel's fault, which of course it wasn't, ITS THE MUSIC BUSINESS, it,s unlike any other. Iain realizes now how naive he was and that perseverance is a major, major ingredient for success in the music business.

The band continued to tour the UK, Europe, Middle East and eventually found themselves in New York with a Management Company. They showcased in a massive New York rehearsal room in front of 2 rows of Record Company personnel. "The scariest gig I ever did", is what Iain say's about it now, and he wouldn't recommend doing it like this, because it was so sterile with zilch atmosphere.

Gigs are all about atmosphere and this wasn't, going to be achieved in this situation. Again, some of the band members became disillusioned and this split the band.

Iain was devastated since the band was all he had known for over 10 years and the dread of having to get a "real" job raised it,s ugly head.

Fortunately for Iain, his talent for recording had been noticed by his brother Bip and the local bands which talked him into recording them. When the band split, Bip set up "Premier Studios" with Iain behind the desk. Iain's years of experience and perfectionist attitude quickly saw him inundated with Recording projects.

So here we are now, with Iain seeing his role as a "mentor" helping bands avoid the mistakes he made.

He runs rehearsal rooms for the local bands and puts on "Rockschoollive" gigs with his nephew, Glen, for them to hone their talents. (www.rockschoollive.com) He's also writing a book, inspired by all the bands he has come across desperate for knowledge about recording and being in a band. "I speak to loads of kids that have completed recording courses costing thousands, and they are invariably disappointed by the lack of detail, hopefully I can fill in some of this detail. There were no recording courses in my day, so I had to make lots of mistakes and develop my own methods to get results. The book is all about that."

Incidentally. if you come across any Energy vinyl singles, they are listed in Record Collectors Rare Records Guide as being worth £100 or more, (checkout ebay)if they are in good nick.

"It's not because of the recording quality!" say;s Iain. "One of them I recorded on a 4 track cassette based Portastudio, and I cringe when I hear it now!"