Album Notes

Pat has been a musician and songwriter for over twenty years, first gaining public notoriety as bass-player and singer with seminal power trio No Corridor, whose uncompromising emotional intensity wowed audiences from London to Warsaw in the late eighties.

They were one of the first English bands to tour Poland before the fall of the Berlin wall, and their debut single 'Soft Targets' was noted by national newspapers and radio in 1986 for its stinging rebuke to Reagan-era US foreign policy.

Lightening up somewhat, Pat fronted and played bass in Shrimptractor, the post-grunge four-piece formed in the early nineties by UK indie legend Martin Whitehead, of The Flatmates and Subway Records fame. Shrimptractor were short-lived, but their two 7" singles, the 'Dig Yer Hippy Hat' EP and 'Losing It' (the latter penned by Pat himself) gained them a cult following as far away as Japan.

In the mid nineties, he began a long collaboration with Adrian Borland, frontman and guitarist of legendary eighties UK post-punk band The Sound. Pat played bass and sang backup on three of Adrian's critically acclaimed solo records, as well as touring Europe with him. He was instrumental in the recording and release of the last of these albums, 'Harmony and Destruction', following Borland's tragic and untimely death in 1999.

Pat has also maintained a strong and ongoing association with fellow South London based singer-songwriter Mike Boyce. Mike's eclectic influences take in indie, lo-fi, and Irish folk among many others, marking him out as a huge talent just waiting to be discovered.

Another of Pat's proudest achievements is his involvement with UK surf instrumental group Dead Man's Curve. He played bass in their constant line-up from 1995 until 2000, travelling the length and breadth of England with a band which was adored wherever it played, including headline slots at surf festivals on Brighton beach.

Their full-on blend of drums, bass, guitars and organ captured that classic sixties feel perfectly, bringing it up-to-date for an audience whose interest in the genre had been rekindled by 'Pulp Fiction' and the sixties revival. The band released two highly acclaimed albums, 'World Catastrophe Generator' (1998) and 'We Will Prevail' (2000) on their own Gorgeous Records label.

As the decade progressed, Pat began to play guitar more and more, and gradually built up a body of songs which he felt deserved a wider audience. Initial forays into the solo arena saw him tread the boards at two of London's fondly remembered acoustic venues, God's Little Joke and The Halfway Crazy Club.

At the start of the new decade and century, Pat began preparations for his debut solo release, 'Gauche'. The album was recorded with invaluable assistance from former No Corridor cohort Ed Dudzik on guitar, and John C. Miracle on drums, among several others. For the recordings, John came all the way from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has drummed for such celebrated local bands as Sleep Theatre, Shag, and latterly Tonefarmer.

Pat's recent appearances at The Windmill in Brixton, one of London's most highly-regarded small venues, have been very well received, and he plans to become an established presence on the acoustic scene. He also has plans in the pipeline to put together a band to perform the songs as they appear on the album.

Pat prides himself on the quality of his songs, believing this to be paramount over other considerations of style, genre or instrumental virtuosity. He believes strongly that a good song should stand up whether played solo on an acoustic guitar or belted out by an electric four-piece band. His ambition is not for personal fame and fortune, but for the songs to be as widely heard as possible and to strike a chord with all who hear them.